Mapping Geomorphological Environments is a highly descriptive textbook providing an excellent introduction to the latest methodologies for mapping geomorphological formations in a variety of different environments.

Its holistic approach seeks to provide a meaningful linkage between state of the art techniques for geomorphological mapping, including the latest innovations in geospatial applications, and advances in the understanding of the formation of geomorphological phenomena in a variety of settings and environments.

The book includes: - An introduction to the processes which form geomorphological formations and how to map them. - Case studies from a variety of environments with many examples of geomorphological maps. - In-depth descriptions of the latest tools and methodologies such as field sampling, GPS usage, 3-4D mapping, GIS analysis, digital image analysis, etc. - A list of the geomorphological characteristics per environment (e.g. coastal, fluvial, etc.) in the format of a geomorphological encyclopaedia, with pictures, maps and symbols.

It covers the entire workflow ranging from data collection, analysis, interpretation, and mapping.

Acknowledgements

All authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Dr. John W.M. Peterson, School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, for corrections and improvement to the English text..

Universita Telematica Guglielmo Marconi (UTGM) and ENEA acknowledge the collaboration of CUTGANA (Centro Universitario per la Tutela e la Gestione degli Ambienti Naturali e degli Agroecosistemi), Universita di Catania, for the paper on "The Cyclops Islands."

IRMCo acknowledges the use of the Integrated Land and Water Information System (ILWIS), developed by ITC, the Netherlands, for the management and assessment of geographic information in a GIS environment. ILWIS functionality was employed for the paper on "The natural heritage of the Island of Gozo" and the paper on "The geomorphological cave features of Ghar il-Friefet."

IPB (Polytechnic Institute of Braganca) wishes to acknowledges all those colleagues, most of them also members of CIMO (Centre for Mountain Research), that contributed to the recently issued Management Plan of Montesinho Natural Park (PNM). Their hidden contribution to the articles concerning PNM is much acknowledged. A word in recognition of his endless and contagious enthusiasm towards Montesinho and to the Mountain domain, spread among us all in the IPB, is due to Professor Dionisio Goncalves, the first Director, Coordinator and President of PNM, CIMO and IPB, respectively. The authors of the photos inserted in the articles concerning Montesinho are also much acknowledged for their contribution."

The subject of geomathematics focuses on the interpretation and classification of data from geoscientific and satellite sources, reducing information to a comprehensible form and allowing the testing of concepts. Sphere oriented mathematics plays an important part in this study and this book provides the necessary foundation for graduate students and researchers interested in any of the diverse topics of constructive approximation in this area. This book bridges the existing gap between monographs on special functions of mathematical physics and constructive approximation in Euclidean spaces. The primary objective is to provide readers with an understanding of aspects of approximation by spherical harmonics, such as spherical splines and wavelets, as well as indicating future directions of research. Scalar, vectorial, and tensorial methods are each considered in turn. The concentration on spherical splines and wavelets allows a double simplification; not only is the number of independent variables reduced resulting in a lower dimensional problem, but also radial basis function techniques become applicable. When applied to geomathematics this leads to new structures and methods by which sophisticated measurements and observations can be handled more efficiently, thus reducing time and costs.

The book focuses on the use of inelastic analysis methods for the seismic assessment and design of bridges, for which the work carried out so far, albeit interesting and useful, is nevertheless clearly less than that for buildings. Although some valuable literature on the subject is currently available, the most advanced inelastic analysis methods that emerged during the last decade are currently found only in the specialised research-oriented literature, such as technical journals and conference proceedings. Hence the key objective of this book is two-fold, first to present all important methods belonging to the aforementioned category in a uniform and sufficient for their understanding and implementation length, and to provide also a critical perspective on them by including selected case-studies wherein more than one methods are applied to a specific bridge and by offering some critical comments on the limitations of the individual methods and on their relative efficiency. The book should be a valuable tool for both researchers and practicing engineers dealing with seismic design and assessment of bridges, by both making the methods and the analytical tools available for their implementation, and by assisting them to select the method that best suits the individual bridge projects that each engineer and/or researcher faces.

This book provides an overview, research compendium and an introduction to the science of molecular paleontology, including literature overview for non-geochemists. Analytical methods employed are included as a part of each chapter that underpin this branch of paleontology and indeed geochemistry. The primary usefulness of this volume is for organic geochemists, molecular palaeontologists, and molecular archeologists. Researchers, graduate students and academics interested in astrobiology from a paleontological perspective may also find this to be valuable.

