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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.

  • The Genesis and Classification of Cold Soils

    • 1st Edition
    • Samuel Rieger
    • English
    The Genesis and Classification of Cold Soils exposes the processes involved in the development of the principal kinds of soils that occur in cold regions and introduces readers to the classification of those soils. The book uses the terminologies and concepts of the description of soils provided by the Soil Taxonomy of the United States. Topics covered in the book include aspects of temperature relationships in cold soils; effects of freezing temperatures on the soil properties; the salient features of the U.S. Soil Taxonomy system; and the taxonomies of Canada, the U.S.S.R., and The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Pedologists, agriculturists, engineers, and researchers will find the book insightful.
  • Methods of Celestial Mechanics

    • 1st Edition
    • Dirk Brouwer + 1 more
    • English
    Methods of Celestial Mechanics provides a comprehensive background of celestial mechanics for practical applications. Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that is devoted to the motions of celestial bodies. This book is composed of 17 chapters, and begins with the concept of elliptic motion and its expansion. The subsequent chapters are devoted to other aspects of celestial mechanics, including gravity, numerical integration of orbit, stellar aberration, lunar theory, and celestial coordinates. Considerable chapters explore the principles and application of various mathematical methods. This book is of value to mathematicians, physicists, astronomers, and celestial researchers.
  • Geophysics in the Affairs of Man

    A Personalized History of Exploration Geophysics and Its Allied Sciences of Seismology and Oceanography
    • 1st Edition
    • Charles C. Bates + 2 more
    • English
    Geophysics in the Affairs of Man: A Personalized History of Exploration Geophysics and its Allied Sciences of Seismology and Oceanography describes many of the key and intriguing developments which took place within several major fields of geophysics. This book is composed of nine chapters that focus on the geophysical enterprise as an interplay of technical, social, and economic factors. After a brief overview of geophysics activity before the World War I, this book goes on the period of the so-called ""golden days"" of exploration geophysics. The succeeding chapter deals with the exploration geophysics during the global war, particularly the classical seismological activity during this time. These topics are followed by discussions of the geophysical activities from 1945 to 1960, as well as the introduction of oceanography field. Other chapters cover the interaction between geophysics and ecology, as well as OPEC during the period of 1970s and early 1980s. The final chapters consider the status and nature of geophysical exploration industry. This book will prove useful to geophysicists, historians, and researchers in the allied fields.
  • The Problems of Birds as Pests

    Proceedings of a Symposium Held at the Royal Geographical Society, London, on 28 and 29 September 1967
    • 1st Edition
    • R. K. Murton + 1 more
    • English
    The Problems of Birds as Pests covers the proceedings of the symposium held at the Royal Geographical Society in London on 28 and 29 September 1967. The text focuses on the problems posed by birds on agriculture and air transport, as well as control of population, scaring techniques, and warning systems. The selection first discusses prospective considerations concerning bio-acoustics in relation to bird-scaring techniques and recent developments in bird scaring on airfields. Topics include system of behavior and hierarchy of signals, informative content of acoustic signals, and signal-noise ratio. The book also ponders on bird recognition by radar and bird warning system for aircrafts in flight. The publication reviews the rook issue in North-East Scotland and the problems brought by the oystercatchers, including availability of field crops and their utilization by rooks, rook population, and food intake of the birds and comparison with stock and fishing levels. The manuscript then surveys predator-prey relationships in bird damage and population control and the quelea problem in Africa. The selection is a valuable source of information for ornithologists and readers interested in the characteristic of birds as pests.
  • Sporopollenin

    Proceedings of a Symposium Held at the Geology Department, Imperial College, London, 23–25 September, 1970
    • 1st Edition
    • J. Brooks + 2 more
    • English
    Sporopollenin presents the proceedings of a Symposium held at the Geology Department, Imperial College, London, on September 23-25, 1970. The book discusses the functional roles of spore and pollen grain walls, the sporopollenin concept, as well as spore wall patterning. The text also describes the role played by sporopollenin in the development of pollen in Pinus banksiana; the morphological and fluorescence microscopical investigation on sporopollenin formation at Pinus sylyestris and Gasteria verrucosa; and primuline-induced fluorescence of the first exine elements and ubisch bodies in Ipomoea and Lilium. The ultrastructural and chemical studies of pollen wall development in the Epacridaceae; the implications on the nature of sporopollenin based upon pollen development; and the production of sporopollenin by the Tapetom are also considered. The book further tackles the resistance and stratification of the exine; the preservation of sporopollenin membranes under natural conditions; and a paleobiological definition of sporopollenin. The text also encompasses the aspects of sporin on the aromatization of sporin and the hydrogen density of the sporin of carboniferous lycopsids; the chemistry of sporopollenin; and some chemical and geochemical studies on sporopollenin. The petrology and geochemistry of sporinite; the application of diagenesis of sporopollenin and other comparable organic substances to hydrocarbon research; and the thermal degradation of sporopollenin and the genesis of hydrocarbons are also looked into. Botanists and microbiologists will find the book invaluable.
  • Solar Energy Conversion

