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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > Geology & the lithosphere > Geological surface processes (geomorphology) > General
Coming of Age in Times of Crisis is an anthropological study of the intersecting roles of gender and schooling in the lives of rural Venezuelan youth as they make the transition to adulthood during times of national political and economic crisis. Strongly grounded in local detail while speaking to larger comparative issues and the crises that surround globalization, the study enables us to see how gender roles and social class are reproduced in a culture experiencing profound upheaval, and to see how rural Venezuelans have managed to reproduce and change their culture in these circumstances. This book is based on two-and-a-half years of ethnographic field research Hurtig conducted in the Andean region of Venezuela between 1991 and 1993, and again briefly in 1996.
This edited volume, showcasing cutting-edge research, addresses two primary questions - what are the main drivers of change in high-mountains and what are the risks implied by these changes? From a physical perspective, it examines the complex interplay between climate and the high-mountain cryosphere, with further chapters covering tectonics, volcano-ice interactions, hydrology, slope stability, erosion, ecosystems, and glacier- and snow-related hazards. Societal dimensions, both global and local, of high-mountain cryospheric change are also explored. The book offers unique perspectives on high-mountain cultures, livelihoods, governance and natural resources management, focusing on how global change influences societies and how people respond to climate-induced cryospheric changes. An invaluable reference for researchers and professionals in cryospheric science, geomorphology, climatology, environmental studies and human geography, this volume will also be of interest to practitioners working in global change and risk, including NGOs and policy advisors.
One of the problems which beset the practical conservation of stone buildings is the fragmentation of the disciplines involved. This book, with both volumes now available as one invaluable paperback, brings these disciplines together by the involvement of contributors with different experiences and approaches to the same material.
This book brings together works published between 1846 and 1859 by the Scot James D. Forbes (1809-68) and Irishman John Tyndall (1820-93), both of whom were experienced alpinists as well as glaciologists. However, their views on the motion of glaciers were disparate, and a scientific quarrel over primacy and credit for discoveries continued even after their respective deaths. These papers include Forbes' articles on experiments on the flow of plastic bodies and analogies between lava and glacier flows, and on the plasticity of glacier ice, as well as Tyndall's observations on the physical phenomena of various Alpine glaciers, including the famous 'Mer de Glace', and a piece on the structure and motion of glaciers, co-written with Thomas Huxley. Several works by and about all three scientists (including works on Alpine travel) have also been reissued in this series.
In the early nineteenth century, the gifted stratigrapher and amateur geologist William Phillips (1773-1828) gave several lectures to interested young people in Tottenham on the subject of geology. These lectures were later collected into a book, which Phillips expanded in later versions. This reached its peak in 1822 when the clergyman William Daniel Conybeare (1787-1857) collaborated with Phillips to produce this rigorous and improved assessment of the geological composition of England and Wales. Although no second volume was ever published, the book had a tremendous impact on geologists throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, inspiring foreign scholars to produce equivalent volumes about their own countries. Conybeare's concern for the stratigraphy of fossils is especially remarkable for the time. William Fitton, later president of the Geological Society of London, praised the book highly, remarking that 'no equal portion of the earth's surface has ever been more ably illustrated'.
The continuously growing human population along the world's coasts will exacerbate the impact of human activities on all coastal environments. Restoration activities will therefore become increasingly important. In particular, sandy shores and coastal dunes will require significant restoration efforts because they are preferred sites for human settlement, industrial and urban development and tourism. With this book experts in the field present a comprehensive review of restoration studies and activities, where 'successful' and 'failed' studies or approaches from around the world are contrasted and compared. A major asset the book provides is a compendium of studies showing that coastal dune restoration has many definitions and thus leads to many different actions. This volume addresses those with an interest in conservation ecology and biology, coastal dune dynamics and geomorphology, and coastal management who are seeking information on the different strategies for coastal dune restoration applied in different regions of the world. Finally, it will be a valuable resource for coastal scientists and planners, as well as for local and state officials, residents of coastal communities, environmental advocates and developers.
both independent of, and competitive with, similar structures in geography and geology to which its parent bodies belong. This move is likely to be seen as one of great significance by those involved in its organisation and by many beyond it, and it may well signal structural changes within the discipline whose actual outcome and meaning will not be clear for several decades. My perspective on such a move is cool, because the adoption of an historical perspective with respect to the practice of 'geomorphology' in times past brings the recognition that times present are in no sense different. That which seems appropriate, fundable, official and achievable is just that: the essays of Stoddart (Chapter 8) and Hewitt (Chapter 9) both neatly illustrate, in their different ways, the distinction between 'official' and 'scientific' approaches to the same problem. But institutional expansion, Vitek's paper not withstanding (Chapter 14), may not be why our geomorphology will be of interest to future generations. What that interest will be is a matter for speculation.