Coastal aquifers serve as major sources for freshwater supply in many countries around the world, especially in arid and semi-arid zones. Many coastal areas are also heavily urbanized, a fact that makes the need for freshwater even more acute. Coastal aquifers are highly sensitive to disturbances. Inappropriate management of a coastal aquifer may lead to its destruction as a source for freshwater much earlier than other aquifers which are not connected to the sea. The reason is the threat of seawater intrusion. In many coastal aquifers, intrusion of seawater has become one of the major constraints imposed on groundwater utilization. As sea water intrusion progresses, existing pumping wells, especially those close to the coast, become saline and have to be abandoned. Also, the area above the intruding seawater wedge is lost as a source of natural replenishment to the aquifer. Despite the importance of this subject, so far there does not exist a book that integrates our present knowledge of seawater intrusion, its occurrences, physical mechanism, chemistry, exploration by geo physical and geochemical techniques, conceptual and mathematical modeling, analytical and numerical solution methods, engineering measures of combating seawater intrusion, management strategies, and experience learned from case studies. By presenting this fairly comprehensive volume on the state-of-the-art of knowledge and ex perience on saltwater intrusion, we hoped to transfer this body of knowledge to the geologists, hydrologists, hydraulic engineers, water resources planners, managers, and governmental policy makers, who are engaged in the sustainable development of coastal fresh ground water resources."

This book is the second volume of the proceedings of the 4th GeoShanghai International Conference that was held on May 27 - 30, 2018. The book, entitled "Fundamentals of Soil Behaviours", presents the recent advances and technology in the understanding and modelling of fundamentals of soil's behaviours. The subject of this book covers a wide range of topics related to soil behaviours in geotechnical engineering, geoenvironmental engineering and transportation engineering. The state-of-the-art theories, methodologies and findings in the related topics are included. This book may benefit researchers and scientists from the academic fields of soil and rock mechanics, geotechnical engineering, geoenvironmental engineering, transportation engineering, geology, mining and energy, as well as practical engineers from industry. Each of the papers included in this book received at least two positive peer reviews. The editors would like to express their sincerest appreciation to all of the anonymous reviewers all over the world, for their diligent work.

The monograph presented to foreign readers has been prepared by the famous Soviet investigators of processes of geochemistry and sedimentation in the Mediterranean Sea. For more than 20 years E.M. Emelyanov has examined the recent sedimentation of the Mediterranean Sea and K.M. Shimkus has studied the Quaternary and the earlier sedi mentation of the area. The authors, scientific workers from the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, USSR Academy of Sciences (Atlantic and Southern Depart ments), took part not only in numerous cruises on oceanographic vessels of the USSR, but in the study of cores of the deep-sea drilling on R/V "Glomar Challenger." A great number of scientific papers and some books devoted to the processes of sedimentation and geochemistry of the Mediterranean Sea were written by them. Although the scientific interests of the authors are not only limited to these questions, I should like to emphasise these aspects of their scientific activity when introducing this book. The Mediterranean Sea is a suitable natural laboratory for solving a number of principal problems of marine sedimentation and lithogenesis."

Prospecting and exploration for manganese nodules has, as its ultimate objective, the discovery and delineation of an area of the ocean floor with reserves of sufficient quantity and quality to support a mining operation under existing economic, technical and political conditions. While prospecting concentrates primari lyon the collection of geological information, an exploration programme includes other activities that relate to the develop ment of technology, financial analysis of the prospect and environmental protection. Such work on a deposit in turn leads to the development of a mine-site. The mine-site concept brings together information in a way that recognizes the interplay among a number of dynamic factors which must satisfy a set of technical and economic conditions. Defining a mine-site, therefore, is a process of accounting for those factors. Throughout the years of meetings of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, many questions arose about ocean mine-sites. Two related topics in particular received attention: the total number of available mine-sites, and the amount of area necessary for a mining operation. Both of these topics have been subject to a great deal of speculation, and even with the best available information, there remains a degree of uncertainty that arises from both incomplete knowledge and natural variability in the seabed and the resource, and different technology and production objectives. For example, estimates of the size of the area necessary for an ocean mine-site vary even when made by the same company.

