Skip to main content
Elsevier

Books in Earth and planetary sciences

Elsevier's Earth and Planetary Sciences collection brings together pioneering research on the complexities of our planet and beyond. Covering topics from Earth's structural dynamics and ecosystems to planetary exploration, these titles support advancements in geoscience, environmental science, and space studies, offering essential insights for researchers, professionals, and students.

  • Geochemical Exploration 1976

    • 1st Edition
    • C.R.M. Butt
    • English
    Geochemical Exploration 1976 is a compilation of 30 papers presented at an International Geochemical Exploration Symposium. The first five papers included in this journal are entitled World Mineral Supplies-the Role of Exploration Geochemistry; Application of Gold Compositional Analyses to Mineral Exploration in the United States; Tellurium, a Guide to Mineral Deposits; Geochemical Prospecting for Volcanogenic Sulfide Deposits in the Eastern Black Sea Ore Province, Turkey; Anomalous Trace Elements in Pyrite in the Vicinity of Mineralized Zones a Woodlawn, N.S.W., Australia; and Application of Lead Isotopes and Trace Elements to Mapping Black Shales Around a Base Metal Sulfide Deposit. Other papers included in this volume are about primary dispersion; sulfur isotope and trace metal composition of stratiform; geochemistry of the mammoth copper deposit; geochemical indications of concealed copper mineralization; Zinc-Lead-Silver deposit; and geochemical dispersion patterns. The book also discusses sulfide mineralization, serpentinites containing nickel iron sulfides, geochemical analytical techniques in determining ""total"" compositions of some lateritized rocks, natural gamma radiation, Uranium, Uranium isotopes, and soil hydrocarbon geochemistry. The last three papers presented in this volume are entitled Detection of Naturally Heavy-Metal-Poisoned Areas by LANDSAT-1 Digital Data; Recognition of Mineralized Areas by a Regional Geochemical Survey of the Till Blanket in Northern Finland; and Sequential Soil Analysis in Exploration Geochemistry.

  • Granite Landforms

    • 1st Edition
    • C.R. Twidale
    • English
    Granite Landforms provides a systematic, coherent, and comprehensive account and analysis of granite landforms. It examines granite forms and their genesis; the morphology of granite exposures; the nature of the materials from which granitic rocks have evolved; and the weathering processes near the Earth’s surface. It also describes major landforms and assemblages, as well as the minor features that have evolved on the major hosts. Organized into four parts encompassing 12 chapters, this book begins with an overview of granite, including their characteristics, occurrences, and composition. It then discusses the factors that influence the weathering of granitic rocks and considers boulders and inselbergs, the all-slopes topography in granite, granite plains and rock basins, granite forms associated with steep slopes, and scarp foot depressions. The reader is also introduced to the piedmont angle, grooves or flutings, caves and tafoni, split rocks, cracked blocks and plates, and the role of climate in the development of landforms on granitic outcrops. Geologists, geomorphologists, geology students, and anyone interested in geology will find this book extremely useful.

  • Reservoir Characterization II

    • 1st Edition
    • Lake
    • English
    Reservoir Characterization II contains the proceedings of the Second International Reservoir Characterization Conference held in Dallas, Texas in June 1989. Contributors focus on the characterization of reservoir processes and cover topics ranging from surface roughness in porous media and reservoir characterization at the mesoscopic scale to shale clast heterogeneities and their effect on fluid flow, permeability patterns in fluvial sandstones, and reservoir management using 3-D seismic data. This book is organized into six sections encompassing 43 chapters. The first 20 chapters deal with reservoir characterization at the microscopic, mesoscopic, and macroscopic scales. Topics include low-contrast resistivity sandstone formations; the use of centrifuge and computer tomography to quantify saturation distribution and capillary pressures; and cross-well seismology as a tool for reservoir geophysics. The chapters that follow deal with reservoir characterization at the megascopic scale; fractal heterogeneity of clastic reservoirs; heterogeneity and effective permeability of porous rocks; and drilling fluid design based on reservoir characterization. A chapter that outlines a procedure for estimating permeability anisotropy with a minipermeameter concludes the book. This book is a valuable resource for students and practitioners of petroleum engineering, geology and geological engineering, petroleum exploration, and geophysics.

