Springer Series in Physical Environment - Böcker

The study of ice composition represents an effective tool in our understanding of the dynamics of glaciers, ice sheets and ice shelves. The authors of this work relate the distribution of isotopes and impurities in ice masses to ice flow, to the key zone close to the ice-substratum interface and to the mechanisms effective in the contact zone between glacier and ocean. Other material in this book is concerned with how global changes may be induced by a climatic warming due to anthropogenic activities. This monograph on glaciology, geophysics and geomorphology is intended for researchers, graduate students and teachers.

Ice composition has until now been mostly used for reconstructing the environment of the past. A great research effort is made today to model the climate system in which the ice cover at the earth sur­ face plays a prominent role. To obtain a correct model of the ice sheets, due attention must be paid to the physical processes operating at the interfaces, i. e. the boundary conditions. The idea behind the title of this book is that the study of ice composition can shed some light on the various processes operating at the ice­ bedrock and ice-ocean interfaces and more generally on glacier dy­ namics. The book is not intended as a treatise on some specialized topic of glaciology. It is mainly the product of the experience of the two authors gained over several years research on the subject. The two authors are both members of the same university department and personal friends. The book was prepared in the following way. After a first draft of the complete book had been written by the first author, it was put in the hands of the second. The final version sent to the publishers is therefore the result of ex­ tended discussion, while at the same time preserving the unity of style that would have been lost had the two authors written selected chapters of the book individually. The book is organized into two distinct parts.

Starting with the description of meteorological variables in forest canopies and its parameter variations, a numerical three-dimentional model is developed. Its applicability is demonstrated, first, by wind sheltering effects of hedges and, second, by the effects of deforestation on local climate in complex terrain. Scientists in ecology, agricultural botany and meteorology, but also urban and regional lanners will profit from this study finding the most effective solution for their specific problems.

As very few studies on geomorphological aspects of sandstones exist, this book demonstrates the significance of landforming processes from geological, geochemical and dynamic points of view. The worldwide examples include classic areas of sandstone research such as the Colorado Plateau, Saxony, France and England, but also emphasize the sandstone lands of the southern hemisphere. The authors give evidence for climatic influences on sandstone landforms, taking into account geochemical weathering processes and detailed comparative studies, and a new classification based on structural and tectonic settings is outlined. This comprehensive study, including modern techniques, can be recommended not only to geomorphologists but also to sedimentologists and hydrologists.

Defining ecology as a system-theory oriented synthesis ofboth earth and life sciences, the book aims at a novel co-herent understanding of chemicalimpact on the lower at-mosphere and characteristic types of terrestrial ecosystems.To this end comprehensive flux-analytical and hierarchicalmodelling approaches were developed and consulted, which in-clude a thorough consideration of the specific physical andgeographic boundary conditions of the processes involved.The first part is devoted to fundamentals of environmentalchemistry and ecology, while the second deals with the com-plex atmospheric pathways of anthropogenic chemicals. In thelast part, the manifold interactions of these compounds ortheir metabolites with the soil-vegetation complex of eco-systems are described. Chapters on pollutant impact on mate-rials and a review of chemical fate modelling are included.Thus scientists and practitioners facing ecological projectsmay expect to obtain a deeper insight into landscape ecologyfrom the impact point of view owing to the concise presenta-tion of complex mechanisms and the generalized modelling ap-proach.

Soil and water pollution have a serious impact on the environment, and soil scientists and hydrologists need fundamental help for the estimation of the consequences. The experiments described in this volume deal with the quantification of the morphology of interaggregate voids and of the flow through such voids as well as around impermeable inclusions. The diagrams given in the appendix can be used as references for such measurements. This work is put into the context of the international literature on the subject. An index and a glossary complete the volume. The subject of this work is of great interest to hydrologists and soil scientists working on the estimation of the consequences of soil and water pollution.

The writer has been occupied with karst problems for 50 years and first visited China in 1977 as leader of a Royal Society delegation of British geomorphologists - the first delegation from the UK to visit China since the inauguration of the new China and at the end of the Cultural Revolution (Sweeting 1978). It was clear from that visit that a study of the Chinese karst would help our understanding of the problems of karst development and that many of the geomorphological difficulties which at times had stultified karst thinking in Europe, might gain from the Chinese approach and ideas. First, for example, the Chinese karst is in its initial stages much more fluvial in origin than that of the Dinaric karst. Problems which worried European karst geomorphologists, such as dry val­ leys and the debates about karst base levels and the water table have not worried the Chinese so much. The development of the S Chinese karst has proceeded from an original fluvially eroded land­ scape which was later karstified. Secondly, the large area distri­ bution of limestones in China, and the spectacular areas of karst, compared with the often relatively small areas of karst in Europe, have focussed our attention upon the fundamental issues of karstification, rather than upon the endless discussions on the ori­ gin of the small and less significant landforms in the karst.

