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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

    • Microbial Communities in Coastal Sediments

      • 1st Edition
      • June 2, 2021
      • Salom Gnana Thanga Vincent + 2 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 5 1 6 5 5
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 5 1 6 6 2
      A concise reference on the structural composition and function of microbial communities in coastal environments, especially in relation to natural and anthropogenic impacts. Microbial Communities in Coastal Sediments presents twenty years of coastal microbiology research, grounding it as a vital development in the field of microbial ecology. It is the first book to focus exclusively on the complex microbial ecology and its function in rest of the marine environment. The book outlines the structure, function, and assessment of microbial communities in marine sediments while exploring practical methods of assessment. It is an invaluable resource to aquatic microbiologists, marine ecologists, marine microbiologists, aquatic researchers, and graduate students in this field. Microbial Communities in Coastal Sediments begins with an examination of nutrient sources in the coastal context with a focus on organic matter inputs. The quantity and quality of organic matter in coastal sediments and their impacts on the composition and formation of microbial communities is discussed. The book explores the consequences of anthropogenic changes and human activity on microbial ecology and nutrient cycling. Sections on nutrient availability, green house gas production and biodegradation of persistent organic pollutants provide essential details. Molecular research techniques and methods for assessing microbial community structure and function in coastal sediments are also covered.

    • Preparing a Workforce for the New Blue Economy

      • 1st Edition
      • May 27, 2021
      • Liesl Hotaling + 1 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 2 1 4 3 1 2
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 2 1 4 3 2 9
      Preparing a Workforce for the New Blue Economy: People, Products and Policies discusses the Blue Economy, how the industry will develop, and how to train the next generation. The book considers the use of big data, key skillsets, training undergraduate and graduate students, the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) in the US, economic opportunities in African coastal countries, and governmental agencies, non-profits and NGO’s. Finally, a broad range of case studies are provided, covering oil spills, commercial fishing, data protection and harvesting, sustainability and weather forecasting, all presented to highlight the educational requirements of the workforce and potential economic opportunities.

    • Environmental Systems Science

      • 1st Edition
      • May 26, 2021
      • Daniel A. Vallero
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 2 1 9 5 3 9
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 2 1 9 4 4 7
      Environmental Systems Science: Theory and Practical Applications looks at pollution and environmental quality from a systems perspective. Credible human and ecological risk estimation and prediction methods are described, including life cycle assessment, feasibility studies, pollution control decision tools, and approaches to determine adverse outcome pathways, fate and transport, sampling and analysis, and cost-effectiveness. The book brings translational science to environmental quality, applying groundbreaking methodologies like informatics, data mining, and applications of secondary data systems. Multiple human and ecological variables are introduced and integrated to support calculations that aid environmental and public health decision making. The book bridges the perspectives of scientists, engineers, and other professionals working in numerous environmental and public health fields addressing problems like toxic substances, deforestation, climate change, and loss of biological diversity, recommending sustainable solutions to these and other seemingly intractable environmental problems. The causal agents discussed include physical, chemical, and biological agents, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), SARS-CoV-2 (the COVID-19 virus), and other emerging contaminants.

    • The Urban Heat Island

      • 1st Edition
      • May 24, 2021
      • Iain D. Stewart + 1 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 5 0 1 7 7
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 5 6 9 0 2
      The Urban Heat Island (UHI) is an area of growing interest for many people studying the urban environment and local/global climate change. The UHI has been scientifically studied for 200 years and, although it is an apparently simple phenomenon, there is considerable confusion around the different types of UHI and their assessment. The Urban Heat Island—A Guidebook provides simple instructions for measuring and analysing the phenomenon, as well as greater context for defining the UHI and the impacts it can have. Readers will be empowered to work within a set of guidelines that enable direct comparison of UHI effects across diverse settings, while informing a wide range of climate mitigation and adaptation programs to modify human behaviour and the built form. This opens the door to true global assessments of local climate change in cities. Urban planning and design strategies can then be evaluated for their effectiveness at mitigating these changes.

