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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.

BooksJournals

    • The Lightning Discharge

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 39
      • Martin A. Uman
      • English
      From the Preface: In the 18 years since my technical monograph Lightning (McGraw-Hill, 1969; Dover, 1984) was first published, there have been significant advances in our understanding of lightning, but, until now, there has been no new monograph on the subject. A number of edited collections of papers and conference proceedings relating to lightning have been published during this period and are listed in Appendix D as well as being referenced, where appropriate, throughout the text... In the present book, the chapters are organized primarily by lightning process. Each chapter contains a reference list of essentially all literature on the subject discussed in that chapter, although all of these references may not be cited in the text.

    • Hydraulic Processes on Alluvial Fans

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 31
      • R.H. French
      • English
      Alluvial fans are among the most prominent landscape features in the American Southwest and throughout the semi-arid and arid regions of the world. The importance of developing a qualitative and quantitative understanding of the hydraulic processes which formed, and which continue to modify, these features derives from their rapid and significant development over the past four decades. As unplanned urban sprawl has moved from valley floors onto alluvial fans, the serious damage incurred from infrequent flow events has dramatically increased.This book presents a concise, coherent discussion of our current and rapidly expanding knowledge of hydraulic processes on alluvial fans. It addresses the subject from a multidisciplinary viewpoint, acquainting the geologist with engineering principles, and the civil engineer and planner with geological principles pertinent to the analysis of hydraulic processes on alluvial fans. The book thus provides much of interest to geologists, civil engineers and planners involved in floodplain management and drainage design in arid and semi-arid regions.

    • Microcomputer Programs for Groundwater Studies

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 30
      • D. Clarke
      • English
      This book provides the practising hydrogeologist with a selection of microcomputer programs which the author has found to be very useful as an aid in the investigation of groundwater wells and aquifers. The programs are written in BASIC and are designed to suit as wide a range of computer as possible.The book begins with a group of programs which solve several of the most common functions encountered in groundwater science. These are then developed into programs capable of calculating drawdown in a variety of discharge rate/aquifer/boundar... configurations, either at one time, or a series of exponentially increasing times. The author shows how a computerised form of Newtons method (for solving difficult equations) may be applied to such tasks as evaluating storage coefficient if transmissivity is known. Lagrangian interpolation is used to produce accurate values from tabled functions, either within a program, or on demand.One of the major programs in the book may be used to enter discharge test data into a computer, edit it as required (e.g. change drawdown measurements from feet to metres, or water levels to drawdowns etc.), and finally to analyse the data. For example, three different methods are provided for evaluation of the well equation. Another program is provided for controlling a plotter to produce several popular types of discharge test graphs; and a new image well method is included for simulating boundaries consisting of straight line junctions between areas of two different transmissivities.Thi... is a practical book, written to solve real-life problems. Accordingly, program operation is clearly described, but derivation of equations and functions have been omitted. (For those readers wishing to check on derivations, references are provided). Readers familiar with microcomputer programming may apply the programs given here to their own work, perhaps incorporating them as subroutines into large, more specialized programs. Those unfamiliar with programming can use the programs as they are listed. All programs are designed to be run with no more than an occasional reference to the written instructions being necessary.

    • Three-Dimensional Models of Marine and Estuarine Dynamics

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 45
      • J.C.J. Nihoul + 1 more
      • English
      These proceedings represent the most recent and complete state of the art review of three-dimensional models of the modern generation for the study of marine hydrodynamics and management of the marine system. The book is well illustrated by application to well-documented case studies.

    • Remote Sensing in Soil Science

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 15
      • M.A. Mulders
      • English
      This book provides comprehensive coverage of remote sensing techniques and their application in soil science. A clear, step-by-step approach to the various aspects ensures that the reader will gain a good grasp of the subject so that he can apply the techniques to his own field of study.The book opens with a thorough introduction to the physical aspects of electromagnetic radiation and the technical aspects of remote sensing and image processing. This is followed by a discussion of the methods for interpreting remote sensing data, and their application to soils, vegetation, and land as a whole.As the interpretation of soil conditions is based on many aspects (i.e. soil surface, vegetation, land use, land form), the scope of the book is correspondingly broad. It will therefore provide much useful information for students and scientists in soil science, geography, geology, hydrology, ecology, agriculture and civil engineering.

