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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > Geology & the lithosphere > Geological surface processes (geomorphology) > General
Mallorca - the island of Robert Graves, Joan Miro, and Archduke Ludwig Salvador - has become the most popular holiday destination in the Mediterranean, with nearly 10 million visitors a year. Few, however, are aware of the 5,000 year history of Mallorca and its resulting landscape featuring late Bronze Age navetes and talayots, Roman cities, and a major medieval trading port with one of Europe's largest cathedrals. Mallorca's landscape has been formed with a pattern of country houses and enclosed fields, and the relics of major 19th-century industries, including textiles and shoe-making workshops. 120 years of tourism, latterly on a massive scale, endangers much of what has gone before. This pioneering work, based on more than 10 years of local research, describes and analyzes all these elements that together form the contemporary landscape. Written in an accessible style and well-illustrated with maps and photographs, this book will appeal to student and concerned reader alike and should be read by all who are inquisitive about what they see around them when they visit the island. *** ..".a must for anyone curious about this lesser sung story of history, making 'Mallorca' a fine and quite recommended read, not to be missed." - The Midwest Book Review, Library Bookwatch, April 2013, The World History Shelf *** "Buswell's latest book has no peer in English....he draws on various epistemological perspectives to portray the landscape as a cultural artifact that is unique due to changing human settlement and exploitation, but also is a palimpsest bearing telltale signs of sequent occupancy never completely erased." - The AAG Review of Books, Fall 2013
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.
What were the landscapes of the past like? What will landscapes look like in the future? Landscapes are all around us, but most of us know very little about how they have developed, what goes on in them, and how they react to changing climates, tectonics and human activities. Examining what landscape is, and how we use a range of ideas and techniques to study it, Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles demonstrate how geomorphologists have built on classic methods pioneered by some great 19th century scientists to examine our Earth. Using examples from around the world, including New Zealand, the Tibetan Plateau, and the deserts of the Middle East, they examine some of the key controls on landscape today such as tectonics and climate, as well as humans and the living world. They also discuss some key 'landscape detectives' from the past, including Charles Darwin who did some important, but often overlooked, research on landscape. Concluding with the cultural importance of landscape, and exploring how this has led to the conservation of much 'earth heritage', they delve into the future and look at how we can predict the response of landscapes to climate change in the future. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
As major actors in the unfolding drama of climate change, glaciers feature prominently in Earth's past and its future. Wherever on the planet we live, glaciers affect each of us directly. They control the atmospheric and ocean circulations that drive the weather; they supply drinking and irrigation water to millions of people; and they protect us from catastrophic sea-level rise. The very existence of glaciers affects our view of the planet and of ourselves, but it is less than 200 years since we realised that ice ages come and go, and that glaciers once covered much more of the planet's surface than they do now. An inspiration to artists, a challenge for engineers, glaciers mean different things to different people. Crossing the boundaries between art, environment, science, nature and culture, this book uniquely considers glaciers from a myriad perspectives, revealing their complexity, majesty and importance, but also their fragility.
The origin, dispersal, deposition and burial of natural sediment grains is the central concern of sedimentology. The subject is truly inter disciplinary, commands the attention of Earth scientists, is of consider able interest to fluid dynamicists and civil engineers, and it finds widespread practical applications in industry. Sedimentology may be approached from two viewpoints: a descrip tive approach, as exemplified by traditional petrography and facies analysis, and a quantitative approach through the physical and chemical sciences. Both approaches are complementary and must be used in tandem if the recent remarkable progress in the field is to be sustained. This text aims to introduce such a combined approach to senior undergraduate students, graduate students and to interested professional Earth scientists. Thus the many descriptive diagrams in the text are counterbalanced by the use of basic physical and chemical reasoning through equations. I have tried to construct a text that follows logically on from the origin of sediment grains through fluid flow, transport, deposition and diagenesis (the change from sediment to rock). The text has been written assuming that some basic previous instruction has been given in the Earth sciences and in general physics and chemistry. Certain important derivations are given in appendices. I have avoided advanced mathematical treatment since it is my opinion that recogni tion of the basic physical or chemical basis to a problem is more important to the student than the formal mathematical reduction of poorly gathered data. As T. H."
