Deserts are parts of the Earth that receive little or no rain; 25 cm or less per year. The physical processes that act upon these parched lands are vastly different from those that shape the more humid parts of the terrestrial landmasses. In the desert, wind is a major agent of erosion and transportation. As the results of recent space missions have indicated, this is also true in the case of the planet Mars. Thus, our understanding of desert processes sheds light on fundamental planetary processes that may apply on any planetary body that is enveloped by a windy atmosphere. An understanding of the physical layout of arid lands, and the nature of processes that initiate changes therein is also fundamental to thoughtful utilization of these lands for the benefit of mankind. It is with this in mind that we prepared this book for publication. We believe that the collection of articles in this book will be useful to scientists who are interested in desert landforms and processes, and to planners of economic develop ment of arid lands. The book also serves as a guide for students as to the state of our knowledge in this field as well as to the topics that require additional research."

Evapotranspiration and its components (evaporation and transpiration) as a process is one of the basic terms of Earth's water balance; its importance is accented by the fact that transpiration is the vital element of the biomass production process. The second important property of evapotranspiration is its extreme consumption of solar energy, thus controlling the temperature of the atmosphere and creating favourable conditions for life. Evapotranspiration as an energy consuming process is also the connection between the energy and mass cycles of the Earth. Evapotranspiration is a process performing in the Soil-Plant -Atmosphere System (SPAS); therefore this book is presenting and quantifying it as a catenary process, describing transport of water in the soil, including root extraction patterns and methods of its evaluation. Transport of water through the plant and from the canopy to the atmosphere is also described and quantified. A variety of evapotranspiration (and its components evaporation and transpiration) calculation methods are described, starting from empirical methods up to the most sophisticated ones based on the solution of the transport equations of water and energy in the SPAS. The most important (and widely used) calculation method - modified Penman-Monteith method is described in details, ready to be used with data in the book only. Water balance method of evapotranspiration estimation as well as sap flow method description can be found in the book as well. The book can be used by hydrologists, biologists, meteorologists and other specialists as well as byecology students.

Key themes: soil hydrology - evapotranspiration - hydropedology- plant physiology -water movement in soils -evaporation -transpiration

Dr. Viliam Novak isa water resources scientist at the Institute of Hydrology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava (Slovakia)."

In the modem language of reservoir engineering by reservoir description is understood the totality of basic local information concerning the reservoir rock and fluids which by various procedures are extrapolated over the entire reservoir. Fracture detection, evaluation and processing is another essential step in the process of fractured reservoir description. In chapter 2, all parameters related to fracture density and fracture intensity, together with various procedures of data processing are discussed in detail. After a number of field examples, developed in Chap. 3, the main objective remains the quantitative evaluation of physical properties. This is done in Chap. 4, where the evaluation of fractures porosity and permeability, their correlation and the equivalent ideal geometrical models versus those parameters are discussed in great detail. Special rock properties such as capillary pressure and relative permeability are reexamined in the light of a double-porosity reservoir rock. In order to complete the results obtained by direct measurements on rock samples, Chap. 5 examines fracturing through indirect measurements from various logging results. The entire material contained in these five chapters defines the basic physical parameters and indicates procedures for their evaluation which may be used further in the description of fractured reservoirs.

This book focuses on developing an integrated holistic approach for harnessing the potential of rain-fed agriculture. In this approach, rainwater management through harvesting and recharging the groundwater is used as an entry point activity for increasing the productivity for farmers through enhanced water use efficiency. To provide the holistic and integrated solutions, the approach of consortium through building partnerships with different stakeholders, eg. different research institutions (State, National and International), development departments, eg. Department of Agriculture, Department of Animal Husbandry etc., Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), Farmers Organizations Community-based Organizations (CBOs) along with market linkages through private companies.

This two-volume work is an effort to provide a common platform to environmental engineers, microbiologists, chemical scientists, plant physiologists and molecular biologists working with a common aim of sustainable solutions to varied environmental contamination issues. Chapters explore biological and non-biological strategies to minimize environmental pollution. Highly readable entries attempt to close the knowledge gap between plant - microbial associations and environmental remediation. Volume 1 focuses on important concepts such as biological remediation strategies to enhance soil quality at contaminated sites; synergistic influences of tolerant plants and rhizospheric microbial strains on the remediation of pesticide contaminated soil, and the role of plant types such as hyperaccumulator plants in the cleanup of polluted soils. Readers will discover mechanisms and underlying natural inherent traits of various plants and microbes for tolerating, excluding, remediating, accumulating, or metabolizing a variety of pollutants.