The Scottish geologist Sir Roderick Impey Murchison (1792 1871) first proposed the Silurian period after studying ancient rocks in Wales in the 1830s. Naming the sequence after the Silures, a Celtic tribe, he believed that the fossils representing the origins of life could be attributed to this period. This assertion sparked a heated dispute with his contemporary Adam Sedgwick, ultimately ruining their friendship. First published in 1854, Siluria is a significant reworking of Murchison's earlier book, The Silurian System, which had appeared in 1839. Thorough in his approach, he combines his own findings with those of researchers around the world, touching also on the later Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian periods as well as questions of natural history. An important text in nineteenth-century geology and palaeontology, the work contains a valuable geological map of Wales along with detailed engravings of fossils, including crustaceans, cephalopods and fish."
Cornwall has one of the oldest mining histories in Europe. At one time, the county was a leading producer of tin, with over 2,000 mines in operation, but competition from overseas saw the boom years of the mid-nineteenth century give way to steady decline. Brenton Symons (1832 c.1908), an experienced mining engineer and metallurgist, firmly believed that the mineral wealth of Cornwall was far from exhausted and that careful application of financial investment and skilled personnel could boost the county's prosperity. This illustrated monograph, published in 1884, is his account of Cornwall's geological characteristics, giving details of the formation, location and economic use of various mineral deposits, and describing the extraction techniques of the key mining districts. Accessible and authoritative, this book remains relevant to readers interested in mineralogy, mining and the economic history of Cornwall."
This book focuses on the application of geospatial technologies for resource planning and management for the key natural resources, e.g. water, agriculture and forest as well as the decision support system (DSS) for infrastructure development. We have seen in the past four decades that the growing complexities of sustainable management of natural resources management have been very challenging. The book has been written to leverage the current geospatial technologies that integrate the remotely sensed data available from various platforms, the precise locational data providing geospatial intelligence, and the advanced integration tools of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Geospatial technologies have been used for water resources management employing geomorphological characteristics, analysis of river migration pattern, understanding the large-scale hydrological process, wet land classification and monitoring, analysis of glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), assessment of environmental flow and soil erosion studies, water quality modelling and assessment and rejuvenation of paleochannels through groundwater recharge. Geospatial technologies have been applied for crop classification and mapping, soil moisture determination using RISAT-1 C-band and PALSAR-2 L-band sensors, inventory of horticulture plantations, management of citrus orchards, crop yield forecasting, rice yield estimation, estimation of evapotranspiration and its evaluation against lysimeter and satellite-based evapotranspiration product for India to address the various issues of the agricultural system management. Geospatial technologies have been used for generation of digital elevation model, urban dynamics assessment, mobile GIS application at grass root level planning, cadastral level developmental planning and e-governance applications, system dynamics for sustainable development, micro-level water resources planning, site suitability for sewage treatment plant, traffic density assessment, geographical indications of India, archaeological applications and disasters interventions to elaborate various issues of DSS for infrastructure development and management. Geospatial technologies have been employed for the generation and reconciliation of the notified forest land boundaries, and also the land cover changes analysis within notified forest areas, forest resource assessment, management and monitoring and wildlife conservation and management. This book aims to present high-quality technical case studies representing the recent developments in the "application of geospatial technologies for resource planning and management". The editors hope that this book will serve as a valuable resource for scientists and researchers to plan and manage land and water resources sustainably.
Modern researchers in plate tectonics may be concerned with the analysis of distributed deformation across diffuse plate boundaries and triple junction zones. This book extends classic methods of kinematic analysis first developed in the 1960s to the more general scenarios of diffuse deformation zones between plates. The analytic methods presented specifically target the non-rigid deformation implied by unstable triple junction configurations. These methods are then applied to the tectonic evolution of western Caribbean region which provides new ways to test and challenge the established Pacific model of Caribbean tectonics. Possible advantages of the new Pirate model of Caribbean tectonics are discussed in terms of paleo-geography and paleo-ocean connections, as well as mineral and hydrocarbon potential and seismic risks across the region.
Impressed by the discoveries of Captain Cook, and conscious that Russia was lagging behind other countries in terms of navigation and exploration, Catherine the Great commissioned an expedition in 1785 to chart the coastline in the far north-east of her empire. Born in Middlesex, Joseph Billings (1758 1806) had sailed under Cook but entered Russian service in 1783. He was chosen to lead the expedition, which would last for nine years. Written up by Martin Sauer, secretary and translator to the expedition, this illustrated account was first published in English in 1802, documenting the sheer scale of the task and the range of scientific activities carried out. Notable for producing the first accurate maps of the shoreline and islands of east Siberia, the expedition also contributed to the ethnographic and zoological knowledge of this most inhospitable of environments."
