Solid Earth Sciences And Society

As environmental problems move upward on the public agenda, our knowledge of the earth's systems and how to sustain the habitability of our world becomes more critical. This volume reports on the state of earth science and outlines a research agenda, with priorities keyed to the real-world challenges facing human society. The product of four years of development with input from more than 200 earth-science specialists, the volume offers a wealth of historical background and current information on: Plate tectonics, volcanism, and other heat-generated earth processes. Evolution of our global environment and of life itself, as revealed in the fossil record. Human exploitation of water, fossil fuels, and minerals. Interaction between human populations and the earth's surface, discussing the role we play in earth's systems and the dangers we face from natural hazards such as earthquakes and landslides. This volume offers a comprehensive look at how earth science is currently practiced and what should be done to train professionals and adequately equip them to find the answers necessary to manage more effectively the earth's systems. This well-organized and practical book will be of immediate interest to solid-earth scientists, researchers, and college and high school faculty, as well as policymakers in the environmental arena.

From AMETHYST to ARTESIAN SPRING, from COAL GAS to CONTINENTAL DRIFT, from SEISMOGRAM to STROMATOLITE, the Encylopedia of the Solid Earth Sciences provides a comprehensive modern reference text for all the subdisciplines of the Earth Sciences. The Encyclopedia is primarily intended for professional earth scientists and those specializing in related subjects. However, it will also provide an important reference for students of the Earth Sciences and those needing information on terms in current usage. The book contains three main styles of entry: articles up to 1500 words on major topics such as plate tectonics, standard entries of up to a couple of hundred words on topics such as groups of minerals,and brief definitions of, for instance, individual minerals.

The past few decades have witnessed the growth of the Earth Sciences in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding of the planet that we live on. This development addresses the challenging endeavor to enrich human lives with the bounties of Nature as well as to preserve the planet for the generations to come. Solid Earth Geophysics aspires to define and quantify the internal structure and processes of the Earth in terms of the principles of physics and forms the intrinsic framework, which other allied disciplines utilize for more specific investigations. The first edition of the Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics was published in 1989 by Van Nostrand Reinhold publishing company. More than two decades later, this new volume, edited by Prof. Harsh K. Gupta, represents a thoroughly revised and expanded reference work. It brings together more than 200 articles covering established and new concepts of Geophysics across the various sub-disciplines such as Gravity, Geodesy, Geomagnetism, Seismology, Seismics, Deep Earth Processes, Plate Tectonics, Thermal Domains, Computational Methods, etc. in a systematic and consistent format and standard. It is an authoritative and current reference source with extraordinary width of scope. It draws its unique strength from the expert contributions of editors and authors across the globe. It is designed to serve as a valuable and cherished source of information for current and future generations of professionals.

Man’s intensifying use of the Earth’s habitat has led to an urgent need for scientifically advanced ‘geo-prediction systems’ that accurately locate subsurface resources and forecast the timing and magnitude of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and land subsidence. As advances in the earth sciences lead to process-oriented ways of modeling the complex processes in the solid Earth, the papers in this volume provide a survey of some recent developments at the leading edge of this highly technical discipline. The chapters cover current research in predicting the future behavior of geologic systems as well as the mapping of geologic patterns that exist now in the subsurface as frozen evidence of the past. Both techniques are highly relevant to humanity’s need for resources such as water, and will also help us control environmental degradation. The book also discusses advances made in seismological methods to obtain information on the 3D structure of the mantle and the lithosphere, and in the quantitative understanding of lithospheric scale processes. It covers recent breakthroughs in 3D seismic imaging that have enhanced the spatial resolution of these structural processes, and the move towards 4D imaging that measures these processes over time. The new frontier in modern Earth sciences described in this book has major implications for oceanographic and atmospheric sciences and our understanding of climate variability. It brings readers right up to date with the research in this vital field.

Explains the steps that we have taken to better understand how the earth functions and examines the development of Earth science.

Advances in Earth Science outlines the latest developments and new research directions currently being made world-wide in the earth sciences. It contains invited and refereed articles by leading younger researchers on their cutting-edge research, but aimed at a general scientific audience. This exciting volume explains how powerful methodologies such as satellite remote sensing and supercomputing simulations are now profoundly changing research in the earth sciences; how the earth system is increasingly being viewed in a holistic way, linking the atmosphere, ocean and solid earth; and how the societal impact of the research in the earth sciences has never been more important. Published by Imperial College Press in collaboration with the Royal Society of London, the book features many articles originating from invited papers published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Eleven of the distinguished contributors hold prestigious Royal Society Research Fellowships.