ALBERT

Description / Table of Contents: PREFACE It is to-day generally recognized by environmental scientists that the particular behaviour of trace metals in the environment is determined by their specific physico-chemical forms rather than by their total concentration. With the introduction, several years ago, of atomic absorption spectrometry at many laboratories involved in environmental studies, a technique for simple, rapid and cheap determination of total metal concentrations in environmental samples became available. As a consequence, there is a plethora of scientific papers and reports where metal concentrations in the environment are only reported as total concentrations. It appears that the simplicity of making accurate determinations of total metal contents in water, sediment and biological samples has somewhat masked the need for improved knowledge about the various forms of metals occurring in the environment as well as the bioavailahility of these forms. In other words, the need for metal speciation in studies of metals in the environment does not seem to have become obvious to most environmental scientists until relatively recently. As a matter of fact, it was only in the middle of the 1970s that the first systematic attempts were made to obtain information about the various metal species occurring in environmental samples. During the last ten years, however, a revolutionary change of attitude towards the importance of metal speciation has occurred and considerable research effort has been devoted by environmental scientists to measuring the concentrations of biologically important trace metals in surface waters. There is currently an increasing effort to couple the development of chemical analytical techniques to process-related biological problems. Concurrently, a new focus is being imposed on ecological impact studies, that of determining which active trace metal species merit the most intensive research from the standpoint of environmental perturbation. Current efforts are directed towards the development of chemical speciation schemes which can be related directly to measures of bioavailability...

Description / Table of Contents: The present study will provide an introduction into the biomechanics of trees and will give a critical survey of the phylogeny and the constructional principles of the tree habit. Since the trunk is considered the basic and crucial element of a tree, the analysis is largely restricted to a functional comparison of the stem anatomy of the various tree forms. It is based on the concept of constructional morphology, thus considering simultaneously the functional aspect and the ontogenetical and phylogenetical development of the various trunk types. The main questions to be answered in this study are; Why do trees exist? - Which are the constructional principles of tree trunks and when and in which group of plants do they appear? - How important are internal (phylogenetic) and external (functional, constructional) constraints? - What are the specific properties of the different constructional principles and does a correlation between trunk design and growth habit exist? - Is there a tendency in phylogeny to a better performance? The study does not (and cannot) intend to provide a detailed biophysical analysis of individual cases because experimental data on the mechanical properties of the structural elements of the different kinds of trees are still lacking. Instead, it will he the task to evaluate in a comprehensive and qualitative or semi-quantitative manner the available data of the morphology, anatomy and phylogeny of fossil and recent trees by using concepts of biomechanics and constructional morphology. Thus a somewhat holistic approach is used, which is becoming increasingly more acceptable today.

