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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > Geology & the lithosphere > Soil science, sedimentology
When Springer-Verlag undertook publication of this volume, two opportunities arose. The first was to bring together the significant findings ofthe interacting parts of a large field experiment on a whole ecosystem. Scientific specialists and the public are rightly concerned with large-scale impacts of human activity on landscapes and with the challenge of predicting subtle, long-range repercussions of air pollution. A fundamental issue is whether ecological systems like grasslands, which have evolved for several million years under stressful conditions such as variable climate and overgrazing, are more robust than other systems in tolerating new atmospheric impacts of pollution and toxicity. At what level, and when, will an extra geochemical input, like sulfur (Chapter 4), an essential nutrient for proteins and life processes, become an overload on these systems? Some grasses and grassland ecosystems seem fairly adaptable to burdens in addition to those of weather change and tissue removal. How can experts learn to project the future of the heartland of America and other grasslands of the world on the basis of only a few years of observation and control? The second opportunity addresses a broader aspect of the project that is of interest to many readers who are not concerned with details of physiology or food chains, or the overall productivity and variations of a single plant-animal-soil community.
Forty years ago, when PLANT AND SOIL first appeared, Europe was still recovering from the devastating effects of World War II. During the war years, work in many centres of agricultural research had come to a virtual standstill. Buildings and equipment were destroyed, scientists were often forced to terminate their research and teaching activities and funds allocated to such work were diverted to other, at that time, more pressing needs. During the first post-war years reconstruction was undertaken with great zeal and in that light the founding of the new journal PLANT AND SOIL must be viewed. In the pre-war period most agricultural science journals were still primarily national ones and consequently many articles were published in languages mastered by only a limited number of potential readers. In small countries whose languages are not widely understood, the desire arose to publish research findings in one of the major languages. It is therefore understandable that in the early years of the journal's existence, large portions of PLANT AND SOIL were filled with articles from the Scandinavian countries and The Nether lands. Originally, rather frequent use was made of the opportunity to publish also in German and French, but with the advance of English as a major language of communication, a decline was noticeable in the number of German and French manuscripts submitted. As a consequence the Edi torial Board has recently decided to terminate the publishing of articles in these languages."
work on structural and stratigraphic relationships is presented from various parts of the mountain belt. In the first paper of the section, R. O. Greiling (Heidelberg) describes the Middle Allochthon of Vasterbotten, northern Sweden, where tectonic windows through the Upper Allochthon (Seve Nappe) show that the Middle Allochthon has a similar lithostratigraphy to that of the Stalon Nappe Complex of the eastern Caledonian margin but with a more ductile deformation and metamorphosed to a higher grade following thrust emplacement. These relations are explained by suggesting that the window rocks were initially subducted beneath a colliding western plate but were later accreted to the base of the western plate and thrust with it. The thrust geometry of the windows, described as antiformal stacks, agrees with this model. The Middle Allochthon of the Caledonian margin in northern Sweden is described by R. O. Greiling and R. Kumpulainen (Heidelberg and Stockholm) who record two distinct metasedimentary units separated by a thick zone of mylonites interpreted as a lateral thrust ramp. Turbidites in the northern unit were derived from an unidentified igneous source to the east and cannot be correlated with other sequences in the Middle Allochthon. In another paper dealing with the northern Swedish Caledonides, L. Hansen (Uppsala) describes down-to-the-west normal faults cutting the autochthonous Cambrian sediments in the tunnel sections of the Vietas Hydropower Station, but themselves being truncated by the basal decollement of the Lower Allochthon.
