Download or read book Iceland Modern Processes and Past Environments written by C. Caseldine and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2005-04-28 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Iceland provides an unique stage on which to study the natural environment, both past and present, and it is understanding both aspects of reconstructing the past and observing and interpreting the present that form the focus of the contributions to this volume. The papers are all written by active researchers and incorporate both reviews and new data. Although concentrating largely on the recent Quaternary timescale a wide range of topics is explored including subglacial volcanism, onshore and offshore evidence for the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent deglaciation, current glacial characteristics including jökulhlaups and glacial landsystems, soil development, Holocene ecosystem change, current oceanography, impacts of volcanic sulphur loading, chemical weathering and the CO2 budget and documentary evidence for historical climate. The key element of the volume is that for the first time it provides a wide overview of a range of topics for which Iceland provides an almost unparalleled laboratory emphasizing the importance of research on this small island for studies over a much broader global scale. These reviews point the way to future research directions and are supplemented by extensive illustrations and a comprehensive bibliography. * Wide range of related topics covered both from a present day and quaternary perspective* Reviews from scientists active in each research area across a range of subjects providing both overviews and new data supplemented by an extensive bibliography* Extensive illustrations and examples from the field
Download or read book Environmental Change in Iceland Past and Present written by J. Maizels and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 3 new biota and extinction of others, and extensive soil erosion reaching almost catastrophic proportions have led to desertification of many upland areas and abandonment by local populations. The role of climatic change as opposed to deforestation and sheep grazing in creating these new environments has proved a further issue of great controversy. While our understanding of historic environmental changes remains inadequate, our knowledge of processes that are modifying the present-day landscape is also sparse and selective. Little is known of active periglacial processes, slope instabilities, and rates of soil erosion by slope wash and aeolian transport. Coastal processes of erosion and beach formation have been studied only locally. Most of our information on recent or active processes comprises records of glacier fluctuations, volcanic eruptions and jOkulhlaup events, but sti11little is known of the mechanisms and processes of landscape change effected by these events. This volume of papers, based on a conference sponsored by the Quaternary Research Association and the Geologists Association and held at the University of Aberdeen in April 1989, addresses many of these crucial uncertainties regarding environmental changes in Iceland from the Lateglacial onwards. The papers make a major contribution to dispelling many earlier uncertainties and clarifying areas of controversy. Many of the papers challenge traditional and poorly supported ideas, replacing them with hypotheses based on new data and new insights derived from the expansion of wider scientific expertise and theory. The volume focuses on three major areas of research in particular.
Download or read book The Glaciers of Iceland written by Helgi Björnsson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 617 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first comprehensive overview and evaluation of the origins, history and current size and condition of all of Iceland's major glaciers (including Vatnajökull, the largest in Europe) at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It is not only illustrated with many beautiful photographs and graphs of recent statistics and scientific data, but is also a collection of historical writings and drawings from annals, sagas, folk tales, diaries, reports, stories and poems, as it presents a unique approach to the study of glaciers on an island in the North Atlantic. Balancing and comparing the world of man with the world of nature, the perceptions of art and culture with the systematic and pragmatic analyses of science, The Glaciers of Iceland present a wide spectrum of readers with a new and stimulating view of the origins, development and possible future of these massive natural phenomena, as well as the study and role of glaciology, within specific time lines and geographical locations. Icelandic glaciers the author argues could prove essential for understanding the current unsettling progress of global warming. The glaciers of Iceland, therefore, aims at presenting to a wide readership an original, historical, cultural and scientific overview of these geophysical features in Iceland while also suggesting increasingly important lessons and models for man's future interaction with the world's glaciers as a whole.