This book presents an updated view of the Philippines, focusing on thematic issues rather than a description region by region. Topics include typhoons, population growth, economic difficulties, agrarian reform, migration as an economic strategy, the growth of Manila, the Muslim question in Mindanao, the South China Sea tensions with China and the challenges of risk, vulnerability and sustainable development.

Seismicity is a major trigger for landslides with often devastating effects. The Japan Landslide Society (JLS) therefore organized a meeting fully dedicated to the research area of earthquake induced landslides. The symposium covers all aspects of earthquake-induced landslides including the phenomena occurred in manmade embankments as well as in natural slopes in mountainous areas. In this comprehensive volume on landslide science the JLS presents the Proceedings of this First International Symposium on Earthquake-Induced Landslides, held in November 2012 in Kiryu, Japan.

Plant Stress Mitigators: Types, Techniques and Functions presents a detailed contextual discussion of various stressors on plant health and yield, with accompanying insights into options for limiting impacts using chemical elicitors, bio-stimulants, breeding techniques and agronomical techniques such as seed priming, cold plasma treatment, and nanotechnology, amongst others. The book explores the various action mechanisms for enhancing plant growth and stress tolerance capacity, including nutrient solubilizing and mobilizing, biocontrol activity against plant pathogens, phytohormone production, soil conditioners, and many more unrevealed mechanisms. This book combines research, methods, opinion, perspectives and reviews, dissecting the stress alleviation action of different plant stress mitigators on crops grown under optimal and sub-optimal growing conditions (abiotic and biotic stresses).

Accelerated degradation of soils and surface waters produce increasing problems in many parts of the world. Within this context, the book addresses the topic Application of Physically Based Soil Erosion Models in order to present some essential tools for improving land-use strategies and conservation measures. Over the last 20 years, the need for more accurate assessments of soil losses and sediment yields has led to the development of some highly complex, process-based soil erosion models. In 14 papers, specialists from 5 European countries, the USA and Brazil report on practical applications of these models and give insight into the latest developments. This book will help to implement state-of-the-art soil erosion prediction technologies within soil and water conservation planning and assessment. Hence, the book should be of special interest to agricultural and environmental engineers, hydrologists, soil scientists and geoscientists.

The Society of Environmental Geochemistry and Health (SEGH) Second International Conference on Arsenic Exposure and Health Effects was held June 12-14, 1995 in San Diego, California. The conference was at tended by 152 people who heard 41 presentations on all aspects of arsenic research. The speakers represented 14 countries. Approximately 40 of the participants and speakers were from countries other than the US. The participants represented government, academia, industry and the interested public. The sponsorship ofthe conference is a good indicationofthe wide spread interest in the subject and the meeting. The sponsors, in addition to SEGH, were the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AWWARF), Kennecott Corporation, the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO), and the International Council on Metals in the Environment (ICME). The funding was split approximately equally between industry (including industrial organizations such as EPRI) and government. In addition to the many fine presentations, the meeting provided a forum for scientists from different countries to compare experiences and share information. It also provided a forum for the discussion of both scientific and policy issues between representatives of various governmental bodies (at the local, state, and federal level) and representatives of various indus trial organizations. These discussions occurred both in the formal meetings and informal settings during the meeting.

This monograph covers new variational and projection methods to study the dynamics within solid structures. To cope with the underlying initial-boundary value problems, the method of integrodifferential relations is employed. Applications and examples in physics, mechanics and control engineering range from natural vibrations or forced motions of elastic and viscoelastic bodies to heat and mass transfer processes. Contents Generalized formulations of parabolic and hyperbolic problems Variational principles in linear elasticity Variational statements in structural mechanics Ritz method for initial-boundary value problems Variational and projection techniques with semi-discretization Integrodifferential approach to eigenvalue problems Spatial vibrations of elastic beams with convex cross-sections Double minimization in optimal control problems Semi-discrete approximations in inverse dynamic problems Modeling and control in mechatronics

Taphonomic bias is a pervasive feature of the fossil record. A pressing concern, however, is the extent to which taphonomic processes have varied through the ages. It is one thing to work with a biased data set and quite another to work with a bias that has changed with time. This book includes work from both new and established researchers who are using laboratory, field and data-base techniques to characterise and quantify the temporal and spatial variation in taphonomic bias. It may not provide all the answers but it will at least shed light on the right questions.

