6^th International Conference on Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Science October 24-25, 2019 Helsinki, Finland

Environmental geology, like hydrogeology, is an applied science concerned with the practical application of the principles of geology in the solving of environmental problems. It is a multidisciplinary field that is closely related to engineering geology and, to a lesser extent, to environmental geography. Each of these fields involves the study of the interaction of humans with the geologic environment, including the biosphere, the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, and to some extent the atmosphere. Environmental geology includes managing geological and hydrogeological resources such as fossil fuels, minerals, water (surface and ground water), and land use. This knowledge of the past is important because it helps them to get a better idea of what types of geologic events repeat themselves, with what frequency they might occur, and what types of damage occurred because of those events. This is different than what a paleontologist (someone who studies fossils) would do, because environmental geologists are concerned with how the past is relating to the present.

The rock mechanics is the theoretical and smears science of mechanical behavior of rock and rock mass, it is that branch of mechanics concerned with the response of rock and rock masses to force field of their physical environment. The subject of engineering rock mechanics, as applied in mining engineering practice. The discipline is closely related to the main streams of classical mechanics and continuum mechanics. The module provides an overview of constitutive modeling in geotechnical engineering. Soils are complex particulate materials whose behavior is highly non-linear and dependent on the stress state of the soil. As a result, simple calculations are insufficient to represent a soil's response to loading, and a more representative analysis (especially where accurate displacements need to be known) is required through developing a constitutive model. This module will discuss the features of constitutive models, compare them to real soil behavior, and apply them to geotechnical structures, using a combination of case studies and applied examples. Unit Aims at to describe and discuss constitutive modelling in comparison with other modeling techniques and to discuss and analysis different constitutive models in order to select the most appropriate model for a given problem .To assess soil data and determine the required parameters for a reasonable constitutive model.

Petroleum geology is the study of origin, occurrence, movement, accumulation, and exploration of hydrocarbon fuels. It refers to the specific set of geological disciplines that are applied to the search for hydrocarbons (oil exploration). Petroleum geology is principally concerned with the evaluation of seven key elements in sedimentary basins: They are source, Reservoir, seal, Trap, Timing, Maturation Migration. Oil (shown in red) accumulates against the seal, to the depth of the base of the seal. Any further oil migrating in from the source will escape to the surface and seep. A fold in geology is when one or a stack of originally flat and planar surfaces, such as sedimentary strata, are bent or curved as a result of deformation by pressures from faults and other forces of nature. There are many ways the field of Geology contributes to the Petroleum Industry. The varied disciplines of Geology explore the history of the Earth itself in hopes of understanding in greater detail where oil comes from and where more oil might be found, as well as the best ways to retrieve oil and utilize it once it has been retrieved. It is the application of geology (the study of rocks) to the exploration for and production of oil and gas. 

Economic Geology and Geochemistry combines the study of geology of ore deposits and geochemistry to describe and understand the processes of mineral resource formation as well as to quantify the environmental impact of mineral and energy resource exploitation. Economic geology is concerned with earth materials that can be used for economic and/or industrial purposes. These materials include precious and base metals, nonmetallic minerals, construction-grade stone, petroleum minerals, coal, and water. Geochemistry is the study of the distribution of chemicals in the Earth and atmosphere. Geochemistry is the scientific discipline that deals with the relative abundance, distribution, and migration of the Earth’s chemical elements and their isotopes.  It is broadly concerned with the application of chemistry to virtually all aspects of geology. Much geochemical research is devoted to the quantification of this extraction of mantle material and its contribution to crustal growth throughout geologic time in the many stages of seafloor formation and mountain building.

Groundwater is the water found underground in the cracks and spaces in soil, sand and rock. It is stored in and moves slowly through geologic formations of soil, sand and rocks called aquifers. Water is always on the move. From the time the earth was formed, it has been endlessly circulating through the hydrologic cycle. Groundwater is an important part of this continuous cycle as water evaporates, forms clouds, and returns to earth as precipitation. Surface water evaporates from by energy of the sun. The water vapor then forms clouds in the sky. Depending on the temperature and weather conditions, the water vapor condenses and falls to the earth as different types of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, hail). Some precipitation moves from high areas to low areas on the earth's surface and into surface water bodies. This is known as surface runoff. Once the water has joined the aquifer, it doesn’t stop there. The groundwater slowly moves through the spaces and cracks between the soil particles on its journey to lower elevations. This movement of water underground is called groundwater flow.

