Mass movement of rocks in high mountains can severely injure the population and damage man-made structures in these areas. This book focuses on the understanding of the mechanisms of rockslides and rockfalls using a quantitative approach. The range and velocity of these hazards are calculated to serve as a basis for evacuations and other preventive measures. Examples from four continents illustrate the necessity of this kind of information. The book contains a wealth of information for practitioners and scientists working in the field of catastrophe prevention.

Jesuits established a large number of astronomical, geophysical and meteorological observatories during the 17th and 18th centuries and again during the 19th and 20th centuries throughout the world. The history of these observatories has never been published in a complete form. Many early European astronomical observatories were established in Jesuit colleges.
During the 17th and 18th centuries Jesuits were the first western scientists to enter into contact with China and India. It was through them that western astronomy was first introduced in these countries. They made early astronomical observations in India and China and they directed for 150 years the Imperial Observatory of Beijing.
In the 19th and 20th centuries a new set of observatories were established. Besides astronomy these now included meteorology and geophysics. Jesuits established some of the earliest observatories in Africa, South America and the Far East.
Jesuit observatories constitute an often forgotten chapter of the history of these sciences.

This thesis addresses karst development in a terrain characterized by a highly complex geological and geomorphological evolution. It tackles the extent and complexity of both epigenic and hypogenic karst development, based on morphological analyses of caves, combined with analyses and datations of cave sediments and their correlation to regional geological and geomorphological evolution. Hypogenic karst registered is mainly the result of hydrothermal speleogenesis due to increased geothermal gradient in connection with nearby Pliocene-Pleistocene volcanic centers, with occurrence of sulfuric acid speleogenesis and ghost-rock weathering due to local geological or lithological control. Epigenic speleogenesis is strongly controlled by base level oscillations, with also examples of deep phreatic (now fossil) caves connected to regional base level rise, and per-ascensum speleogenesis. Another important finding is the constraining of the timing of Mariovo Lake draining in the Pleistocene, an important event in order to understand the geomorphological evolution in Macedonia, as it led to the onset of fluvial development and incision of valleys, shaping most of the present morphology.

These proceedings comprise the peer-reviewed contributions submitted to the 11th International Congress for Applied Mineralogy (ICAM) held July 5-10, 2013, at the Southwest University of Science and Technology (SWUST) in Mianyang, China. The biennial ICAM is the most important gathering of applied mineralogists, organized every other year by the ICAM-Council. The multidisciplinary research presented in this book will be of interest to scientists and professionals dealing with topics like environmental and medical mineralogy; industrial minerals; bio-minerals and biomaterials; advanced materials; process mineralogy; mining and metallurgy; cultural heritage; the interaction of minerals with microorganisms; and solid waste treatment and recycling, including genetic mineralogy. "The field of applied mineralogy has been able to match society's pace by continuously reinventing itself, quickly adopting new technologies and instrumentation as they became available and putting them to work for the service of mankind living in a world that heavily relies on minerals. Over the past few decades, applied mineralogy has evolved into a cutting- edge discipline that leads the way for science, engineering and research and development to benefit society. Contrary to popular belief, mineral resources are limited, and we have an obligation to our heirs to use them responsibly." Dr. Maarten A.T.M. Broekmans Post-President ICAM Council

Irregular engineering structures are subjected to complicated additional loads which are often beyond conventional design models developed for traditional, simplified plane models. This book covers detailed research and recent progress in seismic engineering dealing with seismic behaviour of irregular and set-back engineering structures. Experimental results as well as special topics of modern design are discussed in detail. In addition, recent progress in seismology, wave propagation and seismic engineering, which provides novel, modern modelling of complex seismic loads, is reported. Particular emphasis is placed on the newly developed rotational, seismic ground-motion effects. This book is a continuation of an earlier monograph which appeared in the same Springer series in 2013 (http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789400753761).

