|
Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > The hydrosphere
The stable chromium (Cr) isotope system has emerged over the past
decade as a new tool to track changes in the amount of oxygen in
earth's ocean-atmosphere system. Much of the initial foundation for
using Cr isotopes ( 53Cr) as a paleoredox proxy has required recent
revision. However, the basic idea behind using Cr isotopes as redox
tracers is straightforward-the largest isotope fractionations are
redox-dependent and occur during partial reduction of Cr(VI). As
such, Cr isotopic signatures can provide novel insights into Cr
redox cycling in both marine and terrestrial settings. Critically,
the Cr isotope system-unlike many other trace metal proxies-can
respond to short-term redox perturbations (e.g., on timescales
characteristic of Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles). The Cr
isotope system can also be used to probe the earth's long-term
atmospheric oxygenation, pointing towards low but likely dynamic
oxygen levels for the majority of Earth's history.
Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for life, and its sources and
cycling have varied over earth history. Stable isotope ratios of
nitrogen compounds (expressed as 15N, in 0/00) are preserved in the
sedimentary record and track these changes, providing important
insights into associated biogeochemical feedbacks. Here we review
the use of nitrogen stable isotope geochemistry in unravelling the
evolution of the global N cycle in deep time. We highlight
difficulties with preservation, unambiguous interpretations, and
local versus global effects. We end with several case studies
illustrating how depositional and stratigraphic context is crucial
in reliably interpreting 15N records in ancient marine sediments,
both in ancient anoxic (Archean) and more recent well oxygenated
(Phanerozoic) environments.
This book provides insights and a capacity to understand the
climate change phenomenon, its impact on water resources, and
possible remedial measures. The impact of climate change on water
resources is a global issue and cause for concern. Water resources
in many countries are extremely stressed, and climate change along
with burgeoning populations, the rise in living standards, and
increasing demand on resources are factors which serve to
exacerbate this stress. The chapters provide information on tools
that will be useful to mitigate the adverse consequences of natural
disasters. Fundamental to addressing these issues is hydrological
modelling which is discussed in this book and ways to combat
climate change as an important aspect of water resource management.
This book combines multidisciplinary studies on the environmental
consequences of intensified use of land and water, and the fusion
of land to provide food for a growing population. Studies on water,
vegetation, and soil are addressed from an environmental management
perspective with a special focus on the relation between natural
elements and humans. This book considers the essential dynamics of
humans and the natural environment, which is especially important
in areas with shallow water-table that influence directly on
agricultural activities (crops, livestock, and forests), land
management, flooding, droughts, waterlogging, salt-affected soils
(saline and sodic) and variation in obtained water quality in wells
where these processes as related to the local and regional
geomorphology control. The studies present hydrological processes
towards the definition of an adequate use of soil and water with
consequences of its management on the environment. Also, water
study procedures are presented as well as their relation to other
elements of the landscape. Methodologies such as the Tothian flow
system concept are recognized by different authors to provide the
reader with solid interdisciplinary analyses of related
environmental components such as soils, vegetation, surface water,
geomorphology, geological framework and groundwater
physical-chemical composition.
Vanadium isotope ratios (51V/50V) have potential to provide
information about changes in past ocean oxygen contents. In
particular, V isotopes may find utility in tracing variations at
non-zero oxygen concentrations because the redox couple that
controls V elemental and isotopic abundances in seawater
(vanadate-vanadyl) appears to operate around 10M O2. This
characteristic sets V isotopes apart from many other metal isotope
redox proxies that require more reducing conditions to register
significant changes in their isotope budgets. The oxygen abundance
sensitivity range of V isotopes suggests that this paleoproxy could
be particularly useful in tracing marine oxygenation changes
throughout the Phanerozoic and potentially beyond.
Reconstruction of ocean paleoproductivity and paleochemistry is
paramount to understanding global biogeochemical cycles such as the
carbon, oxygen and sulfur cycles and the responses of these cycles
to changes in climate and tectonics. Paleo-reconstruction involves
the application of various tracers that record seawater
compositions, which in turn may be used to infer oceanic processes.
Several important tracers are incorporated into pelagic barite, an
authigenic mineral that forms in the water column. Here we
summarize the utility of pelagic barite for the reconstruction of
export production and as a recorder of seawater S, O, Sr, Ca and
Ba.
