Mathematical geoscience

active plate tectonics aeolian dunes atmospheric science baroclinic instability Burgers' equation climate research Darcy's law diffusion terms earth's topography energy balance of the atmosphere environmental remediation equations with different timescales erosional cycle Exner equation Fisher equation flood hydrograph formation of dunes geochemistry geophysical fluid dynamics geothermal heat glaciers glaciers and ice sheets glaciology of Mars global warming groundwater flow Hadley circulation hysteresis ice melting ice sheets ice-albedo effect jökulhlaups Korteweg-de Vries equation landscape formation linear wave equation magma transport magmafracturing mantle convection mantle rheology non-dimensionalisation non-linear diffusion equation non-linear reaction-diffusion equation non-linear source terms non-linear wave equation ocean and atmosphere dynamics ocean science partial differential equations phase diagrams phase plane analysis plate tectonics porous material radiation transport Rayleigh-Bénard convection relaxation oscillation equations resonance effects river flow river network roll waves runaway greenhouse effect shock waves similarity solutions solitary waves St. Venant equation sub-glacial flows subduction subglacial melting tectonic uplift thermal convection tidal bores tides tsunamis visco-elastic fluid viscous droplets volcanic eruption wave instabilities wave trains

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Introductory exposition (textbooks, tutorial papers, etc.) pertaining to geophysics (86-01) General questions in geophysics (86A04)

