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Cenozoic Climates in Deserts

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Geomorphology of Desert Environments

Deserts are superb repositories of geological, geomorphic and archaeological evidence. The very aridity to which they owe their existence has enabled them to preserve a remarkably good record of past depositional and erosional events. The fossil river valleys of the Sahara, the great salt lakes of Australia, China, and Patagonia, the dissected volcanic mountains of the Arabian peninsula and the Afar Desert – all are legacies of former tectonic, volcanic, and climatic episodes which ultimately gave rise to the deserts we see today. Each desert reflects its own individual geological inheritance and geomorphic history; each is unique in its assemblage of landforms; each ideally deserves detailed and separate study in its own right (Pesce 1968, McKee 1978, Rognon 1989).

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  1. Geographical and Environmental Studies, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia

    M.A.J. Williams

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  1. Dept. Geography, University of Sheffield, Winter Street, Sheffield, United Kingdom S10 2TN

    Anthony J. Parsons

  2. Dept. Geography, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14261, USA

    Athol D. Abrahams

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Williams, M. (2009). Cenozoic Climates in Deserts. In: Parsons, A.J., Abrahams, A.D. (eds) Geomorphology of Desert Environments. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5719-9_28

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