The world population in 1930 was 2 billion. It reached 3 billion in 1960, stands at 4. 6 billion today, and is expected to reach 6 billion by the end of the century. The food and fiber needs of such a rapidly increasing population are enormous. One of the most basic resources, perhaps the most basic of all, for meeting these needs is the soil. There is an urgent need to improve and protect this resource on which the future of mankind directly depends. We must not only learn how to use the soil to furnish our immediate needs, but also ensure that the ability of the soil to sustain food production in the future is unimpaired. This is indeed a mammoth task; a 1977 United Nations survey reported that almost one-fifth of the world's cropland is now being steadily degraded. This volume is the first of a new series entitled Advances in Soil Science. The diversity of soil makes it necessary for research to be conducted in many locations. There are basic principles, however, that are universal. This new series will present clear and concise reviews in all areas of soil science for everyone interested in this basic resource and man's influence on it. The purpose of the series is to provide a forum for leading scientists to analyze and summarize the available scientific information on a subject, assessing its importance and identifYing additional research needs.
Global attention in scientific, industrial, and governmental communities to traces of toxic chemicals in foodstuffs and in both abiotic and biotic environ ments has justified the present triumvirate of specialized publications in this field: comprehensive reviews, rapidly published progress reports, and archival documentations. These three publications are integrated and scheduled to pro vide in international communication the coherency essential for nonduplicative and current progress in a field as dynamic and complex as environmental con tamination and toxicology. Until now there has been no journal or other publica tion series reserved exclusively for the diversified literature on "toxic" chemicals in our foods, our feeds, our geographical surroundings, our domestic animals, our wildlife, and ourselves. Around the world immense efforts and many talents have been mobilized to technical and other evaluations of natures, locales, magnitudes, fates, and toxicology of the persisting residues of these chemicals loosed upon the world. Among the sequelae of this broad new emphasis has been an inescapable need for an articulated set of authoritative publications where one could expect to find the latest important world literature produced by this emerging area of science together with documentation of pertinent ancil lary legislation."
Although this book is about a specific area of the world (i.e., Gotland, Sweden), the interdisciplinary nature of the study, with regard to resources, environment, and society, makes it of interest to a number of fields. We have tried to make this book readable for a wide variety of interested parties including systems ecologists, environmental scientists, resource economists, geographers, regional planners, and regional scientists, as well as those interested in Nordic conditions. Since this project was part of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) pro gram, this book should be of general interest to the international community. This book is certainly not a textbook, but we see it as being useful for courses in regional analysis with plenty of examples for illustrating analysis and models related to energy, environment, and economics, or to the general field of systems ecology. An instructor could, of course, supplement the material on systems and models with other sources. We hope this small book will serve as a helpful example of the analysis of the complex interdisciplinary problems associated with resources and society. In Chapter 1, we present a brief introduction to the Gotland study as well as to some of the concepts and theories that have guided our investigations."
The world population in 1930 was 2 billion. It reached 3 billion in 1960, stands at 4. 6 billion today, and is expected to reach 6 billion by the end of the century. The food and fiber needs of such a rapidly increasing population are enormous. One of the most basic resources, perhaps the most basic of all, for meeting these needs is the soil. There is an urgent need to improve and protect this resource on which the future of mankind directly depends. We must not only learn how to use the soil to furnish our immediate needs, but also ensure that the ability of the soil to sustain food production in the future is unimpaired. This is indeed a mammoth task; a 1977 United Nations survey reported that almost one-fifth of the world's is now being steadily degraded. The diversity of soil makes it cropland necessary for research to be conducted in many locations. There are basic principles, however, that are universal. This, Advances in Soil Sciences, presents clear and concise reviews in all areas of soil science for everyone interested in this basic resource and man's influence on it. The purpose of the series is to provide a forum for leading scientists to analyze and summarize the available scientific information on a subject, assessing its importance and identifying additional research needs. But most importantly, the contributors will develop principles that have practical applications to both developing and developed agricultures.