Review text

The present book has the aim to present applications of mathematics to problems which arise in the study of the environment. The emphasis is on building a suitable mathematical model and solving it. So, the book provides mathematical models which can explain some of the physical phenomena described in Andrew Goudie's ``The nature of the environment and Arthur Holmes's ``Principles of physical geology. The author follows mainly a perturbative approach which allows also to approximately decribe how realistic the mathematical models are. The introductory Chapter 1 provides a condensed synopsis of applied mathematical techniques of analysis used in modern applied mathematical modelling. Then, a succession of chapters on climate, ocean and atmosphere dynamics, rivers, dunes, landscape formation, groundwater flow, mantle convection, magma transport, glaciers and ice sheets, and sub-glacial flows follows. The chapters end with notes and references, which give an entry point into the field of research. Chapter 1 describes the basic concepts of continuous mathematical models, the conservation laws of mass, momentum and energy, and non-dimensionalisation of these equations. As earth and environmental sciences deal mainly with continuous processes, a discussion of qualitative methods for differential equations follows, particularly of first order autonomous differential equations, phase plane analysis, relaxation oscillation equations possessing two different timescales, hysteresis, and resonance effects. Then qualitative methods for partial differential equations are explained. The author starts with the linear wave equation and continues with non-linear equations leading to shock waves. Then, systematically, diffusion terms are added and the solution of the resulting Burgers's equation, where a wave arises by the balance of non-linear advection and diffusion, is discussed. The presentation of the Fisher equation follows describing the excitation of a solitary wave by the transfer of an unstable steady variable to a stable one (that means the diffusion term is balanced by an algebraic source term). Also the soliton solution of the Korteweg-de Vries equation is considered. Similarity solutions are illustrated dealing with the non-linear diffusion equation, where the example of a viscous droplet is studied. Especially the solution of the non-linear diffusion equation near a margine is analysed. The effects of non-linear source terms are explained solving a special non-linear reaction-diffusion equation which arises in the theory of combustion. Then also the general form of the reaction-diffusion equation is presented. Three types of solutions are discussed: wave trains (activator-inhibitor system of equations), solitary waves, and stationary patterns. Chapter 2 deals with the dynamics of the climate. It starts with the solar radiation received by the earth, continues with radiative heat transfer and heat convection, and ends with the energy balance of the atmosphere. Zonally averaged energy balance models, carbon dioxide and global warming, as well as the runaway greenhouse effect are discussed. The change of the energy balance by the ice-albedo effect and due to variations in the earth's orbit (eccentricity oscillation) are explained. Searching for the repetition rate of ice ages also nonlinear climate oscillations and short-term variations (Heinrich and Dansgaard-Oeschger events, 8,200 year cooling event) are considered. The north Atlantic-salt-oscillator and its possible influence on rapid climate changes during ice ages are discussed. Considering the glaciation on earth about 750 and 550 million years ago (``snowball earth), the interaction of the carbon cycle and the climate is analysed. Chapter 3 aims to describe some of the principal problems of atmospheric and ocean sciences with a view to making sense of how the earth's ocean and wind operate and interact (geophysical fluid dynamics). It is made clear that the earth's weather system and the general circulation arise as a consequence of a spatial variation in the energy balance of the atmosphere discussed in Chapter 2. The motion of the oceans is less well understood than the wind motion. They have to flow around continents, their global circulation is dictated to some extent by the topography of basins. In addition, the oceans are driven by the atmospheric wind. The hemispheric circulation consists of cells with air rising in hotter regions and sinking in colder ones (Hadley circulation). This basic circulation is distorted by the earth's rotation. The eastward wind is unstable (baroclinic instability) and causes north-south waves forming the weather system. The basic equations describing the atmospheric or ocean motion, which are discussed in Chapter 3 in detail, are the geostrophic ones -- they consider a shallow fluid on a rapidly rotating sphere. Hurricans, the Gulf stream, tides, and tsunamis are briefly considered. Chapter 4 concerns one of the most obvious common examples of a fluid in motion, that of the mechanics of rivers. It is made clear that to model a river flow one has to model a flow which is essentially turbulent and which exists in an irregular channel. This is classically performed by applying a time average to the Navier-Stokes equation. The authors first present a river flow model ignoring inertia and applying a semi-empirical force balance in the equation for the channel discharge (which is added to the mass conservation). Then a first-order nonlinear hyperbolic equation for the cross-sectional area of the river is derived and applied to a flood hydrograph. Next the St.\ Venant equation for the momentum balance at an approximately hydrostatic pressure is derived and analysed with respect to wave instabilities. Also nonlinear waves like roll waves and tidal bores are studied. The ability of rivers to transport sediments such as cley and silt forms an important constituent of the processes by which the earth's topography is formed and evolved. In Chapter 5 some of the landforms are considered, which are built through the interaction of a fluid flow with an erodible substrate, in particular it is focused on the formation of dunes and anti-dunes in rivers, and aeolian dunes in deserts. In Chapter 6 it is shown that topography is created by tectonic processes, and removed by erosion. Typical rates of tectonic uplift and erosion are comparable. With about 100 m per million years, they are very small in stable, vegetable areas. In unvegetated landscapes such as badlands, erosion and gully formation can be much more rapid. Chapter 6 considers the erosional cycle and (approximately fractal) river networks. The denudation models described consist of a shallow water (St.\ Venant) model of overland flow, coupled to an Exner-type equation describing hillslope erosion. It is explained how river networks may be formed from instabilities of uniform overland flows. Groundwater forms a fundamental constituent reservoir of the hydrological system. It is important because of its massive and long lived storage capacity, but, unfortunately, it has become a recipient of toxic industrial and agricultural waste. Chapter 7 starts with Darcy's law of fluid flow in a porous medium. Then this law is supplemented by an equation for the conservation of the fluid phases, and a parabolic equation for the groundwater flow is derived (to which an equation of state has to be added to complete the model). Solutions of the model for special boundary conditions and limiting cases are considered. The flow in an unsaturated zone (where the ratio of the water volume fraction per unit soil volume to the porosity of the soil is smaller than unity) is discussed in detail. Besides, a more specific model of the mesoscale structure is considered, where a heterogeneity of the porous media is related to the occurrence of fractures in the medium. Special subsections of Chapter 7 are related to the dispersion of pollutants in the groundwater system, and to environmental remediation and consolidation. Plate tectonics describes the division of the earth's surface into about 13--20 plates and the relative motion of these plates to each other. It is essentially a kinematic theory, and the dynamic theory which supports it is the theory of mantle convection studied in Chapter 8. The concept of mantle convection recently accepted bases on the assumption that the solid part of the earth, consisting of silicate rocks to a depth of 3,000 km, undergoes thermal convection. Thus, Chapter 8 starts with the explanation of the mathematical basis of thermal convection, the Rayleigh-Bénard one, and the non-linear stability analysis of convective modes. Then, the problem of the high variability of the viscosity of the mantle rock is discussed, and a high Rayleigh number boundary layer theory is given for this situation. At low temperatures and short time scales (e.g.\ of seismic waves), the earth's mantle is elastic. Thus, the chapter ends with near-surface mantle rheology considering a Maxwell visco-elastic fluid. Together with the occurrence of plastic lids in the lithosphere, the visco-elasticity provides a satisfactory dynamical explanation for the occurrence of subduction, and thus active plate tectonics, on the earth. A short subsection on tectonics on Venus is added. Igneous rocks form when molten magma crystallises. This may occur deep within the earth's crust in magma chambers, or at the earth's surface, when magma is emitted in volcanic eruptions. Chapter 9 is concerned with the magma transport from deep in the earth's mantle to regions near or at the earth's surface. Thereat it is wise to be aware of the underlying geochemical complexity. Thus, a simplest as possible section on phase diagrams of rock material and geochemistry is added. Then, melt transport in the asthenosphere, magmafracturing in the lithosphere, christallisation in magma chambers, and volcanic eruptions are considered in detail. Glaciers are huge and slowly moving rivers of ice. Although glacier ice is solid, it can deform by the slow creep of dislocations within the lattice of ice crystals, thus ice is a viscous material with very large viscosity. Decribing an ice sheet by a very large viscous droplet with accretion, that means with an ice source formed from snow, ice sheaths such as that covering Antarctica or Greenland and their marginal movement are discussed in Chapter 10. But there, unlike an ordinary viscous fluid, slip can occur by ice melting at the glacier bed. Chapter 10 discusses dynamic phenomena of glaciers and ice shests as waves, surges and mega-surges, the shallow ice approximation, sliding and drainage, drumlines and eskers, and it ends with a subsection on glaciology on Mars. The last Chapter 11 deals with the jökulhlaups, called ``glacier-bursts, that means catastrophic outburst floods from glaciers which occur in various parts of the world. The cyclicity of jökulhlaups of about 5--10 years is of interest in the chapter. It is discussed how geothermal heat from the calderas causes subglacial melting and a slow but regular rise of a lake level until a flood occurs. The water in the flood flows underneath the glacier. Chapter 11 presents a model which decribes how the flood can make its way under the glacier, and what causes the abatement of the flood usually after several weeks. The present work presents a comprehensive introduction to a rapidly expanding area of interdisciplinary research. By addressing the interplay between mathematics and the real world, this book will appeal to graduate students, lecturers, and researchers in the fields of applied mathematics, environmental sciences, and engineering.

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