Desertification in Europe

Desertification in Europe highlights a phenomenon which is widespread in most of Southern Europe. The continuous loss of fertile soil, wind and water erosion, vegetation degradation, droughts and forest fires all contribute to the creation of a potentially alarming situation. If one adds to this list the threat posed by acid rain, and the possibility of a climatic change inducing drier and warmer conditions in areas already heavily affected by degradation of soil and vegetation, the problem of desertification in Europe could be seen as being grave. This book focuses on those processes in which nature and Man cooperate in producing accelerated and irreversible barreness of once fertile soils. One paper discusses the use of short-lived radioisotopes to provide chronologies of sedimentation