    • Mars Geological Enigmas

      • 1st Edition
      • May 23, 2021
      • Richard Soare + 3 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 2 0 2 4 5 6
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 2 0 2 4 6 3
      Mars Geological Enigmas: From the Late Noachian Epoch to the Present Day presents outstanding questions on the geology of Mars and divergent viewpoints based on varying interpretations and analyses. The result is a robust and comprehensive discussion that provides opportunities for planetary scientists to develop their own opinions and ways forward. Each theme opens with an introduction that includes background on the topic and lays out questions to be addressed. Alternate perspectives are covered for each topic, including methods, observations, analyses, and in-depth discussion of the conclusions. Chapters within each theme reference each other to facilitate comparison and deeper understanding of divergent opinions.

    • Modeling of Resistivity and Acoustic Borehole Logging Measurements Using Finite Element Methods

      • 1st Edition
      • May 22, 2021
      • David Pardo + 5 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 2 1 4 5 4 1
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 2 1 4 6 5 7
      Modeling of Resistivity and Acoustic Borehole Logging Measurements Using Finite Element Methods provides a comprehensive review of different resistivity and sonic logging instruments used within the oil industry, along with precise and solid mathematical descriptions of the physical equations and corresponding FE formulations that govern these measurements. Additionally, the book emphasizes the main modeling considerations that one needs to incorporate into the simulations in order to obtain reliable and accurate results. Essentially, the formulations and methods described here can also be applied to simulate on-surface geophysical measurements such as seismic or marine controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) measurements. Simulation results obtained using FE methods are superior. FE methods employ a mathematical terminology based on FE spaces that facilitate the design of sophisticated formulations and implementations according to the specifics of each problem. This mathematical FE framework provides a highly accurate, robust, and flexible unified environment for the solution of multi-physics problems. Thus, readers will benefit from this resource by learning how to make a variety of logging simulations using a unified FE framework.

    • Earthquakes and Sustainable Infrastructure

      • 1st Edition
      • May 21, 2021
      • Giuliano Panza + 3 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 2 3 5 0 3 4
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 2 3 5 4 1 6
      Earthquakes and Sustainable Infrastructure: Neodeterministic (NDSHA) Approach Guarantees Prevention Rather Than Cure communicates in one comprehensive volume the state-of-the-art scientific knowledge on earthquakes and related risks. Earthquakes occur in a seemingly random way and, in some cases, it is possible to trace seismicity back to the concept of deterministic chaos. Therefore, seismicity can be explained by a deterministic mechanism that arises as a result of various convection movements in the Earth’s mantle, expressed in the modern movement of lithospheric plates fueled by tidal forces. Consequently, to move from a perspective focused on the response to emergencies to a new perspective based on prevention and sustainability, it is necessary to follow this neodeterministic approach (NDSHA) to guarantee prevention, saving lives and infrastructure. This book describes in a complete and consistent way an effective explanation to complex structures, systems, and components, and prescribes solutions to practical challenges. It reflects the scientific novelty and promises a feasible, workable, theoretical and applicative attitude. Earthquakes and Sustainable Infrastructure serves a “commentary role” for developers and designers of critical infrastructure and unique installations. Commentary-like roles follow standard, where there is no standard. Mega-installations embody/potentiate risks; nonetheless, lack a comprehensive classic standard. Every compound is unique, one of its kind, and differs from others even of similar function. There is no justification to elaborate a common standard for unique entities. On the other hand, these specific installations, for example, NPPs, Naval Ports, Suez Canal, HazMat production sites, and nuclear waste deposits, impose security and safety challenges to people and the environment. The book offers a benchmark for entrepreneurs, designers, constructors, and operators on how to compile diverse relevant information on site-effects and integrate it into the best-educated guess to keep safe and secure, people and environment. The authors are eager to convey the entire information and explanations to our readers, without missing either accurate information or explanations. That is achieved by “miniaturization,” as much is possible, not minimization. So far, the neodeterministic method has been successfully applied in numerous metropolitan areas and regions such as Delhi (India), Beijing (China), Naples (Italy), Algiers (Algeria), Cairo (Egypt), Santiago de Cuba (Cuba), Thessaloniki (Greece), South-East Asia (2004), Tohoku, Japan (2011), Albania (2019), Bangladesh, Iran, Sumatra, Ecuador, and elsewhere. Earthquakes and Sustainable Infrastructure includes case studies from these areas, as well as suggested applications to other seismically active areas around the globe. NDSHA approaches confirm/validate that science is looming to warn. Concurrently, leaders and practitioners have to learn to use rectified science in favor of peoples' safety. State-of-the-art science does have the know-how to reduce casualties and structural damage from potential catastrophes to a bearable incident.