Download or read book Iceland 2000 written by Andrew J. Russell and published by . This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Myrdalsjokull Ice Cap Iceland written by and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2009-10-19 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lowland glaciers are usually considered the best analogs for formerly glaciated areas and as such, many Icelandic glaciers have been intensively investigated with regard to process-orientated sediment-landform interrelationships. The Mýrdalsjökull ice cap has, thus, served as an excellent "ice-age laboratory." Furthermore, a substantial effort has been directed toward understanding the interaction between volcanic activity and glacier response, such as meltwater outbursts (jökulhlaups) and sudden events of rapidly flowing glacier ice. The book reviews the following themes related to Mýrdalsjökull: glaciology, glacial and quaternary geology, sedimentology, tephrochronology and eruption history of Katla, and crustal movements. All authors are involved in research about the subglacial Katla volcano and Mýrdalsjökull. Book covers all aspects of the ice cap and volcano dynamics Comprehensive reviews with updated results Editors and authors are well established scientists with research experience from Myrdalsjokull Standard reference work for Myrdalsjokull
Download or read book The Soils of Iceland written by Olafur Arnalds and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-01-06 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this new volume in the World Soil series, the various types of Icelandic soils, their different characteristics, their formation, degradation and erosion are reviewed. At the same time, the book also deals with the agriculture and land use in general to give a complete view of Icelandic soils. The first part details the natural parameters such as the climate and the geography of Iceland. It also explains Icelandic geology, which is the major parameter controlling the soil formation in this country. The author describes the formation of Iceland, the main volcanic systems, central volcanoes, tephra production and its influence on the soils. Explanations on rocks, glaciers, rivers and other main geologic features are also given. The book continues with a description of the Icelandic geomorphology, giving insights on the main surface types, frost, cryoturbation and other cryogenic features. Then it details the different types of soils, their formation and main features, comparing the Icelandic soils to other soils elsewhere in the world. Erosion and land degradation are then reviewed, including the exceptionally active wind erosion and dust production. Finally, it gives an insight on land use, agriculture and vegetation types. All this accompanied by the most amazing photos to illustrate the great diversity of Icelandic Soil.
Download or read book Under Osman s Tree written by Alan Mikhail and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2019-03-08 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Osman, the founder of the Ottoman Empire, had a dream in which a tree sprouted from his navel. As the tree grew, its shade covered the earth; as Osman’s empire grew, it, too, covered the earth. This is the most widely accepted foundation myth of the longest-lasting empire in the history of Islam, and offers a telling clue to its unique legacy. Underlying every aspect of the Ottoman Empire’s epic history—from its founding around 1300 to its end in the twentieth century—is its successful management of natural resources. Under Osman’s Tree analyzes this rich environmental history to understand the most remarkable qualities of the Ottoman Empire—its longevity, politics, economy, and society. The early modern Middle East was the world’s most crucial zone of connection and interaction. Accordingly, the Ottoman Empire’s many varied environments affected and were affected by global trade, climate, and disease. From down in the mud of Egypt’s canals to up in the treetops of Anatolia, Alan Mikhail tackles major aspects of the Middle East’s environmental history: natural resource management, climate, human and animal labor, energy, water control, disease, and politics. He also points to some of the ways in which the region’s dominant religious tradition, Islam, has understood and related to the natural world. Marrying environmental and Ottoman history, Under Osman’s Tree offers a bold new interpretation of the past five hundred years of Middle Eastern history.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science written by Cary Mock and published by Newnes. This book was released on 2013-03-25 with total page 3883 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second revised edition of the Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, Four Volume Set, provides both students and professionals with an up-to-date reference work on this important and highly varied area of research. There are lots of new articles, and many of the articles that appeared in the first edition have been updated to reflect advances in knowledge since 2006, when the original articles were written. The second edition will contain about 375 articles, written by leading experts around the world. This major reference work is richly illustrated with more than 3,000 illustrations, most of them in colour. Research in the Quaternary sciences has advanced greatly in the last 10 years, especially since topics like global climate change, geologic hazards and soil erosion were put high on the political agenda. This second edition builds upon its award-winning predecessor to provide the reader assured quality along with essential updated coverage Contains 357 broad-ranging articles (4310 pages) written at a level that allows undergraduate students to understand the material, while providing active researchers with a ready reference resource for information in the field. Facilitates teaching and learning The first edition was regarded by many as the most significant single overview of Quaternary science ever, yet Editor-in-Chief, Scott Elias, has managed to surpass that in this second edition by securing even more expert reviews whilst retaining his renowned editorial consistency that enables readers to navigates seamlessly from one unfamiliar topic to the next
Download or read book A Mist Connection written by Katrin Kleemann and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2023-06-06 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the summer of 1783, an unusual dry fog descended upon large parts of the northern hemisphere. The fog brought with it bloodred sunsets, a foul sulfuric odor, and a host of other peculiar weather events. Inspired by the Enlightenment, many naturalists attempted to find reasonable explanations for these occurrences. Between 8 June 1783 and 7 February 1784, a 27-kilometer-long fissure volcano erupted in the Icelandic highlands. It produced the largest volume of lava released by any volcanic eruption on planet Earth in the last millennium. In Iceland, the eruption led to the death of one-fifth of the population. The jetstream carried its volcanic gases further afield to Europe and beyond, where they settled as a fog, the origin of which puzzled naturalists and laypersons. "A Mist Connection" is an environmental history that documents the Laki eruption and its consequences for Iceland and the wider world. The book combines methods of historical disaster research, climate history, global history, history of science, and geology in an interdisciplinary approach. Icelandic flood lava eruptions of this scale have a statistical recurrence period of 200 to 500 years; it is crucial to understand their nature so that we can prepare for the next one. An eruption of this magnitude would surely be disastrous for our modern, globalized, and interconnected world.
