This monograph consists of six chapters that provide updates in the field of earth science research. Chapter One explicates the history of exploration of the Antarctic continent and tries to answer questions surrounding the initial discovery of Antarctica. Chapter Two describes the properties of the Kwanza Basin in terms of the presence of hydrocarbons and other aspects of interest to oil companies. Chapter Three includes information about the planktic foraminiferal biostratigraphy at the K/PG boundary at El Kef GSSP of the Tethyan realm. Chapter Four quantitively assesses the microfabric of the Kawabata Formation by evaluating rock specimens using magnetic techniques. Chapter Five presents the results of the research of distribution of rare-earth and other trace elements in relict zircons from restitogenic ultramafic rocks of Shaman massifs. Finally, Chapter Six introduces a new monitoring technology that could lead to the next generation of hydraulic fracture optimization and rejuvenate unconventional reservoir development.

This volume includes six chapters in earth science research. Chapter One explores the importance of thermodynamics and systems theory in terms of understanding the evolution, ecology and sustainability of the Biosphere. Chapter Two presents new data on variations of the δ13C and δ15N values in natural plant species and in the rhizosphere soil. Based on experimental results, this chapter also tries to better understand the large and often unexplained variability of the C and N isotope ratios in the environment. Chapter Three details the energy and trace elements of bioaccumulation with the biomass of miscanthus grown on different kinds of technosols. Chapter Four provides characteristics of a khondalitic aquifer. Chapter Five discusses a numerical simulation of the tsunami generated by a potential collapse and submarine landslide in La Palma (Canary Islands) after the September 2021 Cumbre Vieja eruption. This chapter also compares the eruption to the Late Bronze Age eruption of Santorini. Lastly, Chapter Six examines the upper cretaceous succession of the Zagros basin.

During geologic spans of time, Earth's shifting tectonic plates, atmosphere, freezing water, thawing ice, flowing rivers, and evolving life have shaped Earth's surface features. The resulting hills, mountains, valleys, and plains shelter ecosystems that interact with all life and provide a record of Earth surface processes that extend back through Earth's history. Despite rapidly growing scientific knowledge of Earth surface interactions, and the increasing availability of new monitoring technologies, there is still little understanding of how these processes generate and degrade landscapes. Landscapes on the Edge identifies nine grand challenges in this emerging field of study and proposes four high-priority research initiatives. The book poses questions about how our planet's past can tell us about its future, how landscapes record climate and tectonics, and how Earth surface science can contribute to developing a sustainable living surface for future generations.

Volume 20 first provides an overview of geodesy throughout the past six decades, providing a short glimpse of emerging technology that is expected to enable rapid advances in many branches of science in the decades to come. Next, the performance of two wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometers possessing rhodium anode have been compared to assess their usefulness in limnological studies, using bottom sediments from Araxá, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The authors reviews the applications of infrared absorption spectroscopy in the fields of condensed matter physics and earth sciences. Infrared absorption spectroscopy is mainly associated with interactions between atoms and vibrational phonons of materials. Additionally, a comparative study held at different drainage systems in Araxá, Minas Gerais, Brazil is presented with the aim of evaluating the performance of The Constant Flux: Constant Sedimentation and Constant Rate of Supply models. Following this, monazite and rutile geochronology and Zr-in-rutile thermometry are used to understand the thrust age and thermochronology of the Araçuaí/Ribeira Orogenic System-São Francisco Craton transition in southeastern Brazil. Recent work on neurotoxin-producing microalgae (dinoflagellates) is presented wherein effects from space weather may display the hormetic dose-response, either through geomagnetic activity or solar X-ray flux. Lastly, the authors provide a soft-computing approach to forecast 30-year-ahead annual rainfall in Tehran, Iran. A time-series of yearly data covering more than one century was used for the design of ensemble projections to understand and quantify the uncertainty associated with intradecadal-to-interdecadal predictability.

Called "spellbinding" (Scientific American) and "thrilling...a future classic of popular science" (PW), the up close, inside story of the greatest space exploration project of our time, New Horizons’ mission to Pluto, as shared with David Grinspoon by mission leader Alan Stern and other key players. On July 14, 2015, something amazing happened. More than 3 billion miles from Earth, a small NASA spacecraft called New Horizons screamed past Pluto at more than 32,000 miles per hour, focusing its instruments on the long mysterious icy worlds of the Pluto system, and then, just as quickly, continued on its journey out into the beyond. Nothing like this has occurred in a generation—a raw exploration of new worlds unparalleled since NASA’s Voyager missions to Uranus and Neptune—and nothing quite like it is planned to happen ever again. The photos that New Horizons sent back to Earth graced the front pages of newspapers on all 7 continents, and NASA’s website for the mission received more than 2 billion hits in the days surrounding the flyby. At a time when so many think that our most historic achievements are in the past, the most distant planetary exploration ever attempted not only succeeded in 2015 but made history and captured the world’s imagination. How did this happen? Chasing New Horizons is the story of the men and women behind this amazing mission: of their decades-long commitment and persistence; of the political fights within and outside of NASA; of the sheer human ingenuity it took to design, build, and fly the mission; and of the plans for New Horizons’ next encounter, 1 billion miles past Pluto in 2019. Told from the insider’s perspective of mission leader Dr. Alan Stern and others on New Horizons, and including two stunning 16-page full-color inserts of images, Chasing New Horizons is a riveting account of scientific discovery, and of how much we humans can achieve when people focused on a dream work together toward their incredible goal.