Soil quality is threatened by many human-induced activities, but can also be improved by good land management. In the relatively short history of mankind on earth, the landscape and soils of the world have been drastically modified from their "natural " state. Landscapes altered by man's activities are termed "Anthroscapes" which are inextricably linked to culture and history. The challenges for today's scientists are to devise and implement sustainable land management strategies in order to preserve the land for the benefit of future generations. This book is a valuable compendium of the research experiences so far gained in studies of the context and concept of the "Anthroscape" and highlights the potential future contributions of such research to sustainable development.

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.

The book gives a detailed description of the application of DSSAT in simulating crop and soil processes within various Agro-ecological zones in Africa. The book, an output of a series of 3 workshops, provides examples of the application of DSSAT models to simulate nitrogen applications, soil and water conservation practices including effects of zai technology, phosphorus and maize productivity, generation of genetic coefficients, long-term soil fertility management technologies in the drylands, microdosing, optimization of nitrogen x germplasms x water, spatial analysis of water and nutrient use efficiencies and, tradeoff analysis. The minimum dataset requirements for DSSAT is discussed. This book arises from attempts to address the limited use of models in decision support by African agricultural (both soil scientist and agronomists) scientists.

Aimed at taking the mystery out of soil science, Soils: Principles, Properties and Management is a text for undergraduate/graduate students who study soil as a natural resource. Written in a reader-friendly style, with a host of examples, figures and tables, the book leads the reader from the basics of soil science through to complex situations, covering such topics as: the origin, development and classification of soil physical, chemical and biological properties of soil water and nutrient management management of problem soils, wetland soils and forest soils soil degradation Further, the ecological and agrological functions of soil are emphasized in the context of food security, biodiversity and climate change. The interactions between the environment and soil management are highlighted. Soil is viewed as an ecosystem itself and as a part of larger terrestrial ecosystems.

In arid and semi-arid areas, the main contributions to land surface processes are precipitation, surface evaporation and surface energy balancing. In the close-to-surface layer and root-zone layer, vapor flux is the dominant flux controlling these processes - process which, in turn, influence the local climate pattern and the local ecosystem. The work reported in this thesis attempts to understand how the soil airflow affects the vapor transport during evaporation processes, by using a two-phase heat and mass transfer model. The necessity of including the airflow mechanism in land surface process studies is discussed and highlighted.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of remediation and rehabilitation techniques and strategies for contaminated and anthropogenically disturbed land. Rehabilitation approaches in the urban environment, such as brownfield redevelopment and urban mining, are discussed. In relation to contaminated land, techniques for soil containment and decontamination of soil, soil vapour and groundwater are comprehensively and systematically presented. Complicated treatment techniques are schematically depicted and can be readily understood. Agricultural, silvicultural and environmentally sustainable rehabilitation strategies for reclaiming disturbed land/terrain in former mining or natural-resource extraction areas, such as open-cast mines, quarries, harvested peatlands, and subsided mining terrain (sinkholes), are introduced. This book will be a useful tool for students, researchers, private consultants and public authorities engaged in the treatment of contaminated or disturbed land.

Over the last several years, there has been much discussion on the interrelation of CO2 emissions with the global warming phenomenon. This in turn has increased pressure to develop and produce more fuel efficient engines and vehicles. This is the central topic of this book. It covers the underlying processes which cause pollutant emissions and the possibilities of reducing them, as well as the fuel consumption of gasoline and diesel engines, including direct injection diesel engines. As well as the engine-related causes of pollution, which is found in the raw exhaust, there is also a description of systems and methods for exhaust post treatment. The significant influence of fuels and lubricants (both conventional and alternative fuels) on emission behavior is also covered. In addition to the conventional gasoline and diesel engines, lean-burn and direct injection gasoline engines and two-stroke gasoline and diesel engines are included. The potential for reducing fuel consumption and pollution is described as well as the related reduction of CO2 emissions. Finally, a detailed summary of the most important laws and regulations pertaining to pollutant emissions and consumption limits is presented. This book is intended for practising engineers involved in research and applied sciences as well as for interested engineering students.