This is a detailed description of the steps leading from raw signals measured in space, to calibrated comparable long term data sets, to its final form: useful information for user communities. Examples of applications and data validations result from different investigations in the Mediteranean area. An appendix summarizes useful formulas of the evaluation of satellite data.

This book Computer Modelling of Seas and Coastal Regions is the first volume of the two volume proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Modelling of Seas and Coastal Regions and Boundary Elements and Fluid Dynamics, held in Southampton, U.K., in April 1992. The importance of accurate modelling of seas and coastal regions is empha sized by the need for predicting their behaviour under extreme conditions. Problems, such as pollution of these areas, have become a major interna tional concern and the related environmental problems need further study using techniques which can be used to determine the ways in which the water systems respond to different effects and try to minimize the damage. They can also lead to the development of early warning systems in combina tion with remote sensing equipment and experimental sampling techniques. Furthermore, once a disaster occurs, the model can be used to optimize the use of the available resources. The conference addresses coastal region modelling both under normal and extreme conditions, with special reference to practical problems, currently being experienced around the world. Many of the delegates are actively involved in the modelling of seas and coastal regions. This volume includes sections on waves, tides, shallow water circulation and channel flow, siltation and sedimentation, pollution problems, and computu tational techniques. The organizer would like to thank the International Scientific Advisory Committee, the conference delegates and all those who have actively sup ported the meeting.

Biotechnology for Waste Management and Site Restoration covers: waste management - solid, gaseous, liquid; site restoration - radioactivity, organics, toxic metals; educational, economic, social and business aspects; and international collaboration. International collaboration is growing apace and many concrete projects have been started. The body of knowledge is growing. Over the long term, it is envisaged that this international collaboration will result in a long-term scientific and technological strategy, new technologies and alternative solutions, and practical implementations of biotechnology for the nuclear and industrial sectors of the economy.

This Special Issue of Water, Air, and Soil Pollution offers original contributions from BIOGEOMON, The Third International Symposium on Ecosystem Behavior, which was held on the campus ofVillanova University from June 21-25, 1997. Previous meetings were held in Prague in 1987 and again in 1993. The BIOGEOMON series was initiated in 1987 when a group of researchers from the Czech Geological Survey organized a conference called GEOMON, Geochemical Monitoring in Representative Basins. GEOMON was fairly narrowly focused on monitoring of element pools and fluxes on a small watershed scale. As signalled by the change in name to BIOGEOMON, the second conference explicitly recognized that assessment of anthropogenic effects on ecosystem processes requires a combination of geochemical monitoring with other approaches, including watershed-level manipulations, use of radioactive and stable isotopic tracers, and both empirical and process modeling. The 1997 BIOGEOMON conference was the largest, with over 240 participants from 28 countries on five continents in attendance, and broadest in scope. The conference featured a plenary speaker, six keynote speakers, 35 invited speakers, over 60 oral contributed presentations, and over 75 poster presentations.

Rock Joints deals exclusively with the mechanical genesis of joints in rocks. It is aimed at a coherent, critical and comprehensible presentation of the underlying mechanical processes of various types of joints and joint systems. Special care is taken to elucidate and quantify the role of high fluid pressures in the formation of joints. The background is an offshoot of the author's courses on "Genesis of Rock Joints" in the Department of Rock Mechanics and Tunneling at the Technical University of Graz, Austria.

Potash is the term generally given to potassium chloride, but it is also loosely applied to the various potassium compounds used in agriculture: po tassium sulfate, potassium nitrate or double salts of potassium and magne sium sulfate (generally langbeinite, K S0 * 2MgS0 ). Sometimes the var 2 4 4 ious compounds are differentiated by the terms muriate of potash, sulfate of potash, etc. When referring to ores, or in geology, all of the naturally found potassium salts are called "potash ores". However, originally potash referred only to crude potassium carbonate, since its sole source was the leaching of wood ashes in large pots. This "pot ash" product was generally recovered from near-seacoast plants, such as the saltwort bush, whose ashes were richer in potassium than sodium carbonate. Inland plant's ashes were generally higher in sodium carbonate, giving rise to the word alkali from the Arabic word for soda ash, al kali. The term was then carried over after potassium was discovered to form the latin word for it, kalium. The recovery of potash from ashes became a thriving small cottage industry throughout the world's coastal areas, and developing economies, such as the early set tlers in the United States were able to generate some much-needed income from its recovery and sale. This industry rapidly phased out with the advent of the LeBanc process for producing soda ash in 1792, and the discovery about the same time of the massive sodium-potassium nitrate deposits in the Atacama Desert of Chile.