    An Introductory Course
    • 1st Edition
    • A. E. Dixon + 1 more
    • English
    Solar Energy Conversion: An Introductory Course is a collection of papers that deals with the technical, mechanical, and operation concerns in converting solar energy. The title first details solar radiation, and then proceeds to discussing solar collectors. Next, the selection covers selective surfaces and the thermal regulation of buildings. The text also talks about planning of solar architectures. The next part tackles topics about the direct conversion of solar energy. Part VII discusses the control and measurement of collected solar energy, while Part VIII covers bioconversion and biomass. The book will be of great use to engineering and science students. Professionals involved in the research and development of solar technology will also benefit from the text.
  • Aeronomy

    • 1st Edition
    • P. M. Banks + 1 more
    • English
    Aeronomy, Part B discusses the scientific discipline devoted to the study of the composition, movement, and thermal balance of planetary atmospheres. The book presents the comprehensive exposition of the basic processes involved in the aeronomy of the earth’s upper atmosphere. It demonstrates the chemical, ionic reactions, and the different collisional interactions involving particles and radiation. The text describes the molecular diffusion and its effects in producing the transition from homogeneous molecular gases of lower atmosphere to the heterogeneous atomic and molecular gases of the upper atmosphere. It also discusses the simple models of the ionospheres. Another topic of interest is the calculations of atmospheric photoionization. The section that follows describes the satellite and external hyperbolic particles. The book will provide valuable insights for engineers, scientists, students, and researchers in the field of space science.
  • Glaciated Coasts

    • 1st Edition
    • Duncan M. Fitzgerald + 1 more
    • English
    Glaciated Coasts is a collection of articles that deals with shoreline morphologies of glaciated coasts and the processes that formed these coastlines in North America. This book examines nonsandy shorelines and covers a range of geologic and geographic coastal settings in a northern-southern order. This text investigates and compares the glaciated northern shorelines. These shorelines north of the glacial limit are mostly of the primary form in different stages of modification by marine agents. Shorelines are associated with embayments; baymouth barriers in turn enclose embayments. This book describes beaches as having coarse or mixed sediment populations. Most beaches worldwide have gravel clasts that have been rounded and sorted by marine processes. In the southeastern coast of Alaska, active tectonics on a mountainous shoreline is evident. The region also shows emergent and submerging shorelines with a glacial imprint undergoing formation by modern processes. This book also gives examples of gravel beach environments in various coastal settings. This book can prove useful for students of meteorology, oceanography as well as to marine ecologists and biologists. It can also benefit readers whose interest lie with coastal environment or with the general earth sciences.
  • Principles of Zoological Micropalaeontology

    International Series of Monographs on Earth Sciences, Vol. 2
    • 1st Edition
    • Vladimír Pokorný
    • John W. Neale
    • English
    Principles of Zoological Micropalaeontology, Volume 2 highlights the morphological, phylogenetic and ecological analysis of microfossils. This book is composed of eight chapters that survey the most important microfossil taxa, their variety of form, evolution, relationships, and distribution. The first chapters describe the general morphology and characteristics of skeletal elements of main groups of sponges, melanoscleritoids, polychaetes, and conodonts. Other chapters deal with the anatomy, reproduction, ecology, phylogenetics, classification, and geological distribution of Ostracod and Echinodermata. The last chapters examine the morphological, phylogenetic, and structural aspects of class Ascidiacea and fish microfossils. This book is of great value to micropalaeontologist... zoologists, phylogeneticists, and taxonomists.
  • The Geology of the U.S.S.R.

    A Short Outline
    • 1st Edition
    • D. V. Nalivkin
    • Earl Ingerson
    • English
    The Geology of the U.S.S.R: A Short Outline is a 10-chapter text that considers the topographical features, the main stratigraphical description, tectonics, magmatism, and economic deposits of U.S.S.R. territories. The entire US.S.R territory covers an area of approximately eight and a half million square miles, or about one-sixth of the total land surface of the Earth. The first chapters explore the geological features of specific territories, including the mainland, Siberian platform, West Siberian lowlands, Ural Mountains, and Western Arctic and Timan. The remaining chapters deal with other territories, such as the Angara, Pacific Ocean, and Mediterranean geosynclines, Central Asia, and North-Western border of the Mediterranean geosyncline. This book will prove useful to practitioners of general geology, petrology, economic geology, and geography.