Download or read book Iceland written by Tamie J. Jovanelly and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-04-02 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore the dramatic forces that have shaped the Icelandic landscape over 30 million years Iceland's formation and ongoing evolution offers a masterclass in geophysical processes. Iceland: Tectonics, Volcanics, and Glacial Features presents a regional guide to the landscape of this unique island. Accessible to academics, students, novice geologists, and tourists alike, chapters reflect the most popular way to explore the island, beginning in the southwest region and ending in the northwest. Volume highlights include: An overview of Iceland's geologic history Exploration of the dynamic tectonic setting that has shaped the island Descriptions of landscape features of active and extinct volcanoes Discussion of the impact of glaciation in the past and present Techniques for monitoring geologic hazards Developments in harnessing geothermal energy The American Geophysical Union promotes discovery in Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity. Its publications disseminate scientific knowledge and provide resources for researchers, students, and professionals. This book was a finalist for the 2021 PROSE Award for Earth Science! Find out more about this book in this short video and a Q&A with the author
Download or read book Treatise on Geomorphology written by and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2013-02-27 with total page 6392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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!
Download or read book European Glacial Landscapes written by David Palacios and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2023-10-21 with total page 637 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: European Glacial Landscapes: The Holocene presents the current state of knowledge on glacial landscapes of Europe and nearby areas over the Holocene to deduce the influence of atmospheric and oceanic currents and the insolation forcing variability and volcanic activity on Holocene paleoclimates, the existence of asynchronies in the timing of occurrence of glacier expansion and shrinkage during the Holocene, time lags between the identification of oceanic and atmospheric changes and those occurring in glacial extension during the Holocene, the role of Holocene glaciers on the climate of Europe, and on sea level variability, and the delimitation of landscapes that need special protection. Students, academics and researchers in Geography, Geology, Environmental Sciences, Physics and Earth Science departments will find this book provides novel findings of all the major European Regions in a single publication, with updated information about Holocene glacial geomorphology and paleo-climatology and clear figures that model the landscapes covered. Provides a synthesis and summary of glacial processes in Europe over the Holocene period Features research from experts in palaeo-climatology, palaeo-oceanography and palaeo-glaciology Includes access to a companion website with an interactive map, photos of glacial features, and geospatial data related to European Glacial Landscapes
Download or read book The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History written by Sam White and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-08-10 with total page 651 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook offers the first comprehensive, state-of-the-field guide to past weather and climate and their role in human societies. Bringing together dozens of international specialists from the sciences and humanities, this volume describes the methods, sources, and major findings of historical climate reconstruction and impact research. Its chapters take the reader through each key source of past climate and weather information and each technique of analysis; through each historical period and region of the world; through the major topics of climate and history and core case studies; and finally through the history of climate ideas and science. Using clear, non-technical language, The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History serves as a textbook for students, a reference guide for specialists and an introduction to climate history for scholars and interested readers.
Download or read book A Global History of Literature and the Environment written by John Parham and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-12-01 with total page 736 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In A Global History of Literature and the Environment, an international group of scholars illustrate the immense riches of environmental writing from the earliest literary periods down to the present. It addresses ancient writings about human/animal/plant relations from India, classical Greece, Chinese and Japanese literature, the Maya Popol Vuh, Islamic texts, medieval European works, eighteenth-century and Romantic ecologies, colonial/postcolonial environmental interrelations, responses to industrialization, and the emerging literatures of the world in the present Anthropocene moment. Essays range from Trinidad to New Zealand, Estonia to Brazil. Discussion of these texts indicates a variety of ways environmental criticism can fruitfully engage literary works and cultures from every continent and every historical period. This is a uniquely varied and rich international history of environmental writing from ancient Mesopotamian and Asian works to the present. It provides a compelling account of a topic that is crucial to twenty-first-century global literary studies.