Ranging across the 4.6 billion year history of the planet, geology is the subject that encompasses almost all that we see around us, in one way or another, and also much that we cannot see, beneath our feet, and on other planets. The fruits of geology provide most of the materials that give us shelter, and most of the energy that drives our modern lives. Within the study of geology lie some of the clues to the extraordinary impact our species is going to play out on the planet, in centuries and millennia to come. In this Very Short Introduction Jan Zalasiewicz gives a brief introduction to the fascinating field of geology. Describing how the science developed from its early beginnings, he looks at some of the key discoveries that have transformed it, before delving into its various subfields, such as sedimentology, tectonics, and stratigraphy. Analysing the geological foundations of the Earth, Zalasiewicz explains the interlocking studies of tectonics, geophysics, and igneous and metamorphic petrology and geochemistry; and describes how rocks are dated by radiometric dating. Considering the role and importance of geology in the finding and exploitation of resources (including fracking), he also discusses its place in environmental issues, such as foundations for urban structures and sites for landfill, and in tackling issues associated with climate change. Zalasiewicz concludes by discussing the exciting future and frontiers of the field, such as the exploration of the geology of Mars. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Focusing on mountain ranges that are relatively unfamiliar to most geologists, this work expands our view of tectonics beyond a standardized textbook approach and illustrates both the extraordinary variety of mountain ranges over the world through time and many of the basic similarities they display. Originally published in 1987. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
This essential reference for graduate students and researchers provides a unified treatment of earthquakes and faulting as two aspects of brittle tectonics at different timescales. The intimate connection between the two is manifested in their scaling laws and populations, which evolve from fracture growth and interactions between fractures. The connection between faults and the seismicity generated is governed by the rate and state dependent friction laws - producing distinctive seismic styles of faulting and a gamut of earthquake phenomena including aftershocks, afterslip, earthquake triggering, and slow slip events. The third edition of this classic treatise presents a wealth of new topics and new observations. These include slow earthquake phenomena; friction of phyllosilicates, and at high sliding velocities; fault structures; relative roles of strong and seismogenic versus weak and creeping faults; dynamic triggering of earthquakes; oceanic earthquakes; megathrust earthquakes in subduction zones; deep earthquakes; and new observations of earthquake precursory phenomena.
Modeling of flow and transport in groundwater has become an important focus of scientific research in recent years. Most contributions to this subject deal with flow situations, where density and viscosity changes in the fluid are neglected. This restriction may not always be justified. The models presented in the book demonstrate immpressingly that the flow pattern may be completely different when density changes are taken into account. The main applications of the models are: thermal and saline convection, geothermal flow, saltwater intrusion, flow through salt formations etc. This book not only presents basic theory, but the reader can also test his knowledge by applying the included software and can set up own models.
Mars has been extensively photographed by cameras and compositionally detected by spectrometers onboard orbiters on a global scale, and explored in-situ by landers and rovers at both local and outcrop scales in different locations. The results have proved that the Martian surface is rich in Earth-like geomorphologies, and the study of terrestrial analogs to Mars has been listed as one of the highest priorities of Martian science. With increasing new discoveries by in-situ explorations, Mars exploration has begun to enter the era of focusing on detailed analyses at regional to outcrop levels, rather than global mapping. Analog studies are playing a crucial role in this transition, making this book, which introduces the methodology and provides cases for readers, essentially important.Dozens of sites on Earth have been listed as analog targets for comparative study with the geomorphology, geology, geochemistry, environment and habitability of Mars. However, due to the diversity of landforms and forming mechanisms, and the long history of Mars, no single analog site on Earth can be fully compared to Mars. Nonetheless, the Qaidam Basin has been listed as an unique Mars analog site for studying the red planet's geomorphology, geology, and environmental changes, particularly regarding the evolution of paleolakes on Mars. This kind of setting has always been listed as a top priority for the search of life on Mars.This book contains first-hand information and on-site images obtained by the work's contributing authors, and is an essential read for anyone interested in Martian geomorphology and its evolution processes and history.
