This book comprehensively introduces the drilling theory and practice behind CCSD-1 well drilling, the first stage of a key national scientific engineering project of China. In addition to access to variety of data and information accumulated decade during the project’s decade-long operation, readers also gain insight into state-of-the-art techniques and most recent achievements in China’s scientific drilling industry. Specifically, this work introduces the drilling engineering design, wel...

"Michael Benton's splendid book brings back to Earth Science a sense of adventure. . . . It is both a wonderfully good read and a valued reference." —James Lovelock, author of Gaia and Homage to GaiaToday it is common knowledge that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteorite impact 65 million years ago that killed half of all species then living. Far less well-known is a much greater catastrophe that took place at the end of the Permian period 251 million years a...

The new revised edition of a classic Earth science textThis newly revised edition of Global Environment discusses the major elements of the geochemical cycles and global fluxes found in the atmosphere, land, lakes, rivers, biota, and oceans, as well as the human effects on these fluxes. Retaining the strengths of the original edition while incorporating the latest discoveries, this textbook takes an integrated, multidisciplinary, and global approach to geo...

The Earth that sustains us today was born out of a few remarkable, near-catastrophic revolutions, started by biological innovations and marked by global environmental consequences. The revolutions have certain features in common, such as an increase in complexity, energy utilization, and information processing by life. This book describes these revolutions, showing the fundamental interdependence of the evolution of life and its non-living environment. We would not exist unless these uphea...

This book explains the engineering required to bring geothermal resources into use. The book covers specifically engineering aspects that are unique to geothermal engineering, such as measurements in wells and their interpretation, transport of near-boiling water through long pipelines, turbines driven by fluids other than steam, and project economics. The explanations are reinforced by drawing comparisons with other energy industries.

A comprehensive review of dryland climates and their relationship to the physical environment, hydrology, and inhabitants. Chapters are divided into five major sections on background meteorology and climatology; the nature of dryland climates in relation to precipitation and hydrology; the climatology and climate dynamics of the major dryland regions on each continent; and life and change in the world's drylands. It includes key topics such as vegetation, geomorphology, desertification, mi...

The aim of this book is to introduce scientific ballooning to the many people who are interested in the use of balloons for scientific applications. The book offers a basic understanding of the engineering details and the scientific research giving rise to balloon activities going on today. Above all, the book will serve as a guidebook for young scientists and researchers seeking to become involved in space science and technology by participating in balloon projects. The book deals with th...

Mohamed Larbi Selassi Deputy Director of the National Meteorology, Morocco Welcome address (translated from French) WMO, WCRP, Medias-France and scientific institutions representatives, ladies and gentlemen, to thank WMO and MEDIAS-France, who have honoured us by I want first organizing the two workshops, climate indices in Africa and data assessment for global change research in the Mediterranean region, in Casablanca and I welcome all of you here in Morocco. It is with great pleasure tha...

This monograph provides state-of-the-art theoretical and computational findings from investigations on physical and chemical dissolution front instability problems in porous media, based on the author’s own work. Although numerical results are provided to complement theoretical ones, the focus of this monograph is on the theoretical aspects of the topic and those presented in this book are applicable to a wide range of scientific and engineering problems involving the instability of nonlin...

This book reflects the latest research results in computer modelling of landslide-induced debris flows. The book establishes an understanding of the initiation and propagation mechanisms of landslides by means of numerical simulations, so that mitigation strategies to reduce the long-term losses from landslide hazards can be devised.In this context, the book employs the Discrete Element Method (DEM) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to investigate the mechanical and hydraulic ...

Many times when the author saw the bedouins of southern Sinai excavate their wells in the crystalline rocks, from which this part of the peninsula is built, the story of Moses striking the rock to get water came to mind. The reader will, indeed, find in this book the description for a rather simple method by which to strike the rock to get water in the wilderness of Sinai. Yet this method was not invented by the author nor by any other modem hydrogeologist, but was a method that the author...