Drylands are usually characterised by strong climatic contrasts with rivers suffering seasonal drought and occasional torrential rains. Drylands produce a characteristic balance of hillslope and channel processes that give dryland rivers their special features. The most obvious and important property of most dryland rivers is that flow is ephemeral. Hence the relative importance of many fluvial processes differs considerably from more humid regions. Although these characteristics are not unique to dryland rivers, they share many attributes that place them outside the normal range of temperate rivers and merit separate study.

Dryland Rivers is the first text to focus on dryland channel networks and processes and presents a historical framework for research, discusses examples of current studies and evaluates contemporary modelling approaches. Emphasis is on the Mediterranean region, with comparisons to other dryland regimes, with differing degrees of aridity, and with seasonality that may differ from the Mediterranean regime of wet winters and dry summers.

Dryland Rivers is a vital text for water engineers, environmental consultants, and researchers in geomorphology or semi-arid environments. It will be an invaluable reference to postgraduate students and undergraduates at level 2 and 3, especially those focused on dryland environments.