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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > General
A guide to the systematic understanding of the geoarchaeological
matrix Reconstructing Archaeological Sites offers an important text
that puts the focus on basic theoretical and practical aspects of
depositional processes in an archaeological site. It contains an
in-depth discussion on the role of stratigraphy that helps
determine how deposits are organised in time and space. The authors
-- two experts in the field -- include the information needed to
help recognise depositional systems, processes and stratigraphic
units that aid in the interpreting the stratigraphy and deposits of
a site in the field. The book is filled with practical tools,
numerous illustrative examples, drawings and photos as well as
compelling descriptions that help visualise depositional processes
and clarify how these build the stratigraphy of a site. Based on
the authors' years of experience, the book offers a holistic
approach to the study of archaeological deposits that spans the
broad fundamental aspects to the smallest details. This important
guide: Offers information and principles for interpreting natural
and anthropogenic sediments and physical processes in sites
Provides a framework for reconstructing the history of a deposit
and the site Outlines the fundamental principles of site formation
processes Explores common misconceptions about what constitutes a
deposit Presents a different approach for investigating
archaeological stratigraphy based on sedimentary principles Written
for archaeologists and geoarchaeologists at all levels of expertise
as well as senior level researchers, Reconstructing Archaeological
Sites offers a guide to the theory and practice of how stratigraphy
is produced and how deposits can be organised in time and space.
The environmental movement is plagued by pessimism. And that's not
unreasonable: with so many complicated, seemingly intractable
problems facing the planet, coupled with a need to convince people
of the dangers we face, it's hard not to focus on the negative But
that paints an unbalanced-and overly disheartening-picture of
what's going on with environmental stewardship today. There are
success stories, and Our Once and Future Planet delivers a
fascinating account of one of the most impressive areas of current
environmental experimentation and innovation: ecological
restoration. Veteran investigative reporter Paddy Woodworth has
spent years traveling the globe and talking with people-scientists,
politicians, and ordinary citizens-who are working on the front
lines of the battle against environmental degradation. At sites
ranging from Mexico to New Zealand and Chicago to Cape Town,
Woodworth shows us the striking successes (and a few humbling
failures) of groups that are attempting to use cutting-edge science
to restore blighted, polluted, and otherwise troubled landscapes to
states of ecological health-and, in some of the most controversial
cases, to particular moments in historical time, before widespread
human intervention. His firsthand field reports and interviews with
participants reveal the promise, power, and limitations of
restoration. Ecological restoration alone won't solve the myriad
problems facing our environment. But Our Once and Future Planet
demonstrates the role it can play, and the hope, inspiration, and
new knowledge that can come from saving even one small patch of
earth.
Findings from a study of trilobite fossils This publication,
Trilobites of the Tremadoc Bjorkasholmen Formation in the Oslo
Region, Norway, is Number 47 within the Fossils and Strata series.
This publication offers updated descriptions of trilobite fauna of
the upper Tremadoc Bjorkasholmen Formation. It also addresses the
regional and vertical distribution of the fauna. The international
Fossils and Strata series features monographs in palaeontology and
biostratigraphy with taxonomic descriptions. The series is owned by
and published on behalf of The Lethaia Foundation in cooperation
with the Scandinavian countries.
Few terms have garnered more attention recently in the sciences,
humanities, and public sphere than the Anthropocene, the proposed
epoch in which a human "signature" appears in the
lithostratigraphic record. Anthropocene Reading considers the
implications of this concept for literary history and critical
method. Entering into conversation with geologists and geographers,
this volume reinterprets the cultural past in relation to the
anthropogenic transformation of the Earth system while showcasing
how literary analysis may help us conceptualize this geohistorical
event. The contributors examine how a range of literary texts, from
The Tempest to contemporary dystopian novels to the poetry of Emily
Dickinson, mediate the convergence of the social institutions,
energy regimes, and planetary systems that support the reproduction
of life. They explore the long-standing dialogue between
imaginative literature and the earth sciences and show how
scientists, novelists, and poets represent intersections of
geological and human timescales, the deep past and a posthuman
future, political exigency and the carbon cycle. Accessibly written
and representing a range of methodological perspectives, the essays
in this volume consider what it means to read literary history in
the Anthropocene. Contributors include Juliana Chow, Jeffrey Jerome
Cohen, Thomas H. Ford, Anne-Lise Francois, Noah Heringman, Matt
Hooley, Stephanie LeMenager, Dana Luciano, Steve Mentz, Benjamin
Morgan, Justin Neuman, Jennifer Wenzel, and Derek Woods.