Based on contributions to the first General Assembly of the International Consortium on Landslides, this reference and status report emphasizes the mechanisms of different types of landslides, landslide risk analysis, and sustainable disaster management. It comprises the achievements of the ICL over the past three years, since the Kyoto assembly. It consists of three parts: research results of the International Programme on Landslides (IPL); contributions on landslide risk analysis; and articles on sustainable disaster management. In addition, the history of the ICL activities (under the support of UNESCO, WMO, FAO, UN/ISDR, and UNU) is recounted to create a comprehensive overview of international activity on landslides. The contributions reflect a wide range of topics and concerns, randing from field studies, identification of objects of cultural heritage at landslide risk, as well as landslide countermeasures.
Riverbank filtration is a low cost, yet efficient water treatment technology. It has most potential to provide safe drinking water to large cities located along rivers or lakes. In particular, it is ideal for large population centres in developing countries, where the cost of building extensive treatment facilities is prohibitive. Water filtration can be successfully implemented using naturally occurring sand and gravel along the river/lake banks. The cost of water produced by this means is much lower than that of water treated in conventional treatment plants. Authored by a multi-disciplinary team of experts, this volume addresses the scientific basis of the filtration process, and also numerous topics of importance for the planning, technical realization, and security of such plants. Their application for the removal of relevant chemical pollutants and a variety of pathogens is analysed in detail.
Coasts provides a necessary background in geomorphology for those studying coastal systems. It describes the landforms that occur on the coast, their responses to the processes that shape them, and the pattern of evolution that can be determined for different types of coasts over thousands of years. Numerous examples from around the world illustrate the variety of environments. Particular attention is paid to coastal morphodynamics; the co-adjustment of process and form, on rocky, reef, sandy, deltaic-estuarine and muddy coasts.
This is the first book describing the glorious geology of Iceland's Golden Circle and four additional excursions:(1) the beautiful valleys and mountains of the fjord of Hvalfjoerdur, (2) the unique landscape and geothermal fields of the Hengill Volcano, (3) the explosion craters, volcanic fissures, and lava fields of the Reykjanes Peninsula, and (4) the volcanoes (Hekla, Eyjafjallajoekull, Katla), waterfalls, sandur plains, and rock columns of South Iceland. The Golden Circle offers a unique opportunity to observe and understand many of our planet's forces in action. These forces move the Earth's tectonic plates, rupture the crust, and generate earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, channels for rivers and waterfalls, and heat sources for hot springs and geysers. The Golden Circle includes the famous rifting and earthquake fracture sites at Thingvellir, the hot springs of the Geysir area, the waterfall of Gullfoss, and the Kerid volcanic crater. As the book is primarily intended for people with no background in geosciences, no geological knowledge is assumed and technical terms are avoided as far as possible (those used are explained in a glossary). With more than 240 illustrations - mostly photographs - explaining geological structures and processes, it is also a useful resource for geoscientists.
The plate tectonics revolution in the earth sciences has provided a valuable new framework for understanding long-term landform development. This innovative text provides a comprehensive introduction to the subject of global geomorphology, with the emphasis placed on large-scale processes and phenomena. Integrating global tectonics into the study of landforms and incorporating planetary geomorphology as a major component the author discusses the impact of climatic change and the role of catastrophic events on landform genesis and includes a comprehensive study of surface geomorphic processes.
