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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > Geology & the lithosphere > Geochemistry
It is presently well recognized that total concentrations of trace
elements in any environmental compartment supply insufficient
information to understand important phenomena. The distinction and
separate analysis of specific chemical species are essential for
understanding cycles in the aquatic environment, involving
identification and quantification of sources, transport pathways,
distributions and sinks, or, in the area of interactions between
trace elements and organisms to understand uptake, distribution,
excretion mechanisms and effects. In the past, various ways have
been developed to determine the nature and extent of complexation
of trace elements in natural systems. Approaches have been followed
along very different lines. These have not always been fully
appreciated by specialists working in even related fields of
complexation research. The first International Symposium on the
Complexation of Trace metals in Natural Waters was held at the
Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ, Texel, the
Netherlands from 2-6 May 1983. The scientific programme was planned
by the chief organizers Drs. C.J.M. Kramer and J.C. Duinker (NIOZ)
together with Prof. Dr. H.W. Nurnberg (Kernforschungsanlage,
Julich, Federal Republic of Germany) and Dr. M. Branica (Rudjer
Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Yugoslavia).
This book provides a very basic introduction to electron microscopy
and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). It has the largest
compiled collection of EDS spectra ever published and covers most
common rock forming minerals. In addition, it provides a key to
help the novice wade through the large number of spectra.
This third edition of the book has been completely re-written,
providing a wider scope and enhanced coverage. It covers the
general principles of the natural occurrence, pollution sources,
chemical analysis, soil chemical behaviour and soil-plant-animal
relationships of heavy metals and metalloids, followed by a
detailed coverage of 21 individual elements, including: antimony,
arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, gold, lead,
manganese, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, silver, thallium,
tin, tungsten, uranium, vanadium and zinc. The book is highly
relevant for those involved in environmental science, soil science,
geochemistry, agronomy, environmental health, and environmental
engineering, including specialists responsible for the management
and clean-up of contaminated land.
This abundantly illustrated book provides a concise overview of our
understanding of the entire mantle, its evolution since early
differentiation and the consequences of superplumes for earth
surface processes. The book's balanced authorship has produced a
state-of-the-science report on the emerging concept of superplumes.
This presents a new concept to explain catastrophic events on Earth
through geologic time.
The Llobregat belongs to the most thoroughly studied rivers in
Europe and is a paradigm of the confluence of human and natural
disturbances in a single basin. Because of its location in a very
densely populated region and its Mediterranean character, the
Llobregat supports a mixture of irregular flow, water abstraction,
excess nutrients, mining debris, and a wide array of pollutants.
The aquatic organisms strive to survive in a dramatically changing
river that passes through a succession of dams, weirs and channels.
The long-term river monitoring as well as the research that has
been carried out in the river for a long time have provided an
extensive knowledge of these disturbances and their effects on the
biological communities. This book highlights the available
information, with emphasis on the hydrological, chemical and
biological elements interspersed in the river. Experts in the field
discuss the main nutrient patterns and pollutant occurrence and the
responses of the biological quality elements as well as the river
ecosystem to the overall natural and man-made influences.
The book will include contributions of the state of the art of
quartz raw materials (deposits and properties) and their analytics.
The chapters are presented by leading scientists in the quartz
field. The presentations cover the main interrelations between
genesis of quartz - formation of specific properties - analytics -
industrial applications of SiO2 raw materials.
In the heart of Africa, a unique lake attracts the attention of
scientists since the beginning of the 20th century. At the foot of
the Virunga volcano chain, Lake Kivu harbors a vast amount of
dissolved carbon dioxide and methane, making this lake the most
dangerous lake on Earth. But the lake furnishes also many goods and
services for surrounding populations and may soon become the most
important energy supplier in the area. At the beginning of gas
exploitation, the time has come for gathering the large amount of
scientific information acquired during past and present research on
Lake Kivu. The eleven chapters cover many aspects of the physics,
geochemistry and biology of the lake, with a particular focus on
the unique physical and geochemical features of the water column
and on the ecological functioning of the surface waters. The
impacts of the introduced fish species and the potential impacts of
methane exploitation are also summarized. This multi-disciplinary
book may also be used as an introduction to the limnology and
biogeochemistry of large tropical lakes, as it covers various
aspects of the physics, geochemistry, biology and ecology of the
African Great Rift lakes.
