Hamdi A. Zurqani – författare

This book presents the soil pedodiversity in Libya. Soils are the source of all life; there can be no life without them. Further, each soil has its own history and its present conditions, which have been shaped by many different factors (e.g. climate, biota, parent material, and relief or topography). The book, divided into eight chapters, provides extensive information on Libyan soils. Chapter one provides an introduction and a broad perspective of the subject, while Chapter two covers the history of soil mapping and research in Libya. Chapter three focuses on local factors of soil formation and describes the geology and climate of the region to explain the diversity of its soils. Chapter four discusses soil classification systems and those most commonly used in the country. The fifth chapter illustrates the constraints and limiting factors that negatively affect agricultural activities across the country. The land cover/land use and the vegetation of the country are described in Chapter six. In turn, Chapter seven presents the status quo of soil biology, the corresponding related research activities, and the other biological properties of Libyan soils. The final chapter (Chapter eight) focus on land degradation and desertification in Libya, emphasizing the main causes, impacts of the phenomena, and efforts to combat it. This book demonstrates the problems that the country is currently facing as a result of climate change, soil erosion, salinization, and pollution, and outlines potential remedies to improve local food security. Bringing together the perspectives and expertise of many distinguished scientists from various universities and institutions in and outside of Libya, the book represents a unique and highly valuable resource. 

This book addresses the environmental challenges that Libya and similar countries in the regions are currently facing. Each chapter of this book provides a methodology using remote sensing (RS) and geographical information systems (GIS) dealing with one of these environmental challenges such as monitoring and mapping soil salinity and prediction of soil properties, monitoring and mapping of land degradation, spatiotemporal land use/cover, agricultural drought monitoring, hydrological applications such as spatial rainfall distribution, surface runoff, geo-morphometric analysis, flood hazard assessment and mapping, hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, pollution hazard assessment, and climate-related geophysical processes. This book also assesses the impacts of climate change on natural resources using both RS and GIS, as well as other applications, covering different parts of Libya.

This book is beneficial for graduate students, researchers, policy planners, and stakeholders in Libya as well as other countries that share similar environmental issues. Also, the methodologies followed in the book''s chapters can be applied to any other regions around the world with similar landscapes and climatic conditions.

This book addresses a range of water resources management issues, especially those that are relevant to the water quality in Libya. It covers topics such as the assessment and prediction of water quality, salt-water intrusion, treatment of wastewater for reuse, and desalination as an alternative source of water. It provides up-to-date information on the impact of climate change on water resources in Libya and summarize the latest results of several systematic investigations and assesses the occurrence and quality of surface and underground waters in the country to help decision-makers plan for sustainable development. The methods presented in this book can also be applied in other regions with similar climate conditions. This book will share the knowledge and experience of experts and scientists who apply high-quality findings and input from their research to issues concerning the management of water resources and their quality in Libya.