This book provides students and professionals with an introductory understanding of fluvial geomorphic principles and how these principles can be integrated with geochemical data to cost-effectively characterize, assess and remediate contaminated rivers.

There is in-depth discussion of the mechanics involved in the transport, deposition, and remobilization of contaminated sediments by physical processes. The book also comprehensively examines the use of geomorphic principles to identify and map spatial variations in metal concentrations in contaminated river valleys. The book stresses the importance of needing to understand both geomorphic and geochemical processes. Thus, the overall presentation is an analysis of physical and chemical processes and a discussion of how an understanding of these processes can be applied to specific aspects of site assessment and remediation.

"Until the publication of this particular book, environmental geochemists had little insight into river particulate transfers, and few river geomorphologists were taking the contamination of river deposits - which generally does not affect the morphological features - into consideration. Contaminated Rivers aims to fill this gap at a time when remediation of contaminated sites and the understanding of particulate contminants transfers are high on the environmental agenda."
Michel Meybeck, EOS vol. 89, no. 32, 2008