Download or read book Historical Geography GIScience and Textual Analysis written by Charles Travis and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-02-29 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book illustrates how literature, history and geographical analysis complement and enrich each other’s disciplinary endeavors. The Hun-Lenox Globe, constructed in 1510, contains the Latin phrase 'Hic sunt dracones' ('Here be dragons'), warning sailors of the dangers of drifting into uncharted waters. Nearly half a millennium earlier, the practice of ‘earth-writing’ (geographia) emerged from the cloisters of the great library of Alexandria, as a discipline blending the twin pursuits of Strabo’s poetic impression of places, and Herodotus’ chronicles of events and cultures. Eratosthenes, a librarian at Alexandria, and the mathematician Ptolemy employed geometry as another language with which to pursue ‘earth-writing’. From this ancient, East Mediterranean fount, the streams of literary perception, historical record and geographical analysis (phenomenological and Euclidean) found confluence. The aim of this collection is to recover such means and seek the fount of such rich waters, by exploring relations between historical geography, geographic information science (GIS) / geoscience, and textual analysis. The book discusses and illustrates current case studies, trends and discourses in European, American and Asian spheres, where historical geography is practiced in concert with human and physical applications of GIS (and the broader geosciences) and the analysis of text - broadly conceived as archival, literary, historical, cultural, climatic, scientific, digital, cinematic and media. Time as a multi-scaled concept (again, broadly conceived) is the pivot around which the interdisciplinary contributions to this volume revolve. In The Landscape of Time (2002) the historian John Lewis Gaddis posits: “What if we were to think of history as a kind of mapping?” He links the ancient practice of mapmaking with the three-part conception of time (past, present, and future). Gaddis presents the practices of cartography and historical narrative as attempts to manage infinitely complex subjects by imposing abstract grids to frame the phenomena being examined— longitude and latitude to frame landscapes and, occidental and oriental temporal scales to frame timescapes. Gaddis contends that if the past is a landscape and history is the way we represent it, then it follows that pattern recognition constitutes a primary form of human perception, one that can be parsed empirically, statistically and phenomenologically. In turn, this volume reasons that literary, historical, cartographical, scientific, mathematical, and counterfactual narratives create their own spatio-temporal frames of reference. Confluences between the poetic and the positivistic; the empirical and the impressionistic; the epic and the episodic; and the chronologic and the chorologic, can be identified and studied by integrating practices in historical geography, GIScience / geoscience and textual analysis. As a result, new perceptions and insights, facilitating further avenues of scholarship into uncharted waters emerge. The various ways in which geographical, historical and textual perspectives are hermeneutically woven together in this volume illuminates the different methods with which to explore terrae incognitaes of knowledge beyond the shores of their own separate disciplinary islands.
Download or read book Historical Dictionary of Iceland written by Sverrir Jakobsson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-02-15 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Iceland demonstrates most of the characteristics of a modern liberal democracy. It has maintained political stability through a democratic process which enjoys universal legitimacy. Rapid economic modernization has also secured its inhabitants one of the highest living standards in the world, and a comprehensive and highly developed health system has ensured them longevity and one of the lowest rates of infant mortality in the world. Icelanders face, however, formidable challenges in maintaining their status as an independent nation. First, the Icelandic economy is fairly fragile, as overexploitation threatens the fish stocks that remain among Iceland’s principal economic resources. Second, the country is rich in unused energy resources, because many of its rivers are still not harnessed, and geothermal power is abundant. But using these resources will necessarily damage the pristine nature of the country, forcing the politicians and the Icelandic public to choose between environmental protection and industrial expansion. Finally, it remains to be seen if a country with just over 329.740 inhabitants will be able to manage its foreign relations in a complex and constantly changing world. This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Iceland contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 200 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Iceland.
Download or read book Iceland Imagined written by Karen Oslund and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This cultural and environmental history sweeps across the dramatic North Atlantic landscape, exploring its unusual geology, saga narratives, language, culture, and politics and analyzing its emergence as a distinctive and symbolic part of Europe. The book closes with a discussion of Iceland's modern whaling practices and its recent financial collapse.
