Mid-Latitude Slope Deposits (Cover Beds)

Slope deposits are common in any inclined relief. So-called cover beds may veil entire landscapes, in which case they are commonly overlooked or confused with soil horizons. This book focuses on these widespread deposits and discusses their properties, genesis, and age mainly in subdued mountains of Central Europe, where to date most research on the matter has been conducted. The ecological consequences of such slope deposits on soils, slope water dynamics, and slope failures are addressed. Finally, transfer of the cover-bed concept to other mid-latitude regions is attempted for the reconstruction of landscape evolution. This unique compilation, covering several decades of a facies-oriented approach to slope-deposit research, delivers deep insight into the wide field of research on cover beds and encourages researchers all over the world to take an in-depth look at the critical zone as to its possible stratified nature.

"The book edited by Arno Kleber and Birgit Terhorst provides convincing evidence how interesting slope deposits and their depositional environments are; it can only be hoped that their book will play an important role in bringing this somewhat neglected topic back in focus…the book is a good reading and to include it into the series ‘Developments in Sedimentology’ was an appropriate decision." --Geologos, December 2013

Dr Birgit Terhorst is Professor of Physical Geography and Soil Science at the Technical University of Dresden, Germany. She has held various lecturing and professorship positions in institutions in soil science and geography. Dr Terhorst conducts research on geography, natural hazards and landslides, geoinformatics (GIS), geoarcheology, soil science, and quaternary research. She has over 150 publications in international journals and is supervising numerous research projects. Her completed research projects include geophysical methods for the analysis of mass movements; gravitational mass movements in Mexico under the influence of climate change and anthropogenic use; slope stability and danger zones in northern Bavaria: a study on causes, process and risk; and monitoring procedures in active landslide areas, among many others. Arno Kleber is a Professor and Chair of Physical Geography at the Technical University of Dresden. After completing his doctorate, Arno Kleber focused his research on top layers, making the German cover layer concept internationally known and transferring the concept to other areas of the temperate zone, placing a focus on the possibilities of reconstructing past climate changes and the quantification of environmentally significant processes that are controlled by surface layers. Dr Kleber is a member of various scientific societies such as the German Soil Science Society, DEUQUA and INQUA, Geological Society of America, Soil Science Society of America and American Association for the Advancement of Science. From 2006 to 2012, Arno Kleber was spokesman for the geosciences department at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences at TU Dresden. He was also Dean of Studies for Geography from 2006 to 2016 and was therefore largely responsible for the development of geographic courses.