Description
Book SynopsisThis significant new book by foremost experts in the field will be the first that truly covers the topic of engineering geomorphology as a distinct discipline and, as such, will be of paramount importance to both practitioners and students. Engineering geomorphology is concerned with the evaluation of landform changes, especially the effects of construction on the environment, notably on the operation of surface processes and the risks from surface processes, whether current processes or the legacies of past processes. Engineering geomorphology provides practical support for engineering decision-making (project planning, investigation, design and construction) and engineering geomorphologists form an integrate part of the engineering or environmental team. Engineering geomorphology has developed in the last few decades to support a number of distinct areas of engineering, including river engineering, coastal engineering, and geotechnical engineering, where engineering geomorphology has complemented engineering geology and has proven to be valuable, especially for rapid site reconnaissance and slope stability studies.Geomorphology provides a spatial context for developing site models and explaining the distribution and characteristics of particular ground-related problems (e. g. landslides, permafrost or the presence of aggressive soils) and resources (e.g. sand and gravel). Engineering geomorphology can also be applied to agricultural engineering, primarily in the investigation and management of soil erosion problems. This book includes basic concepts that underpin efforts to explain the causes, mechanisms and consequences of landform change. It then considers how the land surface works in the context of wetland, flatland, hills, mountains, rivers and coasts; and the techniques that are available to the engineering geomorphologist in the field, in the laboratory, in the office and in the various forms of remote sensing. Each succinct chapter is packed with vital information, well-illustrated with diagrams and tables and fully referenced so that the detail of subject matter can be followed up.
Trade Review'This is the handy source that brings together a wealth of basic data from a huge range of published and unpublished sources... it comes at a sensible price and it is tailored down and then expanded laterally to provide the basic facts that the engineer needs at work. ...great to pull off the shelf for a snapshot of available data and status quo in the huge field of geomorphology. This book really does belong on the office shelf, where it will soon become very well thumbed.' to be published in the Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrology
Table of ContentsIntroduction. BASIC CONCEPTS: Energy Inputs and Geomorphological Activity. The Basics of Change: Stress, Strain and Strength. Earth Surface Systems. The Behaviour of Earth Surface Systems. SYSTEM CONTROLS: Geology; Engineering Soils; Mobile Sediments; Climate Variation; Sea-Level Change. The Nature of Change: Rates and Events. The Implications of Change: Hazards and Risks. Construction Resources: Aggregates. Engineering and Change: Environmental Impacts. SLOPES: The Supply of Water and Sediment; The Role of Water; Soil Erosion by Water; Wind Erosion and Deposition; Landslides; Landslide Hazard and Risk; Karst Terrain. RIVERS: The Drainage Basin; Water and Sediment Loads; Channel Form; Channel Change; Flooding; Flood Hazard and Risk; THE COAST: Energy Inputs; Sediment Cells and Budgets; Hazard and Risk Assessment; Estuaries, Mudflats and Saltmarshes; Deltas; Fringing Beaches; Barrier Beaches; Dunes; Cliffs. COMMON TECHNIQUES: Methods of Investigation. Desk Study and Initial Terrain Models. Geographical Information Systems. Satellite Imagery and Aerial Photographs. Historical Research. Terrain Evaluation. Geomorphological Mapping. Measurement and Monitoring of Change. Dating Methods. Uncertainty and Expert Judgement. Further Reading
