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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.

  • Glacial Geology

    An Introduction for Engineers and Earth Scientists
    • 1st Edition
    • N. Eyles
    • English
    An introduction for courses that involve some knowledge of glacial geology and sediments of formerly glaciated terrains. The early chapters describe depositional processes at modern glacier and ice-sheet margins relating sediments and landforms in recurring "landsystems". Later chapters portray the distribution of these landsystems in Pleistocene glaciated terrains of the mid-latitudes, focussing on commonly encountered problems in various fields from stratigraphic and sedimentological investigations to construction problems relating to roads and dams. The resulting text is a summation of a large body of literature previously accessible only to specialists. A substantial reference list is complemented by cross-references throughout.
  • Plate Tectonics

    • 1st Edition
    • Xavier Le Pichon + 2 more
    • English
    Developments in Geotectonics, 6: Plate Tectonics focuses on the exposition of the plate-tectonics hypothesis, as well as plate boundaries, stratification, and kinematics. The book first offers information on the rheological stratification of the mantle and kinematics of relative movements. Topics include lithosphere, asthenosphere, kinematics of finite motions, measurements of instantaneous movements, and worldwide kinematic pattern. The text then ponders on movements relative to a frame external to the plates and processes at accreting plate boundaries. Discussions focus on reference frames, paleomagnetic synthesis, creation of oceanic crust, and continental rifts. The publication elaborates on processes at consuming plate boundaries, including sinking plate model, structure of trenches and associated island arcs and cordilleras, and consumption of continent-bearing lithosphere. The text is a valuable source of data for readers interested in plate tectonics.
  • Progress in Surface and Membrane Science

    Volume 10
    • 1st Edition
    • D. A. Cadenhead + 1 more
    • English
    Progress in Surface and Membrane Science, Volume 10 covers the advances in surface and membrane science. The book discusses the selective changes of cellular particles influencing sedimentation properties; and the rotating disk and ring-disk electrodes in investigations of surface phenomena at the metal-electrolyte interface. The text also describes the membrane potential of phospholipid bilayer and biological membranes; the adsorption of surfactant monolayers at gas/liquid and liquid/liquid interfaces; and the enzymes immobilized on glass. Chemists and people involved in electrochemistry will find the book invaluable.
  • Progress in Surface and Membrane Science

    Volume 13
    • 1st Edition
    • D. A. Cadenhead + 1 more
    • English
    Physics: 1901-1921 presents the Nobel lectures, presentation addresses, and biographies of scientists who won the Nobel Prize in Physics during the years 1901-1921. These Nobel laureates include Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, Antoine Henri Becquerel, Pierre and Marie Curie, Joseph John Thomson, Gabriel Lippmann, Guglielmo Marconi, Max Planck, and Albert Einstein. Their lectures cover topics ranging from the theory of electrons and the propagation of light to radioactivity, cathode rays, and carriers of negative electricity. This volume begins with the presentation speech by C. T. Odhner, president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and former rector of the National Archives, for Röntgen, followed by Röntgen's lecture. This is followed by presentation speeches, lectures, and biographies of other physicists such as Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, Pieter Zeeman, Antoine Henri Becquerel, Pierre and Marie Curie, Lord Rayleigh, Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard, Joseph John Thomson, Albert Abraham Michelson, Gabriel Lippmann, Guglielmo Marconi, Carl Ferdinand Braun, Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Wilhelm Wien, Nils Gustaf Dalén, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, and Max von Laue. Other Nobel Prize winners featured in this book are William Henry Bragg, William Lawrence Bragg, Charles Glover Barkla, Max Planck, Johannes Stark, Charles-Édward Guillaume, and Albert Einstein. This book will be of interest to physicists and other scientists.
  • Lunar Science: A Post - Apollo View

    Scientific Results and Insights from the Lunar Samples
    • 1st Edition
    • Stuart Ross Taylor
    • English
    Lunar Science: A Post-Apollo View: Scientific Results and Insights from the Lunar Samples examines the scientific data and discoveries provided by the manned Apollo lunar missions as they are understood. The interpretative aspects of the study are given emphasis in order to present a coherent story of the evolution and origin of the moon based on the lunar samples collected by Apollo. This text has seven chapters; the first of which discusses studies and observations of the moon, particularly its surface, prior to Apollo. Attention then turns to the beginning of the Apollo missions, six of which were successful and one was aborted. The next chapter outlines the broad framework of the lunar landscape and the stratigraphic relations, focusing on lunar topography and other geologic features such as craters, rilles, central peaks and peak rings, wrinkle ridges, and maria lava flows. The reader is also introduced to the nature of the moon's surface, highlighting features such as microcraters and micrometeorites, along with maria basalts, the highlands, and the lunar interior. A chapter on the state of knowledge about the evolution and origin of the moon based on evidence gathered by the Apollo missions concludes the book. An epilogue assesses the usefulness of manned space flight. This book will be valuable to lunar scientists as well as to those with an interest in astronomy and space exploration.
  • Recent Progress in Surface Science

