Quaternary Sediments: Petrographic Methods for the Study of Unlithified Rocks (Second Edition), first published in 1991, deals with the analysis of sediments, soils and weathering products to reconstruct the environment of the Quaternary period. Not only does it cover all physical and chemical laboratory techniques but it also describes the use of required equipment, the evaluation of both strengths and weaknesses of each technique and how to get and interpret results. The application of each method in solving particular geological problems is stressed. Case studies, diagrams and full biographies provide the reader with further information. The Second Edition contains a new chapter titled "Second Thoughts" which includes - Prologue - Errors and error propagation - Sampling for particle-size analysis - The interpretation of loss on ignition data as a measure of plant organic content - Dealing with geochemical data - Dry bulk density - Reference. The index has also be updated to include the new material.