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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.

  • Mining Modelling

    • 1st Edition
    • V. Ehrenberger + 1 more
    • English
    The main aim of this book is to offer an exposition of the principles and applications of an original method which was introduced by the authors, developed gradually in the course of time, and applied extensively in the most diverse fields of management in the mining industry and power engineering. It is a relatively universal method of mathematical model construction and application intended to aid managerial personnel at various management levels in decision-making situations, which are frequently characterized by complicated relations of a quantitative as well as logical character.The method, called by the authors simply the ``method of mathematical-logical modelling'' (MLM for short), is based upon an interesting and effective combination of tools from mathematical logic, Boolean algebra and computer programming. From the mathematical point of view it is based primarily on the construction and solution of systems of pseudo-Boolean equations and inequalities with a generalized logical structure. The principal features of the method are its universality, iterativity, interactivity, and advanced and broadly applicable software, coded in FORTRAN 77. Due in particular to these properties, MLM is a powerful tool for modelling real-life situations in the mining industry (and, naturally, in other fields of human activity as well).The exposition is illustrated by a considerable number of examples. Some of these are rather simple and aimed at helping the reader verify his correct understanding of the text. Other examples, especially in the second part of the book (Chapters 6, 7 and 8), are more complicated and extensive. In some instances they have the character of case studies and demonstrate typical approaches applied when modelling mining situations.The book will be of interest to a broad range of specialists working in the mining industry - research workers, designers, computer personnel, system analysts, management personnel at all managerial levels, and also undergraduate as well as graduate students.

  • Reclamation, Treatment and Utilization of Coal Mining Wastes

    • 1st Edition
    • A.K.M. Rainbow
    • English
    Destined to become a major reference work, this book presents a wide range of specialist papers on the exploitation of coal mining wastes (minestone). Up-to-date developments and research results are reported from all over the world, providing a wealth of information for civil and mining engineers, environmentalists, and land reclamation specialists.

  • Chemical Analysis Of Silicate Rocks

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 6
    • A Easton
    • English
    Chemical Analysis of Silicate Rocks is the sixth book in the series, “Methods in Geochemistry and Geophysics.” This book provides procedures in chemical analysis of the principal types of silicate rocks and minerals, and it discusses each procedure at length. The book presents different apparatuses and reagents, such as balance and weighs, glassware and porcelain, platinum and substitutes, and filters that are used in the chemical analysis of silicate rocks. Laboratory instruments, such as pH meters, spectrophotometers and flame photometers, are presented in the third chapter. The fourth chapter focuses on the major factors in spectrophotometric methods. The next three chapters cover the common operations in silicate analysis, chemical analysis of silicate rocks, and preparation of the laboratory sample. From chapter eight through 20, each chapter discusses various silicate rocks and minerals, and presents the methods to be used for their chemical analysis. These chemical components are silicon, total iron, titanium, aluminum, calcium, magnesium, ferrous iron, manganese, chromium, alkalies, water and carbon dioxide, phosphorus, and total sulfur. Chapters 21 and 22 offer the formulas of minerals and the determination of specific gravity. The book closes by providing notes on the precision and accuracy of results obtained in silicate rock.

  • The Pocos de Caldas Project: Natural Analogues of Processes in a Radioactive Waste Repository

    • 1st Edition
    • N.A. Chapman + 3 more
    • English
    The safe disposal of radioactive wastes by burial in deep geological formations requires long-term predictions of the future behaviour of the wastes and their engineered repository. Such predictions can be tested by evaluating processes analogous to those which will occur in a repository, which have been long active in the natural geochemical environment. The Pocos de Caldas Project is a comprehensive study of two ore deposits in Minas Gerais, Brazil, aimed at looking at uranium and thorium series radionuclide and rare-earth element mobility, the development and movement of redox fronts, and the nature of natural groundwater colloids. A multidisciplinary team of experts from 27 laboratories carried out a fully integrated study of the geology, geomorphology, hydrogeology, geochemistry, hydrochemistry and geomicrobiology of the two sites for nearly four years. This book contains 20 papers covering the detailed findings, with particular emphasis on their significance for radioactive waste disposal, especially on the use of the data in testing models of radionuclide movement. It will interest economic geologists, geochemists and performance assessment modellers involved in the geological disposal of radioactive wastes.

  • Variational Methods in Geosciences

    • 1st Edition
    • Y.K. Sasaki
    • English
    The last few decades have seen a spectacular growth in the use of variational methods, one of the most classic and elegant methods in physical and mathematical sciences, as powerful tools of optimization and numerical analysis.The tremendous accumulation of information on the use of variational methods in the area of the geosciences, which includes meteorology, oceanography, hydrology, geophysics and seismology, indicated the need for the first symposium on Variational Methods in Geosciences to be organized and held in Norman on October 15-17, 1985. The value of this symposium was enhanced by the number of stimulating and informative papers presented.