Description / Table of Contents: PREFACE Seismic imaging is the process through which seismograms recorded on the Earth's surface are mapped into representations of its interior properties. Imaging methods are nowadays applied to a broad range of seismic observations: from nearsurface environmental studies, to oil and gas exploration, even to long-period earthquake seismology. The characteristic length scales of the features imaged by these techniques range over many orders of magnitude. Yet there is a common body of physical theory and mathematical techniques which underlies all these methods. The focus of this book is the imaging of reflection seismic data from controlled sources. At the frequencies typical of such experiments, the Earth is, to a first approximation, a vertically stratified medium. These stratifications have resulted from the slow, constant deposition of sediments, sands, ash, and so on. Due to compaction, erosion, change of sea level, and many other factors, the geologic, and hence elastic, character of these layers varies with depth and age. One has only to look at an exposed sedimentary cross section to be impressed by the fact that these changes can occur over such short distances that the properties themselves are effectively discontinuous relative to the seismic wavelength. These layers can vary in thickness from less than a meter to many hundreds of meters. As a result, when the Earth's surface is excited with some source of seismic energy and the response recorded on seismometers, we will see a complicated zoo of elastic wave types: reflections from the discontinuities in material properties, multiple reflections within the layers, guided waves, interface waves which propagate along the boundary between two different layers, surface waves which are exponentially attenuated with depth, waves which are refracted by continuous changes in material properties, and others. The character of these seismic waves allows seismologists to make inferences about the nature of the subsurface geology. Because of tectonic and other dynamic forces at work in the Earth, this first-order view of the subsurface geology as a layer cake must often be modified to take into account bent and fractured strata. Extreme deformations can occur in processes such as mountain building. Under the influence of great heat and stress, some rocks exhibit a taffy-like consistency and can be bent into exotic shapes without breaking, while others become severely fractured. In marine environments, less dense salt can be overlain by more dense sediments; as the salt rises under its own buoyancy, it pushes the overburden out of the way, severely deforming originally flat layers. Further, even on the relatively localized scale of exploration seismology, there may be significant lateral variations in material properties. For example, if we look at the sediments carried downstream by a river, it isclear that lighter particles will be carried further, while bigger ones will be deposited first; flows near the center of the channel will be faster than the flow on the verge. This gives rise to significant variation is the density and porosity of a given sedimentary formation as a function of just how the sediments were deposited. Taking all these effects into account, seismic waves propagating in the Earth will be refracted, reflected and diffracted. In order to be able to image the Earth, to see through the complicated distorting lens that its heterogeneous subsurface presents to us, in other words, to be able to solve the inverse scattering problem, we need to be able to undo all of these wave propagation effects. In a nutshell, that is the goal of imaging: to transform a suite of seismograms recorded at the surface of the Earth into a depth section, i.e., a spatial image of some property of the Earth (usually wave speed or impedance). There are two main types of spatial variations of the Earth's properties. There are the smooth changes (smooth meaning possessing spatial wavelengths which are long compared to seismic wavelengths) associated with processes such as compaction. These gradual variations cause ray paths to be gently turned or refracted. On the other hand, there are the sharp changes (short spatial wavelength), mostly in the vertical direction, which we associate with changes in lithology and, to a lesser extent, fracturing. These short wavelength features give rise to the reflections and diffractions we see on seismic sections. If the Earth were only smoothly varying, with no discontinuities, then we would not see any events at all in exploration seismology because the distances between the sources and receivers are not often large enough for rays to turn upward and be recorded. This means that to first order, reflection seismology is sensitive primarily to the short spatial wavelength features in the velocity model. We usually assume that we know the smoothly varying part of the velocity model (somehow) and use an imaging algorithm to find the discontinuities. The earliest forms of imaging involved moving, literally migrating, events around seismic time sections by manual or mechanical means. Later, these manual migration methods were replaced by computer-oriented methods which took into account, to varying degrees, the physics of wave propagation and scattering. It is now apparent that all accurate imaging methods can be viewed essentially as linearized inversions of the wave equation, whether in terms of Fourier integral operators or direct gradient-based optimization of a waveform misfit function. The implicit caveat hanging on the word "essentially" in the last sentence is this: people in the exploration community who practice migration are usually not able to obtain or preserve the true amplitudes of the data. As a result, attempts to interpret subtle changes in reflector strength, as opposed to reflector position, usually run afoul of one or more approximations made in the sequence of processing steps that makes up a migration (trace equalization, gaining, deconvolution, etc.) On the other hand, if we had true amplitude data, that is, if the samples recorded on the seismogram really were proportional to the velocity of the piece of Earth to which the geophone were attached, then we could make quantitative statements about how spatial variations in reflector strength are related to changes in geological properties. The distinction here is the distinction between imaging reflectors, on the one hand, and doing a true inverse problem for the subsurface properties on the other. Until quite recently the exploration community was exclusively concerned with the former, and today the word "migration" almost always refers to the imaging problem. The more sophisticated view of imaging as an inverse problem is gradually making its way into the production software of oil and gas exploration companies, since careful treatment of amplitudes is often crucial in making decisions on subtle lithologic plays (amplitude versus offset or AVO) and in resolving the chaotic wave propagation effects of complex structures. When studying migration methods, the student is faced with a bewildering assortment of algorithms, based upon diverse physical approximations. What sort of velocity model can be used: constant wave speed v? v(x), v(x, z), v(x, y, z)? Gentle dips? Steep dips? Shall we attempt to use turning or refracted rays? Take into account mode converted arrivals? 2D (two dimensions)? 3D? Prestack? Poststack? If poststack, how does one effect one-way wave propagation, given that stacking attenuates multiple reflections? What domain shall we use? Time-space? Time-wave number? Frequency-space? Frequency-wave number? Do we want to image the entire dataset or just some part of it? Are we just trying to refine a crude velocity model or are we attempting to resolve an important feature with high resolution? It is possible to imagine imaging algorithms that would work under the most demanding of these assumptions, but they would be highly inefficient when one of the simpler physical models pertains. And since all of these situations arise at one time or another, it is necessary to look at a variety of migration algorithms in daily use. Given the hundreds of papers that have been published in the past 15 years, to do a reasonably comprehensive job of presenting all the different imaging algorithms would require a book many times the length of this one. This was not my goal in any case. I have tried to emphasize the fundamental physical and mathematical ideas of imaging rather than the details of particular applications. I hope that rather than appearing as a disparate bag of tricks, seismic imaging will be seen as a coherent body of knowledge, much as optics is...

