A text for the student & the professional.

This book presents the studies on sediment transport in suspension and sediment transport in steep channels. It discusses the degradation and particle sorting processes.

Soil Formation deals with qualitative and quantitative aspects of soil formation (or pedogenesis) and the underlying chemical, biological, and physical processes. The starting point of the text is the process - and not soil classification. Effects of weathering and new formation of minerals, mobilisation, transport, and breakdown or immobilisation of dissolved and suspended compounds are discussed. Soil processes and profiles are discussed in relation to the landscape, the geosphere, and the biosphere. Emphasis lies on the universality of soil-forming processes in past and present, and on the soil as a dynamic entity that forms part of the total environment.

Complexity of genetic processes in time and space is given much attention. The text gives many examples from literature and places some in a new light. The reader is guided through the subject matter by a large number of questions and problems to help understand and synthesis the material. Answers to all questions are included. This second edition has been updated to reflect recent discoveries. Printing errors have been corrected, and new photographs support the text.

"Working through the questions and problems in this book would provide a rigorous training for any advanced pedology graduate student (and for many pedology professors as well)."
(David J. Brown, Montana State University, Soil Science Vol. 169 No. 4)

Soil is an important but often neglected element of the climate system. It is the second largest carbon store, or 'sink', after the oceans. Despite being a fundamental resource that supports all kinds of life on Earth, concerns related to soil are often not included as an important environmental issue. Climate changes put soil under pressure. The increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere may cause the microbes in the soil to work faster to break down organic matter, potentially releasing even more carbon dioxide. The soil moisture content is being constantly affected by rising temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns and future projections show that this may continue. This book presents current environmental issues and their remedies for soil which are mainly based on soil degradation, soil pollution and the effect of climate change on the soil. Adding xenobiotic chemicals or other alterations in the natural soil environment for agricultural, industrial or urban purposes result in a decline in the soil quality due to improper use or poor management, which is a serious environmental problem. The book is divided into five parts - soil science, soil physics, soil chemistry, soil biology and soil environment. The first part "Soil Science" serves as the introduction to the book and discusses some common topics such as soil formation, mineralogy, taxonomy, quality and analytical techniques. The second part "Soil Physics" is mainly concerned with the physical properties and processes of soil and their association with effects on air, water and temperature. Soil Chemistry, the third part, discusses the chemical reactions and processes between inorganic and organic components. The fourth part "Soil Biology" explains the biological properties and processes of the soil, with special concern to microbial diversity and its effect on the ecology. Lastly, the fifth part "Soil Environment" discusses the current environmental problems such as climate change and soil pollution, including processes to mitigate these issues through carbon sequestration, nutrient management and land management.

This book presents an important discussion on future options for sustainable soil management in Africa from various perspectives, including national soil protection regulations, the role of tenure rights, the work of relevant international institutions such as the UNCCD and FAO, and regional and international cooperation. This first volume of the new subseries Regional Perspectives to the International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy includes contributions by African and international experts alike. Given the range of key topics covered, the book offers an indispensable tool for all academics, legislators and policymakers working in this field. The "International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy - Regional Perspectives" series discusses central questions in law and politics that concern the protection and sustainable management of soil and land in different regions of the world.

Biological remediation methods have been successfully used to treat polluted soils. While bacteria have produced good results in bioremediation for quite some time now, the use of fungi to decontaminate soils has only recently been established.

This volume of Soil Biology discusses the potentials of filamentous fungi in bioremediation. Fungi suitable for degradation, as well as genetically modified organisms, their biochemistry, enzymology, and practical applications are described. Chapters include topics such as pesticide removal, fungal wood decay processes, remediation of soils contaminated with heavy and radioactive metals, of paper and cardboard industrial wastes, and of petroleum pollutants.

This open access book highlights concepts discussed at two international conferences that brought together world-renowned scientists to advance the science of potassium (K) recommendations for crops. There was general agreement that the potassium recommendations currently in general use are oversimplified, outdated, and jeopardize soil, plant, and human health. Accordingly, this book puts forward a significantly expanded K cycle that more accurately depicts K inputs, losses and transformations in soils. This new cycle serves as both the conceptual basis for the scientific discussions in this book and a framework upon which to build future improvements. Previously used approaches are critically reviewed and assessed, not only for their relevance to future enhancements, but also for their use as metrics of sustainability. An initial effort is made to link K nutrition in crops and K nutrition in humans. The book offers an invaluable asset for graduate students, educators, industry scientists, data scientists, and advanced agronomists.