This series is dedicated to serving the growing community of scholars and practitioners concerned with the principles and applications of environmental management. Each volume is a thorough treatment of a specific topic of importance for proper management practices. A fundamental objective of these books is to help the reader discern and implement man's stewardship of our environment and the world's renewable resources. For we must strive to understand the relationship between man and nature, act to bring harmony to it, and nurture an environment that is both stable and productive. These objectives have often eluded us because the pursuit of other individual and societal goals has diverted us from a course of living in balance with the environment. At times, therefore, the environmental manager may have to exert restrictive control, which is usually best applied to man, not nature. Attempts to alter or harness nature have often failed or backfired, as exemplified by the results of imprudent use of herbicides, fertilizers, water, and other agents. Each book in this series will shed light on the fundamental and applied aspects of environmental management. It is hoped that each will help solve a practical and serious environmental problem.
This volume includes a general description of the Portuguese Cenozoic basins in the Iberian tectonic context. The main stratigraphic units, including sedimentological, stratigraphical and palaeontological data, are characterized. Correlations between different sectors are presented as well as general paleogeographical evolution maps. The volume includes a general bibliography concerning the Cenozoic of Portugal.
Thisbook isabout ions, about variable-chargesurfacesand about models. Jti about ions because most of the substances in which soil scientists are interested occur in the soil solution as ions. This applies to both plant nutrients and pollutants. Thus the, reilction between soil and say phosphate does not involve a substance called "phosphate"; it involves phosphate ions. Ions are charged particles. When these charged particles react with charged surfaces, the outcome of the reaction is affected by both the charge on the particles and the charge on the surfaces. Hence we also need to understand the charge on the surfaces. If our understanding is adequate, we should be able to express our ideas precisely - ideally bywritingequations. Unfortunatelytheequationsturnoutto bequite complex and to interrelate with each other in a complex way. Ifwe want to envisage the effect of varying some of the conditions we have to include the equations in, computer programs. Because these programs describe physical systems, they are called models. Aword aboutthe roleand function ofmodels is in order. Acomputermodel is no more than a precisely expressed hypothesis. Like all hypotheses, it can be used to make predictions. The predictions from some hypotheses turn out to be better than those of others and we are to prefer the one that makes the best predictions. However, in practice, old ideasarenotabandoned readily. We clingtothem untilthe new ideas becomefamiliar. Forexample, someofthemodelsthat have been used to describe ionreaction with surfaces have a pleasing familiarity about them.
Clays and soils are of great importance in various scientific fields, such as agriculture and environmental science, and in mineral deposits. Students and close collaborators of Georges Millot, the eminent French clay sedimentologist, have put together a book with topics ranging from weathering processes and diagenetic evalution of sediments to sedimentary mineral deposits. The book is of interest to practitioners, advanced students as well as teachers in the above fields.
stable or falling water levels, and permit differen tiation between gradual and sudden transgression The level of Lake Ontario was long assumed to of the shoreline. Vegetational succession reflects have risen at an exponentially decreasing rate shoreline transgression and increasing water solely in response to differential isostatic rebound depth as upland species are replaced by emergent of the St. Lawrence outlet since the Admiralty aquatic marsh species. If transgression continues, Phase (or Early Lake Ontario) 11 500 years B. P. these are in turn replaced by floating and sub (Muller & Prest, 1985). Recent work indicates merged aquatic species, commonly found in water that the Holocene water level history of Lake to 4 m depth in Ontario lakes, below which there Ontario is more complex than the simple rebound is a sharp decline in species richness and biomass model suggests. Sutton et al. (1972) and (Crowder et al., 1977). This depth varies with Anderson & Lewis (1982, 1985) indicate that physical limnological conditions in each basin. periods of accelerated water level rise followed by Because aquatic pollen and plant macrofossils are temporary stabilization occurred around 5000 to locally deposited, an abundance of emergent 4000 B. P. The accelerated water level rise, called aquatic fossils reflects sedimentation in the littoral the 'Nipissing Flood', was attributed to the cap zone, the part of the basin shallow enough to ture of Upper Great Lakes drainage. support rooted vegetation."
