This book considers the provisional nature of cities in relation to the Anthropocene - the proposed geological epoch of human-induced changes to the Earth system. It charts an environmental history of curfews, admonitions and alarms about dwelling on Earth. 'Provisional cities' are explored as exemplary sites for thinking about living in this unsettled time. Each chapter focuses on cities, settlements or proxy urbanisations, including past disaster zones, remote outposts in the present and future urban fossils. The book explores the dynamic, changing and contradictory relationship between architecture and the global environmental crisis and looks at how to re-position architectural and urban practice in relation to wider intellectual, environmental, political and cultural shifts. The book argues that these rounder and richer accounts can better equip humanity to think through questions of vulnerability, responsibility and opportunity that are presented by immense processes of planetary change. These are cautionary tales for the Anthropocene. Central to this project is the proposition that living with uncertainty requires that architecture is reframed as a provisional practice. This book would be beneficial to students and academics working in architecture, geography, planning and environmental humanities as well as professionals working to shape the future of cities.

Get a rock-solid grasp on geology Geology For Dummies is ideal reading for anyonewith an interest in the fundamental concepts of geology, whether they're lifelong learners with a fascination for the subject or college students interested in pursuing geology or earth sciences. Presented in a straightforward, trusted format--and tracking to a typical introductory geology course at the college level--this book features a thorough introduction to the study of earth, its materials, and its processes. Rock records and geologic time Large-scale motion of tectonic plates Matter, minerals, and rocks The geological processes on earth's surface Rock that geology class with Geology For Dummies!

With water as one of the most critical resources of nature that is necessary for sustaining life for all living things, it has become very important for designing and using spatial informational techniques for understanding the root causes behind the degradation of our water resources. This volume discusses in detail a selection of geospatial approaches, tools, and techniques. The uses of geographical information science to measure and manage water resources are diverse. Satellite remote sensing provides essential data for mapping water resources, hydrology flux measurement, monitoring drought, and flood inundation. With an abundance of informative case studies, the chapters discuss the use of the satellite remote sensing and GIS-based systems for managing urban storm water; for flood and soil erosion management; for mapping groundwater zones; for crop production, including measuring soil moisture and aridity; for gauging the impact of climate change; for evaluating glacier change dynamics; for assessing the impact of urban growth on water resources; for measuring the degradation of rivers; and more. This peer-reviewed volume imparts important information on spatial information techniques that are used for understanding the root causes behind the degradation of our water resources. GIScience for the Sustainable Management of Water Resources will be a valuable resource for urban planners, environmentalists, policymakers, ecologists, researchers, academicians, students, and professionals in the fields of remote sensing, civil engineering, social science, computer science, and information technology.

This is the 2nd edition of one of the most comprehensive accounts of debris flow, describing both theoretical and applied aspects. In the first part, the fundamental mechanical characteristics are discussed, including flow characteristics, type classification, mechanics, occurrence and development, fully developed flow, and deposition processes. The second part sheds light on the application of the theories presented in computer-simulated reproductions of real disasters. Special attention is paid to debris flow controlling structures, design effectiveness and performance, soft countermeasure problems, such as the identification of debris flow prone ravines and the prediction of occurrence by means of precipitation threshold. This new edition has been wholly revised and updated, and now includes a new chapter on sediment runoff models that include debris flow processes and new sections concerning landslides. The qualitative and fundamental character of this text makes it an excellent textbook for graduate-level courses and it is recommended reading for professionals in engineering, geosciences and water resources who are working on the mechanics and countermeasures of debris flow. The original, Japanese version of this book was awarded the 'Publishing Culture Prize' by the Japanese Society of Civil Engineers (2004). Tamotsu Takahashi is Professor Emeritus at the University of Kyoto. In addition to his academic positions, he is the Director of the Association for Disaster Prevention Research in Kyoto. Professor Takahashi began his career in flood dynamics research, and increasingly focused on debris flow and flood hazards. He has been honoured with several awards from the Japan Society of Civil Engineers and the Japan Society of Erosion Control Engineering. An earlier book entitled 'Debris Flow', by Tamotsu Takahashi, in the book series of the International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research, was published by Balkema Publishers, now a part of the Taylor & Francis Group.

This seventh volume of the DPER series examines imaging techniques for sedimentologists, paleolimnologists, paleoceanographers and microscopists working on issues related to paleoenvironmental reconstruction. It will help the researcher or graduate student to understand every step involved in the imaging process, from image acquisition to measurements. Procedures are described to ensure that the right protocols and methodology are selected to solve a particular issue, and to evaluate the validity of scientific results. Case studies illustrate the wide range of information that can be obtained from many kinds of sediments (marine, lacustrine and aeolian) and different types of samples (cores, embedded blocks, microscopic slides) using different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum (visible, UV, IR, X-ray). The volume provides comprehensive protocols, guidelines, and recommendations for the use of low cost image analysis techniques, to facilitate intercomparisons of measurements.