Description / Table of Contents: PREFACE Turbidity currents have been comprehensively studied in the past although much remains unknown about both their flow characteristics and resultant sedimentary deposits. Much of this uncertainty arises from the catastrophic nature of their formation which makes them difficult to study in the environment, and has resulted in the majority of studies being experimental or theoretical. Experiments have shown that reversals in the flow of density currents can be associated with the generation of internal solitary waves. This is in contrast to the belief held by many workers that the reversal of a turbidity current simply generates an identical flow travelling in the opposite direction. This book arose from the need for a detailed experimental study to examine the effects and to consider the consequences of density current reversals from a variety of obstructions to their flow. The first part of this book comprises a detailed review of literature covering the fluid dynamics and sedimentology relevant to the experimental study (chapter one). Chapter two presents the results from the comprehensive experimental programme which are discussed and compared with appropiate theoretical hypotheses. This permits the synthesis of a model for the general features of flows that result from the incidence of density currents upon obstructions to the flow. The application of this model to both modern and ancient turbidite systems is then discussed in chapter three. This book is suitable for earth scientists with an interest in the dynamics of turbidity currents. In addition, workers from other fields such as applied maths, meteorology and engineering who have an interest in density currents and bores in practical situations may find it useful...

Description / Table of Contents: PREFACE The application of thermal analysis to earth science has a long history. This is evidenced by the extensive coverages by Mackenzie (1957, 1970), Langier-Kuzniarowa (1967), Schultze (1971), Liptay (t973), Smykatz- Kloss (1974), Todor (1976) and Heide (1982). The chief thermal method has been differential thermal analysis (DTA). Additionally, thermogravimetry (TG; Duval, 1963; Keattch, 1969; Earnest, 1988) and thermodilatometry (Schomburg & Strörr, 1984) have gained some importance. All these methods are still widely ltsed. But recently several new techniques have gained attention, such as thermomagnetometry, thermomechanical analysis and thermosonimetry. Improved equipment made possible the application of thermal methods to problems in thermodynamics and kinetics (e.g. by means of differential scanning calorimetry, DSC). This progress in the construction of new instruments as well as the combination of existing methods to enable simultaneous determinations (e.g. TG/DTA; TG/IR spectroscopy; DTA/mass spectrometry; DTA/microscopy; high-pressure DTA) have led to a resurgence in the use and application of thermal analysis in the earth sciences. Here the applications cover such diverse areas as the examination of individual minerals, mineral mixtures, rocks, soils, ceramics, cements, raw materials as well as their industrial evaluation, performance assessment and quality control. In the field of solid fossil fuels thermal determinations range from proximate analysis of inorganic constituents and the measurement of calorific values to the assessment of the environmental aspects of fly ashes and mineral residues. To support this tendency, the International Confederation for Thermal Analysis (ICTA) has recently founded a "Committee for Thermal Analysis in Geosciences". The aim of this committee shall be to discuss, improve and distribute the knowledge about the possibilities of solving geoscientific questions by means of thermal analytic methods...