Skip to main content

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.

  • An Introduction to Coal Technology

    • 2nd Edition
    • Norbert Berkowitz
    • English
    An Introduction to Coal Technology completely describes coal technology research and development. Coal is an important primary fuel throughout the world and research has spread from coal liquefaction and gasification to technologies for developing clean coal. The book is divided into two parts. Part I focuses on the formation and fundamental properties of coal. Part II addresses recent developments and important technical processes such as the preparation and combustion techniques of clean coal, environmental management of coal, and fast pyrolysis. This Second Edition builds upon and updates the successful treatment presented in Dr. Berkowitzs esteemed 1979 book.
  • Mining in the Americas

    Stories and History
    • 1st Edition
    • Helmut Waszkis
    • English
    Twenty years of work went into the writing of this: the first book to cover the history of mines and mining in North and South America. The text is enlivened by sketches of many miners the author got to know over the decades.
  • Ocean Energies

    Environmental, Economic and Technological Aspects of Alternative Power Sources
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 56
    • R.H. Charlier + 1 more
    • English
    This timely volume provides a comprehensive review of current technology for all ocean energies. It opens with an analysis of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), with and without the use of an intermediate fluid. The historical and economic background is reviewed, and the geographical areas in which this energy could be utilized are pinpointed. The production of hydrogen as a side product, and environmental consequences of OTEC plants are looked at. The competitiveness of OTEC with conventional sources of energy is analysed. Optimisation, current research and development potential are also examined.Separate chapters provide a detailed examination of other ocean energy sources. The possible harnessing of solar ponds, ocean currents, and power derived from salinity differences is considered. There is a fascinating study of marine winds, and the question of using the ocean tides as a source of energy is examined, focussing on a number of tidal power plant projects, including data gathered from China, Australia, Great Britain, Korea and the USSR.Wave energy extraction has excited recent interest and activity, with a number of experimental pilot plants being built in northern Europe. This topic is discussed at length in view of its greater chance of implementation. Finally, geothermal and biomass energy are considered, and an assessment of their future is given.Each chapter contains bibliographic references. The author has also distinguished between energy schemes which might be valuable in less-industrialized regions of the world, but uneconomical in the developed countries. A large number of illustrations support the text.Every effort has been made to ensure that the book is readable and accessible for the specialist as well as the non-expert. It will be of particular interest to energy economists, engineers, geologists and oceanographers, and to environmentalists and environmental engineers.
  • Cyclostratigraphy and the Milankovitch Theory

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 52
    • W. Schwarzacher
    • English
    Cyclostratigraphy is concerned primarily with measuring geological time and the time units used in this approach are sedimentary cycles. Milankovitch cycles mark time intervals of tens of thousands to several millions of years. Such cycles are the result of variations in the Earth's position in relation to the Sun and these in turn determine the climatic variations. The Milankovitch theory was resurrected in the 1960's when evidence from Pleistocene deep sea sediments linked orbital variations and climate.This monograph discusses sedimentary cycles and their use in measuring geologic time. There is considerable effort made to clarify the term "sedimentary cycle", in particular, the two opposing concepts of cyclic stratification and event stratification. The recognition of sedimentary cycles and of Milankovitch cycles specifically, is considered and care is taken with the question of relating sediment thickness to time. Several examples from the Carboniferous to the Cretaceous are given to show how cyclostratigraphy can be applied to current geological problems. This volume should be of interest to geologists involved with stratigraphical analysis and basin analysis.
  • Advances in Heat Transfer

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 23
    • English
  • Aerosol-Cloud-Climate Interactions

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 54
    • Peter V. Hobbs
    • English
    Aerosol and clouds play important roles in determining the earth's climate, in ways that we are only beginning to comprehend. In conjunction with molecular scattering from gases, aerosol and clouds determine in part what fraction of solar radiation reaches the earth's surface, and what fraction of the longwave radiation from the earth escapes to space. This book provides an overview of the latest research on atmospheric aerosol and clouds and their effects on global climate. Subjects reviewed include the direct and indirect effects of aerosol on climate, the radiative properties of clouds and their effects on the Earth's radiation balance, the incorporation of cloud effects in numerical weather prediction models, and stratospheric aerosol and clouds.
  • Advances in Geophysics

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 34
    • English
  • Estimation Theory in Hydrology and Water Systems

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 42
    • K. Nacházel
    • English
    Methodological procedures of the theory of estimation of statistical parameters of time series and their application to hydrology and water engineering, particularly the sphere of reservoir-controlled runoffs, are dealt with in this volume. For estimates use is made of random sequences generated for various probability properties. This methodological approach enables examination of the properties of random and systematic errors of the parameters estimated even for the asymmetrical probability distributions, which are frequent in hydrology and water engineering. This book will be of interest to stochastic hydrologists.
  • Deep Ocean Circulation

    Physical and Chemical Aspects
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 59
    • T. Teramoto
    • English
    This volume comprises the final report of the research project entitled the Dynamics of the Deep Ocean Circulation. The layered structure of the subsurface circulation, which had been predicted in the hypothetical model proposed prior to the research, is verified through Eulerian and Lagrangian measurements of current. By the use of the numerical model, the deep circulation of the Philippine Sea, which has been long supposed to be isolated from the North Pacific, is revealed to be derived in close association with that of the latter ocean. Behavior of the deep current around the equator is also clarified by numerical modeling. By the extensive use of sediment trapping technology, it becomes clear that sinking sediments play an important role in the distribution of chemical substances in the deep ocean. Graduate students in the field of oceanography will find this a good textbook.
  • Water Hammer in Pipe-Line Systems

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 43
    • J. Záruba
    • English
    The physical principles of water hammer are explained in this volume. The basic mathematical methods of solution of water hammer and ways of limiting its effects are covered. Detailed description is given of the method of characteristics and the corresponding programs for personal computers, which enables solution of water hammer in a wide variety of hydraulic systems encountered in practice. Examples are given of solution of water hammer of common pipe-line systems as well as calculation of the steady state of flow, the determination of discharge through a pipe-line, measurements of characteristics of valves, pumps, turbines, determination of the operating régime of a valve in order to ensure a desired pressure and discharge curve, etc. This book will be of interest to those civil, mechanical and petroleum engineers dealing with the design and operation of hydraulic systems.