Papers by Hubert Engelbrecht
BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
Interferences of elevated human pressure at marine coasts, and contaminants transported by marine... more Interferences of elevated human pressure at marine coasts, and contaminants transported by marine currents and rivers contribute to forced degradation of littoral environments. Additional impairment has occurred due to inappropriate technical constructions to protect built-up areas against floods caused by sea level rise. Delta subsidence due to upriver damming, on and offshore hydrocarbon extraction, beach sand mining, onshore ground water pumping, and soil compaction and loading because of coastal urbanisation has resulted in accelerated sea level rise, marine ingressions, and considerable land loss. Nutrient-rich runoffs, produced by intensified agriculture, effected the origination of - partially temporary - hypoxic coastal water bodies. Eutrophication and degradation of littoral waters also result from industrial aquafarming. Harbour mud dredged for navigational purposes has been contaminated with toxic metals. Oil and gas developments and havaries have caused severe hydrocarbon pollution in littoral areas several times. Toxic legacies exist in the form of waste-filled river and coastal impoundments, now exposed to sea level rise. Because of the mobilisation of toxic leachates and submarine discharge of contaminated plumes (e.g. in estuaries), redistribution of toxic metal species and their bioaccumulation occurs. Saline brines, discharged from desalination plants in arid climate zones to compensate for water scarcity, negatively impact water quality of ambient littoral regions. Accidentally dispersed nuclear weapon material contaminated the inner shelf area off Thule Airbase.
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BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
Humans have converted 75% of global terrestrial biomes into anthomes. 30.1 million km2 wilderness... more Humans have converted 75% of global terrestrial biomes into anthomes. 30.1 million km2 wilderness remain. Global tropical forests declined between 1990- 2015 by 10% to 545 Mio ha. The baseline value of the Samples Red Averaged List Index for global plants is 0.86; their main threats are biological resource use, immissions of reactive N, agri- and aquaculture, natural system modifications, residential and commercial development, invasive species and genes, mining and smelting, transportation and service corridors, human intrusions and disturbance, climate change, and pollution. In 58% of land areas, the planetary boundaries of functional and genetic biodiversity are transgressed. Warming has caused 5.7% of vegetated land to shift to warmer and dryer climate zones. 10% of vegetated land is sensitive to warming and 21% of vascular plants are threatened with extinction. Because angiosperms species diversified, adapted, and radiated during the CO2 decline in the Cretaceous, recent CO2 increase will have profound implications, although the capacity of terrestrial flora to sequester carbon has increased in the 20th century. In 2014, global tree cover loss amounted to 18 million ha and decreased its carbon storage capacity. Global flora is threatened by extended wildfire seasons, degradation or loss of habitat zones, modified annual growth phases, and altered heat, moisture, and trace gas concentrations. Attempts have been made to attain genetically engineered crop plants resilient against heat and drought. A short history of protection measures for global flora is given. Due to warming and fertilisation with CO2 and reactive N, boreal and austral floras has begun to sequester more carbon and to colonise deglaciated areas. Aquatic vegetation was impaired by pollutants, heat, harvesting, and intrusion of xenospecies. Experiments have revealed adaptive limits of primary producers to sea water acidification.
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BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
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BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
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Anthropogenic changes in the environment, caused by 250 years of economic growth and utilization ... more Anthropogenic changes in the environment, caused by 250 years of economic growth and utilization of fuel and mineral resources, have considerably impacted the natural environment. The resulting physical and chemical alterations to the Earth's sphere and our adaptive responses in the biosphere are detailed in this reference book. Readers will learn about concepts relevant to Earth’s history, the evolution of life, economy, ecology, environmental history, biology, and medicine and how these concepts can be linked to environmental change. The scope of this interdisciplinary work entails to convey the true degree of responsibility for the universal consequences of ecosystem degradation resulting from industrial processing, human consumption and the transformation of natural sites due to industrialization and urbanization.
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BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
World population growth, concentration in megacities, development of the technosphere and numerou... more World population growth, concentration in megacities, development of the technosphere and numerous novel chemical substances, industry, and agriculture have exposed humans to new kinds of health threats. Insufficient sewerage systems in megacities resulted in cholera epidemics. London smog caused impairment of the respiratory tract and rickets. Los Angeles smog brought about the presence of ground level toxic ozone in urban aerosol plumes. Mortality increased significantly in cities during summer heat waves. Permanent availability of artificial light has entailed unhealthy night and shift work. Rapid increase in global traffic resulted in annual losses of more than 1 million lives. Excess artificial noise causes 61,000 disability adjusted life years annually. Global annual fatalities due to air pollution run up to 5.5 millions. Clean-up of industrial brownfields impose financial burdens on public budgets. Health costs of Hg released into the environment are estimated at a minimum of 23,000 euros/kg. A positive correlation exists between health impairment and CO2 emissions. Financial pressure is rising to organise constructions to shelter coastal cities against sea level rise. Growth of cropland has not kept pace with population growth since 1960. Ailments arise because of mass-consumption of cheap foodstuffs, luxury food, and stimulants. Globally, 1.8 billion persons lack access to good quality drinking water. Detected detrimental effects of certified chemicals and pharmaceuticals resulted in numerous health impairments. Global distillation has deteriorated the health status of the Arctic population. Health burdens arise due to industrial and nuclear havaries, and above ground nuclear tests. Intentional application of industrially produced warfare has caused ca. 145 million fatalities since 1800.