Rockglaciers are the visible expression of the creep of mountain permafrost. They are indicative of special geo-ecologic and geomorphic conditions regarding thermal situation, talus production, hydrology, and hazards in high mountain environments of all major mountain systems on earth. As relict features, they are of great paleoclimatic value. This book presents a systematic treatment of this landform in its environmental context.

Discussions of "systems" and the "systems approach" tend to fall into one of two categories: the panegyrical and the disparaging. Scholars who praise the systems approach do so in the belief that it is a powerful and precise method of study. Scholars who try to shoot it down fail to see any advantage in it; indeed, many deem it periIicious. Van Dyne (1980, p. 889) records a facetious comment he once heard, the gist of which ran: "In instances where there are from one to two variables in a study you have a science, where there are from four to seven variables you have an art, and where there are more than seven variables you have a system". This tilt at the systems approach is mild indeed compared with the com­ ments of an anonymous reviewer of a paper by myself concerned with the systems approach as applied to the soil. The reviewer stated bluntly that he or she had no time for an approach which falsifies and belittles work that has been done and is of no use for future work. My summary of the paper opened with the seemingly innocuous sentence "The notion of the soil as a system is placed on a . formal footing by couching it in terms of dynamical systems theory".

The distribution, deposition, composition and texture of loess in China is studied. Based on on-the-spot investigations, Loess and the Environment supplies information on: the loess-paleosol time sequence, loess fabric, and geological events derived from studying biological relics. Proceeding from the loess environmental system, the climatic fluctuation sequence of different scales has been reconstructed, and the whole process of eolian loess accumulation and its relationship with modern silt dust, water and soil conservation, engineering geology, agricultural soil as well as local diseases are discussed.

Karst is characterized particularly by special landforms and sub­ surface drainage. The various actions of water result in numerous variations of surface and sub-surface karst forms. They also bring about distinctive geologic-morphologic forms, and more striking­ ly, specific flora and fauna. The scientific discipline of hydrology, although a long-established science, cannot easily be applied to karst regions with their very complex drainage system. A special approach is therefore necessary to understand and predict water circulation in these areas. This is the viewpoint we must adopt if hydrology is to solve the complex problems of karst phenomena. This book can be seen as the appeal of a hydrologist to experts from different scientific dis­ ciplines (geology, hydrology, geomorphology, geography, geo­ physics, meteorology, ecology, civil engineering, forestry, agricul­ ture, etc.) to collaborate towards a better understanding of karst areas. Evidently, karst phenomena have not been sufficiently and carefully studied worldwide. It is equally true that the first theories on water circulation in karst were developed according to ex­ periences in the Dinaric karst. This can easily be explained. In­ habitants in those areas had no place to which to escape, as was the case in other countries.

Karst Systems deal with the question of how the subsurface drainage system, typical of Karst areas develops from its initial state to maturity. Equal attention is given to physical, chemical and geological conditions which determine karstification. The reader will find discussions of mass transport, chemical kinetics, hydrodynamics of fluxes, and the role of dissolution and precipitation of Calcite as they occur in experiments and natural environments. It offers a wealth of information on a complex natural system to hydrologists, hydrochemists, geologists and geographers.

River Morphology deals with the interaction between flowing waters in rivers and their environment. Based on the representation of basic flow parameters, the geometry, classification and historic development of rivers are treated. Any change in the environment, occurring naturally or caused by man, leads to very sensitive reactions in river flow and transport. Thus this synopsis of geoscientific studies and hydraulic engineering experience is presented to help develop the unterstanding of how to handle nature with care.

Modelling of hydrological rainfall-runoff processes is facilitated by the application of the systemtheoretical approach to linear, nonlinear and stochastic models. To this purpose, the variables involved in methods for determinating areal precipitation and baseflow separation are discussed. The convolution theorem in the theory of linear systems and the mathematical transform technique (Laplace-, Z-transformation) are used to identify characteristics of the watershed, and simulate hydrological processes. To support the calculation of model output functions, computer programs are included in the text. This volume is suitable as a text for hydrology courses at universities or engineering academies.