  • Regional Studies

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 5
    • Bozzano G Luisa
    • English
    Regional Studies is a collection of papers that deals with strata-bound mineral deposits in the Eastern Alps, in the Canadian Cordillera, in north-central, and southwest England. Other papers describe southern African stratiform ore deposits and the genesis of Irish base-metal deposits. One paper compares the various types of volcanogenic mineral deposits and their depositional environments characterized by distinct assemblages of volcanic rocks, which formed in the Northern Appalachians during certain episodes of the tectonic evolution. The paper notes that the youngest volcanogenic deposits of economic interest are tungsten—molybdenum—... base metal deposits in highly altered rhyolitic sub-volcanic complexes at Mount Pleasant, New Brunswick. Another paper reviews the mineral occurrences in southern Africa that include stratiform, non-magmatic, ore deposits, The paper considers a subdivision of deposits formed from surficial chemical processes during previous (or current) cycles of weathering and erosion. Many ore bodies have a dual origin: for example, the iron in the high-grade hematite deposits is partly syngenetic and partly epigenetic. The paper also illustrates the time-dependence of some stratiform ore deposits in southern Africa in a schematic diagram. Geologists, researchers, or engineers whose works are related with ore deposits and mining will benefit tremendously from the collection.

  • Biology and Geology of Coral Reefs V2

    Biology 1
    • 1st Edition
    • O.A. Jones
    • English
    Biology and Geology of Coral Reefs, Volume II: Biology 1 discusses the major advances made in the biological aspects of coral reef problems. This book is organized into 12 chapters that cover the microbial aspects of coral reefs, the nutrition in corals, and diversity in coral reefs. The opening chapters describe the distribution and role of coral reef microorganisms, as well as the significance of bacterioplankton as a food source for the marine fauna of coral reefs. The following chapter discusses the occurrence of algae in coral reef, their competition with corals for space, and their role in reef construction. Other chapters deal with food and feeding mechanisms of corals, the role of marine antibiotics in coral reef ecology, and some chemical compounds isolated from coral reef organisms, providing evidence for marine pharmacologic activity in coral reef areas. The book also discusses some basic problems relating to the distribution and abundance of hermatypic corals on reefs. It then examines species diversity on coral reefs, variety of reef structure, and the important role of toxic materials produced by holothurians on the general ecology and physiology of coral reefs. The last chapters describe the development, feeding, and behavior of the larval stages of several coral reef asteroids. Particular emphasis is given to the larval and post-larval stages of the crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster planci. The starfish population explosions, the devastating effects on the hard coral cover of coral reefs, and causes and control of population explosions are also covered. This volume will acquaint readers with some of the exciting developments in coral reef biology and will provide information that will enable them to assess the status of research in different fields.

  • Foundations on Expansive Soils

    • 1st Edition
    • Fu Hua Chen
    • English
    Foundations on Expansive Soils provides the practicing engineer with a summary of the state-of-the-art of expansive soils and practical solutions based on the author's experience. The book is organized into two parts. Part I deals with theory and practice, and summarizes some of the theoretical physical properties of expansive soils. It also discusses various techniques employed to found structures on expansive soils such as drilled pier foundation, mat foundation, moisture control, soil replacement, and chemical stabilization. Topics covered include the origin, mineralogical composition, and the basic structure of expansive soils; the migration of water, swelling potential, and swelling pressure; site investigations and laboratory testing; moisture control; and soil stabilization. Part II presents case studies on the following: distress caused by pier uplift; distress caused by the improper design and construction of a drilled pier foundation system; distress caused by heaving of footing pad and floor slab; distress caused by heaving of continuous footings; and distress caused by a rise of ground water.

  • Underground Mining Methods and Technology

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 1
    • A.B. Szwilski + 1 more
    • English
    This book contains high-quality papers from the principal mining research institutes of the USA, United Kingdom, India and South Africa, thus providing up-to-date coverage of underground mining and technology in the main mining areas of the world. The theme is mining in adverse conditions using state-of-the-art technology. A wide range of problems facing mining engineers is discussed, namely: thick seam working, mining under massive beds, highly productive room and pillar operations, water problems, ventilation, and electronics in longwall mining.