The weathering of historical buildings and, indeed, of monuments and sculptures of natural stone is a problem that has been encountered for hundreds of years. However a dramatic increase in deterioration in the structure of our built heritage has been observed during the past century. To understand the complex interaction that the stone in a building suffers with its near environment (the building) and the macro environment (the local climate and atmospheric conditions) requires an interdisciplinary approach and the application of many disciplines. Climate change over the next 100 years is likely to have a range of direct and indirect impacts on many natural and physical environments, including the built environment.

The protection of our architectural heritage has both cultural and historical importance, as well as substantial economic and ecological value. Large sums of money are being spent world-wide on measures for the preservation of monuments and historical buildings. The past few decades has seen an unprecedented level of research activity in this area, the result of whichis often difficult to access and are summarized in the new edition of STONE IN ARCHITECTURE.

The 4th edition of Stone in Architecture: Properties, Durability, is a sophisticated and thorough exploration of stone its properties, performance and conservation in monumental contexts. The current editors, Siegfried Siegesmund and Rolf Snethlage, note the pioneering work of Erhard Winkler who wrote the first edition in 1973 when so little information could be found in the literature on the subject. This new edition, also published by Springer, nearly doubles the size of Winkler s 1994 effort. If you are familiar with the field and need to know little more than this statement, you can put aside this review and go buy the book.

George Wheeler, Department of Scientific Research, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York."

The widespread mafic-ultramafic complexes in the Earth are well-known as their hosting Ni-Cu-PGE ore deposits, and their petrogenesis and mineralization have become hot issues in the geological studies. This thesis comprehensively investigated the petrology, mineralogy, geochemistry and geochronology of several mafic-ultramafic complexes in the Beishan Terrane, southern Central Asian Orogenic Belt aimed at systematically determining the mineralization and petrogenetic processes responsible for the formation of the complexes and placing constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Eastern Tianshan and Beishan, and the Early Permian mantle plume. The thesis identified mineralizing indicators of Ni-Cu sulfide deposits and defined the roles of partial melting, fractional crystallization, crustal assimilation and magma injection. The systematical isotopic compositions revealed the mantle source of the mafic-ultramafic complexes had undergone the subduction-related modifications both from the South Tianshan Ocean and subsequently the Junggar Ocean, and that the complexes were emplaced in the period of 269-285 Ma coeval with the 280 Ma mantle plume event in the Tarim Craton. The results of this thesis provide new insights about the tectonic setting, magma evolution, ore genesis, and exploration implications of the mafic-ultramafic complexes in Central Asian Orogenic Belt. Dr. Benxun Su works at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.

The fundamentals of methods in nuclear geophysics and their practical applications in engineering geology, hydrology, hydrogeology, agriculture and environmental science are discussed in this book. The methods and apparatus based on absorption and scattering of gamma and neutron radiation for determination of density and soil moisture in natural conditions are presented in Chapters 2, 3, and 4. The theoretical fundamentals and installations of the penetration logging techniques where gamma, gamma-gamma and neutron logging in combination with static penetration form common complexes for engineering geology and hydrogeology exploration without boring holes are described. The developed constructions and practical use penetration logging installations for applications on land and marine shelves are described in Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8. The physical fundamentals for the use of the natural stable and radioactive isotopes for study of the global hydrological cycle are provided. The experimental data, origin and distribution of cosmogenic and radiogenic isotopes in the oceans, atmospheric moisture, surface and underground waters are presented in Chapters 9, 10, and 11. The sources and conditions of the radioactive contamination of the natural waters are discussed in Chapters 12 and 13. This book will be of interest to scientists and researchers who use nuclear geophysics methods in engineering geology, hydrology, hydrogeology and hydrogeoecology. Lecturers, students, and postgraduates in these subjects will also find it useful.

This monograph examines the mineralogy of illite, the most common clay mineral, as a unifying theme for understanding problems of the surface environment and environmental change. The volume begins with a careful analysis of the structure and transformation of illite. Using illite as the frame, the authors describe problems in soil chemistry, clay stability and clay kinetics in sedimentary rocks.

