In diamond alluvial deposits, the information about the spatial distribution of stone size is of crucial importance for the quantitative characterisation of the different areas of the deposit. In fact, the value of the diamond reserves depends strongly on the distribution of stone sizes: between two areas with the same grade, the most valuable is the one with larger stones. The geological genesis of the mineralization, related with the transport and deposition of stones in trapsites, can create separated spatial areas, corresponding to different stone size. To characterise these distinct areas, the non smooth transitions between them should be accounted for, in the estimation of internal properties. An extended version of zonal control of geostatistical estimation (Soares et ai, 1995) proposed in this paper, aims to characterising the classes of size histogram for each geological unit, avoiding the smooth effect. For this purpose the morphology of each geological unit is obtained by using two distinct criteria: i) first, the points of each unit are classified according to the local and global probabilities of belonging to each unit (Soares, 1992); ii) in a second classification, the optimization technique of Simulated Annealing is used to rearrange the pre-classified points in order to impose, in the final morphological maps, the spatial variability of experimental samples (Goovaerts, 1994). A case study of a diamond alluvial deposit with two geological units with distinct stone size histograms is presented.

Rock masses are initially stressed in their current in situ state of stress and to a lesser natural state. Whether one is interested in the extent on the monitoring of stress change. formation of geological structures (folds, faults, The subject of paleostresses is only briefly intrusions, etc. ), the stability of artificial struc discussed. tures (tunnels, caverns, mines, surface excava The last 30 years have seen a major advance our knowledge and understanding of rock tions, etc. ), or the stability of boreholes, a in the in situ or virgin stress field, stress. A large body of data is now available on knowledge of along with other rock mass properties, is the state of stress in the near surface of the needed in order to predict the response of rock Earth's crust (upper 3-4km of the crust). masses to the disturbance associated with those Various theories have been proposed regarding structures. Stress in rock is usually described the origin of in situ stresses and how gravity, within the context of continuum mechanics. It is tectonics, erosion, lateral straining, rock fabric, defined at a point and is represented by a glaciation and deglaciation, topography, curva second-order Cartesian tensor with six compo ture of the Earth and other active geological nents. Because of its definition, rock stress is an features and processes contribute to the current enigmatic and fictitious quantity creating chal in situ stress field."

GlobalSoilMap: Digital Soil Mapping from Country to Globe contains contributions that were presented at the 2nd GlobalSoilMap conference, held 4-6 July 2017 in Moscow, Russian Federation. These contributions demonstrate new developments in the GlobalSoilMap project and digital soil mapping technology in many parts of the world, with special focus on former USSR countries. GlobalSoilMap: Digital Soil Mapping from Country to Globe aims to stimulate capacity building and new incentives to develop full GlobalSoilMap products in all parts of the world.

Over the last few decades inversion concepts have become an integral part of experimental data interpretation in several branches of science. In numerous cases similar inversion-like techniques were developed independently in separate disciplines, sometimes based on different lines of reasoning, but not always to the same level of sophistication.
This book is based on the Interdisciplinary Inversion Conference held at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. For scientists and graduate students in geophysics, astronomy, oceanography, petroleum geology, and geodesy, the book offers a wide variety of examples and theoretical background in the field of inversion techniques.

The proceedings of the Eleventh International Basement Tectonics Conference is part of a major series of publications dealing with intraplate tectonics. The Eleventh Conference, held in Potsdam, Germany, presents aspects of the basement tectonics of Eastern and Western Europe; the first time they have been assembled in one meeting. Internationally recognised experts in a variety of fields review broad, key, integrative aspects of major fields which contribute to the understanding of the European basement and to geophysical methods of basement analysis. The book focuses mainly on the structure and history of the entire European continent. The recent political reorganisation of Europe has helped to promote several international programs aimed at understanding the deep basement of the European continental features. Accordingly, the majority of the papers included in this volume deal with different aspects on the structure and evolution of the European continent and its various orogenic belts and postorogenic features. Topics range from modelling of the thermal evolution of basement rocks, fabrics in deformed rocks, and geophysical features of basement units to intrusion and concomitant deformation of the basement. Similar aspects are addressed in further chapters focusing on other Phanerozoic cratons and are grouped around topics of current interest: the problem of extrapolation and correlation of geological and geophysical data from basement rocks, and the mechanisms of basement exhumation in the evolution of orogenic belts.