This book is a companion to "Natural Gas Hydrate in Oceanic and
Permafrost Environments" (Max, 2000, 2003), which is the first book
on gas hydrate in this series. Although other gases can naturally
form clathrate hydrates (referred to after as 'hydrate'), we are
concerned here only with hydrocarbon gases that form hydrates. The
most important of these natural gases is methane. Whereas the first
book is a general introduction to the subject of natural gas
hydrate, this book focuses on the geology and geochemical controls
of gas hydrate development and on gas extraction from naturally
occurring hydrocarbon hydrates. This is the first broad treatment
of gas hydrate as a natural resource within an economic geological
framework. This book is written mainly to stand alone for brevity
and to minimize duplication. Information in Max (2000; 2003) should
also be consulted for completeness. Hydrate is a type of clathrate
(Sloan, 1998) that is formed from a cage structure of water
molecules in which gas molecules occupying void sites within the
cages stabilize the structure through van der Waals or hydrogen
bonding.
This book covers the distribution, hydrochemistry and geophysics of
the naturally occurring stable isotopes namely: hydrogen, oxygen
and radioactive tritium, carbon and other cosmogenic and radiogenic
isotopes of the uranium-thorium series, in the oceans and in
atmosphere, the earth's surface and ground water. The use of
environmental isotopes in the three main areas of natural waters is
discussed: origin, dynamics and residence time in natural
reservoirs. The origin of the hydrosphere is examined in the light
of isotopic, new cosmochemical and recent theoretical results. The
book will be of interest to scientists and researchers who use
environmental isotopes in solving scientific and practical problems
in hydrology, hydrogeology, oceanography, meteorology,
hydrogeochemistry and cosmochemistry. Lecturers, students and
postgraduates in these fields will also find it useful.
This book combines soil science, earth science, and environmental
geochemistry, providing comprehensive background information for
specialists interested in chemical-induced changes in the
soil-subsurface system. Readers are introduced to the chemistry of
contaminants that often disturb the natural soil-subsurface
equilibrium as a result of human activity. While the
soil-subsurface system has in many cases been affected by human
impact, the effects of chemical contaminants on the actual matrix
and properties have been largely neglected. The major focus of the
book is on changes to the soil-subsurface matrix and properties
caused by chemical pollution. By integrating results available in
the literature, we observe that chemical pollutants may lead to the
irreversible formation of a new soil-subsurface regime
characterized by a matrix and properties different than those of
the natural regime. In contrast to the geological time scales
dictating natural changes to the matrix and properties of the
soil-subsurface system, the time scale associated with chemical
pollutant-induced changes is far shorter and extends over a "human
lifetime scale." The numerous examples presented in the book
confirm that chemical contamination should be considered as an
additional factor in the formation of a contemporary
soil-subsurface regime that is different than that of the pristine
system.
This monograph presents an integrated perspective of the wide range
of phenomena and processes applicable to the study of transport of
species in porous materials. In order to formulate the entire range
of porous media and their uses, this book gives the basics of
continuum mechanics, thermodynamics, seepage and consolidation and
diffusion, including multiscale homogenization methods. The
particular structure of the book has been chosen because it is
essential to be aware of the true properties of porous materials
particularly in terms of nano, micro and macro mechanisms. This
book is of pedagogical and practical importance to the fields
covered by civil, environmental, nuclear and petroleum engineering
and also in chemical physics and geophysics as it relates to
radioactive waste disposal, geotechnical engineering, mining and
petroleum engineering and chemical engineering.
The International Edition of Introduction to Optical Mineralogy
provides comprehensive coverage of the optical properties of
minerals. It describes in detail more than 125 common rock-forming
minerals and a selection of ore minerals. Revised chapters on
optical theory discuss the petrographic microscope, the nature and
properties of light, the behaviour of light in isotropic and
anisotropic materials, and uniaxial and biaxial anisotropic optics.
Do we actually understand geologic processes? New technology brings
new inf- mation and perceptions, which sometimes overturn
imaginations based on simple observation and estimation, in
conjunction with common sense inference. In 1902-
1904,PierreCurieandErnestRutherford?rstformulatedtheideaofusingradioactive
transformation of nuclides as a geologic chronometer. After a
century of working with such tools, geology has advanced from a
descriptive science to an analytic s-
encethatformulatesconclusionsbasedonexactvalues.Thetechnologyofradiogenic
isotope geology has created a branch of science that considers the
Earth as a planet generated within a Solar system and studies the
subsequent evolution of geologic processes that has resulted in the
present formation of our planet's continents and oceans. The
physicist Vitaly Ginsburg, Nobel Prize laureate, wrote recently:
"If Kepler had been given information on orbital parameters of
planets with modern precision, he would not have been able to
formulate his laws". Indeed, after development of laws of celestial
mechanics, methods of measurements became so advanced and such
numerous secondary distortion effects were found that to describe
an orbit of a cosmic body by a curve of the second order would
appear impossible. But it does not mean that Kepler's laws are
"cancelled"; they still occupy an honorable place in courses on
celestial mechanics. A reasonable division into basic and secondary
phenomena is accepted and the latter are entered as variations in
the basic equations.