Recent global events such as the devastating 1998 Papua New Guinea tsunami, the 2004 Sumatran tsunami and the 2006 SE Asia undersea network cable failure underscore the societal and economic effects of submarine mass movements. These events call upon the scientific community to understand submarine mass movement processes and consequences to assist in hazard assessment, mitigation and planning. Additionally, submarine mass movements are beginning to be recognized as prevalent in continental margin geologic sections. As such, they represent a significant if not dominant role in margin sedimentary processes. They also represent a potential hazard to hydrocarbon exploration and development, but also represent exploration indicators and targets. This volume consists of a collection of the latest scientific research by international experts in geological, geophysical, engineering and environment aspects of submarine mass failures, focussed on understanding the full spectrum of challenges presented by submarine mass movements and their consequences.

The term Little Ice Age' was originally used by glaciologists to describe the most recent major glacial advance of the Holocene. Subsequently, the Little Ice Age' has come to be associated with a period of advances of European glaciers between about 1450 to 1850, as well as with relatively cooler temperatures. The issue of whether or not this concept remains accurate is a major theme of many of the papers included in this volume. The main geographical focus is on the North Atlantic and European sectors, and includes research from a number of different palaeoclimatic fields. Examples are the use of documentary sources, early instrumental records, grain-harvest data, fossil-insect data, ice-core records, glacial evidence, lichenometry, synoptic climatology, and also the human dimensions of climate change. The papers presented reflect state-of-the-art knowledge, as well as thought-provoking new insights into these subject areas. The book will be of value to all those interested in the above topics and in the overall themes of climate variability and global change.

This book focuses on sediments as a pollutant in natural freshwater and marine habitats, and as a vector for the transfer of chemicals such as nutrients and contaminants. Sediment-water research is carried out all over the world within a variety of disciplines. The selected papers cover three main topics: - assessment and/or restoration of disturbed watersheds;- sediment-water linkages in terrestrial and aquatic environments;- evaluation of sediment and ecological changes in marine and freshwater habitats.Innovative research in both developed and less developed countries is included and both fundamental research and insight into applied research and system management are covered

Land use decisions in karst terrains can have immediate and serious impacts on the local landscape and groundwater resources. The existing literature on karst and land use can be very difficult to locate in the journals of any of a half-dozen different disciplines. This book brings the interdisciplinary knowledge together in one place, in a format that academics and professionals alike will find accessible, informative and useful.

Based on an examination of existing regulations, the experiences and opinions of planners and land use professionals, and quantitative analysis of publicly-available data, the book explores how human settlement patterns and urban systems in karst terrains are affected by land use regulations intended to protect karst resources. The book pays particular attention to the questions of whether these regulations will have a noticeable impact on density and on opportunities for economic growth and development in communities that choose to implement them. This analysis serves as the basis for a regulatory framework that may be used to understand the workings of land use regulations in karst terrains, and to aid in the development of such regulations in the future.

Soil enzymes play a fundamental role in many soil processes such as the mineralization of organic matter, the synthesis of humic substances, the degradation of xenobiotics or the mechanisms involved in the biocontrol of plant pathogens. Their direct link with soil microorganisms gives them a key role as biomonitors of the evolution of soil quality or in the monitoring of the application of organic amendments to degraded soils. As a consequence of the importance of soil enzymes on soil processes, there is an increasing interest in their study, as well as in the application of molecular techniques as diagnostic tools.

Most of the Earth's biosphere is characterized by low temperatures. Vast areas (>20%) of the soil ecosystem are permanently frozen or are unfrozen for only a few weeks in summer. Permafrost regions occur at high latitudes and also at high ele- tions; a significant part of the global permafrost area is represented by mountains. Permafrost soils are of global interest, since a significant increase in temperature is predicted for polar regions. Global warming will have a great impact on these soils, especially in northern regions, since they contain large amounts of organic carbon and act as carbon sinks, and a temperature increase will result in a release of carbon into the atmosphere. Additionally, the intensified release of the clima- relevant tracer gas methane represents a potential environmental harzard. Significant numbers of viable microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea, p- totrophic cyanobacteria and green algae, fungi and protozoa, are present in per- frost, and the characteristics of these microorganisms reflect the unique and extreme conditions of the permafrost environment. Remarkably, these microorg- isms have been reported to be metabolically active at subzero temperatures, even down to ?20 DegreesC.

