Seismic and Sequence Stratigraphy and Integrated Stratigraphy Online Course https://giladjames.com Section: Introductory Chapter: An Introduction to the Seismic and Sequence Stratigraphy and to the Integrated Stratigraphy: Concepts and Meanings Lesson: Integrated stratigraphy Seismic and Sequence Stratigraphy and Integrated Stratigraphy. This course is brought to you by Gilad James Mystery School. Learn more at Gilad James.com. Introduction This is the introductory lecture of the course “Seismic and sequence stratigraphy and integrated stratigraphy - new insights and contributions.” In this lecture, the research themes studied in this course have been introduced referring to the seismo-stratigraphic and sequence stratigraphic techniques and methodologies, pertaining, in particular, the fine-grained shales and the alluvial systems, the seismo-stratigraphic features of Late Miocene deposits offshore the northern Taiwan and to the integrated stratigraphic studies, including the stratigraphy of the Jurassic deposits in the Irkutsk sedimentary basin studied through lithologic and paleobotanical data, the disconformities in stratigraphy, reviewing their theoretical concepts and studying selected examples from Paleozoic successions and the integrated stratigraphy of the foreland basin of the Andean fold and thrust belt. The topics and the research themes developed in this course are of the great actuality and should have a good impact on the scientific research community. In fact, the sequence stratigraphic studies and the seismo-stratigraphic concepts have been typically developed on the deposits pertaining to the marine environment in a geodynamic context of a passive, Atlantic-type continental margin. In this course, instead, emphasis is given to the sequence stratigraphic studies performed on the alluvial systems and on the fine-grained shales. The passive margins are characterized by thick successions of clastic and carbonate deposits, mainly of shallow water depositional environments, constituting sedimentary wedges thickening toward the ocean. The sedimentary wedge overlies a continental lithosphere segmented in horst and graben structures and tends to be prograding on the newly formed continental lithosphere. The sedimentary successions of a passive continental margin may reach thicknesses in the order of 14 kilometers and accumulate during and after the continental rifting and the formation of oceanic lithosphere. In a well-developed Atlantic-type continental margin, a continental shelf, continental slope and rise and basin occur . Sequence stratigraphic interpretations of the alluvial systems and of the fine-grained shales, studied in this course, may be considered as both a counterpart and an integration of sequence stratigraphic analyses of marine deposits in continental shelf, slope and basin environments. The sequence stratigraphic setting of the fluvial depositional systems has been studied by several authors in different geological frameworks. The distributive fluvial systems (DFS) , which have been investigated in this course, are a particular type of fluvial system, which is characterized by a downstream whose size decreases, is not bounded from valleys and shows a pattern of different rays coming from an apex. The sequence stratigraphy of the fine-grained shales is an interesting research topic of this course, and theoretical aspects applied to several geological settings have been pointed out by several papers. In particular, the sequence stratigraphy of the Barnett Shale and subordinately of the Woodford Shale is among the most studied research topics regarding the shales and has been coupled with other geological methodologies, including the geochemistry and the evaluation of the gas content for petroleum studies . In this course, different case studies located in China have been presented. To this aim, it should be useful to clarify the type of geological structure of the Chinese-type basins. The present-day geological setting of the Asia continent and, in particular, of China has been controlled by the amalgamation of several Paleozoic continental blocks and many insular arcs. Ziegler et al. have attempted to follow the traces of the migration of some of these blocks up to t #seismic #and #sequence #stratigraphy #and #integrated #stratigraphy ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h8SRXCD_FU

Soil Processes and Current Trends in Quality Assessment Online Course https://giladjames.com Section: The Role of Soil Mineralogy, Geochemistry and Grain Size in the Development of Mediterranean Badlands: A Review Lesson: Compositional controls of badlands occurrence Soil Processes and Current Trends in Quality Assessment. This course is brought to you by Gilad James Mystery School. Learn more at Gilad James.com. Introduction It has long been recognized that the local Mediterranean climate, tectonics and human impact interact to determine the gross morphology and surface conditions of this landscape. However, attention has recently been given to the explanatory role of lithology, in particular sediment size and clay mineralogy, in explaining the badland formation . For instance, on biancanesites, Battaglia et al. found clay fractions to be significantly high. These sites have been reported to possess also high percentage of clay minerals in particular in the smectitic group. Additionally, for these clay minerals, high exchangeable sodium on the exchange complex promotes dispersion (deflocculation) of the clays. The exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), sodium percentage (PS) and total