The Workshop on Parameter Identification and Inverse Problems in Hydrology, Geology and Ecology, Karlsruhe, April 10-12, 1995, was organized to bring to gether an interdisciplinary group drawn from the areas of science, engineering and mathematics for the following purposes: - to promote, encourage and influence more understanding and cooperation in the community of parameter identifiers from various disciplines, - to forge unity in diversity by bringing together a variety of disciplines that attempt to understand the reconstruction of inner model parameters, un known nonlinear constitutive relations, heterogeneous structures inside of geological objects, sources or sinks from observational data, - to discuss modern regularization tools for handling improperly posed pro blems and strategies of incorporating a priori knowledge from the applied problem into the model and its treatment. These proceedings contain some of the results of the workshop, representing a bal anced selection of contributions from the various groups of participants. The reviewed invited and contributed articles are grouped according to the broad headings of hydrology, non-linear diffusion and soil physics, geophysical methods, mathematical analysis of inverse and ill-posed problems and parallel algorithms for inverse problems. Some of the issues adressed by the articles in these proceedings include the rela tion between least squares and direct formulations of inverse problems for partial differential equations, nonlinear regularization, identification of nonlinear consti tutive relations, fast parallel algorithms for large scale inverse problems, reduction of model structures, geostatistical inversion techniques."

Sealing of boreholes and underground excavations has not received much engineering attention until fairly recently. The growing awareness of and sensitivity to environmental concerns of the technical community as well as of the public at large has resulted in an increasing recognition of the fact that these geological penetrations may have an environmental impact. The issue of possible contamination resulting from migration along boreholes, adits, shafts or tunnels unquestionably has been raised most forcefully with in the context of nuclear waste disposal. Several nuclear waste disposal programs, notably the Civilian and the Defence programs of the US De partment of Energy, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Canadian and Swedish radioactive waste disposal programs have conducted major research efforts aimed at developing adequate seal designs for penet rations in host rock formations for high-level nuclear waste repositories. While a considerable data base has been gathered over the last two decades or so with regard to the performance of seals, most of the information is presented in research reports and widely scattered papers in journals and proceedings of conferences. Hence, the materials are not readily accessible to potential users such as designers, contractors or regulators who are not familiar with nuclear waste disposal programs."

The Sea Floor deals with the most important results achieved in Marine Geology over the last three decades. Relevant geophysical, geochemical, sedimentological and paleontological methods are shortly described. They should allow the reader to comment on new results about plate tectonics, marine sedimentation from the coasts to the deep sea, climatological aspects, paleoceanology and the use of the sea floor. The text tries to transmit to the reader the excitement of marine geological research both aboard and in modern laboratories. Basic mineralogical, geochemical, biological and other relevant data and a detailed list of books and symposia are given in an Appendix. The third corrected and revised edition contains an enlarged and updated list of references and some new figures.

Geodynamics concerns with the dynamics of the global motion of the earth, of the motion in the earth's interior and its interaction with surface features, together with the mechanical processes in the deformation and rupture of geological structures. Its final object is to determine the driving mechanism of these motions which is highly interdisciplinary. In preparing the basic geological, geophysical data required for a comprehensive mechanical analysis, there are also many mechanical problems involved, which means the problem is coupled in a complicated manner with geophysics, rock mechanics, seismology, structural geology etc. This topical issue is Part I of the Proceedings of an IUTAM / IASPEI Symposium on Mechanics Problems in Geodynamics held in Beijing, September 1994. It addresses different aspects of mechanics problems in geodynamics involving tectonic analyses, lithospheric structures, rheology and the fracture of earth media, mantle flow, either globally or regionally, and either by forward or inverse analyses or numerical simulation.

Market: Researchers in solid earth geophysics and planetary geophysics. This book is a record of the one-day symposium organized by the Space Policy Institute of the George Washington University's Elliot School of International Affairs, in cooperation with NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth. The meeting provided an authoritative overview of the progress that had been made to date in the study of Earth from space and identified the steps being taken to ensure that future space-based Earth observation missions make as great a scientific contribution as possible in support of the Earth system science concept.