This book is part of a series of eight providing profession-wide, consensus-based assessment of innovative site remediation and hazardous waste treatment technologies.

Due to the threat of a possible global climate change and the greenhouse effect caused by constituents of anthropogenic origin in the atmosphere, air quality has become a major environmental issue. As a consequence, emissions into the atmosphere need to be monitored and controlled. Measurement of Atmospheric Emissions presents technologies for emission control and analysis from industrial and energy plants. The author explains the physical and chemical basis before proceeding to the practical performance. This publication provides the reader with the knowledge necessary to critically analyze and investigate emission measurement techniques. It will be of great interest to researchers and engineers in the fields of environmental technology and air pollution control. It will assist in the choice of the most appropriate instruments for various purposes and circumstances.

Metal contamination is an increasing ecological and eco-toxicological risk. Understanding the processes involved in metal mobilization, sorption and mineralization in soils are key features for soil bioremediation.

Following an introduction to the physical, chemical and biological components of contaminated soils, various chapters address the interactions of soil, microorganisms, plants and the water phase necessary to transfer metals into biological systems. These include topics such as potential hazards at mining sites; rare earth elements in biotic and abiotic acidic systems; manganese redox reactions; biomineralisation, uranium in seepage water; metal-resistant streptomycetes; mycorrhiza in re-forestation; metal (hyper)accummulation in plants; microbial metal uptake; and their potential for bioremediation.

This book will be of interest to soil biologists, geologists and chemists, researchers and graduate students, as well as consulting companies and small enterprises involved in bioremediation.

This is the first comprehensive volume on cave sediments. It provides case-studies from around the world, gives guidance on appropriate applications of techniques, and their limitations, synthesizes methods that can be used to decipher complex deposits, and includes chemical deposits (speleothems) as well as clastic sediments. This book is for any geoscience researcher or student with interests in climate change, paleohydrology, karst geology, and sedimentology.

Soil science in the Netherlands puts strong emphasis on the relationship between parent material and soil formation, and between physiographic conditions and land use. This approach, developed by the late Professor Dr C. H. Edelman ( 1903-1964), is quite understandable in a country where soils have to a great extent developed from alluvial and aeolian materials of recent geological origin. Dutch soil scientists have paid much attention to pedogenesis in fresh sediments, known as 'initial soil formation' or 'ripening', and to groundwater as a soil forming factor. Furthermore, human influence on soil genesis, in this land of man-made soils, has been tho roughly investigated. 'Major soils and soil regions in the Netherlands' clearly reflects these specific features of soils work in this country. In his book, Mr H. de Bakker, Head of the Soil Classification Section of the Netherlands Soil Survey Institute (Stichting voor Bodemkartering) addresses the special interests of foreign soil scientists and of students of earth sciences. The author examines representative soil profiles not only with respect to the Netherlands' system of soil classification- of which he is the co-author-but also in terms of some of the major classification systems used in other countries. It appears that a well characterized soil profile may find a very different place in various classifications and that even for a trained specialist it is often difficult to arrive at a specific determination within a given system.

A solid introduction to stable isotopes that can also be used as an instructive review for more experienced researchers and professionals. The book approaches the use of isotopes from the perspective of ecological and biological research, but its concepts can be applied within other disciplines. A novel, step-by-step spreadsheet modeling approach is also presented for circulating tracers in any ecological system, including any favorite system an ecologist might dream up while sitting at a computer. The author's humorous and lighthearted style painlessly imparts the principles of isotope ecology. The online material contains color illustrations, spreadsheet models, technical appendices, and problems and answers.

This guide details the techniques and numerical procedures required for numerical modelling of radioactivity dispersion in marine environments. The book goes beyond the basics of hydrodynamic modeling to analyze the latest trends in modeling.