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BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
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Schriftenreihe der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften, May 28, 2010
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BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
The transformations caused by industrialisation are ambivalent: Progress in technology, medicine,... more The transformations caused by industrialisation are ambivalent: Progress in technology, medicine, science, human well being, mobility, food security, etc. contrasts with the degradation of the environment and implied health impairments for human beings. The latter has occurred, because humans created many more sources than sinks and artificial material flows exceeded the natural ones; in that way, waste and toxic matter accumulated in the biosphere. Genius ideas of scientists and inventors, as well as treasures generated by nature inside the Earth were utilised and exploited economically. Innate behaviour, ideologies, traditional economic systems, and permanent growth marginalised ecological concerns. Insufficient technological diversity, population growth, and energy subsidies entailed dependencies and the risk of resource depletion. Recommendations to avoid further aggravation of the ecological crisis are: Dematerialisation; terminating the use of fossil energy carriers; ecological, social, and humanitarian concerns must be equally entitled beside economic concerns; realistic pricing of products and fair trade; shift to economic systems and human reproductive societies characterised by sufficiency; fostering of positive human creativity and intellect, as well as fine arts, aesthetics, and morals.
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BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
Anthropogenic forcings caused complex ecosystem transformations in the pedo-, cryo-, hydro-, atmo... more Anthropogenic forcings caused complex ecosystem transformations in the pedo-, cryo-, hydro-, atmo-, and biospheres and global adaptive pressure on biota.
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BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
The positive effects of industrialisation are summarised as follows: more reliabile sufficient fo... more The positive effects of industrialisation are summarised as follows: more reliabile sufficient food production, advancement in life sciences (dietetics, hygienics, medicine knowledge and technique, family planning, pharmacology, biology, biotechnology) and public health care (vaccination, immunisation), resulting in slow rise of average life expectancy and well being, and less poverty; decline of burden of communicable diseases; development of continent-wide electric grids and improvement of heating, cooking, and cold storage systems; improvement of physical and virtual mobility, as well as speed of information transfer; replacement of dangerous, exhausting, and monotonous work by machines or robots; improvement of occupational health; reduction of duration of the workweek and immense growth in economic performance; slow increase of general education, specialised knowledge, and of the world intellectual property index; increase of the amount of published scientific papers per annum; general IQ gains; increase of chip performance; progress in risk management, quality of prognoses, forecasts, and of early warning systems, thus preventing damages to life and property; improved performance of artificial photosynthesis and of solar cells; and immense progress in basic research concerning e.g. genomics, the subatomic world, material science, geosciences, aero- and astronautics, and cosmology.
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BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
Mineral commodities1 are the backbone of the global economy and the base of secondary and tertiar... more Mineral commodities1 are the backbone of the global economy and the base of secondary and tertiary industries. Growing economic demand and wealth founded on the life cycles of mines (from exploration to closure) and the life cycles of extracted matter (processing, refining, trading, consumption, and disposal). Industrial mining started in the second half of the 18th century in England, predominantly with coal and iron. This development spread over the world and got diversified; quantities of some commodities have increased a thousandfold since then. The quantity of mineral raw materials, mined and put into use in the USA increased by thirty-fold in the 20th century. Technical development since the 1980s increased the demand for diversity of mining products considerably. Global mining is controlled by ca. 10 enterprises. Description of geological settings, development, major extraction and mining sites, recent production numbers, estimated resources and reserves of mineral commodities, as well as numerous applications follow. They include energy carriers (hard coal, lignite, natural gas, petroleum, uranium, geothermal heat), ferro-alloy metals (e.g. iron, chrome, nickel), and non ferrous metals (e.g. copper, aluminium). The problem of strategic metals is addressed. Finally, the cumulative annual mass of extraction necessary to supply more than 7 billion persons is given.
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BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
The impacts imply direct and indirect, physical, chemical and biochemical alterations of land sur... more The impacts imply direct and indirect, physical, chemical and biochemical alterations of land surface, soil and rock. The impairments include: pollution by atmospheric immissions; degradation; compaction; tillage of monocultures; overuse by abandonment of the three field system; erosion; more frequent wildfires; unconfined landfills; biocide application and excess fertilisation in agricultural activity; degradation by deforestation and land use change; soil sealing by land take; drainage of peat land and mires; impairment of land surfaces by open cast and underground mining, by underground constructions, as well as extractive methods (in situ leaching); numerous nuclear underground tests; creation of pollution hot spots (brownfields) by industry, military, and in urban areas; contamination due to large scale disposal of waste from settlements, industry, and agriculture in landfills; toxic waste spread from dam failures of tailings and other deposit confinements; climate change induced heat and drought; and altered soil carbon uptake caused by the introduction of xenospecies plants. Soil impairment by industry disasters (e.g. Bhopal, Chernobyl) and by tailings and waste heaps created by the mining industry is emphasised. Contaminations persist over long periods, because of the stability of soil, its sorptive properties and predomiant immobility of its components.
