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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.

    • Natural Resources in Afghanistan

      • 1st Edition
      • June 4, 2014
      • John F. Shroder
      • English
      • Hardback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 0 0 1 3 5 6
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 0 0 5 4 5 3
      Natural Resources in Afghanistan: Geographic and Geologic Perspectives on Centuries of Conflict details Afghanistan's physical geography — namely climate, soils, vegetation, water, hazards, and basic geologic background and terrain landforms — together with details of its rich natural resources, ethnic problems, and relevant past histories. The book couples these details with the challenges of environmental degradation and new environmental management and protection, all of which are considered finally in both pessimistic and optimistic modes. The reader comes away with a nuanced understanding of the issues that are likely to have great affect for this pivotal region of the world for decades to come. With an estimated $1-3 trillion dollars of ore in the ground, and multiple cross-reinforcing cancellations of big Asian power machinations (China, India, Iran, Pakistan), Afghanistan has an opportunity to gain more economic independence. At the same time, however, historic forces of negativity also pull it back toward the chaos and uncertainty that has defined the country and constrained its economic progress for decades.
    • Recent Advances in Geomathematics - An International Symposium

      • 1st Edition
      • May 23, 2014
      • D.F. Merriam
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 1 4 9 3 3 0 6 2 2 0
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 2 9 7 1 9 4
      Computers & Geology, Volume 2: Recent Advances in Geomathematics: An International Symposium focuses on the advancements of methodologies, processes, and approaches in geomathematics. The selection first offers information on the multivariate analysis of compositional data of bioclastic carbonate sediments from the Lady Musgrave Reef and Great Barrier Reef in Australia and engineering evaluation of seabed sediments by cluster analysis. Topics include geotechnical mapping, survey, and numerical analysis. The manuscript then ponders on multivariate analysis in the characterization of limestone units based on minor- and trace-element contents; influence on the chemical composition of Pennsylvanian limestones in Kansas; and multivariate analysis of allometry using morphometric measurements. The publication elaborates on the basic concepts and advantages of formalized stratigraphy and distance dependence of stratigraphic correlation. Discussions focus on definition and measures for the accuracy of correlation, measurements on natural sections, problems in traditional stratigraphy, and formalized type of problems and solutions. Observations on the statistical properties of polarity reversals, three-dimensional interpolation, and computerized modeling for shape analysis in geology are also mentioned. The selection is a valuable reference for geologists and readers interested in geomathematics.
    • Automation in Mining, Mineral and Metal Processing

      • 1st Edition
      • May 20, 2014
      • J. O'Shea + 1 more
      • English
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 1 4 7 3 0 7
      Automation in Mining, Mineral and Metal Processing covers the proceedings of the Third International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) symposium. The book discusses techniques and methods of automatic control and of system analysis for use in mining, mineral, and metal processing industries. Comprised of 69 chapters, the text presents theories, applications, operations, and maintenance of automation systems in an industrial environment. The topics covered are also relevant in solving various issues in the mining, mineral, and metal processing industries, such as pollution, safety, energy efficiency, human resource, and materials through the implementation of an unmanned system. This book will be of great interest to professionals especially those who are contemplating the use of automated system.
    • Mathematical Models for Planning and Controlling Air Quality

      • 1st Edition
      • May 17, 2014
      • Giorgio Fronza + 1 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 1 2 1 3 9 0
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 1 5 3 8 1 0
      Mathematical Models for Planning and Controlling Air Quality documents the proceedings of an IIASA Workshop on Mathematical Models for Planning and Controlling Air Quality, October 1979. The Workshop had two goals. The first was to contribute to bridging the gap between air-quality modeling and management. The second was to consider an unusual air-quality control strategy: namely, real-time emission control. The book is organized into two parts, corresponding roughly to the two goals outlined above. Part One examines the role of mathematical models in air-quality planning and includes: a presentation of a decision maker's viewpoint; illustrations of various types of models (descriptive and/or decision models) available to decision makers; assessments of the role of models in actual decision making; and two papers on the more traditional question of the significance and range of application of descriptive models, i.e., of models that represent the physics of the air-pollution phenomenon. Part Two is devoted primarily to real-time control. It includes a presentation of the IIASA case study of the Venetian lagoon; and papers on various aspects of this research; on alternative concentration predictors; and descriptions of implementations of real-time forecast and control schemes in Japan and Italy.
    • Marine and Offshore Corrosion

      • 1st Edition
      • May 12, 2014
      • Kenneth A Chandler
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 1 7 6 4 4 4
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 1 9 2 2 5 3
      Marine and Offshore Corrosion describes the principles of effective corrosion control treatments in marine environments, with emphasis on economic solutions to corrosion. The book explains chemical or electrochemical reaction of an alloy with its environment leading to corrosion, and mechanical loss of the metal by erosion, abrasion, or wear resulting also in corrosion. A main consideration of erosion control that the engineer should look into is the economic side. Other considerations that he should investigate are the strength of a structure, time for construction, availability of materials, and costs. The book also discusses the marine environment consisting of sea water, temperature fluctuations, dissolved gases, hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, carbon dioxide, electrical conductivity, fouling. The text describes the selection of materials to be used in marine environments, surface preparation of steel before painting, the type of paint, and metallic coatings. Some of the factors in selecting coating systems are: cost and estimated life before the first scheduled maintenance, adhesion properties, moisture tolerance, elasticity, chemical resistance, impact resistance, bacterial resistance. The factors affecting maintenance include environmental conditions, quality of initial protection applied, type of structure, as well as the design and purpose of the structure. The book has been prepared for engineers and designers who are not corrosion specialists but have to deal with marine corrosion problems as part of their day-to-day professional activities. The text will also turn out to be useful for engineers with general interest in structure, building, or machinery maintenance specially those located near coastal areas.
    • Geochemical Exploration 1980

