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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.

  • Elements of Petroleum Geology

    • 2nd Edition
    • Richard C. Selley
    • English
    This third edition of Elements of Petroleum Geology is completely updated and revised to reflect the vast changes in the years since publication of the First Edition. This book is a useful primer for geophysicists, geologists, and petroleum engineers in the oil industry who wish to expand their knowledge beyond their specialized area. It is also an excellent introductory text for a university course in petroleum geoscience. Elements of Petroleum Geology begins with an account of the physical and chemical properties of petroleum, reviewing methods of petroleum exploration and production. These methods include drilling, geophysical exploration techniques, wireline logging, and subsurface geological mapping. After describing the temperatures and pressures of the subsurface environment and the hydrodynamics of connate fluids, Selley examines the generation and migration of petroleum, reservoir rocks and trapping mechanisms, and the habit of petroleum in sedimentary basins. The book contains an account of the composition and formation of tar sands and oil shales, and concludes with a brief review of prospect risk analysis, reserve estimation, and other economic topics.

  • Geological Risk and Uncertainty in Oil Exploration

    Uncertainty, Risk and Strategy
    • 1st Edition
    • Ian Lerche
    • English
    Oil exploration is a high-risk game. With worldwide drilling success of only 10% and a typical price tag of $15 million per well, it is no surprise the oil industry seeks better methods of managing financial risk. Geological Risk and Uncertainty in Oil Exploration answers this need by identifying the various uncertainties associated with basin analysis and incorporating this information into probabilistic models of basin evolution in relation to oil accumulation.Oil and gas explorationists, strategic resource economists, and petroleum professionals who deal with scientific uncertainty and risk issues will benefit from the books systematic treatment of how to quantify the uncertainty associated with a variety ofgeological, geophysical, and geochemical problems. The origin of uncertainties associated with flexural plate motion models, dynamical models of sediment evolution, thermal models of sediment maturation, hydrocarbon kinetic models, fault models, and models of basinal sediment fill and turbidite flows are detailed in the first section. The subsequent incorporation of model uncertainties into probabilistic models of basin evolution and behavior constitutes the second half of the book. Throughout, the author interweaves a discussion of scientific probability, risk, and strategy within the context of improving our ability to assess strategic hydrocarbon resources.

  • Space Remote Sensing of Subtropical Oceans (SRSSO)

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 8
    • Cho-Teng Liu
    • English
    This volume contains the proceedings from the COSPAR Colloquium on "Space Remote Sensing of Subtropical Oceans" which took place between 12 and 16 September, 1996, at the Institute of Oceanography of the National Taiwan University. Included are contributions addressing the issue, from scientific points of views, of why the first scientific satellite of Taiwan, ROCSAT-1, should be equipped with the Ocean Colour Imager (OCI) for oceanographic investigations.

  • Spatial Database Transfer Standards 2: Characteristics for Assessing Standards and Full Descriptions of the National and International Standards in the World

    The ICA Commission on Standards for the Transfer of Spatial Data
    • 1st Edition
    • H. Moellering + 1 more
    • English
    This book represents five and a half years of work by the ICA Commission on Standards for the Transfer of Spatial Data during the 1991- 95 ICA cycle. The effort began with the Commission working to develop a set of scientific characteristics by which every kind of spatial data transfer standard could be understood and assessed. This implies that every facet of the transfer process must be understood so that the scientific characteristics could be most efficiently specified. The members of the Commission spent hours looking at their own standard and many others, to ascertain how to specify most effectively the characteristic or subcharacteristic in question. The result is a set of internationally agreed scientific characteristics with 13 broad primary level classes of characteristics, 85 secondary characteristics, and about 220 tertiary characteristics that recognizes almost every possible capability that a spatial data transfer standard might have. It is recognized that no one standard possesses all of these characteristics, but contains a subset of these characteristics. However, these characteristics have been specified in such a way to facilitate understanding of individual standards, and use by interested parties of making comparisons for their own purposes. Although individual applications of a standard may be for different purposes, this set of characteristics provides a uniform measure by which the various standards may be assessed. The book presents an Introduction and four general chapters that describe the spatial data transfer standards activities happening in Europe, North America, Asia/Pacific, and the ISO community. This provides the context so the reader can more easily understand the scientific and technical framework from which a particular standard has come. The third section is a complete listing of all of the three levels of characteristics and their meaning by the inclusion of a set of definitions for terms used in the book. The fourth section, and by far the largest, contains 22 chapters that assess each of the major national and international spatial data transfer standards in the world in terms of all three levels of characteristics. Each assessment has been done by a Commission member who has been an active participant in the development of the standard being assessed in the native language of that standard. A cross-table chart is also provided.