The 1993 Southwest Hokkaido Earthquake of Magnitude 7. 9 (July 12, 22: 17 JST) caused serious tsunami disasters in the southwestern part of Hokkaido, particularly on Okushiri Island (a tiny island off the southwest coast of Hokkaido with a population of about 4,500 at the time of earthquake). Of 230 casualties, including 28 missing, about 200 deaths are attributable to the tsunami. We have conducted detailed field surveys of tsunami disasters to learn lessons from this costly natural experiment for the future prevention of similar tsunami disasters. Our field work was conducted in four surveys totaling 39 days. During the first field survey (July 16 through July 21, 1994), we worked mostly on the estimation of the subsidence of Okushiri Island during the earthquake. Hence, our main work on tsunami disasters initiated from the second field survey (July 31 through Aug. 15, 1994). Several groups have conducted detailed surveys of the distribution of tsunami runup height as measured from the level of sea water (TsUJI et al. , 1 994a, b; MATSUTOMI and SHUTO, 1994; GOTO et al. , 1994). Such a precise runup height distribution is essential for characterizing tsunami, including its overall size. Indeed, the height distribution is the fundamental data for inferring earthquake source parameters through the simulation of tsunami generation (TAKAHASHI et al. , 1994; IMAMURA et al. , 1994; TSUJI et al. , 1994a; SATAKE and TANIOKA 1994; ABE, 1994; TANIOKA et al. , in review).

This book describes four different methods of paleotemperature assessment on selected Paleozoic rock units and determines spatial variations in maximum burial depths of these units and thicknesses of lost overburden. Stratigraphic and tectonic history of the northern Appalachian basin is described in details followed by a critical review of fluid inclusion, clay diagenesis, organic maturation, and stable isotope techniques of paleotemperature measurements in sedimentary rocks.

This volume follows a Specialized Symposium on "Mantle denudation in slow spreading ridges and in ophiolites," held at the XII EUG Meeting in Strasbourg, spring 1993. During the meeting it was felt that the contribu tions to the Symposium justified a volume presenting its main scientific achievements. The present title of the volume shows that the center of inter est has slightly shifted with respect to the initial objective: in order to under stand the processes involved in accretion taking place at oceanic ridges, it is crucial to study the interaction between uppermost mantle and lower crust. The approach favored here is that of petrological and structural analysis of oceanic rocks in present-day oceanic ridges combined with similar studies in ophiolites. Rock specimen collected by submersibles or dredge hauls in oceanic ridge environments provide a "ground truth." However, except for areas such as the MARK (Mid-Atlantic Ridge ne ar Kane fracture zone) where, thanks to multiple submersible dives, the local geology is known with aprecision even better than in many onshore ophiolites, mutual rela tionships between uppermost mantle and lower crust are poorly known. In contrast, onshore ophiolites provide a necessary large-scale picture built up over many years of structural and petrological mapping."

Experts in the field offer the first comprehensive review of the tectonics and magmatism of backarc basins, covering their initial rift stage to mature spreading. Complete with numerous illustrations, each of the twelve chapters focuses on a young, active backarc basin of the circum-Pacific-where volcano-tectonic processes are best studied because of their activity. Key themes in this volume include volcano-tectonics setting; cause and location; rift magmas; and hydrothermal activity. Researchers also present models of the dynamic processes occurring in backarc basins.

Under the auspices of the Tsunami Commission of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics and the International Coordination Group of the International Oceanographic Commission, the IUGGIIOC International Tsunami Symposium, TSUNAMI '93 (Sixteenth International Tsunami Symposium) was held in Wakayama, Olle of the most historical areas in the prevention of tsunami disasters in Japan, from 23 to 27 August, 1993 by the Organizing Committee of the Japan Society of Ovil Engineers, in commemoration of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. More than one hundred and fifty scientists, engineers and specialists specializing in tsunami research and mitigation of the disasters met from thirteen countries to exchange current information on technica1 advances and to discuss progress in the science. Over hundred and ten abstracts were submitted, most of which were excellent. It was specially agreed in this symposium that in the aftemoon of the third day a usual session for operational tsunami warning systems and plans for improvement is hdd, but three days for presentation and publication restrictions only permit the presentation of less than 78 papers.