To this day, there is a great amount of controversy about where, when and how the so-called supercontinents--Pangea, Godwana, Rodinia, and Columbia--were made and broken. Continents and Supercontinents frames that controversy by giving all the necessary background on how continental crust is formed, modified, and destroyed, and what forces move plates. It also discusses how these processes affect the composition of seawater, climate, and the evolution of life.
Rogers and Santosh begin with a survey of plate tectonics, and go on to describe the composition, production, and destruction of continental and oceanic crust, and show that cratons or assemblies of cratons became the first true continents, approximately one billion years after the earliest continental crust evolved. The middle part of the book concentrates on supercontinents, beginning with a discussion of types of orogenic belts, distinguishing those that formed by closure of an ocean basin within the belt and those that formed by intracontinental deformation caused by stresses generated elsewhere. This information permits discrimination between models of supercontinent formation by accretion of numerous small terranes and by reorganization of large old continental blocks.
This background leads to a description of the assembly and fragmentation of supercontinents throughout earth history. The record is most difficult to interpret for the oldest supercontinent, Columbia, and also controversial for Rodinia, the next youngest supercontinent. The configurations and pattern of breakup of Gondwana and Pangea are well known, but some aspects of their assembly are unclear. The book also briefly describes the histories ofcontinents after the breakup of Pangea, and discusses how changes in the composition of seawater, climate, and life may have been affected by the sizes and locations of continents and supercontinents.

1. Clearly explains the geology of regions with emphasis on landscape formation. 2. Addresses issues of public interest such as earthquakes, mining, and climate change. 3. Lavishly illustrated with numerous colorful maps and breathtaking geological landscapes and their various features. 4. Describes the major geologic features of the United Kingdom through the device of a geologic tour for professionals as well as individuals without any geology training. 5. Written in easy-to-understand language, the author brings their own experience to the readers who want to explore and understand geologic sites first-hand.

One of the fundamental goals of earth system science research is to adopt a more holistic view of the earth as a 'system' comprising different domains. The Society of Earth Scientists has brought out this multidisciplinary publication to emphasize the need of an integrated approach to understand the Earth system. It focuses on natural disasters and, in particular, on climate change and its effects in Asia and understanding the significance of these developments within the context of the paleo-climatic record. The later sections of the book then focus on other types of natural disasters as well as those induced by human interaction with our environment.

Mathematical Morphology in Geomorphology and GISci presents a multitude of mathematical morphological approaches for processing and analyzing digital images in quantitative geomorphology and geographic information science (GISci). Covering many interdisciplinary applications, the book explains how to use mathematical morphology not only to perform quantitative morphologic and scaling analyses of terrestrial phenomena and processes, but also to deal with challenges encountered in quantitative spatial reasoning studies. For understanding the spatiotemporal characteristics of terrestrial phenomena and processes, the author provides morphological approaches and algorithms to: Retrieve unique geomorphologic networks and certain terrestrial features Analyze various geomorphological phenomena and processes via a host of scaling laws and the scale-invariant but shape-dependent indices Simulate the fractal-skeletal-based channel network model and the behavioral phases of geomorphologic systems based on the interplay between numeric and graphic analyses Detect strategically significant sets and directional relationships via quantitative spatial reasoning Visualize spatiotemporal behavior and generate contiguous maps via spatial interpolation Incorporating peer-reviewed content, this book offers simple explanations that enable readers-even those with no background in mathematical morphology-to understand the material. It also includes easy-to-follow equations and many helpful illustrations that encourage readers to implement the ideas.

Geology - Basics for Engineers (second edition) presents the physical and chemical characteristics of the Earth, the nature and the properties of rocks and unconsolidated deposits/sediments, the action of water, how the Earth is transformed by various phenomena at different scales of time and space. The book shows the engineer how to take geological conditions into account in their projects, and how to exploit a wide range of natural resources in an intelligent way, reduce geological hazards, and manage subsurface pollution. This second edition has been fully revised and updated. Through a problem-based learning approach, this instructional text imparts knowledge and practical experience to engineering students (undergraduate and graduate level), as well as to experts in the fields of civil engineering, environmental engineering, earth sciences, architecture, land and urban planning. Free digital supplements to the book, found on the book page, contain solutions to the problems and animations that show additional facets of the living Earth. The original French edition of the book (2007) won the prestigious Roberval Prize, an international contest organized by the University of Technology of Compiegne in collaboration with the General Council of Oise, France. Geology, Basics for Engineers was selected out of a total of 110 candidates. The jury praised the book as a "very well conceived teaching textbook" and underscored its highly didactic nature, as well as the excellent quality of its illustrations. Features: Offers an exhaustive outline of the methods and techniques used in geology, with a study of the nature and properties of the principal soils and rocks Helps students understand how geological conditions should be taken into account by the engineer by taking a problem-solving approach Contains extensive figures and examples, solutions to probems, and illustrative animations Presents a highly didactic and synthetic work intended for engineering students as well as experts in civil engineering, environmental engineering, the earth sciences, and architecture