The Australasia-Pacific Region supports approximately 50% of the world's population. The last half-century has witnessed a rapid increase in the regional population, agricultural productivity, industrial activities and trade within the region. Both the demand for increased food production and the desire to improve the economic conditions have affected regional environmental quality. This volume presents an overview of the fate of contaminants in the soil environment; current soil management factors used to control contaminant impacts, issues related to sludge and effluent disposals in the soil environment; legal, health and social impacts of contaminated land, remediation approaches and strategies to manage contaminated land, some of the problems associated with environmental degradation in the Australasia-Pacific Region and steps that we need to take to safeguard our environment.
The purpose of Advances in Soil Science is to provide a forum for leading scientists to analyze and summarize the available scientific information on a subject, assessing its importance and identifying additional research needs. A wide array of subjects has been addressed by authors from many countries in the initial ten volumes of the series. The quick acceptance of the series by both authors and readers has been very gratifying and confirms our perception that a need did exist for a medium to fill the gap between the scientific journals and the comprehensive reference books. This volume is the first of the series devoted entirely to a single topic soil degradation. Future volumes will include both single-topic volumes as well as volumes containing reviews of different topics of soil science, as in the case of the first ten volumes. There are increasing concern and attention about managing natural re sources, particularly soil and water. Soil degradation is clearly one of the most pressing problems facing mankind. Although the spotlight regarding soil degradation in recent years has focused on Africa, concern about the degradation of soil and water resources is worldwide. The widespread con cern about global environmental change is also being linked to severe problems of soil degradation. Therefore, we are indeed pleased that the first volume of the series devoted to a single topic addresses such an impor tant issue. The current volume is also the first of the series involving a guest editor."
In the early 1980s there were several published reports of recent, unexplained increases in mortality of red spruce in the Adirondack Mountains and the northern Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. These reports coincided with documentation of reductions in radial growth of several species of pine in the southeastern United States, and with the severe, rapid, and widespread decline of Norway spruce, silver fir, and some hardwoods in central Europe. In all of these instances, atmospheric deposition was hypothesized as the cause of the decline. (Throughout this volume, we use the term "decline" to refer to a loosely synchronized regional-scale deterioration of tree health which is brought about by a combination of stress factors. These may be biotic or abiotic in nature, and the combinations may differ from site to site. ) Heated public debate about the causes and possible cures for these forest declines ensued. Through the course of this debate, it became clear that information about forest health and air pollution effects on forests was inadequate to meet policymakers' needs. Ecology and Decline of Red Spruce in the Eastern United States addresses that gap for eastern spruce fir forests and represents the culmination of a great deal of research conducted in recent years. The focus is on red spruce because the decline of red spruce was both dramatic and inexplicable and because of the great amount of information gathered on red spruce.
The first North Sea Oil and Gas Reservoirs Conference was held in Trondheim in 1985 as part of the Norwegian Institute of Technology's 75th anniversary celebrations. Favourable reactions from the delegates prompted the Committee to re-run the event some three and a half years later, and it is now intended that the Confe rence be held on a regular basis as long as there is a demand for this type of gathering. The objectives of the 1989 Conference, which were broadly similar to those of the previous one, were: (a) to bring together those engaged in various geoscientific and reservoir engineering aspects of North Sea Oil and gas reservoirs in one forum; (b) to demonstrate wherever poSsible the interdependence of the various disciplines and specializations; (c) to promote innovative, synergistic approaches to research and development programmes aimed at North Sea conditions; and (d) to reflect current trends in the reservoir sciences. Naturally there was no place for specialist parallel sessions in a Conference aimed at encouraging interdisciplinary integration and awareness."
