Lóczy, D., Stankoviansky, M. and Kotarba, A. (eds): Recent landform evolution. The Carpatho-Balkan-Dinaric Region


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Lóczy, D., Stankoviansky, M. and Kotarba, A. (eds): Recent landform evolution. The 
Carpatho-Balkan-Dinaric Region. Springer Geography, Dordrecht, 2012. 460 p.

Present day geomorphologic processes have special interest in physical geographic 
research. The continuously growing knowledge on landscape formation is the basis of a 
successful spatial planning. Each country needs exact data on surface morphology and 
particularly on surface processes to manage the environmental resources and problems. 

The whole surface of Earth is always changing due to the results of diff erent 
landform evolution events, accordingly both draft and detailed description of surface for-
mation and its related processes are complicated and they are basically scale-dependent. 
This monograph published as part of the Springer Geography series solves that problem 
by outlining the development directions of the surface of the study site. As it was also 
emphasized by the editors, the study area boundaries are not ordinary ones since they 
follow physical borders on one place and political borders on the other. This unusual loca-
tion and shape of the research area are the results of some former cooperation among the 
national research groups of the region. The volume can be interpreted as a late outcome of 
the Carpatho-Balkanic Geomorphological Commission and the International Association 
of Geomorphologists Carpatho-Balkan-Dinaric Regional Working Group. The cooperation 

within the framework of the men-
tioned groups has long traditions. 
LÓczy, D. the recent president, 
highlighted the importance of the 
collection of national investiga-
tions on geomorphology.

The volume contains 
three main parts. Part I is a general 
description of the main environ-
mental circumstances of the re-
gion, however, the actual bound-
aries are hardly comparable with 
those drown from a physical point 
of view. Four chapters highlight 
the role of the most important 
factors in recent land formation, 
namely geology, climate, rivers 
and land cover/use. In subchapter 
“Geology” and “Rivers” the text 
division follows the spatial units 
of the region, while the others fo-
cus on separate parameters of cli-
mate (i.e. zonation, temperature, 
precipitation etc.) and the proc-
esses of land use (change).

The second part is a col-
lection of national studies on sur-
face formation. That part accounts 
for nearly 90% of the whole vol-
ume. Altogether 11 countries 
(Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, 



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Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Ukraine) present 
their results excluding Austria. The editors made eff orts to uniform at least the structure of 
the studies, but because of the mentioned diff erences between political and natural borders, 
the chapters are varied. The general national chapter begins with an abstract followed by the 
introduction focusing on the historical presentation of investigations. The authors discuss 
the most important landscape forming processes in individual subchapters step by step 
according to their country att ributes and traditions. In some cases the classifi cation and de-
scription of the landforms are the basis of the study structure. Each subchapter is compiled 
by one or two geomorphologic expert on the topic; accordingly every single subchapter is 
independent from each other. Most of the country studies have a separate subchapter on 
soil erosion, fl uvial landscape formation, eolian, periglacial and karst processes and mass 
movements. Unfortunately, the list of contents contains only the main titles of the national 
chapters while the subtitles can only be found in the text.

 The roles of biological and especially human impact on surface formation are em-
phasized to diff erent degrees in the separate country reports. For instance, in the Hungarian 
chapter that part concentrates on mining and does not underline the infl uence of agriculture 
and infrastructure development, however, they have critical importance. Broadly speaking, 
the approach of the studies is mainly descriptive; the authors let the reader to conclude 
the results of the facts. That kind of presentation is very good for experts and researchers 
but for students, further interpretation would be needed in some cases. Furthermore, the 
monograph exceeds 480 pages in present form, so additional information could reduce its 
usability.

The third part is the conclusion but it doesn’t contain any general conclusions in 
a usual way. Instead, the editors briefl y summarise the history of the above mentioned 
cooperation and discuss the traditions and research directions of the diff erent schools and 
countries. Traditional diff erences and high diversity of the region cause the hard compa-
rability of the results and the lack of a general conclusion.

Although I did not fi nd the price of the monograph printed in the volume, cop-
ies for around 180 USD are available on the web. That cost sounds badly for an average 
Hungarian undergraduate and even a researcher of our region considering buying a copy. I 
presume that the copies of public libraries will be very popular. I fully agree with the editors 
who emphasize that the most important achievement of the monograph is the revelation 
of the signifi cance of “mutual learning starting with the unifi cation of terminology and 
fi nishing with the creation of international teams in thematic research”. I believe that this 
volume is not only a useful resource for today and future geomorphologists of the region 
but could be a basic work for everyone who is interested in physical geography.

Gergely Jakab