The present volume Stratabound Ore Deposits in the Andes has its roots in an international seminar on stratabound ore deposits which took place in September 1986 in Cusco, Peru, sponsored by Multi ciencias (Peru) and UNESCO. During this seminar it became clear that the amount and quality of research done on stratabound ore deposits in the Andes required a synthesis. Researchers in industry and government as well as in academia, including many which had participated at the Cusco Seminar, were invited to contribute. The answer was extremely positive, confirming the idea that a book expressing the state of the art of the study of stratabound ore deposits in the Andes was long overdue. As editors we sought to give maximum coverage to the present knowledge, yet keeping the length, and thereby the price, within rea sonable limits. The book contains three types of contributions. In the first part the reader will find review papers focusing on ( 1) the geologic framework (Frutos), (2) the metallogenesis in Andean countries including also types of deposits differing from those of stratabound nature (Cardozo and Cedillo, Oyarzun), and (3) an in troductory overview of the stratabound ore deposits in the Andes, emphasizing their geotectonic position as a classification tool (Font bote).

SOIL: beneath our feet / food and fiber / ashes to ashes, dust to dust / dirt!Soil has been called the final frontier of environmental research. The critical role of soil in biogeochemical processes is tied to its properties and place-porous, structured, and spatially variable, it serves as a conduit, buffer, and transformer of water, solutes and gases. Yet what is complex, life-giving, and sacred to some, is ordinary, even ugly, to others. This is the enigma that is soil. Soil and Culture explores the perception of soil in ancient, traditional, and modern societies. It looks at the visual arts (painting, textiles, sculpture, architecture, film, comics and stamps), prose & poetry, religion, philosophy, anthropology, archaeology, wine production, health & diet, and disease & warfare. Soil and Culture explores high culture and popular culture-from the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch to the films of Steve McQueen. It looks at ancient societies and contemporary artists. Contributors from a variety of disciplines delve into the mind of Carl Jung and the bellies of soil eaters, and explore Chinese paintings, African mud cloths, Mayan rituals, Japanese films, French comic strips, and Russian poetry.

Pinxian Wang and Qianyu Li The South China Sea (SCS) (Fig. 1. 1) offers a special attraction for Earth scientists world-wide because of its location and its well-preserved hemipelagic sediments. As the largest one of the marginal seas separating Asia from the Paci?c, the largest continent from the largest ocean, the SCS functions as a focal point in land-sea int- actions of the Earth system. Climatically, the SCS is located between the Western Paci?c Warm Pool, the centre of global heating at the sea level, and the Tibetan Plateau, the centre of heating at an altitude of 5,000m. Geomorphologically, the SCS lies to the east of the highest peak on earth, Zhumulangma or Everest in the Himalayas (8,848m elevation) and to the west of the deepest trench in the ocean, Philippine Trench (10,497m water depth) (Wang P. 2004). Biogeographically, the SCS belongs to the so-called "East Indies Triangle" where modern marine and terrestrial biodiversity reaches a global maximum (Briggs 1999). Among the major marginal sea basins from the west Paci?c, the SCS presents some of the best conditions for accumulating complete paleoclimatic records in its hemipelagic deposits. These records are favorable for high-resolution pa- oceanographic studies because of high sedimentation rates and good carbonate preservation. It may not be merely a coincidence that two cores from the southern 14 SCS were among the ?rst several cores in the world ocean used by AMS C dating for high-resolution stratigraphy (Andree et al. 1986; Broecker et al. 1988).

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.

Since climate and land use strongly affect the runoff pattern and intensity of solute export, it is likely that some observations and conclusions formulated on the basis of investigations carried out in forested catchment may not be fully adequate to describe controls on solute export from agricultural watersheds. The primary objective of the present research is to better understand the flow paths that affect the fluxes of dissolved compounds from a small agricultural catchment during snowmelt. This book focuses on spring snowmelt, because this is the dominant hydrological event in many moderate and high latitude catchments and, thus, is regarded as a prominent factor influencing the quality of surface waters

Heavy-metal contamination is one of the world's major environmental problems, posing significant risks to agro-ecosystems. Conventional technologies employed for heavy-metal remediation have often been expensive and disruptive.

