Environmental geology is, by its very nature, a dynamic field in which new issues continue to arise and old ones to evolve. Every chapter has been updated with regard to data, examples, and illustrations.
Geology is a visual subject, and photographs, satellite imagery, diagrams, and graphs all enhance students’ learning. Accordingly, this edition includes more than one hundred new photographs/images and forty new figures, with revisions having been made to dozens more.
Significant content additions and revisions to specific chapters include:
Chapter 1 Population data and projections have been updated; Case Study 1 includes new lunar data.
Chapter 2 The Libby, Montana, vermiculite case study has been updated and refined.
Chapter 3 The chapter has been reorganized for better flow, and discussion of compressive and tensile stress as related to tectonics and plate boundaries has been clarified.
Chapter 4 Discussion of waves, seismic waves, and seismographs has been enhanced. Much new material has been added on the recent earthquakes in Japan, Haiti, New Zealand, and elsewhere. Case Study 4.1 now includes extensive discussion of the Japanese tsunami, and the chapter notes application of the Japanese earthquake early warning system to this quake. Case Study 4.2 updates information on SAFOD results. The trial of the Italian seismologists who failed to predict the 2009 l’Aquila earthquake is noted.
Chapter 5 New material on the roles of fluid and of pressure reduction in promoting mantle melting has been added. The eruption of Eyjafjallajökull and its effects on air travel are discussed. The status of Redoubt as examined in Case Study 5.2 has been updated, and the possible role of seismic activity in triggering the eruption of Chaitén volcano noted.
Chapter 6 The 2011 Geology Mississippi River flooding is discussed, including the role of deliberate breaching of levees.
Chapter 7 Material on the effects of Hurricanes Irene and Sandy has been added, particularly in Case Study 7.
Chapter 8 The 2010 landslide that buried Attabad, Pakistan, is discussed, together with its aftermath.
Chapter 9 Discussion of possible causes of past ice ages has been expanded, now including the potential role of the evolution of land plants; discussions of Milankovitch cycles and of desertification have been enhanced.
Chapter 10 Data on global temperature changes have been updated, as have data on changes in alpine glacier thickness; changes in the thickness and extent of Arctic sea ice cover are presented, and the breakup of the Wilkins ice shelf in Antarctica noted. Discussion of global change impacts has been expanded and now includes ocean acidification. Climate change vulnerability across Africa as identified by the U.N. Environment Programme is examined.
Chapter 11 Status of water levels in Lake Mead and of Lake Chad and the Aral Sea have been updated. Discussion of Darcy’s Law has been clarified. Case Study 11 has been expanded, with information on radium in ground water nationally, and a note on bottled versus tap water quality. New data on water withdrawals, nationally and by state, and on irrigation water use by state, are presented; groundwater monitoring by satellite illustrates declining water levels.
Chapter 12 Data on soil erosion by wind and water, nationally and by region within the United States, have been updated, highlighting areas in which erosion rates exceed sustainable limits.
Chapter 13 The discussion of resources versus reserves is incorporated early in the chapter. Distribution of world reserves of a dozen key metals has been updated, along with data on U.S. per capita consumption of select minerals and fuels. All tables of U.S. and world mineral production, consumption, and reserves have been updated. The former Case Study 13 (now 13.2) reflects recent commodity price rises. A new Case Study 13.1 has been added to focus on the rare earth elements, their importance, and the current dominance of China in the world REE trade.
Chapter 14 All data on U.S. energy production and consumption by source have been updated. Information on shale gas, its distribution, and its significance for U.S. natural gas reserves has been added, with concerns relating to fracking noted. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is discussed; discussion of the Athabasca oil sands has been expanded.
Chapter 15 Extensive discussion of the Fukushima power plant accident has been incorporated in Case Study 15.1. New data on world use of nuclear fission power, Geology and on U.S. solar and wind energy potential across the country are presented. Iceland has been added as a new comparison case in figure 15.33, and data on the remaining countries’ energy source patterns updated.
Chapter 16 Data on the composition and fate of U.S. municipal wastes have been updated. A discussion of the challenge of estimating the effects of low level radiation exposure has been added, and the status of Yucca Mountain and of world development of high level nuclear waste repositories updated.
Chapter 17 The significance of trace elements to health and the concept of the dose response curve are incorporated early in the chapter. Geology on nutrient loading in the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River basin are presented. The growing problem of pharmaceuticals in wastewater is noted, and maps modeling nutrient and herbicide concentrations in ground water across the country are examined.
Chapter 18 Data on sources of U.S. air pollutants, air quality, and acid rain across the country have been updated. Trends in air pollution in selected major U.S. cities are shown, and particulate air pollution around the globe, including its varied sources, is considered. New data on ground level ozone in the United States and stratospheric ozone globally are presented, and the recently recognized Arctic “ozone hole” is discussed.
Chapter 19 Seafloor imaging as it relates to resource rights under the Law of the Sea Treaty is illustrated. Discussion of the Montreal Protocol has been expanded to include the evolving problem of HFCs and HCFCs and ozone depletion. The Keystone XL pipeline has been added to Case Study 19.
Chapter 20 New data on land cover/use, recent population change, and population density for the United States are examined. In the engineering geology section, discussions of the cases of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and of the St. Francis Dam have been expanded, and the case of the Taum Sauk dam failure added.
