How did life begin? What really was 'snowball earth'? Why did the dinosaurs go extinct? Are we all descended from 'African Eve'? Will humans be responsible for the next major extinction? All these are addressed in this fascinating book. The story unfolds with the formation of the earth around four thousand million years ago, though it took until after massive bombardment by asteroids a hundred million years later for life to emerge and another fifteen million years until more complex life ...

This is a book about an ocean that vanished six million years ago - the ocean of Tethys. Named after a Greek sea nymph, there is a sense of mystery about such a vast, ancient ocean, of which all that remains now are a few little pools, like the Caspian Sea. There were other great oceans in the history of the Earth - Iapetus, Panthalassa - but Tethys was the last of them, vanishing a mere moment (in geological terms) before Man came on the scene. Once Tethys stretched across the world. How ...

The classic account of how volcanism has shaped human culture and science, from the Bronze Age eruption that destroyed Minoan Crete to Mount St. HelensWhen the volcano Tambora erupted in Indonesia in 1815, as many as one hundred thousand people perished from the blast and ensuing famine. Gases and dust particles ejected into the atmosphere changed weather patterns around the world, resulting in the infamous “year without a summer” in North America, food riots in Eu...

This book presents the statistical analysis of compositional data sets, i.e., data in percentages, proportions, concentrations, etc. The subject is covered from its grounding principles to the practical use in descriptive exploratory analysis, robust linear models and advanced multivariate statistical methods, including zeros and missing values, and paying special attention to data visualization and model display issues. Many illustrated examples and code chunks guide the reader into their...

The Economic Geology of Iran is a complete and comprehensive book about mineral deposits, energy and water resources of Iran. Dr. Mansour Ghorbani has travelled to each of the huge variety of locations that feature the resources covered, personally verifying the details of them all.The book starts by describing the geography and physiography of Iran as well as its various climatic regions and the diverse corresponding vegetation. Then the book gives an excellent overview of the geo...

Numerical modelling of geodynamic processes was predominantly the domain of high-level mathematicians experienced in numerical and computational techniques. Now, for the first time, students and new researchers in the Earth Sciences can learn the basic theory and applications from a single, accessible reference text. Assuming only minimal prerequisite mathematical training (simple linear algebra and derivatives) the author provides a solid grounding in basic mathematical theory and techniq...

This book addresses issues related to sources of groundwater pollution such as arsenic, uranium, fluoride and their effects on human health. It discusses extensively the removal of heavy metals, arsenic and fluoride from drinking water. Bioremediation and phyto remediation on biomass productivity are treated in several chapters in the book. The volume highlights leachate characteristics analysed both in the laboratory and in field studies assessing the trace metals in rainwater.Thi...

It has been more than a decade since the appearance of the First Edition of this book. Much progress has been made, but some controversies remain. The original ideas of Sloss and of Vail (building on the early work of Blackwelder, Grabau, Ulrich, Levorsen and others) that the stratigraphic record could be subdivided into sequences, and that these sequences store essential information about basin-forming and subsidence processes, remains as powerful an idea as when it was first formulated. ...

The United States Government, cognizant of its responsibilities to future generations, has been sponsoring research for nine years into the causes, effects, and potential impacts of increased concentrations of carbon dioxide (C0 ) in the atmosphere. Agencies such as the National Science Foun 2 dation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) cooperatively spent about $100 million from FY 1978 through FY 1984 directly on the study of CO • The ...

This volume presents recent advances in the research on meromictic lakes and a state-of-the art overview of this area. After an introduction to the terminology and geographic distribution of meromictic lakes, three concise chapters describe their physical, chemical and biological features. The following eight chapters present case studies of more than a dozen meromictic lakes, showing the variety of physical and biochemical processes that promote meromixis. The result is a broad picture of...

This book provides a comprehensive overview of remediation and rehabilitation techniques and strategies for contaminated and anthropogenically disturbed land. Rehabilitation approaches in the urban environment, such as brownfield redevelopment and urban mining, are discussed. In relation to contaminated land, techniques for soil containment and decontamination of soil, soil vapour and groundwater are comprehensively and systematically presented. Complicated treatment techniques are schemat...