In view of the grave consequences of soil degradation on ecosystem functions, food security, biodiversity and human health, this book covers the extent, causes, processes and impacts of global soil degradation, and processes for improvement of degraded soils. Soil conservation measures, including soil amendments, decompaction, mulching, cover cropping, crop rotation, green manuring, contour farming, strip cropping, alley cropping, surface roughening, windbreaks, terracing, sloping agricultural land technology (SALT), dune stabilization, etc., are discussed. Particular emphasis is given to soil pollution and the methods of physical, chemical and biological remediation of polluted soils. This book will lead the reader from the basics to a comprehensive understanding of soil degradation, conservation and remediation.

"Soil as World Heritage" celebrates a half century of field experiments on the Balti Steppe, in Moldova - where Dokuchaev first described the Typical Chernozem in 1877, protected from the elements by a unique system of shelter belts designed by the great man, and now provisionally listed as the first World Heritage Site for soil. The book presents contributions to the 2012 international symposium attended by researchers, practitioners and policy makers from the European Commission and countries as diverse as Belarus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA and, of course, Moldova itself.

The experimental data demonstrate the damage caused by human activity to the productivity and integrity of the black earth and, also, ways to restore its fertility. Results from even longer-established trials worldwide also demonstrate that agricultural practices are driving global warming, leaching of nutrients, pollution of water resources, diversion of rainfall away from replenishment of soil and groundwater to destructive runoff, and destroying soil organic matter and biodiversity. These are pressing issues for our generation and will press harder on future generations. Long-term field experiments, and the scientific skills and experience that they nurture, will be more and more valuable as a foundation and focus for interdisciplinary teams studying the effects of farming practices on the soil and soil life so as to devise a sustainable alternative.

Europe-wide and worldwide contributions also discuss economic incentives - carbon and green water credits - which themselves require robust supporting data, and legislative aspects of promoting more sustainable farming systems. The outcomes of the conference include recommendations for institutional support for sustainable farming and a draft of the law on land and soil management for the Parliament of Moldova."

The 15th Franco-Japanese Symposium of Oceanography "Marine Productivity, Perturbations and Resilience of Socio-Ecosystems," organized by the long-standing partners Societe franco-japonaise d'Oceanographie de France and Societe franco-japonaise d'Oceanographie du Japon, reviewed the impacts of natural (storms, typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.) and man-made (pollution, buildings in coastal areas, aquaculture, tourism, sports, diving, etc.) perturbations inflicted on coastal and marine environments. The Symposium examined the resilience of affected socio-ecosystems along with governance responses for these global/local environments. This book collects 43 selected papers, written by experts from numerous universities and research institutes in both countries. It addresses the needs of marine sciences researchers (natural and social sciences), decision-makers and coastal zone managers, and other stakeholders involved in coastal and marine socio-ecosystems.

This lab manual offers a variety of activities for an active, applied student experience and increased flexibility for instructors. Every lab includes "What Do You Think?" exercises in which students apply the course concepts to real-world scenarios. New Geotours Google Earth exercises get students exploring and analyzing real-world sites. A new, unique chapter on global change in which students explore how the Earth will evolve during their lifetime has been added to this edition.

"Coal and Peat Fires: A Global Perspective "is a compelling collection of research conducted by scientists and engineers around the world. It presents the scientific and industrial communities as well as the interested lay reader with studies about prehistoric as well as historic coal and peat fires and magnificent illustrations of such fires and related research from countries around the world-a totally new contribution to science. The second of four volumes in the collection, "Photographs and Multimedia Tours "features stunning photographs from around the world, including Australia, Canada, Northern China, India, Borneo, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia, the United States, and more. This essential reference also includes a companion website with a collection of slide presentations and videosabout coal and peat fires.
Authored by world-renowned experts in coal and peat firesGlobal in scope-countries from all of the world are representedBeautiful full-color illustrations and online materials including research data banks, an interactive online world map of coal and peat fires, multi-media presentations, and videos bring the contents to life"

Ostracod crustaceans, common microfossils in marine and freshwater sedimentary records, supply evidence of past climatic conditions via indicator species, transfer function and mutual climatic range approaches as well as the trace element and stable isotope geochemistry of their shells. As methods of using ostracods as Quaternary palaeoclimate proxies have developed, so too has a critical awareness of their complexities, potential and limitations. This book combines up-to-date reviews (covering previous work and summarising the state of the art) with presentations of new, cutting-edge science (data and interpretations as well as methodological developments) to form a major reference work that will constitute a durable bench-mark in the science of Ostracoda and Quaternary climate change.
In-depth and focused treatment of palaeoclimate applicationsProvides durable benchmark and guide for all future work on ostracodsPresents new, cutting-edge science
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Climate change is a major challenge facing the modern world. The chemistry of air and it's influence on the climate system forms the main focus of this monograph. The book presents a problem-based approach to presenting global atmospheric processes, evaluating the effects of changing air composition as well as possibilities for interference within these processes and indicates ways for solving the problem of climate change through chemistry. The new edition includes innovations and latest research results.

