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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.

  • 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.

  • Environmental Oceanography

    An Introduction to the Behaviour of Coastal Waters
    • 1st Edition
    • Tom Beer
    • English
    Environmental Oceanography: An Introduction of the Behaviour of the Coastal Water covers the physical environment in coastal water. This book is composed of thirteen chapters, and begins with an overview of the coastal oceanography field. The succeeding chapters deal with the natural processes along the shore, the concept of wave and tides, water composition and circulation, and boundary layers. These topics are followed by discussions on ocean water flow, coastal meteorology, estuaries, and reefs. The final chapters present the application of direct and remote sensing and data analysis. This book will prove useful to divers, environmental managers, environmental administrators, and students.

  • Seismic Safety Evaluation of Concrete Dams

    A Nonlinear Behavioral Approach
    • 1st Edition
    • Chong Zhang
    • English
    The consequences of a large dam failing can be disastrous. However, predicting the performance of concrete dams during earthquakes is one of the most complex and challenging problems in structural dynamics. Based on a nonlinear approach, Seismic Safety Evaluation of Concrete Dams allows engineers to build models that account for nonlinear phenomena such as vertical joint slippage, cracks, and cavitation. This yields more accurate estimates. Advanced but readable, this book is the culmination of the work carried out by Tsinghua University Research Group on Earthquake Resistance on Dams over the last two decades.

  • Interpreting Aerial Photographs to Identify Natural Hazards

    • 1st Edition
    • Charles E. Glass
    • English
    Authored by a world-renowned aerial photography and remote sensing expert, Geographic Aerial Photography: Identifying Earth-Surface Hazards Through Image Interpretation is the most practical and authoritative reference available for any professional or student looking for a reference on how to recognize, analyze, interpret and avoid – or successfully plan for – dangerous contingencies. Whether they are related to natural terrain, geology, vegetation, hydrology or land use patterns – it’s critical for you to be able to recognize dangerous conditions when and where they exist. Failure to adequately recognize and characterize geomorphic, geologic, and hydrologic dangers on the ground using aerial photography is one of the major factors contributing to due to natural hazards and disasters, damage to architectural structures, and often the subsequent loss of human life as a result. Aerial photographs provide one of the most prevalent, inexpensive and under-utilized tools to those with the knowledge and expertise to interpret them.

  • Limit Analysis and Soil Plasticity

    • 1st Edition
    • Wai-Fah Chen
    • English
    Developments in Geotechnical Engineering, Volume 7: Limit Analysis and Soil Plasticity covers the theory and applications of limit analysis as applied to soil mechanics. Organized into 12 chapters, the book presents an introduction to the modern development of theory of soil plasticity and includes rock-like material. The first four chapters of the book describe the technique of limit analysis, beginning with the historical review of the subject and the assumptions on which it is based, and then covering various aspects of available techniques of limit analysis. The subsequent chapters deal with the applications of limit analysis to what may be termed “classical soil mechanics problems” that include bearing capacity of footings, lateral earth pressure problems, and stability of slopes. In many cases, comparisons of limit analysis solution and conventional limit equilibrium and slip-like solutions are also presented. Other chapters deal with the advances in bearing-capacity problem of concrete blocks or rock and present theoretical and experimental results of various concrete bearing problems. The concluding chapter examines elastic-plastic soil and elastic-plastic-frac... models for concrete materials. This book is an ideal resource text to geotechnical engineers and soil mechanics researchers.

  • Managing Ocean Environments in a Changing Climate

    Sustainability and Economic Perspectives
    • 1st Edition
    • Kevin J. Noone + 2 more
    • English
    Managing Ocean Environments in a Changing Climate summarizes the current state of several threats to the global oceans. What distinguishes this book most from previous works is that this book begins with a holistic, global-scale focus for the first several chapters and then provides an example of how this approach can be applied on a regional scale, for the Pacific region. Previous works usually have compiled local studies, which are essentially impossible to properly integrate to the global scale. The editors have engaged leading scientists in a number of areas, such as fisheries and marine ecosystems, ocean chemistry, marine biogeochemical cycling, oceans and climate change, and economics, to examine the threats to the oceans both individually and collectively, provide gross estimates of the economic and societal impacts of these threats, and deliver high-level recommendations.