Quaternary Sediments: Petrographic Methods for the Study of Unlithified Rocks (Second Edition), first published in 1991, deals with the analysis of sediments, soils and weathering products to reconstruct the environment of the Quaternary period. Not only does it cover all physical and chemical laboratory techniques but it also describes the use of required equipment, the evaluation of both strengths and weaknesses of each technique and how to get and interpret results. The application of each method in solving particular geological problems is stressed. Case studies, diagrams and full biographies provide the reader with further information. The Second Edition contains a new chapter titled "Second Thoughts" which includes Prologue Errors and error propagation Sampling for particle-size analysis The interpretation of loss on ignition data as a measure of plant organic content Dealing with geochemical data Dry bulk density Reference. The index has also be updated to include the new material.

In many geological epochs, glacial sediments are widespread. This type of sedimentation results from the interaction between atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere under temperatures ranging from 0 to -80. Two types of glacial sediments exists: those from sea-ice and those from icebergs. Both types can be subdivided into various subfacies. Most widespread in the Northern Hemisphere is the Siberian subfacies, characterized by silt and clay and often misinterpreted as sediments of temperate zones. This reference book for researchers working on this kind of sediments provides a complete overview of the various glacial deposits in the ocean.

With a length of about 1200 km, the Son-Narmada-Tapti Lineament (NSL) is one of the most prominent geomorphic features in the Indian subcontinent. Anomalous conductive bodies are delineated at mid-lower crustal depths below major earthquake epicentral zones. The region has been interpreted as the collision zone of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate. The NSL zone is therefore also known to be the second most important tectonic feature in the Indian geology, after the Himalayas.
The present thesis describes significant new insight into the seismotectonics of this Central India tectonic zone, based on thorough magnetotelluric studies. The main objectives of the present study are: (i) to delineate subtrappean sediments across the NSL region along four different traverses, (ii) to understand the characterization of geo-electrical structure of the crust and examine the nature of geo-electrical signatures of the known faults, (iii) to integrate the results with other geophysical data such as seismicity, gravity and heat flow, in order to understand the tectonic scenario of the region.
Deep electromagnetic (magnetotelluric) analyses were integrated in this study with gravity, seismic and heat flow studies and distinct, delineated deep crustal features. The resulting high conductivity is justified with the presence of fluids at mid-lower crustal depths. The migration of these fluids from mantle to mid-lower crustal depths through pre-existing brittle fracture/fault zones were obviously caused by the plume related to the Deccan volcanism. Migration of the fluids generated a higher fluid pressure along the faults and resulted in earthquakes.
Based on the geo-electric sections derived along the four traverses of the Narmada-Son Lineament Zone, the present study gives important clues on the subduction/collision history in this important tectonic zone.

This volume addresses the similarities and also the differences in the genomes of soil saprophytes, symbionts, and plant pathogens by using examples of fungal species to illustrate particular principles. It analyzes how the specific interactions with the hosts and the influence of the environment may have shaped genome evolution. The relevance of fungal genetic research and biotechnological applications is shown for areas such as plant pathogenesis, biomass degradation, litter decomposition, nitrogen assimilation, antibiotic production, mycoparasitism, energy, ecology, and also for soil fungi turning to human pathogens. In addition to the model organisms Neurospora and Aspergillus, the following species are covered providing a view of pathogens and mutualists: Trichoderma, Fusarium oxysporum, Cochliobolus heterostrophus, Penicillium chrysogenum, Rhizopus oryzae, Podospora anserina, and species belonging to Agaricomycetes, Archaeorhizomycetes and Magnaporthaceae. Ecology and potential applications have guided the choice of fungal genes to be studied and it will be fascinating to follow the trends of future sequencing projects.

The second edition of Applied Hydrodynamics in Petroleum Exploration is a concise guide to the properties of fluids and their practical applications in petroleum and gas exploration. This book is a complete, self-contained discussion of hydrodynamics for geologists and geophysicists actively searching for accumulations of oil and gas.Review from the First Edition: "...this book is a good primer and should be read and digested by every exploration geologist." J. Sedimentary Petrology

Landslides and Engineered Slopes. Experience, Theory and Practice contains the invited lectures and all papers presented at the 12th International Symposium on Landslides, (Naples, Italy, 12-19 June 2016). The book aims to emphasize the relationship between landslides and other natural hazards. Hence, three of the main sessions focus on Volcanic-induced landslides, Earthquake-induced landslides and Weather-induced landslides respectively, while the fourth main session deals with Human-induced landslides. Some papers presented in a special session devoted to "Subareal and submarine landslide processes and hazard" and in a "Young Session" complete the books. Landslides and Engineered Slopes. Experience, Theory and Practice underlines the importance of the classic approach of modern science, which moves from experience to theory, as the basic instrument to study landslides. Experience is the key to understand the natural phenomena focusing on all the factors that play a major role. Theory is the instrument to manage the data provided by experience following a mathematical approach; this allows not only to clarify the nature and the deep causes of phenomena but mostly, to predict future and, if required, manage similar events. Practical benefits from the results of theory to protect people and man-made works. Landslides and Engineered Slopes. Experience, Theory and Practice is useful to scientists and practitioners working in the areas of rock and soil mechanics, geotechnical engineering, engineering geology and geology.