This monograph instructs the reader on how to analyze the hydrogeochemical vulnerability. It introduces notions of geochemical signals, points of migration of pollutants in the unsaturated zone, and new hydrogeochemical classifications. Three test sites in the USA, Germany, and Moldova are described as case studies accompanied by illustrative data. The authors presuppose for future readers only the background mathematics and elementary knowledge of hydrogeology. The presented methodology is both for local and regional assessments. It is simple, does not need implication of high qualification specialists and can be applied to test the groundwater quality. The book is useful for undergraduate, graduate, master, and PhD students as well as water quality specialists, ecologists and geology professionals.

This thesis transforms satellite precipitation estimation through the integration of a multi-sensor, multi-channel approach to current precipitation estimation algorithms, and provides more accurate readings of precipitation data from space. Using satellite data to estimate precipitation from space overcomes the limitation of ground-based observations in terms of availability over remote areas and oceans as well as spatial coverage. However, the accuracy of satellite-based estimates still need to be improved. The approach introduced in this thesis takes advantage of the recent NASA satellites in observing clouds and precipitation. In addition, machine-learning techniques are also employed to make the best use of remotely-sensed "big data." The results provide a significant improvement in detecting non-precipitating areas and reducing false identification of precipitation.

This book will help readers learn the basic skills needed to study microfossils especially those without a formal background in paleontology. It details key principles, explains how to identify different groups of microfossils, and provides insight into their potential applications in solving geologic problems. Basic principles are addressed with examples that explore the strengths and limitations of microfossils and their geological records. This overview provides an understanding of taphonomy and quality of the fossil records, biomineralization and biogeochemistry, taxonomy, concepts of species, and basic concepts of ecology. Readers learn about the major groups of microfossils, including their morphology, ecology, and geologic history. Coverage includes: foraminifera, ostracoda, coccolithophores, pteropods, radiolaria, diatoms, silicoflagellates, conodonts, dinoflagellates, acritarch, and spores and pollens. In this coverage, marine microfossils, and particularly foraminifera, are discussed in more detail compared with the other groups as they continue to play a major role in most scientific investigations. Among the various tracers of earth history, microfossils provide the most diverse kinds of information to earth scientists. This richly illustrated volume will help students and professionals understand microfossils, and provide insight on how to work with them to better understand evolution of life, and age and the paleoenvironment of sedimentary strata.

The book presents the state-of-the-art document describing the knowledge, data, cost-effectiveness and technologies employed to manage the waste in several countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordon, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, and Yemen. It covers diverse topics including the status of the waste in the region, solid waste management, solid waste recovery and disposal, the use of the agricultural waste in feeding poultry, sludge disposal and management, wastewater treatment and energy production. Also, the book explains how waste management systems are becoming more complex in many countries with the move from landfill-based to resource recovery-based solutions following the setting of international and national targets to divert waste from landfill and to increase recycling and recovery rates. Besides, this book also evaluates the environmental legislation in the selected countries and suggests new performance enhancements. This book is of interest to environmental professionals including scientists and policymakers in the Middle East, North Africa, and areas with similar features.

This paper collection is the second volume of the LNMOB series on Road Vehicle Automation. The book contains a comprehensive review of current technical, socio-economic, and legal perspectives written by experts coming from public authorities, companies and universities in the U.S., Europe and Japan. It originates from the Automated Vehicle Symposium 2014, which was jointly organized by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and the Transportation Research Board (TRB) in Burlingame, CA, in July 2014. The contributions discuss the challenges arising from the integration of highly automated and self-driving vehicles into the transportation system, with a focus on human factors and different deployment scenarios. This book is an indispensable source of information for academic researchers, industrial engineers, and policy makers interested in the topic of road vehicle automation.

