In the heart of Africa, a unique lake attracts the attention of scientists since the beginning of the 20th century. At the foot of the Virunga volcano chain, Lake Kivu harbors a vast amount of dissolved carbon dioxide and methane, making this lake the most dangerous lake on Earth. But the lake furnishes also many goods and services for surrounding populations and may soon become the most important energy supplier in the area. At the beginning of gas exploitation, the time has come for gathering the large amount of scientific information acquired during past and present research on Lake Kivu. The eleven chapters cover many aspects of the physics, geochemistry and biology of the lake, with a particular focus on the unique physical and geochemical features of the water column and on the ecological functioning of the surface waters. The impacts of the introduced fish species and the potential impacts of methane exploitation are also summarized. This multi-disciplinary book may also be used as an introduction to the limnology and biogeochemistry of large tropical lakes, as it covers various aspects of the physics, geochemistry, biology and ecology of the African Great Rift lakes.

Ladies a n d g e n t 1 e m e n, I have the pleasure to welcome you here in Prague in the name of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and to open the Fifth Inter national Colloquium on Soil Zoology. We are very glad that Czecho slovakia was chosen for this important meeting. It is clear to all of us that the soil plays and will play a de cisive part in providing food for the explosive increase of human pop ulation. For this reason we watch with great anxiety the negative influence of human activities on the environment accompanied also by the other destructive intervention into the soil ecosystem, its devas tation by inefficient management, application of herbicides and pesti cides pollution by the waste products of industry and human settlements. The basis for solving these accumulating and now sometimes latent prob lems is among others a good knowledge of the role of soil organisms in the cycles of materials and in the energy flow. Soil zoology as a part of soil biology is still at the beginning of this trend The lack of in formation about life in soil is obvious when compared with the results of a related biological science dealing with the water ecosystem."

This monograph on chemical treatment is one of a series of eight on innovative site and waste remediation technologies that are the culmination of a multi organization effort involving more than 100 experts over a two year period. It provides the experienced, practicing professional guidance on the application of innovative processes considered ready for full-scale application. Other monographs in this series address bioremediation, soil washing/soil flushing, solvent chemical extraction, stabilization/ solidifica tion, thermal desorption, thermal destruction, and vacuum vapor extraction. 7. 7 Chemical Treatment The term chemical treatment, as used in this monograph, refers to the use of reagents to destroy or chemically modify target contaminants by means other than pyrolysis or combustion. The monograph addresses processes that chemically treat contaminated soils, groundwaters, surface waters, and, to a limited extent, concentrated contaminants. Chemical treatment is a means of converting hazardous constituents into less environmentally ob jectionable forms in order to meet treatment objectives. This monograph addresses substitution, oxidation, and chemical precipi tation processes. It addresses processes within these classes that are suffi ciently advanced for full-scale application. There are a number of emerging technologies within these classes that are in the research or an early devel opment stage, not yet ready for full-scale application, that appear to be very promising technologically. Six such technologies are briefly addressed in Appendix A."

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.

This book elucidates the importance of long-term experiments in revealing evidence of soil fertility decline in Africa. An evaluation of experiences from on-going long-term experiments is given in broad detail. The first chapter explains the paradigm shift in soil fertility management then provides justification for long-term experiments before illuminating experiences from long-term experiments in East, West and Southern Africa. The second, sixth, eighth and ninth chapters give an in-depth account of crop management practices and soil fertility interventions in long-term trials within specific agro-ecological zones in West Africa. The rest of the chapters (chapter three, four, five and seven) address crop management, tillage practices and, organic and inorganic fertilizer applications in the context of long-term experiments in specific agro-ecological zones in East Africa.

The contributions to this volume provide new experiences in hydrocarbon exploration, especially to basin analysis methods and risk assessment by computer modelling. Covering mainly the North Sea and adjacent areas also examples from Paris basin, off-Southern Italy, Pannonian basin, Bulgaria, Turkey, Russian platform and Baltic Sea are presented. New approaches in risk-weighting are performed by Monte Carlo simulations, by application of expert-system technology but also by taking into account the importance of man-made mechanical effects, resulting from stress-sensitivity measurements from log and core data.

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.

Urbanization drastically alters the ecosystems structure and functions, disrupts cycling of C and other elements along with water. It alters the energy balance and influences climate at local, regional and global scales. In 2008, urban population exceeded the rural population. In 2050, 70% of the world population will live in urban centers. The number of megacities (10 million inhabitants) increased from three in 1975 to 19 in 2007, and is projected to be 27 in 2025. Rapid urbanization is altering the ecosystem C budget. Yet, urban ecosystems have a large C sink capacity in soils and biota. Judicious planning and effective management can enhance C pool in urban ecosystems, and off-set some of the anthropogenic emissions. Principal components with regards to C sequestration include home lawns and turfs, urban forests, green roofs, park and recreational/sports facilities and urban agriculture.

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

The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry provides the compilation of today's knowledge of processes in the natural environment and the behavior and impact of pollutants. It provides a valuable source for environmental managers, decision-makers, and scientists. Volume 5A is dedicated to water pollution.