  • Classic Papers

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 27
    • English
    Articles in this Classic Papers volume are rewritten, up-dated and extended versions of papers published in previous volumes of Advances in Botanical Research, chosen because of the high citation of the original papers and the increase of knowledge in the field today.Boulter and Croy discuss the structure and biosynthesis of legume seed storage proteins, an area that has been revolutionized in recent years by advances in 3-D structural analysis and methods of gene manipulation.Raven writes about the significant progress made in our understanding of the biochemistry of inorganic carbon acquisition by marine autotrophs, and places this new information in evolutionary and biogeochemical contexts. Advances in biochemistry have also made impact on research into cyanotixons. Carmichael considers the expansion of cyanotoxin research in the light of the negative impact of these toxins on water quality and aquaculture industries.The structure and regulation of algal photosystems are discussed by Larkum and Howe. They write about the diversity of algal photochemical apparatus and light-harvesting strategy, which has only been appreciated with the use of molecular genetic approaches. Finally, Kunze, Saedler and Loonig review advances in the field of plant transposable elements and the mechanism of transposition. They cover the role of transposable elements in evolution and their use as molecular tools, the importance of which has only speculated on in the original paper in 1986.

  • Miocene Stratigraphy

    An Integrated Approach
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 15
    • A. Montanari + 2 more
    • English
    Integrated stratigraphy is essential for⧫ detailed paleoecologic studies of critical intervals in Earth history⧫ the calibration of the time scale for global use⧫ the establishment of Global Stratotype Sections and Points (GSSPs) for the definition of chronostratigraphic boundaries.This book constitutes an excellent and probably unique example of how interdisciplinary stratigraphic and geochronologic studies are approached with modern methodologies and techniques.It contains numerous unpublished, accurate radioisotopic dates of volcano-sedimentary layers interbedded in fossiliferous marine and continental Miocene sequences representing Mediterranean and Pacific environments. New, extremely detailed paleontologic data which constitute the basis for an accurate definition of the Miocene biostratigraphy, and the study of the ecologic evolution of Miocene marine environments are also included.The chapters are complimented by black-and-white photographs, graphic figures, and tables.Stratigrapher... paleontologists and sedimentologists plus geologists working in oil companies will certainly find this work of interest.

  • The Effects of Ozone Depletion on Aquatic Ecosystems

    • 1st Edition
    • English

  • Plate Tectonics

    • 4th Edition
    • Kent C. Condie
    • English
    This comprehensive text has established itself over the past 20 years as the definitive work in its fields, presenting a thorough coverage of this key area of structural geology in a way which is ideally suited to advanced undergraduate and masters courses. The thorough coverage means that it is also useful to a wider readership as an up to date survey of plate tectonics.The fourth edition brings the text fully up to date, with coverage of the latest research in crustal evolution, supercontinents, mass extinctions. A new chapter covers the feedbacks of various Earth systems. In addition, a new appendix provides a valuable survey of current methodology.

  • Biological Oceanography: An Introduction

    • 2nd Edition
    • Carol Lalli + 1 more
    • English
    This popular undergraduate textbook offers students a firm grounding in the fundamentals of biological oceanography. As well as a clear and accessible text, learning is enhanced with numerous illustrations including a colour section, thorough chapter summaries, and questions with answers and comments at the back of the book. The comprehensive coverage of this book encompasses the properties of seawater which affect life in the ocean, classification of marine environments and organisms, phytoplankton and zooplankton, marine food webs, larger marine animals (marine mammals, seabirds and fish), life on the seafloor, and the way in which humans affect marine ecosystems. The second edition has been thoroughly updated, including much data available for the first time in a book at this level. There is also a new chapter on human impacts - from harvesting vast amounts of fish, pollution, and deliberately or accidentally transferring marine organisms to new environments. This book complements the Open University Oceanography Series, also published by Butterworth-Heineman... and is a set text for the Open University third level course, S330.

  • Geomorphological Hazards of Europe

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 5
    • C. Embleton + 1 more
    • English
    The Geomorphological Hazards of Europe contains an excellent balance of authoritative statements on the range and causes of natural hazards in Europe. Written in a clear and unpretentious style, it removes myths and concentrates on the basic facts.The book looks at the known distributions, processes and the underlying principles and focuses on the need for a true understanding of the scientific details so that a real contribution to hazard management can be made.A comprehensive treatment of scientific and management issues of hazards in Europe caused by natural or sometimes human induced earth surface processes are covered including floods, landslides, avalanches, glacier-, coastal-, karstic-, and volcanic hazards, soil erosion and subsidence.Leading researchers in the field of natural hazards and their mitigation have contributed to this nation by nation account covering 20 European countries. The individual chapters deal with the distribution of natural hazards within specific countries (quite often the first synthesis of the information available) and • provide a review of current research in the field• discuss the economic, engineering and policy responses in national hazard management• are complemented by an extensive bibliography.The volume is well illustrated with 207 figures of which 66 are photos and has an extensive general index and a complete index of place names. It is a major European contribution to the International Decade for Natural Disasters Reduction.The book will appeal to practitioners, managers, academicians, researchers, as well as graduate students in geomorphlogy, natural hazards research and environmental management.

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