A clear understanding of the Earth's past evolution can provide the
key to its possible future development. The Earth: Its Birth and
Growth explores the evolution of the Earth over 4.6 billion years
using basic reasoning and simple illustrations to help explain the
underlying physical and chemical principles and major processes
involved. Fully updated and revised, this rigorous but accessible
second edition includes three completely new chapters. It
incorporates exciting developments in isotope geology, placing
results within a wider framework of Earth evolution and plate
tectonics. Some background in physics and chemistry is assumed, but
basic theories and processes are explained concisely in
self-contained sections. Key research papers and review articles
are fully referenced. This book is ideal as supplementary reading
for undergraduate and graduate students in isotope geochemistry,
geodynamics, plate tectonics and planetary science. It also
provides an enjoyable overview of Earth's evolution for
professional scientists and general readers.
A student-friendly textbook that describes ancient soils, how they
may be identified, and their use in paleoenvironmental
reconstruction Ancient soils contain vital mineralogical,
geochemical, textural, and paleontological information about the
continental environments in which they formed. Advances in isotope
geochemistry and sequence-stratigraphic models allow evermore
detailed reconstructions of environmental change from paleosols,
and new insights into such diverse topics as atmospheric chemistry,
global change, paleoecology, geobiology and mass extinction. This
book educates readers about the field of paleopedology and how it
remains a key area of investigation for geologists and
environmental scientists seeking to learn about, and reconstruct,
the condition and evolution of paleoenvironments. Presented in
three sections--Soils and Palesols; Factors in Soil Formation; and
Fossil Record of Soils--Soils of the Past: An Introduction to
Paleopedology describes the main types of ancient soil, procedures
for identifying and studying them, their classification and, most
significantly, a wide array of examples of how paleosols have been
used for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. The book is an
excellent reflection of the current state of knowledge and can be
widely adopted over many disciplines. All chapters have been
revised and updated to reflect advances in soil science in the last
two decades New tables display a wealth of new data added since the
2nd edition published in 2001 New figures have been added and line
art has been redrawn to improve clarity and promote understanding
References have been updated throughout Soils of the Past, 3rd
Edition is written for advanced undergraduates studying
paleopedology as part of a degree in geology, environmental
science, or physical geography, and for interested professional
earth scientists.
Thoroughly revised and updated, this new edition of the text that helped define the field continues to present important methods in the quantitative analysis of geologic data, while showing students how statistics and computing can be applied to commonly encountered problems in the earth sciences. In addition to new and expanded coverage of key topics, the Third Edition features new pedagogy, end-of-chapter review exercises, and an accompanying website that contains all of the data for every example and exercise found in the book.
This book is about weather extremes in the United Kingdom. It
presents fascinating and detailed insights into tornadoes
(supercell and non-supercell tornadoes, historical and contemporary
case studies, frequency and spatial distributions, and unique data
on extreme events); thunderstorms (epic event analysis and
observing); hailstorms (intensity, distributions and frequency of
high magnitude events); lightning (lightning as a hazard, impacts
and injuries); ball lightning (definitions, impacts and case
studies); flooding (historical and contemporary analysis, extreme
rainfall and flash flooding); snowfalls (heavy snowfall days and
events). It also looks at researching weather extremes, provides
guidance on performing post-storm site investigations and details
what is involved in severe weather forecasting. It is written by
members, directors and past and present Heads of the research group
the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO). With fifteen
chapters thematically arranged, and data appendix including a new
tornado map of the U.K., this book presents a wealth of information
on meteorological extremes. This volume is aimed primarily at
researchers in the field of meteorology and climatology, but will
also be of interest to advanced undergraduate students taking
relevant courses in this area.
This textbook introduces the use of Python programming for
exploring and modelling data in the field of Earth Sciences. It
drives the reader from his very first steps with Python, like
setting up the environment and starting writing the first lines of
codes, to proficient use in visualizing, analyzing, and modelling
data in the field of Earth Science. Each chapter contains
explicative examples of code, and each script is commented in
detail. The book is minded for very beginners in Python
programming, and it can be used in teaching courses at master or
PhD levels. Also, Early careers and experienced researchers who
would like to start learning Python programming for the solution of
geological problems will benefit the reading of the book.