Communication is defined as an interaction between at least two living agents which share a repertoire of signs. These are combined according to syntactic, semantic and context-dependent, pragmatic rules in order to coordinate behavior. This volume deals with the important roles of soil bacteria in parasitic and symbiotic interactions with viruses, plants, animals and fungi. Starting with a general overview of the key levels of communication between bacteria, further reviews examine the various aspects of intracellular as well as intercellular biocommunication between soil microorganisms. This includes the various levels of biocommunication between phages and bacteria, between soil algae and bacteria, and between bacteria, fungi and plants in the rhizosphere, the role of plasmids and transposons, horizontal gene transfer, quorum sensing and quorum quenching, bacterial-host cohabitation, phage-mediated genetic exchange and soil viral ecology.

This book focuses on drylands such as arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas where they form the main part of ecosystems, e.g., in Iran, but also around the world. Mismanagement and improper exploitation of these areas lead to more degradation day by day. Besides an introduction to the role and importance of vegetation cover in conserving soil against wind and water erosion, this book gives a scope of appropriate techniques and methods for vegetation establishment and maintenance, indicators for suitable plants selection for soil conservation, and soil erosion prevention and combat. It provides methods of soil erosion prevention and combating through the application of plants, using bioengineering systems for soil erosion control and the role of agroforestry in soil erosion prevention. This book can be helpful to those with an interest in countries with similar climates to Iran. In particular, this includes Dubai, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Increasing awareness of the irreversible and long-lasting impacts of deterioration and pollution of soils and sediments has had an important influence on environmental policies and research in the last decade. The complexity of the soil and sediment systems and its processes cannot be tackled properly unless scientists from different disciplines work together. With this in mind, a number of multidisciplinary soil research programmes have been started in various European countries. They involve different disciplinary approaches and they aim at different fields of application: agriculture, land use and town and country planning, drinking water supply, nature management. The results that are now appearing need to be integrated in a scientifically sound and useful way. The first European Conference on Integrated Research for Soil and Sediment Protection and Remediation was intended to foster this. The volume contains the edited and selected proceedings of this Conference.

This book deals with a rapidly growing field aiming at producing food and energy in a sustainable way for humans and their children. It is a discipline that addresses current issues such as climate change, increasing food and fuel prices, poor-nation starvation, rich-nation obesity, water pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, pest control, and biodiversity depletion. Novel, environmentally-friendly solutions are proposed based on integrated knowledge from sciences as diverse as agronomy, soil science, molecular biology, chemistry, toxicology, ecology, economy, and social sciences. Indeed, sustainable agriculture decipher mechanisms of processes that occur from the molecular level to the farming system to the global level at time scales ranging from seconds to centuries. For that, scientists use the system approach that involves studying components and interactions of a whole system to classical, narrow science. Instead of solving problems using the classical painkiller approach that treats only negative impacts, sustainable agriculture treats problem sources. Because most actual society issues are now intertwined, global, and fast developing, sustainable agriculture will bring solutions to build a safer world. this book series gathers review articles that analyze current agricultural issues and knowledge, then proposes alternative solutions. It will therefore help all scientists, decision makers, professors, farmers and politicians who wish to build a safe agriculture, energy and food system for future generations.

The Discovery of the calcareous Ioffe Drift in the SW Atlantic in 2010 opens new perspectives in the contourite theory. Although demonstrating similar behavior relative to bottom water dynamics, rather rare and poorly studied calcareous contourites differ from their terrigenous analogs in origin, grain-size distribution, chemical and mineral composition of sedimentary particles. The detailed multidisciplinary study of the Ioffe Drift produces new knowledge on biogenic contourites deposited in pelagic realm, in conditions of low biological productivity and terrigenous material supply, under the influence of the Antarctic Bottom Water flow from the Vema Channel. The major intervals of prevailing erosion are inferred on the drift from 2.51/2.59 to 1.9 Ma and from 1.6 to 0.81 Ma thus indicating strong paleoceanographic changes most likely associated with the reorganization of deep-sea circulation and increased bottom water production in the Southern Ocean during the Early Pleistocene and, in particular, around the Mid-Pleistocene Transition.

Inland sand dunes are widespread in North America and are found from the North Slope of Alaska to the Sonoran Desert in northern Mexico and from the Delmarva Peninsula in the east to Southern California in the west. In this edited book, we highlight recent research on areas of inland dunes that span a range from those that are actively accumulating in current conditions of climate and sediment supply to those that were formed in past conditions and are now degraded relict systems. This book will be of interest to researchers and scholars of physical geography, geomorphology, environmental sciences, and earth sciences. Contributions include detailed analyses of individual active dune systems at White Sands, New Mexico; Great Sand Dunes, Colorado; and the Laurentian Great Lakes; as well as the vegetation-stabilized dunes of the Nebraska Sand Hills and the Colorado Plateau. Additional chapters discuss the widespread partially vegetated dune systems of the central and southern Great Plains; the relict dunes of the Atlantic Coastal Plain of the eastern USA; and active and stabilized dunes of the Colorado Plateau and the southwestern deserts of the USA and northern Mexico.