    • Water Resources and Water Management

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 28
      • M.K. Jermar
      • English
      The size and number of water projects and other development activities which influence the hydrological cycle have reached such proportions that the majority of problems involved extend beyond the boundaries of the traditional disciplines of hydraulics, hydrochemistry, hydrology and hydrogeology.New scientific methods for the solution of the contemporary problems in water management include analogy, operation research, system analysis and cybernetics. The distinctive features of these methods are their emphasis on measurement and on the use of conceptual models described in quantitative terms, the verification of their theoretical predictions, and their awareness that concepts are conditional and subject to growth and continuous change. This new approach should be defined within the framework of water resources management, i.e. within a complex of activities whose objective is the optimum utilization of water resources with regard to their quality and availability and the requirements of society. These water management activities should at the same time also ensure an optimum living environment, above all through protection of water resources against deterioration and exhaustion as well as through the protection of society against the harmful effects of water. In the course of these activities water resources management should avail itself of the entire spectrum of explicit sciences, gradually coming to form the sphere of its own theory.This monograph deals with the fundamental interdisciplinary problems of this complex sphere, an understanding of which is indispensable for successful water resources management in the widest sense of its social functions and environmental consequences. Thus, a common basis is provided for the mutual understanding of specialists from different backgrounds.

    • Reservoir Sedimentation

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 29
      • G.W. Annandale
      • English
      Research on reservoir sedimentation in recent years has been aimed mainly at water resources projects in developing countries. These countries, especially in Africa, often have to cope with long droughts, flash floods and severe erosion problems. Large reservoir capacities are required to capture water provided by flash floods so as to ensure the supply of water in periods of drought. The problem arising however is that these floods, due to their tremendous stream power, carry enormous volumes of sediment which, due to the size of reservoirs, are virtually deposited in toto in the reservoir basin, leading to fast deterioration of a costly investment. Accurate forecasting of reservoir behaviour is therefore of the utmost importance.This book fills a gap in current literature by providing in one volume comprehensive coverage of techniques required to practically investigate the effects sediment deposition in reservoirs has on the viability of water resources projects. Current techniques for practically estimating sediment yield from catchments, estimating the volume of sediment expected to deposit in reservoirs, predicting sediment distribution and calculating scour downstream of reservoirs are evaluated and presented. The liberal use of diagrams and graphs to explain the various techniques enhances understanding and makes practical application simple. A major feature of the book is the application of stream power theory to explain the process of reservoir sedimentation and to develop four new methods for predicting sediment distribution in reservoirs.The book is primarily directed at practising engineers involved in the planning and design of water resources projects and at post-graduate students interested in this field of study.

    • Application of Optimal Control Theory to Enhanced Oil Recovery

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 21
      • W. Fred Ramirez
      • English
      In recent years, enhanced oil recovery techniques have received much attention in the oil industry. Enhanced oil recovery methods can be divided into three major categories: thermal processes which include steam flooding, steam stimulation, and in-situ combustion; chemical processes which include surfactant-polymer injection, polymer flooding, and caustic flooding; and miscible displacement processes which include miscible hydrocarbon displacement, carbon dioxide injection of large amounts of rather expensive fluids into oil bearing reservoir formations. Commercial application of any enhanced oil recovery process relies upon economic projections that show a decent return on the investment. Because of high chemical costs, it is important to optimize enhanced oil recovery processes to provide the greatest recovery at the lowest chemical injection cost.The aim of this book is to develop an optimal control theory for the determination of operating strategies that maximize the economic attractiveness of enhanced oil recovery processes. The determination of optimal control histories or operating strategies is one of the key elements in the successful usage of new enhanced oil recovery techniques. The information contained in the book will therefore be both interesting and useful to all those working in petroleum engineering, petroleum management and chemical engineering.

    • The Petroleum Handbook

      • 6th Edition
      • Shell
      • English
      Those connected with the petroleum industry will need no introduction to The Petroleum Handbook. It is a technically-oriented manual whose aim is to provide explanations of the processes of today's petroleum industry, from crude oil exploration to product end use, with some historical background and explanation of the economic context in which the oil, gas and petrochemical businesses operation. Much of the material in this sixth edition is completely new and includes the latest information on world oil and gas reserves, future prospects, transportation, storage, refining, marketing, research, and environmental conservation.

Related subjects

Atmospheric science

Computers in geosciences

Earth surface processes

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Geochemistry and petrology

Geology

Geophysics

Geotechnical engineering engineering geology

Marine science and technology

Mineral processing

Space and planetary science