Inhabited by Polynesians since the thirteenth century and discovered by Europeans in the seventeenth, New Zealand is a geologically diverse island group where active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes have resulted in a rich variety of rock formations and geothermal activity. In 1859 60, the geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1829 84) was employed by Auckland's government to undertake the first systematic geological survey of the islands, the results of which were first published in German in 1863 and translated into this English version in 1867. Hochstetter describes his travels across New Zealand, his encounters with native people and his scientific observations. He analyses plants, wildlife and fossils, describes mountains, rocks and boiling springs, and evaluates evidence of glaciers and tectonic activity. As a result of Hochstetter's work, several species in New Zealand were named after him. This book remains a valuable resource in the history of Australasian natural science.
This 2007 book reviews the history of geomorphological studies of the Great Barrier Reef and assesses the influences of sea-level change and oceanographic processes on the development of reefs over the last 10,000 years. It presents analyses of recently attained data from the Great Barrier Reef and reconstructions of the sequence of events which have led to its more recent geomorphology. The authors emphasise the importance of the geomorphological time span and its applications for present management applications. This is a valuable reference for academic researchers in geomorphology and oceanography, and will also appeal to graduate students in related fields.
This volume deals with those sites selected as part of the Geological Conservation Review (GCR) within the southern British part of the Caledonides, that is, the paratectonic Caledonides - a Caledonian terrane without strong and pervasive deformation and metamorphism, such as occurred further north. This orogenic belt formed by long and complex processes of earth movements between 500 and 380 million years before the present (?late Cambrian to mid-Devonian times), and has been classic ground for geologists for two hundred years. It is perhaps no accident that James Hutton in 1795 chose to illustrate his geostrophic cycle (and unconformity) with three visually explicit examples of the deformation wrought on Lower Palaeozoic rocks by Caledonian events. The former Caledonian mountain chain, which can be seen today in fragmented pieces in Scandinavia, Britain and Ireland, and North America, was ultimately the result of the collision of two continental plates and the closure of a former ocean, Iapetus. Some of these fragments, including those in Scandinavia, southern Britain, and the Republic of Ireland and the Maritime Provinces of Canada, are thought to have lain on the south side of the ocean before collision: the rest of North America, northern Ireland, and Scotland are thought to have lain north of the former Iapetus.
This book is devoted to the quantitative physical modeling of subduction and subduction-related processes. It presents a coherent description of the modeling method (including similarity criteria, and a novel applied experimental technique), results from model experiments, theoretical analysis of results on the basis of continuum mechanics, and their geodynamic interpretation. Subduction is modeled in general as well as applied to particular regions using both 2-D and 3-D approaches, with both slab-push and slab-pull driving forces. The modeling covers all stages from subduction initiation to death', different regimes of subduction producing back arc extension and compression, blocking of subduction and jumps of subduction zone, arc-continent collision and continental subduction. This work is for geologists and geophysicists interested in geodynamics of the convergent plate boundaries and in mechanics of the lithosphere.
Landslides have geological causes but can be triggered by natural processes (rainfall, snowmelt, erosion and earthquakes) or by human actions such as agriculture and construction. Research aimed at better understanding slope stability and failure has accelerated in recent years, accompanied by basic field research and numerical modeling of slope failure processes, mechanisms of debris movement, and landslide causes and triggers. Written by seventy-five world-leading researchers and practitioners, this book provides a state-of-the-art summary of landslide science. It features both field geology and engineering approaches, as well as modeling of slope failure and run-out using a variety of numerical codes. It is illustrated with international case studies integrating geological, geotechnical and remote sensing studies, and includes recent slope investigations in North America, Europe and Asia. This is an essential reference for researchers and graduate students in geomorphology, engineering geology, geotechnical engineering and geophysics, as well as professionals in natural hazard analysis.
Many research problems in cryospheric science, such as global warming-induced permafrost degradation, require information about the subsurface, which can be imaged using geophysical methods. This book is a practical guide to the application of geophysical techniques in mountainous and polar terrain, where the harsh environment and nature of the subsurface pose particular challenges. It starts with an introduction to the main geophysical methods and then demonstrates their application in periglacial environments through various case studies - written by a team of international experts. The final part of the book presents a series of reference tables with typical values of geophysical parameters for periglacial environments. This handbook is a valuable resource for glaciologists, geomorphologists and geologists requiring an introduction to geophysical techniques, as well as for geophysicists lacking experience of planning and conducting field surveys in cold regions.