Geology - Basics for Engineers (second edition) presents the physical and chemical characteristics of the Earth, the nature and the properties of rocks and unconsolidated deposits/sediments, the action of water, how the Earth is transformed by various phenomena at different scales of time and space. The book shows the engineer how to take geological conditions into account in their projects, and how to exploit a wide range of natural resources in an intelligent way, reduce geological hazards, and manage subsurface pollution. This second edition has been fully revised and updated. Through a problem-based learning approach, this instructional text imparts knowledge and practical experience to engineering students (undergraduate and graduate level), as well as to experts in the fields of civil engineering, environmental engineering, earth sciences, architecture, land and urban planning. Free digital supplements to the book, found on the book page, contain solutions to the problems and animations that show additional facets of the living Earth. The original French edition of the book (2007) won the prestigious Roberval Prize, an international contest organized by the University of Technology of Compiegne in collaboration with the General Council of Oise, France. Geology, Basics for Engineers was selected out of a total of 110 candidates. The jury praised the book as a "very well conceived teaching textbook" and underscored its highly didactic nature, as well as the excellent quality of its illustrations. Features: Offers an exhaustive outline of the methods and techniques used in geology, with a study of the nature and properties of the principal soils and rocks Helps students understand how geological conditions should be taken into account by the engineer by taking a problem-solving approach Contains extensive figures and examples, solutions to probems, and illustrative animations Presents a highly didactic and synthetic work intended for engineering students as well as experts in civil engineering, environmental engineering, the earth sciences, and architecture

This guide is for those who wish to understand the interplay between rocks and scenery in a truly classic geology in Europe. Nowhere else in Britain is this link to be more clearly observed. Key geological localities that make the Scottish Highlands a unique region for the study of geology are linked together geographically in a series of journeys. The Western Highlands contain some of the oldest rocks in Europe in a landscape formed more than a billion years ago that has re-emerged from the depths. Geologists have been examining these rocks since the early nineteenth century and, in spite of intense research in this tiny fraction of the Earth's surface, major controversies still surround some of the rock formations. Many fundamentally important concepts in geology were first developed here and then applied elsewhere around the world. The region is an outstanding natural laboratory for the study of mountain building and folding, including the discovery that thick sequences of rocks have been turned completely upside down, and pushed sideways for over 100 kilometres. Representatives of all the major rocks types are found here, and their ages span three-quarters of geological time since the Earth began, some four and a half billion years ago. The journeys and localities are detailed in chapters: Tongue to Lochinver; Lochinver, Assynt, Ullapool; Ullapool to Gairloch; Gairloch to Kyle of Lochalsh; Kyle of Lochalsh, Glenelg, Mallaig, Cluanie, Glen Roy; Fort William, Loch Eil, Glenfinnan, Lochailort, Ardnamurchan, Strontian; Fort William, Ballachulish, Kentallen, Oban, Easdale, Kilmartin, Tayvallich and Kilmory; Fort William, Ben Nevis and Glen Nevis, Ballachulish, Glencoe, Glen Etive, Glen Orchy and Loch Lomond. Excursions are easily accessible, along footpaths and the coast, with a few more challenging options, including Ben Nevis, Scotland's highest mountain. This is an ideal accompaniment for geologists and earth science students visiting the Western Highlands.

The third edition of this well-known textbook, first published in 1980, has been completely revised in order to adequately reflect the drastic changes which occured in the field of geodesy in the last twenty years. Reference systems are now well established by space techniques, which dominate positioning and gravity field determination. Terrestrial techniques still play an important role at local and regional applications, whereby remarkable progress has been made with respect to automatic data aquisition. Evaluation methods are now three-dimensional in principle, and have to take the gravity field into account. Geodetic control networks follow these developments, with far-reaching consequences for geodetic practice. Finally, the increased accuracy of geodetic products and high data rates have significantly increased the contributions of geodesy to geodynamics research, thus strengthening the role of geodesy within the geosciences. The present state of geodesy is illustrated by recent examples of instruments and results. An extensive reference list supports further studies.