Archaeological Soil and Sediment Micromorphology goes beyond a mere review of current literature and features the most up to date contributions from numerous scientists working in the field. The book represents a groundbreaking and comprehensive resource covering the plethora of applications of micromorphology in archaeology. Archaeological Soil and Sediment Micromorphology offers researchers, students and professionals a systematic tool for the interpretation of thin sections of archaeological contexts. This important resource is also designed to help stimulate the use of micromorphology in archaeology outside Europe, where the technique is less frequently employed. Moreover, the authors hope to strengthen the proper application of soil micromorphology in archaeology, by illustrating its possibilities and referring in several cases to more specialized publications (for instance in the field of plant remains, pottery and phytoliths). Written for anyone interested in the topic, this important text offers: * Contributions from most of the world's leading authorities on soil micromorphology * A series of chapters on the major topics selected among the most recurrent in literature about archaeological soil micromorphology * Systematic descriptions of all important micromorphological features * Special analytical tools employed on thin sections, such as SEM/EDS, image analysis, fluorescence microscopy, mass spectrometry, among others * Numerous cross-references *400 illustrated full-colour plates The resource provides the most current and essential information for archaeologists, geoarchaeologists, soil scientists and sedimentologists. Comprehensive in scope, Archaeological Soil and Sediment Micromorphology offers professionals and students a much-needed tool for the interpretation of thin sections of archaeological contexts.

Agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. More sustainable crop production based on agroecological principles is seen as a key solution to this challenge. Understanding and improving soil health is the foundation for this approach. Improving soil health provides a considered assessment of key management strategies to enhance the physical, chemical and biological health of soils in achieving sustainable improvements in crop yields. The book reviews the role of cultivation practices as well as organic and other soil amendments, such as biofertilizers. By assessing the dimensions of soil health, and reviewing the wealth of evidence on how well individual techniques contribute to improving soil, the book shows how farmers can achieve sustainable improvements in both productivity and profitability. Improving soil health will be a standard reference for researchers in soil and crop science, government and other agencies responsible for the health of agricultural soils, companies providing soil monitoring and management services and farmers wishing to further their knowledge on the latest developments in effective soil management.

Knowledge of the principles and methods of petroleum sedimentology is essential for oil and gas exploration and exploitation. This book is designed as an introductory text for students in petroleum geology and applied sedimentology as well as a useful companion for advanced technicians, explorationists, geophysicists and petroleum engineers. Source rock, lithology and type of trap define the quality of a hydrocarbon accumulation. This interrelationship is exemplified by seven case histories worldwide (NW Europe, Saudi Arabia, U.S.A., Mexico, CIS, China). Moreover, successful exploitation and enhanced oil recovery often depend on an adequate knowledge of the sedimentology of a reservoir. Photographs illustrate macroscopic and microscopic aspects of source rocks as well as reservoir sandstones and limestones that are most important for hydrocarbon exploration. A comprehensive list of references encourages further study.

This book provides a world-wide perspective of submarine mass movements and their consequences. This book is of interest to any researcher in the field of marine and coastal geo-hazards. It will be useful for planners, scientists and engineers involved in the development of offshore and near-shore resources and also to those in charge of the management and mitigation of coastal hazards. For graduate students, this book provides an up-to-date vision of the process of submarine mass movements and their consequences from both a scientific and an engineering standpoint, and it includes a unique collection of the existing literature on marine geo-hazards. This volume contains a DVD-Rom with full colour versions of figures which are printed in black-and-white in the book.

This book consists of papers presented at a symposium "PLANT-INDUCED SOIL CHANGES: PROCESSES AND FEEDBACKS" that was held during the American Society of Agronomy-Soil Science Society of America Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, November 4-8, 1996. The papers were also pub of Biogeochemistry (Vol. 42, nos. 1 and 2, 1998). The lished in a special issue symposium was built on the growing realisation that plant-induced changes in soil feed back in various ways to natural vegetations, giving rise to a plethora of plant-soil interactions beyond the classical one-way cause-and-effect pathways plant-to-soil and soil-to-plant. The aim of this special issue is not in the first place to present new research findings, but to review and discuss the more holistic aspects of plant-soil interactions, providing more room for speculation than do most collections of research papers. After a general introduction which emphasises ecological and evolutionary aspects of plant-soil interac ions (van Breemen and Finzi), three papers deal with particular effects of plants on soil properties: mineralogy (Kelly et al. ), soil structure (Angers and Caron) and soil fertility (Berendse). Next, five papers take up plant-soil interactions in specific biomes: forests (Binkley and Giardina; Gobran et al. ), grasslands (Burke et al.; Epstein et al. ) and deserts (Schlesinger and Pilmanis). Two papers discuss plant-soil interactions via effects of differences in litter quality in specific ecosystems: California's pygmy forest (Northup et al. ) and the Alaskan Taiga (Schimel et al. )."