dissolved salts (TDS) are commonly used to measure the dispersive state. This lecture aims to contribute to the international framework of research on water erosion processes, and to identify critical emerging erosional risk factors. It focuses particularly on experimental research on material properties that could be the promoter of soil erosion processes. Results show that many components of soil erosional response, such as soil dispersivity, badlands development or surface and subsurface processes like crusting or pipes, are strongly affected by spatially variable and temporally dynamic soil properties. Soil degradation When land is degraded, its productivity is reduced and many other eco system services are deleteriously affected. Land degradation may be primarily caused by natural processes, related to the characteristics of the given land resources and ecosystems. However, human activities often accelerate these degradation processes, leading to a rapid decline in the quality and quantity of the land resources and the ecosystem services flowing from these. Drylands are fragile and particularly susceptible to land degradation. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) defines land degradation in the context of drylands as: “a reduction or loss, in arid and semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, of the biological or economic productivity and complexity of rainfed cropland, irrigated cropland, or range, pasture, forest and woodlands resulting from land uses or from a process or combination of processes, including processes arising from human activities and habitation patterns” . Land degradation is caused by a variety of complex interrelated degradation processes. These can be grouped into three major land degradation types, each of which can be subdivided according to a specific sub-set of degradation processes, namely: Soil degradation; Vegetation degradation; Water resources degradation. Vegetation degradation involves a combination of processes that may be natural, notably climate change which may lead to a loss of certain species and habitats, reduced biomass due to reduced moisture availability, or encroachment by invasive species. However, vegetation degradation is generally induced by human activity, through the over use or mis-management of forests, grazing and croplands, uncontrolled burning or introduction of pests and diseases. Degradation of water resources in terms of quantity, quality and flow regime will lead to reduced productivity of the aquatic system in terms of fish and other useful aquatic species and products. It also affects the availability of clean drinking water for consumption by humans, livestock and wildlife. Soil degradation is defined as the decline in soil quality caused through its misuse by human activity. Degradation or decline of soil quality may occur due to physical or chemical processes triggered off by natural phenomena, or induced by humans through misuse of land resources. Processes such as soil erosion, nut #soil #processes #and #current #trends #in #quality #assessment ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ofSocZO9bU

Application of Geographic Information Systems Online Course https://giladjames.com Section: Multi-Scale GIS Data-Driven Method for Early Assessment of Wetlands Impacted by Transportation Corridors Lesson: Introduction Application of Geographic Information Systems. This course is brought to you by Gilad James Mystery School. Learn more at Gilad James.com. Introduction The correlation between transportation systems and adverse impacts on the natural environment have been investigated at different scales of observation (Kuitunen et al., 1998; Bouman et al., 1999; Corrales et al., 2000; Formann et al., 2003, Wheeler et al., 2005, Fletcher and Hutto, 2008). There is a growing body of literature reporting and quantifying the effects caused by transportation infrastructure on the proximate biophysical setting as shown in (Keller & Largiardèr, 2003) as well as on the socio-economic setting as shown in (Boarnet & Chalermpong, 2001). The environmental consequences of landscape fragmentation in different phases of transportation project development have been investigated and tabulated by (Corrales et al., 2000). However, the disparity of definitions for the biophysical landscape can make it difficult to communicate clearly and even more difficulty to establish consistent management policies. Landscape invariably comprises an area of land containing a mosaic of patches or land elements (McGarigal & Marks, 1995; Hilty et al., 2006). The overall knowledge-base of transportation systems and methods to consider, minimize, and mitigate adverse impacts on natural systems and biophysical settings have gradually been absorbed and adopted by transportation and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) practitioners to design balanced engineering solutions and deliver transportation infrastructure in an environmentally responsible manner. The body of science and knowledge supporting practitioners has grown through in-depth reviews about transportation and ecological effects (Spellerberg, 1998; and Formann et al., 2003) Similarly, the knowledge base concerning the impacts of land use on travel behaviour is also being investigated and developed from the transportation perspective (Mokhtarian & Cao, 2008; Litman, 2008). Road development is a primary mechanism responsible for habitat, ecosystem, and overall biophysical fragmentation, replacing or modifying pre-existing land cover such as wetlands, creating edge habitat and altering landscape