In this engrossing and accessible book, Doug Macdougall explores the causes and effects of ice ages that have gripped our planet throughout its history, from the earliest known glaciation - nearly three billion years ago - to the present. Following the development of scientific ideas about these dramatic events, Macdougall traces the lives of many of the brilliant and intriguing characters who have contributed to the evolving understanding of how ice ages come about. As it explains how the great Pleistocene Ice Age has shaped the earth's landscape and influenced the course of human evolution, "Frozen Earth" also provides a fascinating look at how science is done, how the excitement of discovery drives scientists to explore and investigate, and how timing and chance play a part in the acceptance of new scientific ideas. Macdougall describes the awesome power of cataclysmic floods that marked the melting of the glaciers of the Pleistocene Ice Age. He probes the chilling evidence for "Snowball Earth," an episode far back in the earth's past that may have seen our planet encased in ice from pole to pole. He discusses the accumulating evidence from deep-sea sediment cores, as well as ice cores from Greenland and the Antarctic, that suggests fast-changing ice age climates may have directly impacted the evolution of our species and the course of human migration and civilization. "Frozen Earth" also chronicles how the concept of the ice age has gripped the imagination of scientists for almost two centuries. It offers an absorbing consideration of how current studies of Pleistocene climate may help us understand earth's future climate changes, including the question of when the next glacial interval will occur.
An up-to-date introduction to the changing surface of the Earth, from the solid crust to the waters, atmosphere, and living things that interact with it How do natural forces erode and sculpt the Earth's landscape? How are solid rocks worn away and how are they recycled? What influences climate change and what effect does this have on our natural environment? This book explains in accessible language how the planet is being constantly remodeled by powerful natural forces such as wind, water, and ice. It recreates past landscapes and explains how studying the evidence of past climates is a vital part of learning about the Earth's climate system, and how and why change comes about. Packed with color photographs and diagrams, the book reveals how to recognize past events recorded in rocks and considers the challenge of predicting the Earth's future.
The newspaper advertisement for volunteers to accompany Ernest Shackleton on his planned traverse of Antarctica in 1914 was frank in its offering. "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success." Still, hundreds applied. There were few chances left to be the first to reach the last challenge on Earth. As the 20th Century came of age, explorers had uncovered most of the world's mysteries, sailing to the far corners of the globe, ascending many of its most forbidding peaks, crossing its greatest deserts and penetrating its thickest jungles. Frozen, alien, inhospitable, dangerous, and close to impossible to reach, there were only two tiny dots on the globe that human beings had not yet set foot on--the North and South Poles. The Greatest Polar Exploration Stories Ever Told is a visceral, exciting and stunning collection of twelve stories recounting the bravery, resoluteness, and strength of the men who willingly traversed frozen hells to be the first to reach the North or South Pole. It is a collection that will both inspire and inform--and answer questions about the limits of human endurance. Many men would die during their challenging, frozen journeys, and their deaths were not pleasant. Yet they continued to try again. Here are stories, wrought by the challenging landscape and weather, that made these explorers household names and heroes: Peary, Scott, Amundsen, Shackleton, Franklin, Cherry-Garrard, Scott, Kane, Cook--and others lost to history whose bravery was nonetheless as admirable. Each of these men knew success would bring glory for their countries and financial security and fame and eminent places in history for themselves. Each knew also the odds of success were slim and the chance of dying great. Nations held their collective breaths for news of each expedition and those years later were termed the Heroic Age of Exploration--there were simply no other endeavors that captured the world's attention the various races to the poles. The Greatest Polar Exploration Stories Ever Told recaptures the spirit, drama, and tragedy of a time in history that will never come again.