  • Advances in Agronomy

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 121
    • English
    Advances in Agronomy continues to be recognized as a leading reference and a first-rate source for the latest research in agronomy. As always, the subjects covered are varied and exemplary of the myriad of subject matter dealt with by this long-running serial.

  • Grouting Theory and Practice

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 57
    • E. Nonveiller
    • English
    Grouting is a construction process by means of which the highly erratic permeability and deformability of foundation rock and soil are homogenized. The main parameter governing the design and construction of grouting works is the permeability of the rock or soil, which is established by means of field permeability tests. This book assembles information on rock and soil grouting from various sources, together with the author's personal experience on several grouting projects. Some aspects of permeability testing of rock and soils are elaborated, and the use of theoretical ground water percolation studies for clarification of design options for grout curtains are presented. The results achieved by grouting are presented and analysed on examples of constructed grouting works (curtains, tunnels, foundations, lifting of structures).Particul... of the performance of the permeability tests and their evaluation are studied in some detail, since they can very much distort the results obtained, and thus lead to erroneous design assumptions. Systematic grouting and adjustment of the injection process to the development of grout consumption and pressure during injection is discussed in connection with the achievement of the required permeability standard. The application of grouting to reduce the permeability and the deformability of the foundation of dams and hydrotechnical structures is presented, together with a number of illustrative examples. Characteristics of contact and consolidation grouting of dam foundations and tunnel linings are described. The possibilities and examples of rock prestressing by means of grouting are reported, and the results from several applications are discussed. Examples of lifting and levelling leaning structures by means of grouting are also reviewed. The book is illustrated by 180 drawings and 20 photographs, and a list of symbols used in the formulae, plus a glossary of specific terms used in grouting, are included at the end of the book.The book is intended for organizations, civil engineers and geologists involved in the exploration, design, construction and supervision of large dams, hydroelectric power projects, tunnels and other underground works. Teachers and students of civil engineering courses in geotechnics, building and construction, rock mechanics, soil mechanics, engineering geology, and some aspects of mining engineering will also find the book useful.

  • Applied Salt-Rock Mechanics 1

    The in-situ behavior of salt rocks
    • 1st Edition
    • C.A. Baar
    • English
    Applied Salt-Rock Mechanics, 1: The In-Situ Behavior of Salt Rocks considers the principles of the inelastic in-situ behavior of rock salts. This five-chapter text surveys the successful application of hypothesis in various salt deposits. This book deals first with the geological investigations concerning the genesis and geologic features of salt deposits, specifically the geology of evaporite formation. The following chapter describes the physical and mechanical properties of salt rocks, such as creep, strain, hardening, tensile and shearing strengths, permeability, and plasticity. The discussion then shifts to the mechanism of stress-relief creep occurring in salt rock by excavation. The last chapter examines stress-relief creep zones, which extend to the boundary of interbedded formations exhibiting elastic behavior.

  • The Biogeography of the Australian North West Shelf

    Environmental Change and Life's Response
    • 1st Edition
    • Barry Wilson
    • English
    The Biogeography of the Australian North West Shelf provides the first assembly of existing information of the North West Shelf in terms of geological, oceanographic and climatological history and current understanding of such issues as biodiversity, connectivity, larval dispersal and speciation in the sea that determine the distribution patterns of its invertebrate fauna. It is intended as a source of information and ideas on the biota of the shelf and its evolutionary origins and affinities and the environmental drivers of species’ ecology and distribution and ecosystem function. Regulators and industry environmental managers worldwide, but especially on the resource-rich North West Shelf, are faced with having to make decisions without adequate information or understanding of conservation values or the factors that drive ecosystem processes and resilience in the face of increasing anthropogenic and natural change. This book will provide a resource of information and ideas and extensive references to issues of primary concern. It will provide a big-picture narrative, putting the marine biota into a geological, evolutionary, and regional biodiversity context.

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