This 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 balanced, international authorship of the 18 contributions has produced a state-of-the-science report on the emerging concept of superplumes and has documented the potential of superplumes to serve as a testable model for future studies.The topic of superplume dynamics has been treated from different angles covering the sub-disciplines of geology, geochemistry, petrology as well as geophysics (including mineral physics, seismic tomography and mantle dynamics). For instance, it is shown how transport of heat via superplumes, huge stable pipes connecting the high-temperature core with the surface land mass, could have caused mass extinctions and drastic environmental change.

The first Symposium on Recent Advances in Problems of Flow and Transport in Porous Media was held in Marrakech in June '96 and has provided a focus for the utilization of computer methods for solving the many complex problems encountered in the field of solute transport in porous media. This symposium has been successful in bringing together scientists, physicists, hydrogeologists, researchers in soil and fluid mechanics and engineers involved in this multidisciplinary subject. It is clear that the utilization of computer-based models in this domain is still rapidly expanding and that new and novel solutions are being developed. The contributed papers which form this book reflect the recent advances, in particular with respect to new methods, inverse problems, reactive transport, unsaturated media and upscaling. These have been subdivided into the following sections: I. Numerical methods II. Mass transport and heat transfer III. Comparison with experimentation and simulation of real cases This book contains reviewed articles of the top presentations held during the International Symposium on Computer Methods in Porous Media Engineering which took place in Giens (France) in October 1998. All of the presentations and the optimism shown during the meeting provided further evidence that computer modeling is making remarkable progress and is indeed becoming an essential toolkit in the field of porous media and solute transport. I believe that the content of this book provides evidence of this and furthermore gives a comprehensive review of the theoretical developments and applications.

This volume combines 10 years of accomplished research at the Pilauco site. The studies are focused on a variety of scientific areas including geological, sedimentological, geomorphological and paleobotanical topics, as well as paleontology of vertebrata and invertebrata, micropaleontology, archaeology, biochemistry, taxonomy, taphonomy, astrophysics and the development of some particular touristic aspects. In 18 chapters a variety of authors describe the excavation and investigation of this unique location. The book presents Pilauco as an example for the natural laboratory which can be found in South America, a testing ground for many of the hypotheses regarding migrations of animals and humans. In this context the study of topics, such as the paleozoography, the role of megafauna species for the architecture of the forests, the animal extinctions or the early human settlements, is extremely important on a global scale. The Pilauco site features paleontological and archaeological evidences and is contemporaneous with the Monte Verde site (~ 15,000 cal. yr AP). It is located 100 km north from Monte Verde and lies within the Intermediate Depression in northwestern Chilean Patagonia. It was discovered by chance in 1986 and has been excavated and investigated since 2007.

There has long been interest in the flow of fluids through permeable aqui fers. Stratigraphic trapping of oil and gas by permeability changes in an aquifer and the amounts of hydrocarbons so trapped are major concerns to the oil industry. The variations of aquifer width and geometry and of the positions in an aquifer where hydrocarbons can be trapped by hydro dynamic forces are intimately intertwined in determining the shape, and thus the volume, of hydrocarbons. Perhaps the seminal work in this area is reflected by King Hubbert's massive review paper "Entrapment of Petroleum under Hydrodynamic Conditions" (Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull. 37(8), 1954-2026, 1953), in which a wide variety of effects, such as capillarity, buoyancy, surface tension, and salinity of water, are incorporated as basic factors influenc ing the positioning and shaping of hydrocarbon masses in hydrodynami cally active aquifers. In those days, while the basic physics could readily be appreciated, development of a detailed quantitative understanding of the interplay of the various factors in controlling or modulating hydro dynamic shapes was severely limited by computer abilities. Indeed, Hub bert actually constructed and photographed physical models, using alcohol and water, to illustrate basic concepts. It is difficult to obtain an appreciation of the behavior of flow geometries from such experiments when all factors are permitted to vary simultaneously."