The 10th International Basement Tectonics Conference was conducted on the campus of the University of Minnesota, Duluth, in Duluth, Minnesota, USA, from August I through August 11, 1992. A total of 78 individuals were in attendance, 47 of which represented the host country, with the remaining 31 traveling from 11 different foreign countries. The four days of presentations were divided into three technical sessions, namely "Shear Zones," "Basement Control On Younger Structures," and "Rifting Midcontinent Rift System." This tripartite conference theme was also employed in the field trip agenda with three excursions being offered, all ably organized by Field Trip Chairman John C. Green. The pre-conference trip set the stage through a two day review of the "Archean and Early Proterozoic Rocks of Northeastern Minnesota." Under beautiful summer skies, 16 sites were visited within the Vermilion district of Minnesota, considered to be the best example of an Archean greenstone belt in the United States. All registrants participated in the mid-conference trip conducted along the gabbroic and volcanic terrain of the "Midcontinent Rift, Northeastern Minnesota.""

The stereographic projection is an essential tool in the fields of structural geology and geotechnics, which allows three-dimensional orientation data to be represented and manipulated. This book has been designed to make the subject as accessible as possible. It gives a straightforward and simple introduction to the subject and, by means of examples, illustrations and exercises, encourages the student to visualise the problems in three dimensions. Students of all levels will be able to work through the book and come away with a clear understanding of how to apply these vital techniques. This revised edition contains additional material on geotechnical applications, improved illustrations and links to useful web resources and software programs. It will provide students of geology, rock mechanics, geotechnical and civil engineering with an indispensable guide to the analysis and interpretation of field orientation data.

Fractals have changed the way we understand and study nature. This change has been brought about mainly by the work of B. B. Mandelbrot and his book The Fractal Geometry of Nature. Now here is a book that collects articles treating fractals in the earth sciences. The themes chosen span, as is appropriate for a discourse on fractals, many orders of magnitude; including earthquakes, ocean floor topography, fractures, faults, mineral crystallinity, gold and silver deposition. There are also chapters on dynamical processes that are fractal, such as rivers, earthquakes, and a paper on self-organized criticality. Many of the chapters discuss how to estimate fractal dimensions, Hurst exponents, and other scaling exponents. This book, in a way, represents a snapshot of a field in which fractals has brought inspiration and a fresh look at familiar subjects. New ideas and attempts to quantify the world we see around us are found throughout. Many of these ideas will grow and inspire further work, others will be superseded by new observations and insights, most probably with future contributions by the authors of these chapters.

In this unique volume, renowned experts discuss the applications of fractals in petroleum research-offering an excellent introduction to the subject. Contributions cover a broad spectrum of applications from petroleum exploration to production. Papers also illustrate how fractal geometry can quantify the spatial heterogeneity of different aspects of geology and how this information can be used to improve exploration and production results.

Africa is home to more than the Cradle of Humankind. It was the core of the ancient supercontinent Pangaea, and comprises some of the oldest and most extraordinary geology on planet Earth.

This detailed and colourful book features 44 of the continent's most spectacular and interesting 'geosites', from Table Mountain in the south to the eroded necks and plugs of the Hoggar region in Algeria; and from the volcanic islands of the Atlantic Ocean to the continental fragments off the African east coast. Each site is authored by a geologist (or specialist in a related field) with in-depth knowledge about the particular feature or landform: how it formed and developed, its current geological status, ecological impact, and its archaeological and cultural interest.

Supported with many photographs, maps, satellite images and explanatory illustrations, the text is accessible to geologists and lay enthusiasts alike, unpacking the hows and whys of Africa's most intriguing landforms, sites and geological features.

Within the past five years, the international community has recognized that it may be possible, through programs of systematic study, to devise means to reduce and mitigate the occurrence of a variety of devastating natural hazards. Among these disasters are earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, and landslides. The importance of these studies is underscored by the fact that within fifty years, more than a third of the world's population will live in seismically and volcanically active zones. The International Council of Scientific Unions, together with UNESCO and the World Bank, have therefore endorsed the 1990s as the International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR), and are planning a variety of programs to address problems related to the predictability and mitigation of these disasters, particularly in third-world countries. Parallel programs have begun in a number of U.S. agencies.One of the most promising scientific avenues is to develop the capability to simulate these physical processes in the computer, Many of the recent models are nonlinear in significant ways, for example cellular automata or fractal growth models. They can thus be analyzed in a framework familiar to workers in complex system theory. It is often the case that the occurrence frequency of disaster events generated by the models follow power laws, perhaps with cutoffs. Thus there is a spectrum of event sizes, from small to large, that are presumably related by the nonlinear dynamics of the process. Simulation techniques can be used to study the fundamental physics of the process. Simulation techniques can be used to study the fundamental physics of the process, and most importantly, to develop meansto predict the patterns of occurrence of large events in the models and to identify precursory phenomena.

