Featured eBooks: Earth science

Groundwater Dynamics in Hard Rock Aquifers. This book contains the results and findings of the advanced research carried out in a pilot area with a thorough investigation of the structure and functioning of an aquifer in a granitic formation. It characterizes the hard rock aquifer system and examines its properties and behavior as well as systematically details the geophysical, geological and remote sensing applications to conceptualize such an aquifer system.






Land Use and Soil Resources. Land-use change is one of the main drivers of many environmental change processes. It influences the basic resources of land use, including the soil. Its impact on soil often occurs so creepingly that land managers hardly contemplate initiating ameliorative or counterbalance measures. Poor land management has degraded vast amounts of land, reduced our ability to produce enough food, and is a major threat to rural livelihoods in many developing countries. This book analyses the patterns, driving factors and proximate causes, and the socioeconomic impacts of soil degradation. Policy measures to prevent irreversible degradation and rehabilitate degraded soils are also identified.




The Origin of Clay Minerals in Soils and Weathered Rocks. Of huge relevance in a number of fields, this is a survey of the different processes of soil clay mineral formation and the consequences of these processes concerning the soil ecosystem, especially plant and mineral. Two independent systems form soil materials. The first is the interaction of rocks and water, unstable minerals adjusting to surface conditions. The second is the interaction of the biosphere with clays in the upper parts of alteration profiles.

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