This book is a multidisciplinary manuscript bringing together
contributions on water issues from natural and social scientists
focused on water management and structures in a challenging
environmental situation such as Dakhla Oasis in Egypt's western
desert. The authors of this book are relevant scientists in
hydrology, geology, remote sensing, agriculture, history, and
sociology. It is devoted to various critical environmental topics
such as geological and hydraulic structure, climate influence,
underground water management, irrigation management, and human
settlement. The book provides a range of new perspectives on
solving different environmental problems in arid zones toward the
region's sustainable development, based on the case studies and
fieldwork in the Dakhla Oasis (Western Desert, Egypt).
Bringing together a wealth of knowledge, Environmental Management
Handbook, Second Edition, gives a comprehensive overview of
environmental problems, their sources, their assessment, and their
solutions. Through in-depth entries and a topical table of
contents, readers will quickly find answers to questions about
environmental problems and their corresponding management issues.
This six-volume set is a reimagining of the award-winning
Encyclopedia of Environmental Management, published in 2013, and
features insights from more than 400 contributors, all experts in
their field. The experience, evidence, methods, and models used in
studying environmental management are presented here in six
stand-alone volumes, arranged along the major environmental
systems. Features The first handbook that demonstrates the key
processes and provisions for enhancing environmental management
Addresses new and cutting-edge topics on ecosystem services,
resilience, sustainability, food-energy-water nexus,
socio-ecological systems, and more Provides an excellent basic
knowledge on environmental systems, explains how these systems
function, and offers strategies on how to best manage them Includes
the most important problems and solutions facing environmental
management today In this fourth volume, Managing Water Resources
and Hydrological Systems, the reader is introduced to the general
concepts and processes of the hydrosphere with its water resources
and hydrological systems. This volume serves as an excellent
resource for finding basic knowledge on the hydrosphere systems and
includes important problems and solutions that environmental
managers face today. This book practically demonstrates the key
processes, methods, and models used in studying environmental
management.
Among the deep-sea marine invertebrates, pycnogonids and
crustaceans represent ecologically important and most diverse
groups of species. Yet both are still poorly understood. Sampling
and exploring operations off the west and east coast of the
Americas has significantly increased in the last two decades.
However such operations are very costly and limited in number and
frequency. In countries like Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa
Rica, Mexico, Peru, the United States of America, and El Salvador a
large effort has been made to explore the deep-sea resources and
the rich diversity of the communities, resulting in a better
understanding of the natural ecosystems on both coasts of America.
Pycnogonids and many groups of deep-sea crustaceans have been
intensively studied, from the smallest animals, like the mostly
unknown benthic copepods to the largest decapods. This book
presents new and updated information on various groups of deep-sea
pycnogonids and crustaceans occurring off the American continent.
Offering a valuable reference resource for scientists interested in
this fascinating fauna, it includes review papers and new data on
the deep-sea communities occurring off the USA, Mexico, El
Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Brazil and Argentina,
as well as in larger areas in both the East Pacific and the West
Atlantic. As such it covers most of the current deep-water research
in Latin America.
This book presents the phylogeny, taxonomy and biogeography of
freshwater red algae. Its content is divided into five chapters.
The first chapter provides a brief history of freshwater red algal
research, habits and collecting methods, general biogeographic
trends and an overview of the taxonomic/phylogenetic placement of
freshwater taxa. The other four chapters are taxonomic treatments
of non-marine red algae based on taxonomic levels, i.e. classes
within the phylum Rhodophyta, orders within each class, families
within each order, and genera within each family. Descriptions,
phylogenetic data (including numerous trees), geographic range
(maps for most species) and dichotomous keys for identification are
presented. Comprehensive data are provided for more than 220
species.
This book provides an innovative, realistic and reliable solution
to the common problem of Indian water and energy sector due to the
onset of the Impact of Climate Change and Large-Scale Urbanization.
Twelve Case Studies and One Review Paper that were included in this
book depict the way soft computation techniques, simulation and
decision-making framework can optimize the best solution from
multiple solutions to the problems of water and energy management
which corresponds to a novel symbiotic and synchronous nexus
between water and the energy sector. All the studies included in
this book are collected from all parts of India. The selected
studies utilized the latest technologies like Multi-Criteria
Decision Frame Work, Neural Networks and Nature-Based Optimization
techniques to achieve diverse objectives from the prediction of
climatic parameters to yield from ungauged watershed to performance
optimization of Water Treatment Plant, Hydropower as well as
futuristic alternative energy systems like Wave to Power Plants.
|
You may like...
Water Cycle
Torrey Maloof
Paperback
R298
R248
Discovery Miles 2 480
On Water
Nellie Wilder
Paperback
R278
R234
Discovery Miles 2 340
|