structure and function (Saunders et al., 2002). While conserving the remaining natural environment as well as restoring environmentally impacted areas is vital for natural sustainability, transportation corridor development is required by society and results in our modern transportation infrastructure and travel patterns. Previous lessons learned show that environmental issues should be considered early the transportation planning process in order to balance economic, engineering and natural sustainability perspectives (Amekudzi & Meyer, 2006). A highway design that meets the transportation corridor needs, while minimizing environmental impacts, requires cooperation and compromise among different parties. It is a pressing challenge for researchers and practitioners to develop and validate novel methods for transportation planning that deliver streamlined planning approaches and improved environmental benefits beyond those possible through traditional approaches (Spellerberg, 1998; Stefanakis & Kavouras, 2002; Mongkut & Saengkhao, 2003; Huang et al., 2003; Gregory et al., 2005). The integration of transportation demand, current and long term development plans, and economic and ecological impacts in time-series scenarios by using land cover and land use analysis is a good way to provide promising results (Saunders et al. 2002; Forman & Alexander, 1998). The use of Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) as a decision-making framework for transportation infrastructure planning, which can accommodate, model, and combine varying stakeholder values and help to resolve conflicting opinions, is an area that has only been recently explored. Initial results offer significant promise to streamline the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) #application #of #geographic #information #systems ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3mFckwN4Ao

Risk Assessment Online Course https://giladjames.com Section: Landslides: Methodology to Select Stabilizing Construction Works Lesson: Limit equilibrium methods Risk Assessment. This course is brought to you by Gilad James Mystery School. Learn more at Gilad James.com. Introduction The landslides often cause disasters and damage to people and their properties at the mountainous areas around the world; these disasters cause casualties and economic losses, such as housing, infrastructure, public services, roads, bridges, hospitals, etc., and the interruption of the normal activities of the region, such as agriculture, livestock, commerce, tourism, financial transactions, etc. A fundamental problem to solve is to make the investments for reconstructing and rehabilitating the destroyed places, which must be obtained from other social investment programs, donations from other countries, and/or sources of external financing that lead to indebtedness and impoverishment of communities, regions, or countries . The first step to establish adequate strategies for prevention, reduction, management, and risk mitigation is to assess landslide hazard, vulnerability, and risk, the latter in terms of casualties and economic losses. The rational solution to landslide problem is to relocate exposed and vulnerable people to secure sites, but acquiring land in mountainous regions is very difficult; besides the majority of population is rooted to its origin place, and it cannot be relocated so easily. Landslide is a failure through a surface in which shear resistance has been exceeded; it is featured by the movement of slope materials that slide downhill. Landslides can occur due to natural and human factors (intrinsic and trigger factors); although many landslides are triggered by natural phenomena (heavy rains, earthquakes, volcanism, freezing and thawing, erosion and scouring, etc.), it can be estimated that many of those that have caused deaths and injuries can be attributed to human activity impact. The landslide material may include from a simple rock that falls to a great slide of several hundreds or thousands of cubic meters of material dragged in an avalanche or in a debris flow. They also range in extent some affect only a very small area while others entire regions. The distance that the material travels during movement can also differ significantly, with displacements ranging from a few cm to many km in length, depending on the volume of material, its water content, and the slope inclination. The velocity of a landslide may range from a slow, almost undetectable, gradual movement that remains active for a long period of time (displacements of a few cm per year), to sudden rapid collapse. Landslides are increasingly affecting our planet, like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, floods, avalanches, etc., amplifying their intensity by different human activities that modify the delicate balance in nature. In some mountainous regions at Central and South America, there are many communities belonging to ethnic groups that inhabit areas classified as high and very high poverty, whose features, among others, include localities of less than 2500 inhabitants, illiterate population in a large percentage, very low income, precarious social infrastructure, and houses built with fragile materials such as plastic, cardboard, and/or wood. In other places, there also are displaced populations due to social conflict, forcing them to move and take refuge in very vulnerable areas. In all these places, usually natural phenomena cause real disasters to impact on highly vulnerable communities . #risk #assessment ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkHjr6XAmbY