Remote sensing of Environment serves the remote sensing community with the publication of results on theory, science, applications and technology of remote sensing of Earth resources and environment. Thoroughly interdisciplinary, this is a terrestrial, oceanic, and atmospheric sensing. Remote sensing data provide a synoptic view of many environmental trends. Remotely sensed imagery can provide both snapshots and data over that time address environmental issues at global, regional and national scales. It can provide these in consistent formats and in ways that complement national-level data collection efforts, which are often under-resourced and inconsistent from country to country. Remote sensing can contribute to global assessments in support of MEA’s. Remote sensing provides timely information on a large and growing number of environmental issues such as land-use/land-cover change, carbon-monoxide plumes, and the carbon density of ecosystems, which can significantly contribute to global environmental assessment in support of MEAs (e.g., the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment). GIS can refer to a number of different technologies, processes, and methods. It is attached to many operations and has many applications related to engineering, planning, management, transport/logistics, insurance, telecommunications, and business. For that reason, GIS and location intelligence applications can be the foundation for many location-enabled services that rely on analysis and visualization.

Petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface pool of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Petroleum reservoirs are broadly classified as conventional and unconventional reservoirs. In case of conventional reservoirs, the naturally occurring hydrocarbons, such as crude oil or natural gas, are trapped by overlying rock formations with lower permeability. While in unconventional reservoirs the rocks have high porosity and low permeability which keeps the hydrocarbons trapped in place, therefore not requiring a cap rock. Reservoirs are found using hydrocarbon exploration methods. Gas reservoir, in geology and natural gas production, a naturally occurring stage area, characteristically a folded rock formation such as an anticline that traps and holds natural gas and it has to be capped by impervious rock in order to form an effective seal that prevents the gas from esc. The formation of an oil or gas reservoir also requires a sedimentary basin that passes through four steps such as Deep burial under sand and mud, Pressure cooking, Hydrocarbon migration from the source to the reservoir rock and Trapping by impermeable rock.

Structural Geology is the study of the three-dimensional distribution of rock units with respect to their deformational histories. The primary goal of structural geology is to use measurements of present-day rock geometries to uncover information about the history of deformation in the rocks, and ultimately, to understand the stress field that resulted in the observed strain and geometries. Structural geology is a critical part of engineering geology, which is concerned with the physical and mechanical properties of natural rocks. Structural fabrics and defects such as faults, folds, foliations and joints are internal weaknesses of rocks which may affect the stability of human engineered structures such as dams, road cuts, open pit mines and underground mines or road tunnels Environmental geologists and hydro geologists need to apply the tenets of structural geology to understand how geologic sites impact (or are impacted by) ground water flow and penetration. For instance, a hydro geologist may need to determine if seepage of toxic substances from waste dumps is occurring in a residential area or if salty water is seeping into an aquifer. Plate tectonics is a theory developed during the 1960s which describes the movement of continents by way of the separation and collision of crustal plates. It is in a sense structural geology on a planet scale, and is used throughout structural geology as a framework to analyze and understand global, regional, and local scale features.

The main goal of Environmental Sustainability is to preserve natural resources and to develop alternate sources of power while reducing pollution towards environment. Many of the projects that are entrenched in environmental Sustainability and this may include replantation of forests, stabilizing wetlands and shielding natural areas from resources harvesting, and the major criticism of environmental sustainability is to recruits the significances that can have a probabilities with the need of a mounting commercial society. Environmental Sustainability is used to diminish the reduction of natural resources, and to promote the development without causing destruction to the environment. Geological conferences aim to inspire the young researchers, geologist, geophysicists, and geoscientist, students with the renowned speakers from 25 countries and also to bring together researchers in all aspects of Geology and related disciplines. And it may tend to endorse, inspire and influence more support, understanding and collaboration among scientists working in the field of Geology and Environmental Sustainability.

