Introduction to Coastal Processes and Geomorphology has been developed out of an advanced undergraduate course taught for many years by its author at the University of Guelph. Coastal geomorphology texts have seen relatively little by way of pedagogic innovation since the appearance of Pethick's An Introduction to Coastal Geomorphology 25 years ago, although recent offerings have varied in the degree of rigour applied to the coverage of process mechanics and in their scholarly ambition. This new text competes most directly with Masselink & Hughes' identically titled text (published in 2003) and Haslett's Coastal Systems (2000, Reference Haslett2008). But it also approaches Woodroffe's Coasts (Reference Woodroffe2002) in the depth of its scholarship.
The material is organised into 13 chapters, grouped under a brief Introduction that scopes coastal geomorphology in terms of its scientific heritage and contemporary relevance; a longer treatment of Coastal Processes; and a sampling of Coastal Systems in which scientific understanding of key environments is considered alongside topical management issues. From the outset, the style is authoritative yet eminently readable. Davidson-Arnott draws on personal experiences from around the globe in a way that modern undergraduates, who seem increasingly unwilling to engage with concepts presented in the abstract, will surely find appealing. This works well, and by eschewing a lengthy introduction to more general geomorphological concepts, the reader is quickly engaged with some extremely well presented material on coastal processes and their investigation in the field. Although it would be nice to see more complete mathematical treatments in a few places (e.g. in relation to tidal harmonics), the balance struck here is generally about right. The emphasis is very much on field studies rather than modelling, and although numerical models get the occasional mention, it is a pity that such a fundamental tool of modern coastal science does not yet get the coverage it deserves at undergraduate textbook level.
In contrast to Masselink & Hughes (Reference Masselink and Hughes2003), selected coastal systems are not forced into a fluvial-, tide-, and wave-dominated process framework, but receive a more balanced treatment that recognises that many important coastal environments are jointly shaped by wave and tide. The coverage of barrier island and inlets is particularly good, and all chapters are exceptionally well illustrated with much re-drafting of older material from less accessible ‘classic’ papers. The omission of estuaries is unfortunate, since so many of our current management problems involve estuarine shores and the interaction of estuarine with open coastal systems.
Presentation and page design suffers some of the idiocy of modern publishing; whoever thought it was a good idea to put boxes around figure captions and to further highlight the figure numbers? These irritations aside, Cambridge University Press have otherwise done a fair packaging job and figure quality is good. The author has also provided online resources, including high quality figures, rather lower quality video clips and datasets, that will be invaluable to those designing their own courses on the back of this text.
For those in search of an up-to-date undergraduate text that offers a fresh perspective on contemporary coastal geomorphology, this new offering has much to commend it. It combines an accessible yet scholarly treatment of the underlying processes with a broad range of interesting case studies.
All things considered, Introduction to Coastal Processes and Geomorphology would certainly be my current choice for a course text in this field.
