Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

Most of the chapters in this book are relevant to urban areas to at least some extent and the geological characteristics of urban areas are usually broadly similar to those of nearby non-urban settings. However, urban areas are extreme cases where human activities have the greatest impacts on the local environment, and environmental processes can affect the greatest numbers of people. There is thus good reason to give them separate attention.

The impacts of discharged waters upon ecosystems is very compHcated, involving issues such as land degradation through secondary salinization, rising groundwater level and deterioration in the quality of drinkable water supply.

Human society, as the most vigorously developing part of an ecosystem, essentially increases the speed of natural processes. Human industrial activity requires raw material, power and information exchange, all within the ecosystem. Thus quantitative changes in the life of society cause qualitative changes in bio- and geosystems. Therefore the consequences of the technological activity of a society are directly reflected in the ecogeological processes taking place within the Earth, its water and the atmosphere.

Exogenic processes include geological phenomena and processes that originate externally to the Earth’s surface. They are genetically related to the atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere, and therefore to processes of weathering, erosion, transportation, deposition, denudation etc. Exogenic factors and processes could also have sources outside the Earth, for instance under the influence of the Sun, Moon etc. The above mentioned processes constitute essential landform-shaping factors - Figure 14-1. Their rate and activity very often depends on local conditions, and can also be accelerated by human action. It is also true that combined functioning of exogenic and endogenic factors influences the present complicated picture of the Earth’s surface.

The term groundwater pollution refers to adverse changes in groundwater quality (i.e., in its physical, chemical, and biological properties) caused by economic activities. These changes impair groundwater quality to the extent it does not meet water quality standards for use, thus partially or completely preventing specific types of consumption.

Emerging diseases can present the medical community with many difficult problems. However, emerging disciplines may offer the medical community new opportunities to address a range of health problems including emerging diseases. One such emerging discipline is Medical Geology. Medical geology is the science dealing with the influence of natural environmental factors on the geographical distribution of health in humans and animals. Medical Geology is a rapidly growing discipline that has the potential of helping medical and public health communities all over the world pursue a wide range of environmental and naturally induced health issues. In this article we provide an overview of some of these health problems being addressed by practitioners of this emerging discipline.

A worsening ecological situation in many regions of the world calls for consideration of medical aspects of human living conditions. Special attention should be paid to ecological causes of alterations and changes in physiology, adaptation, morbidity, and reproduction that give concern to medical services and authorities. It is vital to increase knowledge in this area. Clarifying cause-and-effect relationships between life support mechanisms and human health, on one hand, and the environment, on the other, should perfect the theoretical basis. Qualitative characteristics of water have a major significance for environmental safety.

Prediction of exogenic geological processes (EGP) involves scientifically substantiated forecasting of events in space and time under the action of natural and anthropogenically induced factors. The goal of the EGP prediction is to give the answers to the three basic questions — where, when and of which activity (size) one or another type of exogenic geological process can happen, and also to address some specific questions such as: to what distance and with what velocity collapsed rocks will move; how large will be the area affected by the process, etc.

Endogenic geological processes include a wide spectrum of evolutionary changes in the state, structure and properties of rocks.

The earth is a huge, varying, and complete dynamic system consisting of the geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. The human race is a significant component of the biosphere, which is intermedial to the other three spheres. Human activities extend to the range of the biosphere, from the surface of the crust to the surrounding atmosphere. The natural environment on the earth’s surface is vital to the existence and development of mankind. Primarily, the environment includes climate, geology, water and ecology, which interrelate to, interdepend on, and interact with one another. In other words, the natural environment is a complex system.