Most geoscientists are aware of recent IT developments, but cannot spend time on obscure technicalities. Few have considered their implications for the science as a whole. Yet the information industry is moving fast: electronic delivery of hyperlinked multimedia; standards to support interdisciplinary and geographic integration; new models to represent and visualize our concepts, and control and manage our activities; plummeting costs that force the pace. To stay on course, the scientist needs a broad appreciation of the complex and profound interactions of geoscience and IT, not previously reviewed in a single work.The book brings together ideas from many sources, some probably unfamiliar, that bear on the geoscience information system. It encourages readers to give thought to areas that, for various reasons, they have taken for granted, and to take a view on forces affecting geoscience, the consequences for themselves and their organisations, and the need to reconsider, adapt and rebuild.Practicing geoscientists with a general interest in how IT will affect their work and influence future directions of the science; geoscientists familiar with IT applications in their own specialist field who need a broader perspective; and students or educators specializing in IT applications in geoscience who require a top-down overview of their subject will find this title valuable. The IT background from this book should help geoscientists build a strategy for the new century.

GEOLOGY IS THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF THE EARTH, its composition, its processes, and the forces that act upon it. It is a broad subject that covers very specific aspects from glaciers and volcanoes, to gem stones and energy resources, to changing land formations and mass extinctions. It includes every area - the earth's core, ocean floor, deep canyons, mountaintops, and even the atmosphere. Geologists spend most of their time outdoors, often in remote areas. They dig up fossils, take soil samples, create maps, and gather lots of photographic evidence. They study the weather and investigate potential geological activity in order to predict natural disasters and potentially save people from the ravages of tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, or volcanic eruptions. There are dozens of different jobs that a geologist can hold. Each utilizes the knowledge and skills acquired from the same basic training and education. What any one geologist does depends on the job title or area of specialization. For example, environmental geologists are concerned with the safe use of natural resources. They test soil and water for signs of toxins after accidents, help create plans for cleanup, and make sure areas are safe for residents. Hydrogeologists work primarily with water. They study how water moves, how and where it becomes available to communities, ways to increase water supplies, and how to minimize possible pollution. Petroleum geologists search for sources of oil and gas, and develop methods for safe extraction. The minimum educational requirement to become a geologist is a bachelor's degree in geology, though many employers prefer a master's degree. In either case, those entering the field can expect to find jobs waiting for them. In fact, industry leaders predict that some areas will experience shortages of trained professionals as the demand for renewable and safe energy, more accurate hazard weather plans, global environmental safety, and answers to the threat of climate change grows in importance.

William Harmon Norton was Professor of geology at Cornell University. Norton wrote this textbook wanting to develop the relationship between causes and their effects in a clear cut manner. Norton stresses the importance of the teacher using field study and observation along with the text. The book is divided into three sections. External geology concentrates on weather, glaciers, wind etc. Internal geology studies the earthżs crust, earthquakes, volcanoes etc. The final section, historical geology, covers carboniferous, Mesozoic, tertiary, etc.

Engineering Geology and Geotechnics discusses engineering survey methods. The book is comprised of 12 chapters that cover several concerns in engineering, such as building foundations, slopes, and construction materials. Chapter 1 covers site investigation, while Chapter 2 tackles geophysical exploration. Chapter 3 deals with slope and open excavation, while Chapter 4 discusses subsurface excavation. Foundation for buildings, reservoir, and dams and dam sites are also covered in the book. A chapter then tackles hydrogeology and underground water supply. The text also encompasses river and beach engineering. The last two chapters cover engineering seismology and construction materials. This book will be of great use to researchers, practitioners, and students of engineering.

Volcanic dust, climate change, tsunamis, earthquakes—geoscience explores phenomena that profoundly affect our lives. But more than that, as Doug Macdougall makes clear, the science also provides important clues to the future of the planet. In an entertaining and accessibly written narrative, Macdougall gives an overview of Earth’s astonishing history based on information extracted from rocks, ice cores, and other natural archives. He explores such questions as: What is the risk of an asteroid striking Earth? Why does the temperature of the ocean millions of years ago matter today? How are efforts to predict earthquakes progressing? Macdougall also explains the legacy of greenhouse gases from Earth’s past and shows how that legacy shapes our understanding of today’s human-caused climate change. We find that geoscience in fact illuminates many of today’s most pressing issues—the availability of energy, access to fresh water, sustainable agriculture, maintaining biodiversity—and we discover how, by applying new technologies and ideas, we can use it to prepare for the future.

The book contains private views of experts from various countries on the role of geological mapping in sustainable development. New technologies and concepts are presented, which are either awaiting for recognition by Geological Surveys, or are gradually applied in some survey. The target of the book is well worded in the "Summary and recommendations" elaborated by the Ad Hoc Committee at the Advanced Research Workshop on Innovative Geological Cartography, held under NATO sponsorship in Poland in November 2003. After the "Summaries" were issued by the end of 2003, the authors who presented their views at the Workshop, gave a revised version of their papers with more new ideas and material. Generally, the book is addressed to cartographers in Geological Surveys, geologists and geographers co-operating with landuse planners, ecologists and decision makers, who may learn about the state-of-the-art and the enormous information potential of the modern information technologies in Geosciences. The book, however, gives no methodological recipes but, as it was the authors' intention, may and shall be used as a guide-book in modernizing Information Technologies at the local, regional and national levels in Geosciences.

The study of the Earth’s origin, its composition, the processes that changed and shaped it over time and the fossils preserved in rocks, have occupied enquiring minds from ancient times. The contributions in this volume trace the history of ideas and the research of scholars in a wide range of geological disciplines that have paved the way to our present-day understanding and knowledge of the physical nature of our planet and the diversity of life that inhabited it. To mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the International Commission on the History of Geology (INHIGEO), the book features contributions that give insights into its establishment and progress. In other sections authors reflect on the value of studying the history of the geosciences and provide accounts of early investigations in fields as diverse as tectonics, volcanology, geomorphology, vertebrate palaeontology and petroleum geology. Other papers discuss the establishment of geological surveys, the contribution of women to geology and biographical sketches of noted scholars in various fields of geoscience.