The Little Ice Age

The Little Ice Age
Author: Jean M. Grove
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 869
Release: 2019-04-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1134857462

The evidence for the Little Ice Age, the most important fluctuation in global climate in historical times, is most dramatically represented by the advance of mountain glaciers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and their retreat since about 1850. The effects on the landscape and the daily life of people have been particularly apparent in Norway and the Alps. This major book places an extensive body of material relating to Europe, in the form of documentary evidence of the history of the glaciers, their portrayal in paintings and maps, and measurements made by scientists and others, within a global perspective. It shows that the glacial history of mountain regions all over the world displays a similar pattern of climatic events. Furthermore, fluctuations on a comparable scale have occurred at intervals of a millennium or two throughout the last ten thousand years since the ice caps of North America and northwest Europe melted away. This is the first scholarly work devoted to the Little Ice Age, by an author whose research experience of the subject has been extensive. This book includes large numbers of maps, diagrams and photographs, many not published elsewhere, and very full bibliographies. It is a definitive work on the subject, and an excellent focus for the work of economic and social historians as well as glaciologists, climatologists, geographers, and specialists in mountain environment.

Polar Environments and Global Change

Polar Environments and Global Change
Author: Roger G. Barry
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 445
Release: 2018-08-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108423167

Surveys atmospheric, oceanic and cryospheric processes, present and past conditions, and changes in polar environments.

The Central Tian-Shan Mountains 1902-1903

The Central Tian-Shan Mountains 1902-1903
Author: Gottfried Merzbacher
Publisher: Elibron Classics
Total Pages: 352
Release: 1905
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

This Elibron Classics title is a reprint of the original edition published by John Murray in London, 1905. This book contains color illustrations.

Vegetation of Central Asia and Environs

Vegetation of Central Asia and Environs
Author: Dilfuza Egamberdieva
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2018-12-19
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319997289

Central Asia is a large and understudied region of varied geography, ranging from the high passes and mountains of Tian Shan, to the vast deserts of Kyzyl Kum, Taklamakan to the grassy treeles steppes. This region is faced with adverse conditions, as much of the land is too dry or rugged for farming. Additionally, the rich specific and intraspecific diversity of fruit trees and medicinal plants is threatened by overgrazing, oil and mineral extraction, and poaching. Countless species from the approximately 20 ecosystems and 6000 plant taxa are now rare and endangered. Traditional vegetation studies in this region are far from adequate to handle complex issues such as soil mass movement, soil sodicity and salinity, biodiversity conservation, and grazing management. However, data analysis using a Geographical Information System (GIS) tool provides new insights into the vegetation of this region and opens up new opportunities for long-term sustainable management. While vegetation planning can occur at a property scale, it is often necessary for certain factors, such as salinity, to be dealt with on a regional scale to ensure their effective management. GIS increases the effectiveness and accuracy of vegetation planning in a region. Such regional planning will also greatly increases biodiversity values. This book systematically explores these issues and discuses new applications and approaches for overcoming these issues, including the application of GIS techniques for sustainable management and planning. Professional researchers as well as students and teachers of agriculture and ecology will find this volume to be an integral resource for studying the vegetation of Central Asia.

Birds of Central Asia

Birds of Central Asia
Author: Raffael Ayé
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 848
Release: 2020-05-28
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1408142708

Birds of Central Asia is the first field guide to include the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, along with neighbouring Afghanistan. This vast area includes a diverse variety of habitats, and the avifauna is similarly broad, from sandgrouse, ground jays and larks on the vast steppe and semi-desert to a broad range of raptors, and from woodland species such as warblers and nuthatches to a suite of montane species, such as snowcocks, accentors and snowfinches. This book includes 141 high-quality plates covering every species (and all distinctive races) that occur in the region, along with concise text focusing on identification and accurate colour maps. Important introductory sections introduce the land and its birds. Birds of Central Asia is a must-read for any birder or traveller visiting this remote region.

Geological Evolution of Central Asian Basins and the Western Tien Shan Range

Geological Evolution of Central Asian Basins and the Western Tien Shan Range
Author: Marie-Franc̦oise Brunet
Publisher: Geological Society of London
Total Pages: 605
Release: 2017-10-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1862397384

The geological evolution of Central Asia commenced with the formation of a complex Precambrian–Palaeozoic orogen. Cimmerian blocks were then accreted to the southern margin in the Mesozoic, leading to tectonic reactivation of older structures and discrete episodes of basin formation. The Indian and Arabian blocks collided with Asia in the Cenozoic, leading to renewed structural reactivation, intracontinental deformation and basin development. This complex evolution resulted in the present-day setting of an elongated Tien Shan range flanked by large Mesozoic–Cenozoic sedimentary basins with smaller intramontane basins distributed within the range. This volume presents multidisciplinary results and reviews from research groups in Europe and Central Asia that focus on the western part of the Tien Shan and some of the adjacent large sedimentary basins. These works elucidate the Late Palaeozoic–Cenozoic tectono-sedimentary evolution of the area. Emphasis is given to the collision of terranes and continents and the ensuing fault reactivations. The impact of climatic changes on sedimentation is also examined.