  • Platinum-Group Element Exploration

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 26
    • D.L. Buchanan
    • English
    The platinum-group elements (PGE) include platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium. They are currently receiving world-wide attention as an attractive exploration target because they offer the dual attraction of rare, high value precious metals as well as major industrial applications. Platinum has aesthetic qualities, combined with a permanent lustre, which encourage its use in the manufacture of jewellery and, like gold, it also finds an investment role. Platinum, rhodium and palladium have important applications as catalysts, enabling petroleum and other fuels and chemicals to be produced efficiently from crude oil. This book gives a practical set of guidelines for implementing a programme of PGE exploration, detecting subtle indications of mineralization and assessing the economic potential of a group of mafic or ultramafic rocks. Background material is given on the economic and geological framework of the PGE in the first chapter, while theoretical aspects of magma chemistry are covered in the next three. Chapters 5 and 6 review current world-wide exploration activity within the context of available reserves of PGE, and in Chapter 7 factors which need to be considered in exploration for new deposits are outlined. The last chapter discusses evaluation guidelines.As the PGE are both costly and almost indestructible they are normally recycled; nevertheless, a substantial annual input of new metal is needed to replace process losses, to permit increases in capacity in the dependent industries and to provide for new uses. For example, a major new market for platinum will be created if the European Community countries are required to fit catalytic converters to new cars. At present, South Africa and the USSR are the sources of most of the western world's newly mined PGE, with virtually all the South African production derived from the Bushveld Complex. Much of the material presented in this book is based on the author's experience of these rocks, and emphasis is given to the dominant role played by magmatic sulphides as potent collectors of PGE. Consumers of minerals and metals, however, prefer to have a diversity of supply and a new PGE producer is therefore likely to attract a ready market.Not only does the book provide a wealth of practical information for mining geologists, it also contains much of interest to those in natural resource management and investment.

  • Regional Studies

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 5
    • Bozzano G Luisa
    • English
    Regional Studies is a collection of papers that deals with strata-bound mineral deposits in the Eastern Alps, in the Canadian Cordillera, in north-central, and southwest England. Other papers describe southern African stratiform ore deposits and the genesis of Irish base-metal deposits. One paper compares the various types of volcanogenic mineral deposits and their depositional environments characterized by distinct assemblages of volcanic rocks, which formed in the Northern Appalachians during certain episodes of the tectonic evolution. The paper notes that the youngest volcanogenic deposits of economic interest are tungsten—molybdenum—... base metal deposits in highly altered rhyolitic sub-volcanic complexes at Mount Pleasant, New Brunswick. Another paper reviews the mineral occurrences in southern Africa that include stratiform, non-magmatic, ore deposits, The paper considers a subdivision of deposits formed from surficial chemical processes during previous (or current) cycles of weathering and erosion. Many ore bodies have a dual origin: for example, the iron in the high-grade hematite deposits is partly syngenetic and partly epigenetic. The paper also illustrates the time-dependence of some stratiform ore deposits in southern Africa in a schematic diagram. Geologists, researchers, or engineers whose works are related with ore deposits and mining will benefit tremendously from the collection.

  • Anatomy of Seismograms

    For the IASPEI/Unesco Working Group on Manual of Seismogram Interpretation
    • 1st Edition
    • O. Kulhánek
    • English
    Frequent updating of existing interpretation codes and routines is a prerequisite for modern seismogram interpretation and research. The primary goal of this book is to present in a rather tutorial form all the necessary information and techniques pertinent to essential seismogram interpretation. The treatment is descriptive rather then mathematical, and emphasis is placed on practical aspects, especially for the benefit of students and junior seismogram interpreters affiliated to seismographic stations and observatories. Those workers more knowledgeable in seismology, and curious enough in the detailed deciphering of seismogram peculiarities, will also find the presentation useful.The book is divided into two parts: a verbal description (Chapters 1-6) and a collection of 55 plates (Chapter 7) with interpretations. The verbal description explains in a rather elementary form the most fundamental physical phenomena relevant to seismogram appearance. The collection of plates exhibits a large variety of seismogram examples, and the corresponding interpretations cover different seismic sources (tectonic and volcanic earthquakes, underground explosions, cavity collapse, sonic booms), wave types, epicentral distances, focal depths and recording instruments (analog, digital, short- and long-period, broad band).The book compliments older manuals in that both analog and digital records are considered. Seismograms from more traditional narrow-band as well as from modern, broad-band instruments are displayed. Tectonic and volcanic earthquakes are represented, and the exhibited seismograms form a worldwide collection of records acquired from seismographic stations located in North and Central America, Asia, Europe and New Zealand, i.e. in various geological and tectonic environments. Terminology and usage of definition does vary among agencies in different parts of the world; that used in this book is common to Europe.

  • Chemical Methods of Rock Analysis

    • 3rd Edition
    • D. Hutchison + 1 more
    • English
    A practical guide to the methods in general use for the complete analysis of silicate rock material and for the determination of all those elements present in major, minor or trace amounts in silicate and other rocks that are routinely, commonly or occasionally determined by methods that are considered to be essentially chemical in character. Such methods include those based upon spectrophotometry, flame emission spectrometry and atomic absorption spectroscopy, as well as gravimetry, titrimetry and the use of ion-selective electrodes. Separation stages are described in full, using precipitation, solvent extraction, distillation, and ion-ex procedures as appropriate. The third edition has been fully revised and updated.

  • Supergene and Surficial Ore Deposits

    Textures and Fabrics
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 3
    • Bozzano G Luisa
    • English
    Supergene and Surficial Ore Deposits; Textures and Fabrics is a collection of papers that deals with economic geological deposits, particularly as endogenic type, or as an integral part of their geological environment. One paper explores the possibility that the evolution of ores of sedimentary affiliation or of sedimentary rocks and their chemistry during geologic history can be a product of the evolution of the outer spheres of the earth combined with a cycling phenomena that proceeds in a spiral way. Another paper discusses the role of climate on a large range of depositional environments through mobilization, both by chemical and physical events, of metal-ions. Mobilization can also occur by controlled deposition and enrichment of the "mobilized" ions in a certain sedimentary environment. Various depositions occur in different climates, for example, bauxites, requiring higher precipitation levels, form in humid zones. One paper points that ore-mineral accumulations controlled by descending supergene solutions play a significant role in ore-mineral depositions. The collection is beneficial to geologists, industrial chemists, researchers, technical designers, and engineers whose works are related with ore deposits and mining.

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