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 15
      • May 6, 2014
      • A.W. Rose + 1 more
      • English
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 4 4 4 5 9 7 9 1 5
      Developments in Economic Geology, 15: Geochemical Exploration 1980 focuses on practices, processes, methodologies, and principles involved in geochemical exploration. The selection first takes a look at the simultaneous determination of sulfide, polysulfides, and thiosulfate as an aid to ore exploration; hydrogeochemical exploration for uranium ore deposits; and mercury and mercury compounds in surface air, soil gas, soils, and rocks. Discussions focus on the methods of mercury analysis, calibration, sensitivity and computations, exploration, titration of hydrogen sulfide, polysulfides, thiosulfate and sulfite, and leaching of a sulfide deposit by percolating water. The book then examines meteorological noise in crustal gas emission and relevance to geochemical exploration; a mercury vapor survey in an area of thick transported overburden in Shanghai, China; and mechanisms of ore formation and primary dispersion at the Dexing porphyry copper deposit in Jiangxi and their implications to geochemical exploration. The publication explores the organic matter of a gulf coast well studied by a thermal analysis; selective extraction procedures applied to geochemical prospecting in an area contaminated by old mine workings; and application of radionuclide energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis in geochemical prospecting. The selection is a vital source of data for researchers interested in geochemical exploration.
    • Seismic Exploration of Hydrocarbons in Heterogeneous Reservoirs

      • 1st Edition
      • May 2, 2014
      • Jing Ba + 4 more
      • English
      • Hardback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 4 2 0 1 5 1 4
      • eBook
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      Seismic Exploration of Hydrocarbons in Heterogeneous Reservoirs: New Theories, Methods and Applications is based on the field research conducted over the past decade by an authoring team of five of the world’s leading geoscientists. In recent years, the exploration targets of world's oil companies have become more complex. The direct detection of hydrocarbons based on seismic wave data in heterogeneous oil/gas reservoirs has become a hot spot in the research of applied and exploration geophysics. The relevant theories, approaches and applications, which the authors have worked on for years and have established mature technical processes for industrial application, are of significant meaning to the further study and practice of engineers, researchers and students in related area.
    • Canal and River Levées

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 29
      • April 25, 2014
      • P. Peter
      • English
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 4 4 4 6 0 0 5 0 9
      Canal and River Levées covers the fundamental principles of canal embankments and levées calculation and design. Canal embankments and levées are amongst the world's oldest hydroengineering structures. This book is divided into seven chapters that focus on solving the problems of protecting control levees, which sometimes called anti-flood or anti-inundation dykes. The opening chapter surveys the general problems of dam design and construction. The next chapters deal with the basic characteristics, determination, experimental methods, and calculations of seepage, as well as the stability calculations and embankment settlement. These topics are followed by discussions of the local conditions and demands relating to the construction of embankments and their various concrete structures. Other chapters explore the requirements of power- and irrigation-canal sealing and the subsoil protection of levees. The last chapter looks into the measurements, general requirements, and observation of dams and levees. This book is intended primarily for civil engineering designers.
    • Encyclopedia of the Solar System

      • 3rd Edition
      • April 24, 2014
      • Tilman Spohn + 2 more
      • English
      • Hardback
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      • eBook
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      The Encyclopedia of the Solar System, Third Edition—winner of the 2015 PROSE Award in Cosmology & Astronomy from the Association of American Publishers—provides a framework for understanding the origin and evolution of the solar system, historical discoveries, and details about planetary bodies and how they interact—with an astounding breadth of content and breathtaking visual impact. The encyclopedia includes the latest explorations and observations, hundreds of color digital images and illustrations, and over 1,000 pages. It stands alone as the definitive work in this field, and will serve as a modern messenger of scientific discovery and provide a look into the future of our solar system. New additions to the third edition reflect the latest progress and growth in the field, including past and present space missions to the terrestrial planets, the outer solar systems and space telescopes used to detect extrasolar planets.
    • Elastic Wave Field Extrapolation

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 2
      • April 14, 2014
      • C.P.A. Wapenaar
      • A. J. Berkhout
      • English
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 2 9 1 0 0 0
      Extrapolation of seismic waves from the earth's surface to any level in the subsurface plays an essential role in many advanced seismic processing schemes, such as migration, inverse scattering and redatuming. At present these schemes are based on the acoustic wave equation. This means not only that S-waves (shear waves) are ignored, but also that P-waves (compressional waves) are not handled correctly. In the seismic industry there is an important trend towards multi-component data acquisition. For processing of multi-component seismic data, ignoring S-waves can no longer be justified. Wave field extrapolation should therefore be based on the full elastic wave equation.In this book the authors review acoustic one-way extrapolation of P-waves and introduce elastic one-way extrapolation of P- and S-waves. They demonstrate that elastic extrapolation of multi-component data, decomposed into P- and S-waves, is essentially equivalent to acoustic extrapolation of P-waves. This has the important practical consequence that elastic processing of multi-component seismic data need not be significantly more complicated than acoustic processing of single-component seismic data. This is demonstrated in the final chapters, which deal with the application of wave field extrapolation in the redatuming process of single- and multi-component seismic data.Geophysicists, and anyone who is interested in a review of acoustic and elastic wave theory, will find this book useful. It is also a suitable textbook for graduate students and those following courses in elastic wave field extrapolation as each subject is introduced in a relatively simple manner using the scalar acoustic wave equation. In the chapters on elastic wave field extrapolation the formulation, whenever possible, is analogous to that used in the chapters on acoustic wave field extrapolation. The text is illustrated throughout and a bibliography and keyword index are provided.