Submarine mass movements represent major offshore geohazards due to their destructive and tsunami-generation potential. This potential poses a threat to human life as well as to coastal, nearshore and offshore engineering structures. Recent examples of catastrophic submarine landslide events that affected human populations (including tsunamis) are numerous; e.g., Nice airport in 1979, Papua-New Guinea in 1998, Stromboli in 2002, Finneidfjord in 1996, and the 2006 and 2009 failures in the submarine cable network around Taiwan. The Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 also generated submarine landslides that may have amplified effects of the devastating tsunami. Given that 30% of the World 's population live within 60 km of the coast, the hazard posed by submarine landslides is expected to grow as global sea level rises. This elevated awareness of the need for better understanding of underwater landslides is coupled with great advances in underwater mapping, sampling and monitoring technologies, laboratory analogue and numerical modeling capabilities developed over the past two decades. Multibeam sonar, 3D seismic reflection, and remote and autonomous underwater vehicle technologies provide hitherto unparalleled imagery of the geology beneath the oceans, permitting investigation of submarine landslide deposits in great detail. Increased and new access to drilling, coring, in situ measurements and monitoring devices allows for ground-thruthing geophysical data, provides access to samples for geotechnical laboratory experiments and unprecedented in situ information on strength and effective stress conditions of underwater slopes susceptible to fail. Great advances in numerical simulation of submarine landslide kinematics and tsunami propagation, particularly since the 2004 Sumatra tsunami, have also lead to increased understanding and predictability of submarine landslide consequences.
This volume consists of the latest scientific research by international experts in geological, geophysical, engineering and environmental aspects of submarine mass failure, focused on understanding the full spectrum of challenges presented by submarine mass movements and their consequences.

A collection of international contributions presenting current knowledge of impact tectonics, geological and geophysical investigations of terrestrial impact structures, and suggested new impact structures, resulting from the IMPACT program.

Stochastic Methods for Flow in Porous Media: Coping with Uncertainties explores fluid flow in complex geologic environments. The parameterization of uncertainty into flow models is important for managing water resources, preserving subsurface water quality, storing energy and wastes, and improving the safety and economics of extracting subsurface mineral and energy resources.
This volume systematically introduces a number of stochastic methods used by researchers in the community in a tutorial way and presents methodologies for spatially and temporally stationary as well as nonstationary flows. The author compiles a number of well-known results and useful formulae and includes exercises at the end of each chapter.

* As never seen before:
* Balanced viewpoint of several stochastic methods, including Greens' function, perturbative expansion, spectral, Feynman diagram, adjoint state, Monte Carlo simulation, and renormalization group methods
* Tutorial style of presentation will facilitate use by readers without a prior in-depth knowledge of Stochastic processes
* Practical examples throughout the text
* Exercises at the end of each chapter reinforce specific concepts and techniques
* For the reader who is interested in hands-on experience, a number of computer codes are included and discussed

Coalbed gas has been considered a hazard since the early 19th century when the first mine gas explosions occurred in the United States in 1810 and France in 1845. In eastern Australia methane-related mine disasters occurred late in the 19th century with hundreds of lives lost in New South Wales, and as recently as 1995 in Queensland's Bowen Basin. Ventilation and gas drainage technologies are now in practice. However, coalbed methane recently is becoming more recognized as a potential source of energy; rather than emitting this gas to the atmosphere during drainage of gassy mines it can be captured and utilized. Both economic and environmental concerns have sparked this impetus to capture coalbed methane. The number of methane utilization projects has increased in the United States in recent years as a result, to a large extent, of development in technology in methane recovery from coal seams. Between 1994 and 1997, the number of mines in Alabama, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia recovering and utilizing methane increased from 1 0 to 17. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that close to 49 billion cubic feet (Bet) of methane was recovered in 1996, meaning that this amount was not released into the atmosphere. It is estimated that in the same year total emissions of methane equaled 45. 7 Bcf. Other coal mines are being investigated at present, many ofwhich appear to be promising for the development of cost-effective gas recovery.

