Includes bibliographical references (p. [281]-298) and index.

AN ENVIRONMENT DISCOVERED -- Early European Exploration -- Nineteenth Century -- Twentieth Century -- Contemporary Exploration -- THE KINGDOM -- The Physical Setting -- Physiographic Provinces -- A Journey through Time -- The Modern Kingdom: Pressures on the Environment -- GEOLOGY -- Main Geological Units -- Brief Geological History -- Regional Geology -- CLIMATE -- Introduction -- Air Masses -- General Circulation -- The Seasons -- Atmospheric Humidity and Evaporation -- Precipitation -- Global Radiation, Sunshine, and Cloud -- Wind and Visibility -- Climatic Regions -- Climate and Environmental Change -- HYDROGEOLOGY -- Introduction -- Drainage Net -- Surface Runoff -- Dams -- Springs -- Lakes -- Groundwater: Aquifers and Aquicludes -- Shallow Alluvial Aquifers -- Aquifer Water Quality -- Groundwater Recharge and Karst -- Water and Irrigation -- Water Harvesting Urban Areas -- Urban Water Demand -- GEOMORPHOLOGY -- Introduction -- Weathering -- Denudation History -- Tertiary Erosion and Drainage Development -- Deep Weathering Features -- Pediments and Gravel Plains -- Inselbergs and Kopjes -- Alluvial Fans -- Sand Dunes and Sand Seas -- Wind Erosion: Yardangs -- Karst -- Volcanic Landforms -- Escarpments and Cuestas -- Quaternary Sea Level Changes -- Loessic Alluvial Silts -- Exhumed Glacial and Periglacial Features -- BIOGEOGRAPHY -- Introduction -- The Fauna -- The Flora -- Vegetation -- SOILS AND SOIL EROSION -- Introduction -- Entisols -- Inceptisols -- Aridsols -- Soil Map Associations -- Soil Mineralogy -- Recent Pedogenic Changes -- Soil Erosion -- Loess and Loess-Like Soils -- Paleosols -- ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND HAZARDS -- Introduction -- Geohazards -- Biological Hazards -- Industrial Hazards -- Irrigation Impacts -- Land Degradation -- 1991 Gulf War Impacts -- CONSERVATION -- Introduction -- Islam and the Environment -- Traditional Land Use Systems -- Meteorology and Environmental Protection Administration (MEPA).

Ministry of Agriculture and Water (MAW) -- National Parks -- National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development -- A System Plan for Protected Areas -- A System Plan for Protected Areas -- Conservation and the 1991 Gulf War -- Sustainable Development and the Environment -- Ecotourism.

This highly original work is the very first comprehensive overview of Saudi Arabia's environment. It presents a unique and authoritative account of the geological and environmental aspects of a country that is historically very poorly known to the outside world but that has a long and fascinating tradition of environmental awareness and sensitivity pitted against some of the harshest environments on Earth. Accomplished expert Peter Vincent painstakingly brings together a wide range of published and unpublished material that will inform and inspire anyone in fields ranging from environmental science, geology, and geography to biology and other related areas. In addition to the exhaustive bibliography, the text features a cornucopia of original images that include unique aerial photographs. Chapters work meticulously through climate, geology, pedology, hydrogeology, geomorphology, geohazards, and conservation. Based on the author's travels over the past 25 years as well as on his extensive collaboration with the Saudi Geological Survey and propelled by his obvious enthusiasm and admiration for the subject, Saudi Arabia: An Environmental Overview offers captivating insight into one of the world's most fascinating environmental landscapes.

1 2