This book provides comprehensive, state-of-the-art coverage of the natural, sustainable alternatives that use a wide range of biological materials in the removal/detoxification of heavy metals, consequently leading to the improvement of crops in these soils. Novel, environmentally friendly and inexpensive solutions are presented based on a sound understanding of metal contamination and the roles of plants and microbes in the management of these toxic soils.

Written by worldwide experts, the book provides not only the necessary scientific background but also addresses the challenging questions that require special attention in order to better understand metal toxicity in soils and its management through bioremediation.

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This book provides information about springs, mineral waters, and thermal waters used for municipal, industrial, and agricultural water supplies and the rapidly expanding bottled water industry. The role of springs is described for ancient civilizations, military campaigns and, in more recent times, for tourism and health spas. In addition, their source, occurrence, and methods for development and use are described. The book contains data obtained from major hydrogeologic databases and from leading hydrogeologists.

atmosphere and vegetation. In what ways can key ural and cultural functions of water, primarily elements of the water balance and the hydrological through direct interference by agriculture and cycle be altered by climate change? To answer this through pollutant loads emanating from point and question, the Council presents an analysis in which non-point sources in settlements, the small business characteristics of the hydrological cycle under pre sector, agriculture and industry. Too little is known sent climatic conditions are compared to those in a about the behavior of substances that enter water simulated climate with CO doubling (equivalent to through human activities, about their decomposition 2 twice present-day levels). Here, the Council draws on and conversion, and about the impacts they have on calculations made with the ECHAM/OPYC coupled ecosystems and humans. The most important factors atmosphere-ocean model developed by the German influencing global water quality include acidification, Climate Computing Centre (DKRZ) and the Max eutrophication, salinization, and pollution caused by Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI). Simulations organic and inorganic trace compounds (pesticides with the model show that more precipitation falls on and heavy metals, for example). Quality standards land masses in a warmer climate, especially at high such as those governing agricultural and industrial latitudes and in parts of the tropics and subtropics, uses have yet to be defined for many other types of while other regions have less rain. The latter include use.

The economic costs of frosts in agriculture and horticulture in many parts of the world can be very significant. Reports in the media include accounts on how frosts have devastated coffee crops in Brazil or in Papua New Guinea, and how frosts have seriously damaged the Florida citrus industry. Frost may cause losses in current harvests or a decline in future yields through more permanent damage to trees and bushes. Damaging frosts may occur as infrequent, short-term events with sub-zero temperatures or with unusually severe winter temperatures which extend over long periods. In this book we have aimed at providing a comprehensive review of recent advances in the area of frost research. The stimulus for writing this book has come from the recognition that there is a shortage of recent texts which deal exclusively with the bioclimatology of frost. Bioclimatology deals with the relations between climate and life and the present text is particularly concerned with the effects of low temperatures on plants. Our purpose has been to assist researchers, engineers, extension officers and students in understanding the physical aspects of frost occurrence and frost distribution as well as the biological and phenological aspects of frost damage and to provide an overview of direct and indirect methods of frost pro tection and prevention."

Any concentration of a substance measured in a living or non-living system results from its distribution among all of the environmental compartments: air, water, sediments, and biota. The transfer of a substance from one compartment to another is regulated by physical forces and the chemical properties of the substance and also those of the compartments. When transfer processes are nearly constant in time, a substance will achieve predictable equilibria distributions. It is of utmost importance that students, environmental scientists, and policymakers understand the basic processes which control the distribution of a substance in order to interpret measurements obtained from within a limited number of compartments.

This is a guide to imaging techniques for sedimentologists, paleolimnologists, paleoceanographers and microscopists involved in paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Case studies illustrate the range of information obtainable from different sediments (marine, lacustrine, aeolian) and different types of samples (cores, embedded blocks, microscopic slides) using different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum (visible, UV, IR, X-ray). Includes comprehensive protocols, guidelines, and recommendations for the use of low cost image analysis techniques.