Swiss-born zoologist, geologist and paleontologist Louis Agassiz (1807 73) was among the foremost scientists of his day. When he took up the study of glaciology and glacial geomorphology in Switzerland in 1836, he recorded evidence left by former glaciers, such as glacial erratics, drumlins and rock scouring and scratching. In this work, published in 1840, he proposed a revolutionary ice-age theory, according to which, glaciers are the remaining portions of sheets of ice which once covered the earth. His radical suggestion undermined the hypothesis that landscape features were the result of a great biblical flood. Although Agassiz's invaluable work led some to acclaim him as the 'father' of glacial theory, critics have cited the contributions of others, including Jean de Charpentier and Karl Schimper. The book also describes the features of active glaciers, including ice tables, ice pinnacles and moraines.
This book was first published in 2004. Wind erosion and deposition are important factors in cold climates because of the open space and scarce vegetation. Aeolian processes connected with sand drift in polar environments are similar to those in deserts but in cold environments, frost and snow also play an important role. The Arctic is characterised by strangely eroded rocks, wind-formed lakes, sand dunes and loess deposits that owe their formation to aeolian processes controlled by frost and snow cover. Wind as a Geomorphic Agent in Cold Climates presents a detailed description and explanation of these wind-generated polar landforms. It includes numerous illustrations that will assist the reader in identifying and interpreting these features; both modern-day and those preserved in the geological record. This book provides an important introduction to this area of geocryology and will form a useful reference for graduate students and researchers in a variety of fields, including geomorphology, geology and environmental science.
James Bryce (1806-77) was a Scottish schoolteacher and geologist. His numerous articles on geology earned him a place in the Geological Society of London (1834) and in the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1875). He also campaigned to reform the Scottish universities and for Scottish education to be independent of the English system. In 1855 Bryce conducted a geological survey of Clydesdale and the Isle of Arran for the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS). His findings were published the same year, in this book. Bryce's study records the natural history of the two regions, with descriptions of the geological features encountered on various expeditions in Arran. Bryce also describes the Arran flora, marine fauna, and rare insect life. This book remained the geological authority on Arran and Clydesdale for a long time; the third edition, reissued here, was published in 1865.
John Tyndall (1820-93) was an influential Irish geologist who became fascinated by mountaineering after a scientific expedition to Switzerland in 1856. He joined the Alpine Club in 1858 and achieved the summit of the Matterhorn in 1868 - a feat which led to a peak on the Italian side of the massif being named after him. He also climbed Mont Blanc three times. A writer of scientific texts who was widely praised for the quality of his prose, Tyndall made clear that in this work, published in 1860, he had 'not attempted to mix Narrative and Science'. He divides his account into two parts: his Alpine adventures and observations, and the scientific explanations about the origins and structural aspects of glaciers. Both sections include explanatory illustrations. This book, a classic text of Alpine exploration, offers a unique account of Tyndall's mountaineering expeditions and the science that inspired them.
Geomorphology can be defined simply as the study of landforms. Landforms are the result of the interaction between what Ritter (1978) has called the driving and resisting forces. The driving forces or processes are the methods by which energy is exerted on earth materials and include both surface, geomorphological or exogenous processes and subsurface, geological or endogenous processes. The resisting forces are the surface materials with their inherent resistances determined by a complex combination of rock properties. Stated in these simple terms it would be expected that both sides of the equation be given equal weight in syntheses of landform evolution. However, this has not been the case. Until about the 1950s, geomorphology was mainly descriptive and concerned with producing time-dependent models of landscape evolution. Although the form of the land was the main focus, there was little detailed mention of process and scant attention to the properties of surface materials. There were, of course, exceptions. In the late 19th century G.K. Gilbert was stressing the equilibrium between landforms and processes. Many hydrologists were examining the detailed workings of river 'systems and drainage basins, culminating in the classic paper of Horton (1945).
The world's coastlines represent a myriad of dynamic and constantly
changing environments. Heavily settled and intensely used areas,
they are of enormous importance to humans and understanding how
they are shaped and change is crucial to our future.
John Tyndall (1820 93) was a prominent physicist, particularly noted for his studies of thermal radiation and the atmosphere. He was a prolific writer and lecturer, who was able to bring experimental physics to a wide audience. While researching his 1860 work, The Glaciers of the Alps, he became a proficient climber, and this work, first published in 1871, combines climbing expeditions in Switzerland with comments on glaciation and geology. It was extremely popular, with a second edition in the same year, and German and American editions in 1872. He was one of a group of noted Alpinists of the period, making the first ascent of the Weisshorn in Switzerland and finally conquering the Matterhorn in 1868, three years after its first ascent. This account of Victorian climbing expeditions makes fascinating reading, and shows the length an experimental scientist was prepared to go in search of knowledge. |
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