A volcano is an opening in the earth's crust that allows molten rock from the mantle to flow out onto the surface as lava. Volcanoes also emit vast amounts of gas, primarily carbon dioxide, water vapor and sulfur dioxide. The fine solid rock particles injected into the atmosphere by an eruption can remain aloft for years. The great majority of seismicity on the planet occurs at plate boundaries, although intra-plate seismicity can occur as well when stresses build up in the plate. Volcanism is associated with two of the plate boundary types: divergent and convergent margins. The former manifest themselves as long volcanic rifts mostly in the ocean basins (ocean ridges) whereas the latter typically make individual volcanoes on the plate that "wins out" in the collision process (i.e., does not subduct). Where two plates containing continental crust at their margins collide, there is little or no volcanism (such as at the Himalaya). Occasionally, plate boundaries where plates are mostly sliding by each other can experience small amounts of volcanism as well if there is a component of extension across this boundary. Volcanism can also occur at intraplate volcanoes. These volcanoes are believed to have sources deeper down in the Earth's mantle that remain in a relatively fixed location relative to the always migrating plate boundaries. Mauna Loa and Kilauea in Hawaii are the classic examples of intraplate volcanoes. Such volcanoes can also be seismically active, particularly when volcanic structures are built up rapidly. The crust must respond to the extra load and relieves this stress through tectonic activity.

Mining geology is an applied science which chains the principles of economic geology and mining engineering to the development of a defined mineral resource. Mining geologist and engineers work to develop an identified ore deposit to economically extract the ore. A mineral resource is a concentration or occurrence of material of intrinsic economic interest in or on the earth’s crust in such form, quality and quantity that there are reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. A geotechnical investigation will include surface exploration and subsurface exploration of a site. Sometimes, geophysical methods are used to obtain data about sites. Subsurface exploration usually involves soil sampling and laboratory tests of the soil samples retrieved. Site investigation or Soil explorations are done for obtaining the information about subsurface conditions at the site of proposed construction. Soil exploration consists of determining the profile of the natural soil deposits at the site, taking the soil samples and determining the engineering properties of soil. It also includes in-situ testing of soil. 

Marine geology or geological oceanography is the study of the history and structure of the ocean floor. It involves geophysical, geochemical, sediment logical and paleontological investigations of the ocean floor and coastal zone. Marine geology has strong ties to physical oceanography and is focused on the physical, biological and chemical interactions that characterize earth surface environments. Carbonate geology, coastal geology, ground water shed hydrology, paleoclimatology, marine biogeochemistry, and sedimentology/stratigraphy. Emphasis on near shore processes, coastal sedimentation and erosion sedimentation control, remote sensing of environment and reefs and carbonate petrology and petrography to derive clues to past environmental changes as well as post-depositional geochemical changes to island lime stones.  Marine Sedimentary Environment focused on micropaleontology, geo biology, pale-oceanography and paleoclimatology, organic and inorganic isotope biogeochemistry, marine minerals, carbonate sedimentology and the physical properties of sediments and crustal rocks. The scope of Marine Science Conferences is to create a platform for strong exchange of the recent advancement and technologies towards marine oceanography and Marine biology.

It is a branch of archaeology with a human focus, which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as hominization, through the reconstruction of evolutionary kinship lines within the family Hominidae, and working from biological evidence and cultural evidence. The field draws from and combines paleontology, biological anthropology, and cultural anthropology. As technologies and methods advance, genetics plays an ever-increasing role, in particular to examine and compare DNA structure as a vital tool of research of the evolutionary kinship lines of related species and genera. Paleontology is a rich field, imbued with a long and interesting past and an even more intriguing and hopeful future. Many people think paleontology is the study of fossils. Paleontology incorporates knowledge from biology, geology, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, and even computer science to understand the processes that have led to the origination and eventual destruction of the different types of organisms since life arose.

 Track-15: Global Warming & Climate Change

Global warming and Climate change are often used interchangeably but have distinct meanings. Similarly, the terms weather and climate are sometimes confused, though they refer to events with broadly different spatial and timescales. Weather refers to atmospheric conditions that occur locally over short periods of time from minutes to hours or days. Familiar examples include rain, snow, clouds, winds, floods or thunderstorms. Remember, weather is local and short-term. Climate, on the other hand, refers to the long-term regional or even global average of temperature, humidity and rainfall patterns over seasons, years or decades. Remember, climate is global and long-term. Climate change refers to a broad range of global phenomena created predominantly by burning fossil fuels, which add heat-trapping gases to Earth’s atmosphere. These phenomena include the increased temperature trends described by global warming, but also encompass changes such as sea level rise; ice mass loss in Greenland, Antarctica, the Arctic and mountain glaciers worldwide; shifts in flower/plant blooming; and extreme weather events.