Why an awareness of Earth's temporal rhythms is critical to our planetary survival Few of us have any conception of the enormous timescales of our planet's long history, and this narrow perspective underlies many of the environmental problems we are creating. The lifespan of Earth can seem unfathomable compared to the brevity of human existence, but this view of time denies our deep roots in Earth's history-and the magnitude of our effects on the planet. Timefulness reveals how knowing the rhythms of Earth's deep past and conceiving of time as a geologist does can give us the perspective we need for a more sustainable future. Featuring illustrations by Haley Hagerman, this compelling book offers a new way of thinking about our place in time, showing how our everyday lives are shaped by processes that vastly predate us, and how our actions today will in turn have consequences that will outlast us by generations. This edition includes discussion questions for reading groups.

No engineering structure can be built on the ground or within it without the influence of geology being experienced by the engineer. Yet geology is an ancillary subject to students of engineering and it is therefore essential that their training is supported by a concise, reliable and usable text on geology and its relationship to engineering. In this book all the fundamental aspects of geology are described and explained, but within the limits thought suitable for engineers. It describes the structure of the earth and the operation of its internal processes, together with the geological processes that shape the earth and produce its rocks and soils. It also details the commonly occurring types of rock and soil, and many types of geological structure and geological maps. Care has been taken to focus on the relationship between geology and geomechanics, so emphasis has been placed on the geological processes that bear directly upon the composition, structure and mechanics of soil and rocks, and on the movement of groundwater. The descriptions of geological processes and their products are used as the basis for explaining why it is important to investigate the ground, and to show how the investigations may be conducted at ground level and underground. Specific instruction is provided on the relationship between geology and many common activities undertaken when engineering in rock and soil.

Fluorescent excitation analysis (FEA) is a technique that has been utilized for some time in physics. An increasing number of biomedical applications for FEA have been reported in recent year: it is becoming the assay method of choice in many areas of research and clinical practice. The purpose of this volume is to acquaint the interest physician or physicist with the basic principles and instrumentation relevant for FEA, as well as some present and future biomedical applications.

Mixed-Phase Clouds: Observations and Modeling presents advanced research topics on mixed-phase clouds. As the societal impacts of extreme weather and its forecasting grow, there is a continuous need to refine atmospheric observations, techniques and numerical models. Understanding the role of clouds in the atmosphere is increasingly vital for current applications, such as prediction and prevention of aircraft icing, weather modification, and the assessment of the effects of cloud phase partition in climate models. This book provides the essential information needed to address these problems with a focus on current observations, simulations and applications.

This book is of interest to all of you willing to gain perspective both in time and in depth about the global environmental crises we are facing in the Anthropocene as well as pondering potential solutions. Humans are dominating the Earth's environment and causing global changes in the most recent geologic time called the Anthropocene. Global changes are caused by both natural events like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, or caused by humans like global warming and pollution of air, water, and soil. The author documents all types of global changes, beyond climate change, pointing out the risks for humanity when all these changes combine in time. Hans Nelson describes global changes while traveling through an earth scientist's 60-year global journey. Throughout his memoirs, the author provides many humorous examples of adventures taking place during the scientific studies on land and at sea. He makes suggestions for a sustainable planet and shows that humans worldwide in the past, and can in the future, work together on solutions for global change problems. Students can use this book to learn about the many aspects of global change and methods that marine geologists use to obtain data on geologic hazards, resources, and environmental changes.

This is the third volume of the proceedings of the 8th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics (ICEG 2018), held on October 28 - November 1, 2018 in Hangzhou, China. The theme of the congress is "Towards a Sustainable Geoenvironment", which means meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Under this theme, the congress covers a broad range of topics and provides an excellent opportunity for academics, engineers, scientists, government officials, regulators, and planners to present, discuss and exchange notes on the latest advances and developments in the research and application of environmental geotechnics.

Impacts and Insights of Gorkha Earthquake in Nepal offers a practical perspective on disaster risk management using lessons learned and considerations from the 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal, which was the worst disaster to hit Nepal since the 1934 Nepal-Bihar earthquake. Using a holistic approach to examine seismicity, risk perception and intervention, the book serves as a detailed case study to improve disaster resilience globally, including social, technical, governmental and institutional risk perception, as well as scientific understanding of earthquake disasters. Covering the details of the Gorkha earthquake, including damage mapping and recovery tactics, the book offers valuable insights into ways forward for seismologists, earthquake researchers and engineers and policy-makers.

Based on papers presented at a conference on the vadose zone held in Davis, California, in 1995, this book presents some of the state-of-the-art research advances in the hydrology of the vadose zone (the region between ground level and the upper limits of the soil that is wholly saturated with water). The editors have selected essays from the fields of soils, hydrology, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and instrumentation, in line with their premise that our understanding of the vadose zone is imporved only through multi-disciplinary examination. Remaining within disciplinary boundaries, the editors state, limits "a comprehensive synthesis" of vadose zone phenomena.