Chris Paola – författare

For several decades Peter Friend has been one of the leading figures in sedimentary geology and throughout that time he has helped scores of other people by supervising doctoral students, collaborating with colleagues, especially in developing countries, and selflessly sharing ideas with fellow geologists. This collection of papers is a survey of the research frontier in basin dynamics, a field Peter Friend helped initiate, and a token of thanks from people who have benefited from an association with Peter during their careers. The papers in this book fall into four themes - Tectonics and sedimentation, Landscape evolution and provenance, Depositional systems and Fluvial sedimentation – which reflect Peter’s research interests and are all important areas of current research in sedimentary geology. There are both case studies and review articles on these themes which reflect recent work, but the collection can also be considered to be a ‘sampler’ of sedimentary geology for anyone with broad interests in the Earth sciences.

In the extensive field of earth sciences, with its many subdisciplines, the trans­ fer of knowledge is primarily established via personal communication, during meetings, by reading journal articles, or by consulting books. Because more information is available than can be assimilated, it is necessary for the individual to search selectively. Books take more time from the inception of an idea until publication than any of the other means of communication men­ tioned. As a consequence, their function is somewhat different. Many good books are a compilation of up to date knowledge and serve as reference or instruction manuals. Some books are a collection of previously published papers dealing with a certain topic, while others may basically provide large sets of data or examples. The Frontiers in Sedimentary Geology series was established both for stu­ dents and practicing earth scientists who wish to either stay abreast of the most recent ideas or developments or to become familiar with an important topic in the field of sedimentary geology. The series attempts to deal with sub­ jects that are in the forefront of both scientific and economic interest. The treatment of a subject in an individual volume should be a combination of topi­ cal, regional, and interdisciplinary approaches. Although these three terms can be defined separately, in reality they should flow into each other. A topical treatment should relate to a major category of sedimentary geology.