This textbook on plate tectonics is designed for students in geology and geophysics to acquire in-depth knowledge of quantitative methods in plate kinematics and dynamics. Quantitative Plate Tectonics can also be used as a reference book by geoscientists who desire to expand their knowledge beyond their own specialization, or by oil-and-gas professionals and ore deposit specialists that need to investigate the geodynamic context of formation of geologic resources. Finally, this book can be considered as a comprehensive monograph on plate tectonics, which addresses the different quantitative aspects of this broad discipline, which has been traditionally partitioned into separate or quasi-separate branches. Additional material, available at http://extras.springer.com, includes two computer programs for the analysis of marine magnetic anomalies and for plate kinematic modelling, as well as some important geophysical data sets and models. Solutions to the exercises are also included. A unified quantitative description of plate tectonics, combining geological and geophysical perspectives Professional software, manual verification examples and applications are available as additional material Includes detailed calculations, examples, and problem sets per chapter Well illustrated "Dr. Schettino has produced a book covering in a rigorous way the kinematics and dynamics of plate tectonics. The fundamental physics governing geodynamic processes is discussed quantitatively, the relevant equations are clearly derived, and the implications of results are illustrated with examples and problems. The book will repay careful reading not only by postgraduate students in geophysics and geology, but also by any Earth scientist who wishes to acquire a quantitative understanding of plate tectonics."Giorgio Ranalli, Distinguished Research Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton university, Ottawa, Canada (author of "Rheology of the Earth", two editions, 1987 and 1995) "This text gives an excellent quantitative presentation of the kinematics and the dynamics of plate tectonics that integrates many aspects of the Earth sciences and provides a powerful model of the dynamic behaviour of the Earth. The geological and geophysical processes involved in elucidating the theory are clearly illustrated through a perfectly balanced level of mathematical and physical concepts including derivation of the relevant equations, examples and problems. The book is intended for advanced undergraduates, graduate students and professional earth scientists requiring an overview of the essential processes of plate tectonics." Marco Ligi, Senior Researcher, National Research Council of Italy, Istituto di Scienze Marine, Bologna, Italy.

Describes all the methods of dating terrestrial events using direct or indirect measurements of natural nuclear disintegrations. The work doesn't treat the matter of isotopic geochemistry in general, but rather concentrates on a more complete and practical guide to dating methods. The first chapter"

Azo dyes play an important role as coloring agents in the textile, food, and pharmaceutical industry. Due to the toxicity, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity of azo dyes and their breakdown products, their removal from industrial wastewaters has been an urgent challenge. Promising and cost-effective methods are based on their biodegradation, which is treated in this volume. The topics presented by experts in the field include: the classification of azo dyes; toxicity caused by azo dyes; aerobic and anaerobic azo dye biodegradation mechanisms; the role of bacteria, fungi, algae and their enzymes in biodegradation; the impact of redox mediators on azo dye reduction; the integration of biological with physical and chemical processes; the biotransformation of aromatic amines; reactor modelling for azo dye conversion; the biodegradation of azo dyes by immobilized bacteria and fungi; and factors affecting the complete mineralization of azo dyes.

Nutrient Use Efficiency in Plants: Concepts and Approaches is the ninth volume in the Plant Ecophysiology series. It presents a broad overview of topics related to improvement of nutrient use efficiency of crops. Nutrient use efficiency (NUE) is a measure of how well plants use the available mineral nutrients. It can be defined as yield (biomass) per unit input (fertilizer, nutrient content). NUE is a complex trait: it depends on the ability to take up the nutrients from the soil, but also on transport, storage, mobilization, usage within the plant, and even on the environment. NUE is of particular interest as a major target for crop improvement. Improvement of NUE is an essential pre-requisite for expansion of crop production into marginal lands with low nutrient availability but also a way to reduce use of inorganic fertilizer.