  • Platinum-Group Element Exploration

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 26
    • D.L. Buchanan
    • English
    The platinum-group elements (PGE) include platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium. They are currently receiving world-wide attention as an attractive exploration target because they offer the dual attraction of rare, high value precious metals as well as major industrial applications. Platinum has aesthetic qualities, combined with a permanent lustre, which encourage its use in the manufacture of jewellery and, like gold, it also finds an investment role. Platinum, rhodium and palladium have important applications as catalysts, enabling petroleum and other fuels and chemicals to be produced efficiently from crude oil. This book gives a practical set of guidelines for implementing a programme of PGE exploration, detecting subtle indications of mineralization and assessing the economic potential of a group of mafic or ultramafic rocks. Background material is given on the economic and geological framework of the PGE in the first chapter, while theoretical aspects of magma chemistry are covered in the next three. Chapters 5 and 6 review current world-wide exploration activity within the context of available reserves of PGE, and in Chapter 7 factors which need to be considered in exploration for new deposits are outlined. The last chapter discusses evaluation guidelines.As the PGE are both costly and almost indestructible they are normally recycled; nevertheless, a substantial annual input of new metal is needed to replace process losses, to permit increases in capacity in the dependent industries and to provide for new uses. For example, a major new market for platinum will be created if the European Community countries are required to fit catalytic converters to new cars. At present, South Africa and the USSR are the sources of most of the western world's newly mined PGE, with virtually all the South African production derived from the Bushveld Complex. Much of the material presented in this book is based on the author's experience of these rocks, and emphasis is given to the dominant role played by magmatic sulphides as potent collectors of PGE. Consumers of minerals and metals, however, prefer to have a diversity of supply and a new PGE producer is therefore likely to attract a ready market.Not only does the book provide a wealth of practical information for mining geologists, it also contains much of interest to those in natural resource management and investment.

  • Laterite Soil Engineering

    Pedogenesis and Engineering Principles
    • 1st Edition
    • M Gidigasu
    • English
    Laterite Soil Engineering is one of a few books about solving engineering problems with the help of engineering pedology. This book presents the latest information on the laterite soils’ geotechnical characteristics and engineering behavior. It shows that laterite soils are different from natural soils and that most laterite soils can be evaluated for engineering purposes using accepted theories and well-known test procedures for temperate-zone soils. This book also shows that modern concepts based on pedological considerations are very useful and take a logical approach to the identification and evaluation of laterite soils for engineering purposes. The first four chapters focus on reviewing information about the processes of tropical weathering and laterization. Chapter five summarizes information about the location, morphology and composition of laterite soils. Chapter six highlights the geotechnical implications of the pedogenic processes of tropical weathering, and it emphasizes the contribution of the results of these pedogenic processes to the deviations of engineering behavior of the problem of laterite soils. In addition, chapter seven discusses the influence of laterite soil genesis on the physic-chemical characteristics based on comparing the properties of three genetic soil groups formed under three different weathering conditions. Chapters eight through nineteen discuss the geotechnical characteristics and evaluation of laterite soils, and the effects of pedogenesis and soil-forming factors on the geotechnical and stabilization characteristics of laterite soils. The last chapter discusses the little information that exists on the application of laterite soils in engineering problems.

  • Biogeochemistry

    An Analysis of Global Change
    • 1st Edition
    • William H. Schlesinger
    • English
    Biogeochemistry: An Analysis of Global Change deals with changes in the biogeochemistry of the Earth's surface. The book covers the basics about the effect of life on the chemistry of the Earth, with emphasis on the microbial and chemical reactions that occur on land, in the sea, and in the atmosphere. Computer models are used to help understand elemental cycling and ecosystem function. This book is divided into two sections and comprised of 14 chapters. The discussion begins with an overview of the chemical processes controlling the environment in which we live. A simple model for the biogeochemistry of the Earth's surface is described. The chapters that follow examine models that astrophysicists suggest for the origin of chemical elements, as well as models for the formation of the solar system and the planets. The biogeochemical reactions in the atmosphere, lithosphere, and terrestrial biosphere are also described, along with rock weathering on land and the processes that drive the weathering reactions. The reader is introduced to biogeochemical cycling on land; biogeochemistry in freshwater wetlands and lakes, rivers and estuaries, and the sea; and the global water, carbon, sulfur, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles. The book concludes with the argument that human population growth is the basis of every major environmental issue facing the world today. This book is intended as a textbook for college-level and graduate students who are interested in global change.

Related subjects