"[A] gorgeously illustrated compendium."-SunsetThis lavishly
illustrated atlas takes readers off the beaten path and outside
normal conceptions of California, revealing its myriad ecologies,
topographies, and histories in exquisite maps and trail paintings.
Based on decades of exploring the backcountry of the Golden State,
artist-adventurer Obi Kaufmann blends science and art to illuminate
the multifaceted array of living, connected systems like no book
has done before. Kaufmann depicts layer after layer of the natural
world, delighting in the grand scale and details alike. The effect
is staggeringly beautiful: presented alongside California divvied
into its fifty-eight counties, for example, we consider California
made up of dancing tectonic plates, of watersheds, of wildflower
gardens. Maps are enhanced by spirited illustrations of wildlife,
keys that explain natural phenomena, and a clear-sighted but
reverential text. Full of character and color, a bit larger than
life, The California Field Atlas is the ultimate road trip
companion and love letter to a place.
This SpringerBrief presents novel methods of approaching
challenging problems in the reconstruction of accurate 3D models
and serves as an introduction for further 3D reconstruction
methods. It develops a 3D reconstruction system that produces
accurate results by cascading multiple novel loop detection,
sifting, and optimization methods. The authors offer a fast point
cloud registration method that utilizes optimized randomness in
random sample consensus for surface loop detection. The text also
proposes two methods for surface-loop sifting. One is supported by
a sparse-feature-based optimization graph. This graph is more
robust to different scan patterns than earlier methods and can cope
with tracking failure and recovery. The other is an offline
algorithm that can sift loop detections based on their impact on
loop optimization results and which is enabled by a dense map
posterior metric for 3D reconstruction and mapping performance
evaluation works without any costly ground-truth data. The methods
presented in Towards Optimal Point Cloud Processing for 3D
Reconstruction will be of assistance to researchers developing 3D
modelling methods and to workers in the wide variety of fields that
exploit such technology including metrology, geological animation
and mass customization in smart manufacturing.
Statistical Methods for Spatial and Spatio-Temporal Data Analysis
provides a complete range of spatio-temporal covariance functions
and discusses ways of constructing them. This book is a unified
approach to modeling spatial and spatio-temporal data together with
significant developments in statistical methodology with
applications in R. This book includes: * Methods for selecting
valid covariance functions from the empirical counterparts that
overcome the existing limitations of the traditional methods. * The
most innovative developments in the different steps of the kriging
process. * An up-to-date account of strategies for dealing with
data evolving in space and time. * An accompanying website
featuring R code and examples
Based on a course taught by the author, this book combines the
theoretical underpinnings of statistics with the practical analysis
of Earth sciences data using MATLAB. The book is organized to
introduce the underlying concepts, and then extends these to the
data, covering methods that are most applicable to Earth sciences.
Topics include classical parametric estimation and hypothesis
testing, and more advanced least squares-based, nonparametric, and
resampling estimators. Multivariate data analysis, not often
encountered in introductory texts, is presented later in the book,
and compositional data is treated at the end. Datasets and bespoke
MATLAB scripts used in the book are available online, as well as
additional datasets and suggested questions for use by instructors.
Aimed at entering graduate students and practicing researchers in
the Earth and ocean sciences, this book is ideal for those who want
to learn how to analyse data using MATLAB in a
statistically-rigorous manner.
Spatiotemporal Random Fields: Theory and Applications, Second
Edition, provides readers with a new and updated edition of the
text that explores the application of spatiotemporal random field
models to problems in ocean, earth, and atmospheric sciences,
spatiotemporal statistics, and geostatistics, among others. The new
edition features considerable detail of spatiotemporal random field
theory, including ordinary and generalized models, as well as
space-time homostationary, isostationary and hetrogeneous
approaches. Presenting new theoretical and applied results, with
particular emphasis on space-time determination and interpretation,
spatiotemporal analysis and modeling, random field geometry, random
functionals, probability law, and covariance construction
techniques, this book highlights the key role of space-time
metrics, the physical interpretation of stochastic differential
equations, higher-order space-time variability functions, the
validity of major theoretical assumptions in real-world practice
(covariance positive-definiteness, metric-adequacy etc.), and the
emergence of interdisciplinary phenomena in conditions of
multi-sourced real-world uncertainty.
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