During the last decades, continuum mechanics of porous materials has achieved great attention, since it allows for the consideration of the volumetrically coupled behaviour of the solid matrix deformation and the pore-fluid flow. Naturally, applications of porous media models range from civil and environmental engineering, where, e. g. , geote- nical problems like the consolidation problem are of great interest, via mechanical engineering, where, e. g. , the description of sinter materials or polymeric and metallic foams is a typical problem, to chemical and biomechanical engineering, where, e. g. , the complex structure of l- ing tissues is studied. Although these applications are principally very different, they basically fall into the category of multiphase materials, which can be described, on the macroscale, within the framework of the well-founded Theory of Porous Media (TPM). With the increasing power of computer hardware together with the rapidly decreasing computational costs, numerical solutions of complex coupled problems became possible and have been seriously investigated. However, since the quality of the numerical solutions strongly depends on the quality of the underlying physical model together with the experimental and mathematical possibilities to successfully determine realistic material parameters, a successful treatment of porous materials requires a joint consideration of continuum mechanics, experimental mechanics and numerical methods. In addition, micromechanical - vestigations and homogenization techniques are very helpful to increase the phenomenological understanding of such media.

It is a pleasure to be asked to write the foreword to this interesting new book. When Professor Bedrikovetsky first accepted my invitation to spend an extended sabbatical period in the Department of Mineral Resources Engineering at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, I hoped it would be a period of fruitful collaboration. This book, a short course and a variety of technical papers are tangible evidence of a successful stay in the UK. I am also pleased that Professor Bedrikovetsky acted on my suggestion to publish this book with Kluwer as part of the petroleum publications for which I am Series Editor. The book derives much of its origin from the unpublished Doctor of Science thesis which Professor Bedrikovetsky prepared in Russian while at the Gubkin Institute. The original DSc contained a number of discrete publications unified by an analytical mathematics approach to fluid flow in petroleum reservoirs. During his sabbatical stay at Imperial College, Professor Bedrikovetsky has refined and extended many of the chapters and has discussed each one with internationally recognised experts in the field. He received great encouragement and editorial advice from Dr Gren Rowan, who pioneered analytical methods in reservoir modelling at BP for many years.

Coastal Dunes Form and Process Edited by Karl F. Nordstrom Norbert Psuty Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903, USA and Bill Carter Department of Environmental Studies, University of Ulster, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT52 1SA, Northern Ireland Coastal Morphology and Research Series Series Editor: Eric C. F. Bird This book deals with the formation and establishment of coastal dunes--considering both forms and processes in a wide variety of environments. These landforms are among the most sensitive to environmental change, yet they provide extensive protection against both short-term erosion and flooding and long-term sea-level rise. Until now, there has not been any major book to deal specifically with coastal dunes. The current volume surveys a range of dune features, such as the ephemeral characteristics in the rapidly subsiding Mississippi delta, the extensive sand sheets of Australia and South Africa and the Holocene dunes of Western Europe and North America. This book will provide essential background information for ecological and management studies of coastal dunes. It will be of immense value to geomorphologists, ecologists and other environmental scientists who work on the management of coastal dunes.

This book reflects the latest research results in computer modelling of landslide-induced debris flows. The book establishes an understanding of the initiation and propagation mechanisms of landslides by means of numerical simulations, so that mitigation strategies to reduce the long-term losses from landslide hazards can be devised. In this context, the book employs the Discrete Element Method (DEM) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to investigate the mechanical and hydraulic behaviour of granular materials involved in landslides - an approach that yields meaningful insights into the flow mechanisms, concerning e.g. the mobilization of sediments, the generation and dissipation of excess pore water pressures, and the evolution of effective stresses. As such, the book provides valuable information, useful methods and robust numerical tools that can be successfully applied in the field of debris flow research.

This book reviews all the major research accomplishments and summarizes the different applications of radon. It serves as a solid reference book for researchers who are interested in the U-series radionuclides and noble gases as tracers and chronometers. Radon has been widely utilized as a powerful tracer to quantify a number of processes that include gas exchange rates between air and water, submarine groundwater discharge in coastal waters, water exchange between rivers and lakes, ocean circulation, hydrocarbon and uranium exploration. It is also used as an atmospheric tracer for the identification and quantification of air masses and as a tool for earthquake prediction, etc. A significant portion of the book presents state-of-the knowledge on indoor-radon-related health issues. Applications of the decay-series of Rn-222 are presented in a chapter. It serves as a reference and a state-of-the-art resource for researchers who want to learn the different applications of radon in Earth systems.