Carbon (C), Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) are three of the most important elements used to build living beings, and their uptake from the environment is consequently essential for all organisms. Photosynthesis is the process in which plants absorb atmospheric C as they grow and convert it to biomass. However, plants acquire N and P only when these are available in the soil solution, which makes these elements the most limiting nutrients in plant growth and productivity in most ecosystems. When plant residues and roots decompose, the C, N and P they contain is transformed primarily into soil organic matter (SOM) or C and N can release to the atmosphere. Recent interest on the global C, N and P cycles has focused attention on the different proportion of terrestrial C, N and P stored in different ecosystem pools. Cuatro Cienegas represents an exceptional place, since the plants are not the base of the food web, they are the microbial community, that recycle the elements essential for life. In this book we describe how this is an analog of early Earth.

This book investigates geological CO2 storage and its role in greenhouse gas emissions reduction, enhanced oil recovery, and environmentally responsible use of fossil fuels. Written for energy/environmental regulators at every level of government (federal, state, etc.), scientists/academics, representatives from the power and fossil energy sectors, NGOs, and other interested parties, this book uses the characterization of the Rock Springs Uplift site in Wyoming as an integrated case study to illustrate the application of geological CO2 storage science, principles, and theory in a real-world scenario.

The coastal and ocean ecosystem is a significant feature of our planet and provides a source of food for much of life on Earth. Millions of species have been, and are still being discovered in the world's oceans. Among these zooplankton serve as secondary producers and are significant as they form pelagic food links and act as indicators of water masses. They constitute the largest and most reliable source of protein for most of the ocean's fishes. As such, their absence or depletion often affects fishery. In many countries, the decline in fishery has been attributed to reduced plankton populations. Furthermore, trillions of tiny copepods produce countless faecal pellets contributing greatly to the marine snow and therefore accelerating the flow of nutrients and minerals from the surface waters to the seabed. They are phylogenetically highly successful groups in terms of phylogenetic age, number of living species and success of adaptive radiation. A study of the basic and applied aspects of zooplankton would provide an index of the fishery potential and applications, offering insights into ocean ecology to safeguard food supplies and livelihoods of the millions of people living in coastal areas. For this reason, we need to understand all the facets of zooplankton as well as their interactions with atmosphere and other life forms, including human. In this context, this book discusses the basic and applied aspects of zooplankton, especially taxonomy, mosquitocidal activity, culture, analysis of nutritional, pigments and enzyme profile, preservation of copepods eggs, bioenrichment of zooplankton and application of zooplankton in sustainable aquaculture production, focusing on novel biofloc-copefloc technologies, and the impact of acidification and microplastics on zooplankton. Offering a comprehensive overview of the current issues and developments in the field of environmental and commercial applications, this book is a valuable resource for researchers, aquaculturists, environmental mangers wanting to understand the importance of zooplankton and develop technologies for the sustainable production of fish and other commodities to provide food and livelihoods for mankind.

Integrating information from several areas of engineering geology, hydrogeology, geotechnical engineering, this book addresses the general field of groundwater from an engineering perspective. It covers geological engineering as well as hydrogeological and environmental geological problems caused by groundwater engineering. It includes 10 chapters, i.e., basic groundwater theory, parameter calculation in hydrogeology, prevention of geological problem caused by groundwater, construction dewatering, wellpoint dewatering methods, dewatering wells and drilling, groundwater dewatering in foundation-pit engineering, groundwater engineering in bedrock areas, numerical simulation in groundwater engineering, groundwater corrosion on concrete and steel. Based on up-to-date literature, it describes recent developments and presents several case studies with examples and problems. It is an essential reference source for industrial and academic researchers working in the groundwater field and can also serve as lecture-based course material providing fundamental information and practical tools for both senior undergraduate and postgraduate students in fields of geology engineering, hydrogeology, geotechnical engineering or to conduct related research.

In the second edition Steve Kesler (University of Michigan) has been added as an author to rewrite some chapters. The motivation for this revised edition is to more intensively address economic issues that surround the exploitation of mineral resources. This emphasis gives the book a unique character. With these sections "Metals and Society" deals with issues that pervade much of current science reporting the rate of exploitation of natural resources, the question of when or if these resources will be exhausted, the pollution and social disturbance that accompanies mining, the compromises and challenges that arise from the explosion of demand from China, India and other rapidly developing countries, and the moral issues that surround mining of metals in lesser developed countries for consumption in the first-world countries.

With its dual character, the book will be useful as an introductory text for students in the earth sciences and a reference volume for students, teachers and researchers of geography, economics and the social sciences.

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