    Volume 2
    • 1st Edition
    • J. F. Danielli + 2 more
    • English
    Recent Progress in Surface Science, Volume 2 is a 10-chapter text that covers the significant advances in some aspects of surface science, including in catalysis, genetic control of cell surface, and cell membrane. The opening chapter deals with the major factors affecting adsorption at the gas-solid interface. The subsequent chapters explore the advances in understanding of heterogeneous catalysis in terms of fundamental surface processes, as well as the concept of dynamic contact angles. These topics are followed by discussions on emulsions, flotation, and the extraordinary complexity of cell surface structures and their chemical components. Other chapters consider the experimental studies on the physiology of pinocytosis and the principles of plastron respiration. The final chapters are devoted to the isolation, characterization, and electronmicroscopic studies of cell membrane. This book is of value to surface scientists, cell biologists, and researchers in the allied fields.
  • Isotope Chronostratigraphy

    Theory and Methods
    • 1st Edition
    • Douglas F. Williams + 2 more
    • English
    Isotope Chronostratigraphy: Theory and Methods covers the concept of isotope chronostratigraphy. The book discusses the principles of interpretation, the methodology, as well as the synthesis of the oxygen and carbon isotope records of the Tertiary. The text also describes the detailed studies of the tertiary delta 18O and delta 13 C records by epoch; the stable isotopic evidence for and against sea level changes during the cenozoic; and the prospects for applying isotope chronostratigraphy to exploration wells. The paleobathymetric models using the delta 18O of foraminifera; the empirical approaches to isotope chronostratigraphy; and the quantitative methods of analysis are also considered. The book further tackles the semblance methods; the filter and deconvolution techniques; the frequency domain methods; and the maximum entropy and Q-model methods. Petroleum geologists and stratigraphers will find the text invaluable.
  • Applied Geophysics for Geologists and Engineers

    The Elements of Geophysical Prospecting
    • 2nd Edition
    • D. H. Griffiths + 1 more
    • English
    Covers the fundamentals of all currently used methods (seismic, electrical, electromagnetic, gravity, magnetic, borehole logging and remote sensing) and pays special attention to the seismic refraction and electrical resistivity techniques which are the ones most commonly used in engineering and groundwater geophysics. The main changes in this new edition of Applied Geophysics for Engineers and Geologists, apart from a general updating, and conversion to SI units, is a more extensive treatment of electromagnetic and induced polarisation methods, and of geophysical borehole logging. The seismic reflection method is also treated more fully in view of its great importance in petroleum prospecting. Problems, with answers are also included. Taken together, the changes are so great that this is virtually a new book, as is suggested by the change in title
  • Progress in Surface and Membrane Science

    Volume 5
    • 1st Edition
    • J. F. Danielli + 2 more
    • English
    Progress in Surface and Membrane Science, Volume 5 covers the developments in the study of surface and membrane science. The book discusses the Mössbauer effect in surface science; the surface functional groups on carbon and silica; and the wetting phenomena pertaining to adhesion. The text also describes the physical state of phospholipids and cholesterol in monolayers, bilayers, and membranes; the characteristics of heterocoagulation; and the effects of calcium on excitable membranes and neurotransmitter action. Chemists, physiologists, biophysicists, and civil engineers will find the book invaluable.
  • Advances in Hydroscience

    Volume 4
    • 1st Edition
    • Ven Te Chow
    • English
    Advances in Hydroscience, Volume 4 covers selected topics encompassing several areas of special interest in hydroscience, including naval architecture, water waves, subsurface water, engineering hydraulics, and stochastic hydrology. This volume is composed of seven chapters, and begins with a summary of the basic principles and theories involved in hovering craft operating over water, which should be of interest to naval architects who may design such vehicles for special purposes. The succeeding chapters deal with the significance of soil moisture theory in the design of foundations and land drainage systems, as well as the developments in understanding the theory of wind-generated waves. These topics are followed by discussions on the mode of operation and different types of hydraulic jumps and the basic probability concepts of stochastic reservoir theory. The final chapter the fundamentals of surface winds, wind fields, and wind stress and their role in formation of storm surge. This book is of value to hydrologists, naval architects, agronomists, and agricultural civil engineers.