Fluvial Geomorphology studies the biophysical processes acting in rivers, and the sediment patterns and landforms resulting from them. It is a discipline of synthesis, with roots in geology, geography, and river engineering, and with strong interactions with allied fields such as ecology, engineering and landscape architecture. This book comprehensively reviews tools used in fluvial geomorphology, at a level suitable to guide the selection of research methods for a given question. Presenting an integrated approach to the interdisciplinary nature of the subject, it provides guidance for researchers and professionals on the tools available to answer questions on river restoration and management. Thoroughly updated since the first edition in 2003 by experts in their subfields, the book presents state-of-the-art tools that have revolutionized fluvial geomorphology in recent decades, such as physical and numerical modelling, remote sensing and GIS, new field techniques, advances in dating, tracking and sourcing, statistical approaches as well as more traditional methods such as the systems framework, stratigraphic analysis, form and flow characterisation and historical analysis. This book: * Covers five main types of geomorphological questions and their associated tools: historical framework; spatial framework; chemical, physical and biological methods; analysis of processes and forms; and future understanding framework. * Provides guidance on advantages and limitations of different tools for different applications, data sources, equipment and supplies needed, and case studies illustrating their application in an integrated perspective. It is an essential resource for researchers and professional geomorphologists, hydrologists, geologists, engineers, planners, and ecologists concerned with river management, conservation and restoration. It is a useful supplementary textbook for upper level undergraduate and graduate courses in Geography, Geology, Environmental Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and interdisciplinary courses in river management and restoration.
Focusing on mountain ranges that are relatively unfamiliar to most geologists, this work expands our view of tectonics beyond a standardized textbook approach and illustrates both the extraordinary variety of mountain ranges over the world through time and many of the basic similarities they display. Originally published in 1987. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
This edited book is based on the papers accepted for presentation during the 2nd Springer Conference of the Arabian Journal of Geosciences (CAJG-2), Tunisia, in 2019. Major subjects treated in the book include geomorphology, sedimentology, and geochemistry. The book presents an updated unique view in conjugating field studies and modeling to better quantify the process-product binomial unusual in geosciences. In the geomorphology section, 24 papers deal with topics related to fault slip and incision rates, soil science, landslides and debris flows, coastal processes, and geoarcheology, and geoheritage. Under the sedimentology section, 34 papers including stratigraphy, and environmental, tectonic, and diagenetic processes, together with evolutionary, biostratigraphic, and paleo-environmental significance of paleontology are presented. Additionally, this section also contains papers on marine geosciences, from molecular proxies related to climate to geophysical surveys. Last but not least, the third section on geochemistry is composed of 26 papers that are focused on sedimentary geochemistry and mineralogical characterization, magmatic and metamorphic processes and products, and the origin and exploration of mineral deposits. This book resumes the current situation related to the abovementioned topics mainly in the Mediterranean realm. The volume book is of interest to all researchers, practitioners, and students in the fields of geomorphology, sedimentology, and geochemistry, as well as those engaged in environmental geosciences, soil science, stratigraphy and paleontology, geoarcheology and geoheritage, marine geosciences, petrology, metallogenesis, and mineral deposits.
A survey of the nature and history of the landscapes of the world's great warm deserts, that illustrates how their distinctive features have developed in response to major climatic and tectonic changes over millions of years. The treatment is a regional one, and each of the world's major warm deserts has its own chapter. Written by a leading expert in the field.
Since 1980, progress in research on the fission-track dating method and its applications to earth and related sciences has been evaluated during an International Workshop that takes place every four years. This volume contains a selection of papers presented at the International Workshop held in Gent (Belgium) from 26 to 30 August, 1996. Primarily the articles will be of interest to the active fission-track scientists but the combination of research papers and critical reviews that is presented may also provide the interested non-specialist reader with a valuable insight into the fission-track dating method and its role in the earth sciences. This reader will undoubtedly note the evolution that the method has undergone during the last fifteen years, from a technique that was debated in most of its facets to an established chronometric tool with unique qualities in geothermochronology.
Sediments from the world's ocean floors and other water body basins hold a wealth of information about organic life as we know it. "Organic Matter: Productivity, Accumulation, and Preservation in Recent and Ancient Sediments" addresses focusing on the production, accumulation, and preservation of organic matter in marine and lacustrine sediments. Contributors to this important monograph cover a range of geologic ages from recent times back to the Permian Era, as well as temperature and organic matter types. This resource book will be of interest and benefit to petroleum explorationists and researchers, as well as oceanographers, marine and environmental scientists, sedimentologists, geochemists and paleontologists. |
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