Ecohydrology is a fast-growing branch of science at the interface of ecology and geophysics, studying the interaction between soil, water, vegetation, microbiome, atmosphere, climate, and human society. This textbook gathers the fundamentals of hydrology, ecology, environmental engineering, agronomy, and atmospheric science to provide a rigorous yet accessible description of the tools necessary for the mathematical modelling of water, energy, carbon, and nutrient transport within the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. By focusing on the dynamics at multiple time scales, from the diurnal scale in the soil-plant-atmospheric system, to long-term stochastic dynamics of water availability responsible for ecological patterns and environmental fluctuations, it explains the impact of hydroclimatic variability on vegetation and soil microbial systems through biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems under different socioeconomical pressures. It is aimed at advanced students, researchers and professionals in hydrology, ecology, Earth science, environmental engineering, environmental science, agronomy, and atmospheric science.

The depletion of land resources is one of the greatest challenges for mankind in this millennium. Shrinking land resources, weather aberrations, deterioration of land quality, and the globalization and liberalization of market economies have become intertwined to influence the sustainable management of land resources and land use plans. This important volume, Sustainable Management of Land Resources: An Indian Perspective, addresses these challenges. This comprehensive volume, covering important research, much of it gathered with the use of new technology, tools, and applications, is organized into four sections: (add bullets) land resource inventory and characterization geospatial technologies in land resource mapping and management soil nutrient status and management land use planning and livelihood security The volume looks at how scientists translate their knowledge and experience in sustainable land resources and management into implementable policy decisions, with a particular focus on India. Since India is an agrarian economy, the land resources assume a very critical role affecting the livelihood of a vast majority of populace in the country. The information gathered-and the methods by which it is gathered-is applicable globally. This comprehensive publication will be highly useful for the researchers, academicians, extension workers, policymakers, planners, officials of land resources survey, planning and management institutions/agencies/departments, and others.

This collection features five peer-reviewed literature reviews on conservation tillage in agriculture. The first chapter reviews types of tillage and soil disturbance and how different soil management techniques affect the cropping cycle. The chapter also discusses how soil disturbance can be minimised during key farming operations. The second chapter describes the principles of Conservation Agriculture (CA), looking primarily at soil management. It also examines the key concepts of no-tillage agriculture, as well as the environmental and economic benefits these techniques offer. The third chapter discusses the role of conservation tillage in organic farming, reviewing over 20 years of practical, on-farm research. It outlines the main benefits associated with conservation tillage, whilst also considering the challenges that arise with its implementation and how these can be addressed. The fourth chapter explores the emergence of conservation tillage (CT) as an innovation to address stagnant wheat yields in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia. The chapter explores the benefits of CT for soil health and crop yields, and highlights current obstacles facing region-wide adoption of CT. The final chapter reviews the advantages of zero-till maize cultivation, including reduced soil erosion and nutrient losses. It also summarises best management practices to optimise zero-till maize systems.

During recent decades, tremendous progress and innovations have been made in rice science with the goal of increasing production to meet the world's growing demands. This new volume provides a concise overview of rice, covering the background and importance of rice; origin, evolution, and domestication of rice; and the world rice production. It goes on to provide new and important recent research advances on many different aspects of rice science and production. The authors look at advances in rice ideotypes, abiotic stress management techniques, biotic stress affecting crop productivity, new methods and technology for cultivation, and new methods and techniques in rice grain quality analysis and processing. It also describes new rice varieties, new hybrid rice technology, and new breeding methods for rice.

This book discusses how to use the wastewaters, liquid biowastes and soils unfit for agriculture to economically viable aquaculture practices; and putting the emphasis on, aquaculture posology, the science of quantification and administration of doses in aquatic health and aquaculture management. Broadly, aquaculture practices come across three types of problems each; in the context of water quality, and fin fish and shell fish diseases; and preventive, curative and noncurative diseases in fin fish and shell fish. Note: T&F does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.