The Baltic Sea is an area extensively explored by the
oceanographers. Hence it is one of the most often described marine
areas in the scientific literature. However, there are still
several fields which are poorly investigated and reported by
scientists. One of them is the carbon cycle of the Baltic Sea.
Although it is believed the shelf seas are responsible for about
20% of all marine carbon dioxide uptake, while they constitute only
7% of the whole sea surface, still a scientific debate exists on
the role of the Baltic Sea in the global carbon cycle. "Carbon
cycle of the Baltic Sea" is intended to be a comprehensive
presentation and discussion of state of the art research by
biogeochemists involved in the Baltic Sea carbon cycle research.
This work presents both qualitative and quantitative descriptions
of the main carbon flows in the Baltic Sea as well as their
possible shifts induced by climatic and global change.
This compilation of techniques, methodologies and scientific data
arises from a four-year Italian research project, which took place
at university research stations in Turin, Piacenza, Naples and
Potenza. Soil Organic Matter (SOM) represents an active and
essential pool of the total organic carbon on the planet.
Consequently, even small changes in this SOM carbon pool may have a
significant impact on the concentration of atmospheric CO2. Recent
new understanding of the chemical nature of SOM indicates that
innovative and sustainable technologies may be applied to sequester
carbon in agricultural soils. Overall results of the project have
been applied to develop an innovative model for the prediction and
description, both quantitatively and qualitatively, of carbon
sequestration in agricultural soils. This book provides experts in
different areas of soil science with a complete picture of the
effects of new soil management methods and their potentials for
practical application in farm management.
Due to their unparalleled effectiveness and efficiency,
polyfluorinated chemicals (PFC") "have become essential in numerous
technical applications. However, many PFCs brought to market show
limited biodegradability, and their environmental persistence
combined with toxic and bioaccumulative potential have become a
matter of concern in some instances. This volume highlights the
synthesis of PFCs, focusing on substances with improved application
and environmental properties, which are a challenge for synthetic
chemists. Further, modern mass spectrometric techniques for the
detection and identification of biotransformation products of PFCs
are described. The sorption and leaching behavior of PFC in soil is
also addressed in order to predict their fate in the environment.
Several contributions discuss the monitoring of PFCs in European
surface, ground and drinking waters, treatment options for PFC
removal from drinking water, occurrence in food, and the human
biomonitoring of PFCs.
These Proceedings contain both oral and poster contributions to the
first interna tional conference" Field Screening Europe -
Strategies and Techniques for On-Site Investigation and Monitoring
of Contaminated Soil, Water and Air," held in Karls ruhe September
29 - October 1, 1997. Environmental monitoring and the assessment
of chemical contaminations are be coming more and more important.
The integrated study of environmental con tamination in the field
is a rather recent approach. "Field screening" indicates such field
analytical tools, (quick) methods and strategies for on-site or
in-situ environmental analysis and assessment of contamination. The
classical strategy for investigating contaminants consists of the
following steps: site studies, sampling, sample transport to the
laboratory, sample preparation, and analysis. This strategy is
rather expensive and time consuming. Some investiga tions,
including sample preparation, may last several days. In many cases,
the results must be available immediately and are of importance for
further decisions. Field screening is an alternative or complement
to this strategy that attempts to be cheaper and faster and may
achieve the same quality of results. The most important argument
for field analytical methods is that the superior accuracy and high
costs of laboratory methods are disproportional to the possibility
of arti facts from sampling and errors originating from spatial
variations of contaminants."
A sound understanding of the global carbon cycle requires an
appreciation of the various physico-chemical and biological
processes that determine the production, distribution, deposition
and diagenesis of organic matter in the natural environment. This
book is a comprehensive interdisciplinary synthesis of this
information, coupled with an organic facies approach based on data
from both microscopy and bulk organic geochemistry.
Soils form a unique and irreplaceable essential resource for all
terrestrial organisms, including man. Soils form not only the very
thin outer skin of the earth's crust that is exploited by plant
roots for anchorage and supply of water and nutrients. Soils are
complex natural bodies formed under the influence of plants,
microorganisms and soil animals, water and air from their parent
material, i.e. solid rock or unconsolidated sediments. Physically,
chemically and mineralogically they usually differ strongly from
the parent material, and normally are far more suitable as a
rooting medium for plants. In addition to serving as a substrate
for plant growth, including crops and pasture, soils play a
dominant role in the biogeochemical cycling of water, carbon,
nitrogen and other elements, influencing the chemical composition
and turnover rates of substances in the atmosphere and the
hydrosphere. Soils take decades to millennia to form. We tread on
them and do not usually see their interior, so we tend to take them
for granted. But improper and abusive agricultural management,
careless land- clearing and reclamation, man-induced erosion,
salinisation and acidification, desertification, air- and water
pollution, and withdrawal of land for housing, industry and
transportation now destroy soils more rapidly than they can be
formed.