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 compilation of techniques, methodologies and scientific data arises from a four-year Italian research project, which took place at university research stations in Turin, Piacenza, Naples and Potenza. Soil Organic Matter (SOM) represents an active and essential pool of the total organic carbon on the planet. Consequently, even small changes in this SOM carbon pool may have a significant impact on the concentration of atmospheric CO2. Recent new understanding of the chemical nature of SOM indicates that innovative and sustainable technologies may be applied to sequester carbon in agricultural soils. Overall results of the project have been applied to develop an innovative model for the prediction and description, both quantitatively and qualitatively, of carbon sequestration in agricultural soils. This book provides experts in different areas of soil science with a complete picture of the effects of new soil management methods and their potentials for practical application in farm management.

Due to 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.

F. Jerry Lucia, working in America's main oil-rich state, has produced a work that goes after one of the holy grails of oil prospecting. One main target in petroleum recovery is the description of the three-dimensional distribution of petrophysical properties on the interwell scale in carbonate reservoirs. Doing so would improve performance predictions by means of fluid-flow computer simulations. Lucia's book focuses on the improvement of geological, petrophysical, and geostatistical methods, describes the basic petrophysical properties, important geology parameters, and rock fabrics from cores, and discusses their spatial distribution. A closing chapter deals with reservoir models as an input into flow simulators.

Greenhouse cultivation is noted for its high uptake of minerals, consistent climatic conditions, exclusion of natural precipitation and control of salt accumulation. Acknowledging that plant nutrition in greenhouse cultivation differs in many essentials from field production, this volume details specific information about testing methods for soils and substrates in a greenhouse environment. It does so while offering a universally applicable analysis. This is based on the composition of the soil and substrate solutions, methods for the interpretation of tissue tests, and crop responses on salinity and water supply in relation to fertilizer application. Fertilizer additions, related to analytical data of soil and substrate samples, are presented for a wide range of vegetable and ornamental crops. The subject is especially apt now as substrate growing offers excellent possibilities for the optimal use of water and nutrients, as well as the potential for sustainable production methods for greenhouse crops.

The series is designed to meet the needs of students and lecturers of the National Certificate Vocational. To facilitate students' learning, the following features are used in the series: Content is written in easy-to-understand language, key terms are carefully explained, using everyday English, case studies show how to apply the theory in the work environment, the study skills sections help students make the most of their learning in class and prepare for the exams, there are many practice activities and questions with model answers at the back of the title, checklists assist students to make sure that they have covered all the skills and content in each chapter, and summaries at the end of each chapter are useful for exam revision. Lecturers using the series can teach with confidence because content is comprehensive, up-to-date, and meets all the curriculum requirements for the subject, outcomes and assessment standards are clearly identified, and assessment tasks and activities are aligned to the outcomes and assessment standards. Prescribing lecturers have access to comprehensive lecturer support material on CD including model answers to assessments in the textbook, additional assessments with model answers, rubrics for assessments, and general reference material on teaching outcomes-based education. The series is available for all programmes, all fundamental and compulsory subjects, and all elective and optional subjects.

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.

Clay Sedimentology is a comprehensive textbook divided into six parts: - clay minerals and weathering - clay sedimentation on land - origin and behaviour of clay minerals and associated minerals in transitional environments (estuaries, deltas) and shallow-sea environments - diverse origins of clay in the marine environment - post-sedimentary processes intervening during early and late diagenesis - use of clay stratigraphic data for the reconstruction of past climate, marine circulation, tectonics, and other paleogeographical aspects. A basic idea on most topics dealing with sedimentary clays is presented and controversial data and uncertainties from the frontiers of knowledge are discussed.

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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"Soil Health and Climate Change" presents a comprehensive overview of the concept of soil health, including the significance of key soil attributes and management of soil health in conventional and emerging land use systems in the context of climate change. Starting with a review of the physical, chemical and biological indicators of soil health and their significance for monitoring the impacts of climate change, this book then focuses on describing the role of soil structure, pH, organic matter, nitrogen, respiration and biota in sustaining the basic functions of soil ecosystems, and their anticipated responses to climate change. Further topics include the management of cropping, pastoral, and forestry systems, and rehabilitated mine sites, with a focus on mitigation of and adaptation to climate change impacts. Finally, the opportunities and potential risks of organic farming, biochar and bioenergy systems, and their ability to sustain and even enhance soil health, are discussed.

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.

This volume, although not an integrated synthesis, treats most aspects of Holocene sedimenta tion and diagenesis in the Persian Gulf, grouping 22 contributions under a single cover and in one language. Because these sediments and diagenetic minerals are comparable to those existing in many ancient sedimentary basins, their appraisal should be of value to the enlarging group of workers who interpret ancient sedimentary rocks. The essential morphological, climatic and oceanographic factors determining Holocene sedimen tation and diagenesis in the Persian Gulf are summarized in the introductory article by PURSER and SEIBOLD. These environmental controls and the overall morphology of the Persian Gulf have much in common with Shark Bay, Western Australia, described by LOGAN et al. (1970). On the other hand, the Persian Gulf is markedly different from the better known Florida and Bahamian prov inces; the floor of the Persian Gulf is gently inclined from continental shoreline to bathymetric axis (80-100 m); the Bahamian province, on the other hand, is horizontal and extremely shallow (2-10 m), with very sharply defined shelf edges surrounded by deep oceanic waters. These contrast ing architectural styles are related to different tectonic frames.