"Dredged Material and Mine Tailings" are two of the same thing once they are deposited on land: they must be safe-guarded, wash-out must be prevented, and they must be protected by a plantcover. This comprehensive two-volume treatise covers both important aspects of their management: "Environmental " "Management of Solid Waste" turns to the practical applications, such as prediction, restoration and management, while in "Chemistry and Biology of Solid Waste" the principles and assessment are scientifically studied and discussed. Previously, dredged material was a commodity, it could be sold as soil, e. g. to gardeners. In the meantime, dredged material from the North Sea (e.g. the Rotterdam or Amsterdam harbor) must be treated as hazardous waste. Many environmentalists, managers and companies do not know how to solve the inherent problems. This new work deals with the chemical, physical and biological principles; the biological and geochemical assessment; the prediction of effects and treatment; and finally, with restoration and revegetation. It is written by many leading scientists in the various fields, and will prove invaluable for managers and politicians who are concerned with the present environmental situation.
Tarquin Teale, a sedimentology/stratigraphy postgraduate student at the Royal School of Mines, was killed in a road accident south of Rome on 17 October 1985. Premature death is a form of tragedy which can make havoc of the ordered progress which we try to impose on our lives. As parents, relatives and friends, we all know this, and yet somehow when it touches our own world there is no consolation to be found anywhere. In Tarquin's case the enormity of the loss felt by those of us who knew him can barely be expressed in words. Tarquin had everything which we aspire to. His fellow graduate students envied his dramatic progress in research. We his advisors, in appreciating this progress, marvelled at how refreshingly rare it was to see such precocious talent combined with such a caring, modest and well-balanced personality. He was des tined for the highest honours in geoscience and there is no doubt that he would have lived a life, had he been granted the chance, which would have spread colour, intellectual insight and goodness."
Knowledge in the field of acidic deposition is expanding rapidly, and both ex perts and non-experts are challenged to keep up with the latest information. We designed our assessment to include both the basic foundation needed by non experts and the detailed information needed by experts. Our assessment in cludes background information on acidic deposition (Chapter 1), an in-depth discussion of the nature of soil acidity and ecosystem H+ budgets (Chapter 2), and a summary of rates of deposition in the Southeastern U.S. (Chapter 3). A discussion of the nature of forest soils in the region (Chapter 4) is followed by an overview of previous assessments of soil sensitivity to acidification (Chapter 5). The potential impacts of acidic deposition on forest nutrition are described in the context of the degree of current nutrient limitation on forest productivity (Chap ter 6). The results of simulations with the MAGIC model provided evaluations of the likely sensitivity of a variety of soils representative of forest soils in the South (Chapter 7), as well as a test of soil sensitivity criteria. Our synthesis and recommendations for research (Chapter 8) also serve as an executive summary. A complementary volume in the Springer-Verlag Ecological Studies series should be consulted for information on European forests. This volume, Acidic Deposition and Forest Decline in the Fictelgebirge, edited by E.-D. Schultze and O.L. Lange, also provides greater detail on the physiologic responses of trees than we present in our regional assessment."
This book has been prepared by the collaborative effort of two somewhat separate technical groups: the researchers at the Institute for Petroleum and Organic Geochemistry, Forschungszentrum Jii lich (KFA), and the technical staff of Integrated Exploration Systems (IES). One of us, Donald R. Baker, from Rice University, Houston, has spent so much time at KFA as a guest scientist and researcher that it is most appropriate for him to contribute to the book. During its more than 20-year history the KFA group has made numerous and significant contributions to the understanding of petroleum evolution. The KFA researchers have emphasized both the field and laboratory approaches to such important problems as source rock recognition and evaluation, oil and gas generation, maturation of organic matter, expulsion and migration of hydrocarbons, and crude oil composition and alteration. IES Jiilich has been a leader in the development and application of numerical simulation (basin modeling) procedures. The cooperation between the two groups has resulted in a very fruitful synergy effect both in the development of modeling software and in its application. The purpose of the present volume developed out of the 1994 publication by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists of a collection of individually authored papers entitled The Petroleum System - From Source to Trap, edited by L. B. Magoon and W. G. Dow."