As indicated on the title page, this book is an outgrowth of the
NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on Chemical Transport in
Metasomatic Processes, which was held in Greece, June 3-16, 1985.
The ASI consisted of five days of invited lectures, poster
sessions, and discussion at the Club Poseidon near Loutraki,
Corinthia, followed by a two-day field trip in Corinthia and
Attica. The second week of the ASI consisted of an excursion aboard
M/S Zeus, M/Y Dimitrios II, and the M/S Irini to four of the
Cycladic Islands to visit, study, and sample outstanding exposures
of metasomatic activity on Syros, Siphnos, Seriphos, and Naxos.
Nine teen invited lectures and 10 session chairmen/discussion
leaders participated in the ASI, which was attended by a total of
92 professional scientists and graduate stu dents from 15
countries. Seventeen of the invited lectures and the Field
Excursion Guide are included in this volume, together with 10
papers and six abstracts representing contributed poster sessions.
Although more than two years has elapsed since the ASI, all of the
papers in this volume are up to date, and each has benefited from
stimulating discussion, critical comment, and scientific
interaction, both at the ASI and in the subsequent peer review
process. The scientific emphasis of the ASI focused initially on
upper mantle metasoma tism and crust/mantle interaction. Isotopic
evidence was presented indicating that upper mantle peridotites
have undergone nonequilibrium metasomatic exchange with an external
oxygen-bearing fluid."
In the dozen years since the first edition appeared, there has been
a great advance in understanding of the Earth's deep interior. This
is not because there have been breakthroughs in understanding, or
even many changes of ideas, but largely because of many small
advances, often the result of improved tech niques. This has led to
a complete revision of the book. For instance, we have a much
better idea of how the cloud of gas that formed the Solar Nebula
evolved into the Sun and the planets, and of the chemical processes
that accompanied its evolution and determined the mix of elements
in the Earth. We have a better understanding of convection and how
plates are an essential part of it, and how it is accompanied by
chemical processes that have extracted the materials to build
continents. Although the major variation within the Earth is
radial, improved geophysical and geochemical techniques have made
progress in investigating and under standing the lateral
heterogeneities, and it is encouraging that when geochemists and
geophysicists talk about lateral heterogeneities they can sometimes
be referring to the same thing. Plumes have become very fashionable
as the cause of hot-spot magmatism and associated geochemical
anomalies, probably origi nating at the base of the mantle (though
clear evidence for their existence is lacking)."
This volume of Advanced Mineralogy encompasses six different areas
having two features in common: they are related to one of the
largest enterprises of the second half of this century; and
represent the ultimate and final extension of the concept of
mineral matter. - Understanding mineral matter in Space is one of
the principal purposes of cosmic exploration. This includes the
results of compa rative planetology, lunar epopee, sophisticated
meteorite studies (now more than 500 meteorite minerals), discovery
of the interstellar mineral dust forming some 60 trillion of earth
masses in the Galaxy, and terrestrial impact crater studies. It is
possible now to speak of mineralogy of the Universum, and the
mineralogical type of the states of matter in the Universe. Direct
samples of mantle xenoliths and ultrahigh pressure-tem perature
experiments make it possible to consider the mineral ogical
composition of the Earth as a whole, including the upper an lower
mantle and the Earth's core. Deep ocean drilling programs, a
scientific fleet of hundreds of vessels and several submersibles
have brought about great dis coveries in the geology, metalogeny,
and mineralogy of the ocean floor the largest part of the Earth's
surface, in particular revealing new genetic, crystallochemical,
and ore types of min eral formation."
This book is written as a reference on organic substances in
natural waters and as a supplementary text for graduate students in
water chemistry. The chapters address five topics: amount, origin,
nature, geochemistry, and characterization of organic carbon. Of
these topics, the main themes are the amount and nature of
dissolved organic carbon in natural waters (mainly fresh water,
although seawater is briefly discussed). It is hoped that the
reader is familiar with organic chemistry, but it is not necessary.
The first part of the book is a general overview of the amount and
general nature of dissolved organic carbon. Over the past 10 years
there has been an exponential increase in knowledge on organic
substances in water, which is the result of money directed toward
the research of organic compounds, of new methods of analysis (such
as gas chromatography and mass spectrometry), and most importantly,
the result of more people working in this field. Because of this
exponential increase in knowledge, there is a need to pull together
and summarize the data that has accumulated from many disciplines
over the last decade.
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