Geology, Environment and Society

Contents: Preface. 1. Human beings: an ecological perspective. 2. Geology: an agenda for earth care, environmental security and safe society. 3. Knowing land-capability: caring for cherished assets. 4. Nursing soil sickness and treating land injury. 5. Caring for water resources. 6. Regulating mining activities. 7. Coping with natural hazards: providing a framework of strategy. 8. Preparing for earthquakes and planning hazard mitigation. 9. Stabilizing hillslopes and controlling landslides. 10. Lessening the ravages of floods. 11. Tempering tempests and coping with coastal cyclones. 12. Averting avalanches in snowy mountains. 13. Enduring climate warming and droughts. 14. Applying careful technology for development. 15. Laying foundations of buildings and utility structures. 16. Constructing transport routes without causing environmental distress. 17. Engineering water resources development without causing distress. 18. Disposing of solid wastes without polluting groundwater. 19. Finding causes of diseases: medical geology. References. Index.

Geology, Environment and Society explores subjects of ecosystem structure, soil and mineral resources and their conservation; hydrogeology and water resources management; terrain evaluation and land-use planning; engineering geology and the application of technology; understanding earth processes and natural hazards, climate change and drought; careful waste disposal methods; and medical geology.

The book addresses the problems of environmental security within the context of geological settings and the geodynamic sensitivity of terrains. It suggests measures to mitigate the adverse consequences of tampering with nature's fine balance. Over 150 detailed and clearly labelled diagrams, photographs, maps and satellite images illustrate these aspects, and are critical to the understanding of these problems."