Sudbury, Ontario is one of the world's most polluted areas. A
century of industrial activities has resulted in thousands of
acidified lakes and vast areas of denuded land. This book
describes, in a manner accessible to a wide audience, the damage
and the efforts at environmental restoration at Sudbury which
resulted in its winning a United Nations award in 1992 for land
reclamation.
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.
Agriculture in the industrial world has gone A common interest of the contributors is increas through dramatic changes over the past decades. ing the understanding of the turnover of carbon Mechanization in combination with high inputs of and inorganic nutrients in terestrial ecosystems. fertilizers and pesticides has turned deficits of agri The authors approach this topic from different cultural products into surplus. Over the same directions depending on their interests and ex period we have experienced increased environment pertise. Difficulties are identified in the quantifica al problems in both the atmosphere and our water tion of below-ground production where death and resources, which have been associated with the re-growth, if incorporated into the calculations, changes in management practices. can change production figures considerably as Concern about the potential pollution by compared to values derived from "peak" estimates. nitrogen fertilizers as well as the low utilization The role of root-derived carbon is investigated in efficiency of applied nitrogen by plants has created relation to nutrient competition between roots and a need for a better understanding of nitrogen microorganisms, the cost of N2 fixation and the cycling in the plant-soil-water system. To achieve decomposition of organic nitrogen. Mycorrhizae this, it is neccessary to study process interactions use root-derived carbon and their roles in phos and process regulation in an ecosystem context. phorus conservation and in supplying nutrients to During the last decade many ecosystem studies the host are exemplified.
The NATO Advanced Research Workshop from which this book derives was conceived during Biotec-88, the Second Spanish Conference on Biotechnology, held at Barcelona in June 1988. The President of the Conference, Dr. Ricardo Guerrero, had arranged sessions on bacterial polymers which included lectures by five invited participants who, together with Dr. Guerrero, became the Organizing Committee for a projected meeting that would focus attention upon the increasing international importance of novel biodegradable polymers. The proposal found favour with the NATO Science Committee and, with Dr. R. Clinton Fuller and Dr. Robert W. Lenz as the co-Directors, Dr. Edwin A. Dawes as the Proceedings Editor, and Dr. Hans G. Schlegel, Dr. Alexander J.B. Zehnder and Dr. Ricardo Guerrero as members of the Organizing Committee, the meeting quickly took shape. To Dr. Guerrero we owe the happy choice of Sitges for the venue, a pleasant coastal resort 36 kilometres from Barcelona, which proved ideal. The sessions were held at the Palau de Maricel in appropriately impressive surroundings, and invaluable local support was provided by Mr. Jordi Mas-Castella and by Ms. Merce Piqueras. Much of the preparatory work fell upon the broad shoulders of Mr. Edward Knee, whose efforts are deeply appreciated. The Organizing Committee hopes that this Workshop will prove to be the first of a series which will aim to keep abreast of a rapidly expanding and exciting area of research that is highly relevant to environmental and industrial interests.
Three symposia on environmental geochemistry in tropical countries, held in Niter6i, Brazil (1993), in Cartagena, Colombia (1996) and in Nova Friburgo, Brazil (1999), made it very clear that tropical geochemistry is of world standard and fast increasing in multi disciplinarily and impact on important geochemical paradigms. It has additionally strong links with the economy of tropical countries, such as mining and industrialisa tion and is in full development for treating environmental problems caused by human activities of urban or industrial origin. We must compliment Prof. Jorge Abriio and his colleagues in Brazil and Dr. Gloria Prieto and her colleagues in Colombia for these ini tiatives. The participation of respectively 180 and 150 scientists, coming from 15 different countries for the first and second symposia, has shown that a large interest exists for tropical environmental geochemistry. It also demonstrates the necessity to understand tropical environmental problems. The organisation of a large international symposium is not possible without the assistance of state and federal authorities, for which those of Brazil and Colombia have to be complimented. The 3rd Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry in Tropical Countries was the last of the series and was attended by 22 countries and 170 participants and treated a number of related environmental and economic problems." |
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