Encyclopedia of quaternary science. Volume 1-4 / Энциклопедия наук о четвертичном периоде. Тома 1-4

As with the publication of the first edition in 2007, the publication of the second edition of the Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science represents a landmark in the history of publishing in the field of Quaternary Science. Quaternary Science is a multidisciplinary endeavor which seeks to establish as detailed a picture as possible of the manifold environmental changes that have occurred during the most recent geological period, the Quaternary – an interval of time that spans the past 2.59 million years or the past 0.056% of geological time. It is a period of significant climate and environmental change and witnessed the widespread dispersal of our species, Homo sapiens, across the planet.
Since Louis Agassiz and Reverend William Buckland traipsed over parts of the Scottish landscape in 1840 in search of evidence of glaciation, a huge literature has emerged on the science of long-term climate and environmental change. Rapid technological advances in the late twentieth century and the proliferation of scientific journals, particularly in an era of electronic publishing, have resulted in an exponential growth anddocumentation of knowledge on the climate and environmental changes that have occurred during the Quaternary period. More recently, there has been an increasing public interest in applied Quaternary research as a framework for understanding the basis for recent climate changes and for understanding the nature and frequency of geological hazards and vexing issues such as soil erosion and land degradation, and the adverse effects of ocean water temperature increases and acidification on coral reef environments. In a similar manner, the likely magnitude of future sea-level rise and the associated impacts on coastal landscapes in the twenty-first century have attracted wide public interest. In this sense, Quaternary Science is very much on the political agenda and is a critically important subject to address issues of public concern.<...>