Tracing the roots of earth science before the Civil War.Geological Sciences in the Antebellum South by James Corgan offers a rich and revealing examination of the origins and development of geological inquiry in the American South during the decades (1796-1850s) leading up to the Civil War. At a time when scientific disciplines in the United States were still taking shape, Southern scholars, educators, and naturalists played a critical—if often ov...

We see it every day, yet we understand so little about Earth. From minerals to meteorites, this book covers every aspect of the science of our world. It breaks this complex discipline into four major sections: geology, oceanography, meteorology, and planetary science, and it gives an overview of the processes of each. Complete with interactive experiments and a glossary, this book makes the study of our planet—and other planets— easier than ever.

How does a nature book about volcanoes spark a child's imagination? Children are attracted by vivid colors and the potential of excitement. A nature book filled with bright pictures of volcanoes, mountains and hot lava is sure to be of interest to young minds. Youngsters are exposed to volcanic activity in news and movies. A book that explores the realities of volcanic activity is sure to be a learning experience for any juvenile. Scientific reality and fresh imagination are sure to be a p...

This book is a thorough introduction to climate science and global change. The author is a geologist who has spent much of his life investigating the climate of Earth from a time when it was warm and dinosaurs roamed the land, to today's changing climate. Bill Hay takes you on a journey to understand how the climate system works. He explores how humans are unintentionally conducting a grand uncontrolled experiment which is leading to unanticipated changes. We follow the twisting path of se...

Engineering Rock Mechanics Part II: Illustrative Worked Examples can be used as an independent book or alternatively it complements an earlier publication called Engineering Rock Mechanics: An Introduction to the Principles by the same authors. It contains illustrative worked examples of engineering rock mechanics in action as the subject applies to civil, mining, petroleum and environmental engineering. The book covers the necessary understanding and the key techniques supporting the rock...

This book is dedicated to Dr. Benjamin William Remondi for many reasons. The project of writing a Global Positioning System (GPS) book was con ceived in April 1988 at a GPS meeting in Darmstadt, Germany. Dr. Remondi discussed with me the need for an additional GPS textbook and suggested a possible joint effort. In 1989, I was willing to commit myself to such a project. Unfortunately, the timing was less than ideal for Dr. Remondi. Therefore, I decided to start the project with other coauth...

Questions of national identity have long dominated China’s political, social, and cultural horizons. So in the early 1900s, when diverse groups in China began to covet foreign science in the name of new technology and modernization, questions of nationhood came to the fore. In Unearthing the Nation, Grace Yen Shen uses the development of modern geology to explore this complex relationship between science and nationalism in Republican China.Shen shows that Chinese geologist...

Bacterial Biogeochemistry, Third Edition focuses on bacterial metabolism and its relevance to the environment, including the decomposition of soil, food chains, nitrogen fixation, assimilation and reduction of carbon nitrogen and sulfur, and microbial symbiosis. The scope of the new edition has broadened to provide a historical perspective, and covers in greater depth topics such as bioenergetic processes, characteristics of microbial communities, spatial heterogeneity, transport mechanism...

Baja California is one of the Earth’s last great wilderness areas that is easily accessible to travelers. Whether you enter from the United States to the north or from Cabo San Lucas to the south, it doesn’t take long to find yourself passing through a unique desert ecosystem of islands and land bound by the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Gulf of California on the east. But where, you might ask, can you go to best experience the physical majesty of Baja California? This book holds the a...

Pseudo-static analysis is still the most-used method to assess the stability of geotechnical systems that are exposed to earthquake forces. However, this method does not provide any information about the deformations and permanent displacements induced by seismic activity. Moreover, it is questionable to use this approach when geotechnical systems are affected by frequent and rare seismic events. Incidentally, the peak ground acceleration has increased from 0.2-0.3 g in the seventies to th...

This thesis represents one of the few studies so far that systematically analyses environmental conditions within debris flow source areas to determine their relative importance for debris flow development. Environmental site conditions, such as slope gradient and debris availability, influence the spatial and temporal distribution of debris flows in high-alpine areas. However, current understanding of these preconditioning controls is mostly qualitative and inadequate for debris-flow haza...

This book is aimed at the practising engineer and engineering geologist working in tropical environments, where lands lides are mainly triggered by rain fall. This book is based on a similar work published in 1999 in Portuguese, which became the Rio de Janeiro Slope Manual. This book is an engineering guide for the design of slopes and stabilisation works in rocks and residual soils. It evolves from the cumulative experience gathered by several engineers and geologists who faced severe slo...