It deals with several features of the assessment of hazard and risk of land sliding. This article presents a summary review and a classification of the main approaches that have been developed world-wide. The first step is the part between qualitative and quantitative methods. The first group is mainly based on the site-specific experience of experts with the susceptibility hazard determined directly in the field or by combining different index maps. The approaches of the second group are formally more rigorous.  It is possible to distinguish between statistical analyses (bivariate or multivariate) and deterministic methods that involve the analysis of specific sites or slopes based on geo-engineering models. Such analyses can be deterministic or probabilistic. Among the quantitative methods discussed is the Neural Networks approach which has only recently been applied to engineering geology problems. Finally several considerations concerning the concept of acceptable risk and risk management are presented. The seismic hazard is defines as the probabilistic measure of ground shaking associated to reappearance of earthquakes. Seismic hazard maps depicts the stages of chosen ground motions that likely will not, be exceeds in specified exposure times.

Sedimentology explores the origin, transport, deposition and diagenetic alterations of the materials that compose sediments and sedimentary rocks. Stratigraphy investigates how those types of rocks are accumulated and distributed in space and time.  The two disciplines are core components to other fields of geoscience research including paleobiology, geobiology, tectonics, paleoclimate, petroleum geology, Earth history, geochronology, thermo chronology, deep time paleoceanography, and basin analysis. Areas of sedimentology and stratigraphy that currently motivate the research our faculty and students include, mechanistic understanding of sediment formation, deposition, and lithification (particularly of carbonates and other chemical sedimentary rocks) analysis of terrestrial paleo-environmental records to document and constrain the evolution of Earth’s ancient climates and landscapes and integrated analysis of the regional sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of petroleum system and reservoirs, particularly deep-water margins and unconventional resources.

Civil engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with the design, construction & maintenance of roads, bridges, large buildings, airports, ports, subways, dams, mines and other large scale developments. For a civil engineering project to be successful, the engineers must understand the land upon which the project rests. Geologists study the land to determine whether it is stable enough to support the proposed project. They also study water patterns to determine if a particular site is prone to flooding. Some civil engineers use geologist to examine rocks for important metals, oil, natural gas and ground water. The value of geology in mining has long been known but its use in civil engineering has been recognized only in comparatively recent years. Geology provides a systematic knowledge of construction material, its occurrence, composition, durability and other properties. Example of such construction materials is building stones, road metal, clay, limestone & laterite. The knowledge of the geological work of natural agencies such as water, wind, ice and helps in planning and carrying out major civil engineering works.

Ecology includes the study of plant and animal populations, plant and animal communities and ecosystems. Ecosystems describe the web or network of relations among organisms at different scales of organization. Since ecology refers to any form of biodiversity, ecologists research everything from tiny bacteria's role in nutrient recycling to the effects of tropical rain forest on the Earth's atmosphere. An ecosystem service is assistance to society derived from a healthy ecosystem property or process. Robust soil quality leads to more water available for plant roots and cleaner water in streams and lakes. Enhanced soil biological activity turns organic wastes into valuable nutrients and degrades toxic elements. Ecosystem services are a way of putting a value on biodiversity by looking at what it does and how we value the function that the soil performs. Environmental engineering system can also be described as a branch of applied science and technology that addresses the issues of energy preservation, protection of assets and control of waste from human and animal activities. Furthermore, it is concerned with finding plausible solutions in the field of public health, such as waterborne diseases, implementing laws which promote adequate sanitation in urban, rural and recreational areas.

Archaeology or archaeology is the study of the material remains of past human life and activities. Archaeological record consists of artefacts, architecture, bio facts or Eco facts and cultural landscapes. Archaeological investigations are a primary source of knowledge of prehistoric, ancient, and extinct culture. Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. One of the major acquirements of 19^th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. One of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments (structures made of such large stones) in England.