Barrier islands represent a complex coastal system that includes a number of different sedimentary depositional environments; nearshore zone, beach, dunes, washover fans, marshes, tidal flats, estuaries, lagoons, and tidal inlets. The morphodynamics of these fragile coastal systems provide a further complication to this coastal type. Although barrier islands comprise only 15% of the world's coastline, they have received a far greater proportion of attention from the scientific and engineering community, and more recently, from coastal managers and environmentalists. Modern barrier islands are arguably the most expensive and most vulnerable of all coastal environments. Pressure from developers for residential, industrial, and recreational development has caused most of our barriers to become significantly impacted by human activity, especially over the past few decades. These pres sures have led to extensive preservation of natural barriers through efforts from all levels of government and also by private organizations. Governments have also formed coastal management programs that help to control any future de velopment with the intent being to keep human activity compatible with barrier island morphodynamics. In order to devise appropriate coastal zone management programs, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of the morpho dynamics of barrier island systems. This volume provides comprehensive details on barrier island morphology, sediment distribution, and the process-response mechanisms that cause changes to both. These are the important aspects of barrier systems that can provide important input into the development and implementation of coastal management programs.

Barrier islands represent a complex coastal system that includes a number of different sedimentary depositional environments; nearshore zone, beach, dunes, washover fans, marshes, tidal flats, estuaries, lagoons, and tidal inlets. The morphodynamics of these fragile coastal systems provide a further complication to this coastal type. Although barrier islands comprise only 15% of the world's coastline, they have received a far greater proportion of attention from the scientific and engineering community, and more recently, from coastal managers and environmentalists. Modern barrier islands are arguably the most expensive and most vulnerable of all coastal environments. Pressure from developers for residential, industrial, and recreational development has caused most of our barriers to become significantly impacted by human activity, especially over the past few decades. These pres sures have led to extensive preservation of natural barriers through efforts from all levels of government and also by private organizations. Governments have also formed coastal management programs that help to control any future de velopment with the intent being to keep human activity compatible with barrier island morphodynamics. In order to devise appropriate coastal zone management programs, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of the morpho dynamics of barrier island systems. This volume provides comprehensive details on barrier island morphology, sediment distribution, and the process-response mechanisms that cause changes to both. These are the important aspects of barrier systems that can provide important input into the development and implementation of coastal management programs.

This is the first book to cover the Holocene geology and geomorphology of the 9,200 kilometers of the Brazilian coast. It is written for third and fourth year undergraduates, post-graduate students, scientists and man- ers. It characterizes the Brazilian coast in terms of the Holocene geology, geomorphology, oceanographic and climatic conditions, and the location, morphology and evolution of the barrier types. Separate chapters outline the types of barriers and coastal dynamics in each state, beginning in the south and proceeding to the north. Some emphasis is placed on the stretches of coast where the detailed morphology and stratigraphy of b- riers has been previously determined. To date, the Brazilian coastal barriers have been largely ignored by the international community, partly perhaps because much of the past research has tended to concentrate on barrier islands, of which there are very few in Brazil. In contrast, the Brazilian coastal barriers display a much wider range of types than is generally assumed. The biggest and most spectacular transgressive dunefield barriers in the world exist in Brazil, and dominate the southern and northeastern coasts. Many have never been described - fore. This volume provides a wealth of information on Holocene barrier types, evolution and dynamics. It provides managers, ecologists, biologists and botanists with much needed information on the geology, geomorph- ogy and dynamics of the genesis, types, functioning and ecosystems of the Holocene barriers extending along the entire Brazilian coast.

This new Encyclopedia of Coastal Science stands as the latest authoritative source in the field of coastal studies, making it the standard reference work for specialists and the interested lay person. Unique in its interdisciplinary approach. This Encyclopedia features contributions by 245 well-known international specialists in their respective fields and is abundantly illustrated with line-drawings and photographs. Not only does this volume offer an extensive number of entries, it also includes various appendices, an illustrated glossary of coastal morphology and extensive bibliographic listings.

The Encyclopedia of Estuaries, part of Springer's Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series, provides a single, state-of-the-art, comprehensive reference volume on estuaries for research scientists, educators, students, and others. Consisting of almost 270 subject entries in an easy-to-use format, this volume covers the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of estuaries. In total more than 225 authors from around the world have contributed to the encyclopedia on such diverse subjects as biotic communities, essential habitats, food webs, fisheries, hydrology, pollution, conservation, and many more. The Encyclopedia of Estuaries will meet the needs of professionals worldwide by supplying detailed information from world-class estuarine and marine scientists as well as experts from other fields of study.

Included in this book are practical guidelines for data collection and interpretation, from antennae configurations to sequence stratigraphy, together with new advances such as vertical radar profiles and 3-D GPR imaging for hydrocarbon reservoir modelling, designed to assist new and veteran users get the most from GPR. Case studies in this book detail GPR investigations in a wide array of sedimentary environments including alluvial fans, braided rivers, spits, beaches, sand dunes, lakes, bogs, and floodplains.

The changing focus and approach of geomorphic research suggests that the time is opportune for a summary of the state of discipline. The number of peer-reviewed papers published in geomorphic journals has grown steadily for more than two decades and, more importantly, the diversity of authors with respect to geographic location and disciplinary background (geography, geology, ecology, civil engineering, computer science, geographic information science, and others) has expanded dramatically. As more good minds are drawn to geomorphology, and the breadth of the peer-reviewed literature grows, an effective summary of contemporary geomorphic knowledge becomes increasingly difficult. The fourteen volumes of this Treatise on Geomorphology will provide an important reference for users from undergraduate students looking for term paper topics, to graduate students starting a literature review for their thesis work, and professionals seeking a concise summary of a particular topic. Information on the historical development of diverse topics within geomorphology provides context for ongoing research; discussion of research strategies, equipment, and field methods, laboratory experiments, and numerical simulations reflect the multiple approaches to understanding Earth’s surfaces; and summaries of outstanding research questions highlight future challenges and suggest productive new avenues for research. Our future ability to adapt to geomorphic changes in the critical zone very much hinges upon how well landform scientists comprehend the dynamics of Earth’s diverse surfaces. This Treatise on Geomorphology provides a useful synthesis of the state of the discipline, as well as highlighting productive research directions, that Educators and students/researchers will find useful. Geomorphology has advanced greatly in the last 10 years to become a very interdisciplinary field. Undergraduate students looking for term paper topics, to graduate students starting a literature review for their thesis work, and professionals seeking a concise summary of a particular topic will find the answers they need in this broad reference work which has been designed and written to accommodate their diverse backgrounds and levels of understanding Editor-in-Chief, Prof. J. F. Shroder of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, is past president of the QG&G section of the Geological Society of America and present Trustee of the GSA Foundation, while being well respected in the geomorphology research community and having won numerous awards in the field. A host of noted international geomorphologists have contributed state-of-the-art chapters to the work. Readers can be guaranteed that every chapter in this extensive work has been critically reviewed for consistency and accuracy by the World expert Volume Editors and by the Editor-in-Chief himself No other reference work exists in the area of Geomorphology that offers the breadth and depth of information contained in this 14-volume masterpiece. From the foundations and history of geomorphology through to geomorphological innovations and computer modelling, and the past and future states of landform science, no "stone" has been left unturned!