Carbon Sequestration in Forest Ecosystems is a comprehensive book describing the basic processes of carbon dynamics in forest ecosystems, their contribution to carbon sequestration and implications for mitigating abrupt climate change. This book provides the information on processes, factors and causes influencing carbon sequestration in forest ecosystems. Drawing upon most up-to-date references, this book summarizes the current understanding of carbon sequestration processes in forest ecosystems while identifying knowledge gaps for future research, Thus, this book is a valuable knowledge source for students, scientists, forest managers and policy makers.

Over the past decade the scientific activities of the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), which focuses on the role of the oceans in controlling climate change via the transport and storage of greenhouse gases and organic matter, have led to an increased interest in the study of the biogeochemistry of organic matter. There is also a growing interest in global climate fluctuations. This, and the need for a precise assessment of the dynamics of carbon and other bio-elements, has led to a demand for an improved understanding of biogeochemical processes and the chemical characteristics of both particulate and dissolved organic matter in the ocean. A large amount of proxy data has been published describing the changes of the oceanic environment, but qualitative and quantitative estimates of the vertical flux of (proxy) organic compounds have not been well documented. There is thus an urgent need to pursue this line of study and, to this end, this book starts with several papers dealing with the primary production of organic matter in the upper ocean. Thereafter, the book goes on to follow the flux and characterization of particulate organic matter, discussed in relation to the primary production in the euphotic zone and resuspension in the deep waters, including the vertical flux of proxy organic compounds. It goes on to explain the decomposition and transformation of organic matter in the ocean environment due to photochemical and biological agents, and the reactivity of bulk and specific organic compounds, including the air-sea interaction of biogenic gases. The 22 papers in the book reflect the interests of JGOFS and will thus serve as a valuable reference source for future biogeochemical investigations of both bio-elements and organic matter in seawater, clarifying the role of the ocean in global climate change.

Soil organic carbon (SOC), a key component of the global carbon (C) pool, plays an important role in C cycling, regulating climate, water supplies and biodiversity, and therefore in providing the ecosystem services that are essential to human well-being. Most agricultural soils in temperate regions have now lost as much as 60% of their SOC, and as much as 75% in tropical regions, due to conversion from natural ecosystems to agricultural uses and mainly due to continuous soil degradation. Sequestering C can help to offset C emissions from fossil fuel combustion and other C-emitting activities, while also enhancing soil quality and long-term agronomic productivity. However, developing effective policies for creating terrestrial C sinks is a serious challenge in tropical and subtropical soils, due to the high average annual temperatures in these regions. It can be accomplished by implementing improved land management practices that add substantial amounts of biomass to soil, cause minimal soil disturbance, conserve soil and water, improve soil structure, and enhance soil fauna activity. Continuous no-till crop production is arguably the best example. These soils need technically sound and economically feasible strategies to sustainably enhance their SOC pools. Hence, this book provides comprehensive information on SOC and its management in different land-use systems, with a focus on preserving soils and their ecosystem services. The only book of its kind, it offers a valuable asset for students, researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders involved in the sustainable development and management of natural resources at the global level.

This book explores the latest advances in our understanding of the evolution of the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta, examining the Damodar basin, Bhagirathi-Hooghly basin and Jalangi basin from historical, quantitative and applied geomorphology perspectives. The evolution of the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta is highly complex and remains poorly understood. To address that gap, this edited volume presents 11 research papers: the first seven chapters focus on the pure geomorphology and geohydrology of the delta, while the remaining four examine its applied geomorphological aspects. The book offers a valuable guide for geologists, geographers, hydrologists, landscape ecologists, environmentalists, engineers, planners and policy makers.