... A diskette with the updated programme of Appendix C and examples is available through the author at a small fee. email: [email protected] or at: URL http: //www.seas.ucla.edu/~nezheng/ fax: 1--310--825--5435 ... This book systematically discusses basic concepts, theory, solution methods and applications of inverse problems in groundwater modeling. It is the first book devoted to this subject. The inverse problem is defined and solved in both deterministic and statistic frameworks. Various direct and indirect methods are discussed and compared. As a useful tool, the adjoint state method and its applications are given in detail. For a stochastic field, the maximum likelihood estimation and co-kriging techniques are used to estimate unknown parameters. The ill-posed problem of inverse solution is highlighted through the whole book. The importance of data collection strategy is specially emphasized. Besides the classical design criteria, the relationships between decision making, prediction, parameter identification and experimental design are considered from the point of view of extended identifiabilities. The problem of model structure identification is also considered. This book can be used as a textbook for graduate students majoring in hydrogeology or related subjects. It is also a reference book for hydrogeologists, petroleum engineers, environmental engineers, mining engineers and applied mathematicians.

THE MEETING The IAU Symposium 160 ASTEROIDS COMETS METEORS 1999 has been held at Villa Carlotta in Belgirate, on the shore of Lago Maggiore (Italy), from June 14 to June 18, 1993. It has been organized by the Astronomical Observatory of Torino and by the Lunar and Planetary Institute of Houston. It has been a very large meeting, with 323 registered participants from 38 countries. The scientific program included 29 invited reviews, 106 oral communications, and 215 posters. The subjects covered included all the aspects of the studies of the minor bodies of the solar system, including asteroids, comets, meteors, meteorites, interplanetary dust, with special focus on the interrelationships between these. The meeting was structured as follows. 5 morning plenary sessions have been devoted to invited reviews on: (1) search programs (2) populations of small bodies (3) dynamics (4) physical observations and modelling (5) origin and evolution. Two afternoon plenary sessions have been devoted to space missions to small bodies and to interrelationships between the different populations. The afternoon parallel sessions have been devoted to: dynamics of comets; Toutatis, Ida, Gaspra; physical processes in cometary comae and tails; meteorites; the cosmogonic message from cometary nuclei; physics of asteroids; the interplanetary dust complex; comet nuclei; meteors; composition and material properties of comets; dynamics of asteroids.

Public awareness of the importance of Antarctic research, particularly in relation to global problems, has increased. The book spans a broad spectrum of Antarctic science from the "ozone hole" to microbiology to the sea ice. The main focus is on the role of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in the world climate system, e.g. the formation of sea ice and its relevance to ocean circulation, the biological pump in relation to CO2 release. The past climate history is revealed by the analysis of ice cores and sediments. Studies of plate tectonics and fossil records reach further back in earth history. Key words in the biological chapters are krill and the rich Antarctic benthos. Finally, the potential conflict between conservationists, researchers and tourists is discussed.

When this two-day meeting was proposed, it was certainly not conceived as a celebration, much less as a party. However, on reflection, this might have been a wholly appropriate gesture because geostatistical simulation came of age this year: it is now 21 years since it was first proposed and implemented in the form of the turning bands method. The impetus for the original development was the mining industry, principally the problems encountered in mine planning and design based on smoothed estimates which did not reflect the degree of variability and detail present in the real, mined values. The sustained period of development over recent years has been driven by hydrocarbon applications. In addition to the original turning bands method there are now at least six other established methods of geostatistical simulation. Having reached adulthood, it is entirely appropriate that geostatistical simulation should now be subjected to an intense period of reflection and assessment. That we have now entered this period was evident in many of the papers and much of the discussion at the Fontainebleau meeting. Many questions were clearly articulated for the first time and, although many ofthem were not unambiguously answered, their presentation at the meeting and publication in this book will generate confirmatory studies and further research.