    • Sample Return Missions

      • 1st Edition
      • May 10, 2021
      • Andrea Longobardo
      • English
      • Paperback
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      • eBook
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      Sample Return Missions: The Last Frontier of Solar System Exploration examines the discoveries and results obtained from sample return missions of the past, present, and future. It analyses the results in the context of the current state of knowledge and their relation to the formation and evolution of planetary bodies, as well as to the available technologies and techniques. It provides detailed descriptions of experimental procedures applied to returned samples. Beginning with an overview of previous missions, Sample Return Missions then goes on to provide an overview of facilities throughout the world used to analyze the returned samples. Finally, it addresses techniques for collection, transport, and analysis of the samples, with an additional focus on lessons learned and future perspectives. Providing an in-depth examination of a variety of missions, with both scientific and engineering implications, this book is an important resource for the planetary science community, as well as the experimentalist and engineering communities.

    • Landscape Evolution

      • 1st Edition
      • April 30, 2021
      • Jonathan D. Phillips
      • English
      • Paperback
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      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 2 3 2 4 9 1
      Landscape Evolution: Landforms, Ecosystems and Soils asks us to think holistically, to look for the interactions between the Earth’s component surface systems, to consider how universal laws and historical and geographical contingency work together, and to ponder the implications of nonlinear dynamics in landscapes, ecosystems, and soils. Development, evolution, landforms, topography, soils, ecosystems, and hydrological systems are inextricably intertwined. While empirical studies increasingly incorporate these interactions, theories and conceptual frameworks addressing landforms, soils, and ecosystems are pursued largely independently. This is partly due to different academic disciplines, traditions, and lexicons involved, and partly due to the disparate time scales sometimes encountered. Landscape Evolution explicitly synthesizes and integrates these theories and threads of inquiry, arguing that all are guided by a general principle of efficiency selection. A key theme is that evolutionary trends are probabilistic, emergent outcomes of efficiency selection rather than purported goal functions. This interdisciplinary reference will be useful for academic and research scientists across the Earth sciences.

    • Applied Techniques to Integrated Oil and Gas Reservoir Characterization

      • 1st Edition
      • April 9, 2021
      • Enwenode Onajite
      • English
      • Paperback
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      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 7 2 3 7 7
      Over the past several years, there has been a growing integration of data – geophysical, geological, petrophysical, engineering-related, and production-related – in predicting and determining reservoir properties. As such, geoscientists now must learn the technology, processes, and challenges involved within their specific functions in order to optimize planning for oil field development. Applied Techniques to Integrated Oil and Gas Reservoir Characterization presents challenging questions encountered by geoscientists in their day-to-day work in the exploration and development of oil and gas fields and provides potential solutions from experts. From basin analysis of conventional and unconventional reservoirs, to seismic attributes analysis, NMR for reservoir characterization, amplitude versus offset (AVO), well-to-seismic tie, seismic inversion studies, rock physics, pore pressure prediction, and 4D for reservoir monitoring, the text examines challenges in the industry as well as the techniques used to overcome those challenges. This book includes valuable contributions from global industry experts: Brian Schulte (Schiefer Reservoir Consulting), Dr. Neil W. Craigie (Saudi Aramco), Matthijs van der Molen (Shell International E&P), Dr. Fred W. Schroeder (ExxonMobil, retired), Dr. Tharwat Hassane (Schlumberger & BP, retired), and others.

Related subjects

Atmospheric science

Computers in geosciences

Earth surface processes

Economic geology

Geochemistry and petrology

Geology

Geophysics

Geotechnical engineering engineering geology

Marine science and technology

Mineral processing

Space and planetary science