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BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
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BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
Intensified agriculture, input of sewage and waste, as well as deforestation in the 20th century ... more Intensified agriculture, input of sewage and waste, as well as deforestation in the 20th century in Europe caused a decline of river water quality and an increase in its turbidity, and rapid terrestrialisation of lakes. The situation was improved by sewerages and water purification plants, which, however, cannot retain all pollutants and toxins. Among the problems are elevated nitrate concentrations, Hg, microplastics and waste heat from power plants. Generally, immissions from mines, industry, and urban areas have impaired hydrochemistry of rivers and lakes. Examples: Potassium mining salinised the river Werra; unconventional oil development at Athabasca impaired ambient catchments with toxic aerosols. Ecological and hydrological degradation of very large lakes occurred due to the introduction of xenospecies to foster industrial fish catch, input of acid mine drainage, poor sewage treatment, nearby overgrazing and deforestation, and excess water abstraction from affluents. Washout of agricultural nutrients and inappropriate disposal of sewage effected vertical shoaling of the world's largest anoxic, sulphidic water body in the Black Sea. The global trend of lakes towards CO2 supersaturation results from enhanced input of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), promoting microbial respiration. In remote glacial lakes, climate warming has caused reduction of ice coverage and of permafrost, and effected substantial alteration of lacustrine hydrochemistries. A generalisation of effects of anthropogenic activities to the flow variability of large rivers is not possible. However, engineering, freshwater withdrawal, and extraction of sand and gravel fostered river bed erosion and caused delta starvation, subsidence, and coastal erosion. Hydrochemical studies recognised severe pollution of parts of surface waters in China. Radioactive contamination of surface waters occurred near nuclear plants and repositories.
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BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
Due to technical development and sharp population increase, the global groundwater balance has be... more Due to technical development and sharp population increase, the global groundwater balance has been negative since at least 1900. Groundwater abstraction between 1965-2010 tripled to 986 km3. As a consequence, resources like the Australian Artesian Basin were depleted. Groundwater must be seen as resource in transition. In general, its level fell due to pumping and the sealing of large surfaces, causing them to become impervious to infiltrating water. Groundwater deterioration occurred due to excess pumping, resulting in salinisation. Groundwater contamination occurred because of leaking toxic liquid waste at nuclear repositories; leaking unconfined, tailings containing residual heavy metals, sulphuric acid, and cyanide; dispersed PCBs; industrial waste dumped in abandoned mine workings; injection of residual salt brines and liquid radioactive waste underground; and excess utilisation of artificial fertilisers and manure in industrial agriculture, resulting in elevated NO3 - -concentrations in groundwater wells. Example: Widespread decreasing groundwater availability and quality, as well as groundwater level fall, in China due to overuse for domestic, agricultural, and industrial demand. Groundwater protection measures improved the situation locally. In general, climate change-induced water scarcity can only be temporarily compensated by technology.
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BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks, Dec 18, 2017
Intellectual movements, which originated during the Age of Enlightenment (rationalism, scientific... more Intellectual movements, which originated during the Age of Enlightenment (rationalism, scientific recognition, inductive method) created important preconditions for the industrial1 era. Calvinism, scientific progress, discoveries, and inventions led to the industrial revolution. It replaced human and animal work with machines and transformed agrarian societies into remote supplied societies. Fossil energy carriers became the core of industrial development. Improvements in food and medicine supply, as well as social reforms, set the beginning of demographic transformations. Economic developments, organisation, division of labour, innovations (e.g. electric current), and specialisations were accompanied by severe political and societal crises (e.g. rural exodus, machine runners, pauperism, and industrial slavery). Despite rising disparities caused by agglomeration, cartelism, and accumulation of assets and wealth, a slow improvement in the degree of education, qualification, literacy, average standard of living, and life expectancy was realised. Escalating world population growth since ca. 1960 implied increasing amounts of supply (mineral commodities, food, etc.). Accelerated techno-scientific progress, partially fostered after 1945 by space and arms races created fast developments in nuclear technology, electronics, digitalisation, automation, internet, genomics, bio- and nanotechnology, and resulted in globalised optimum physical and virtual mobility.
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Swiss Journal of Geosciences, May 28, 2010
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Schriftenreihe der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften, May 15, 2014
ABSTRACT The natural caves of Werdenfels Country originated predominantly in karstifiable geologi... more ABSTRACT The natural caves of Werdenfels Country originated predominantly in karstifiable geological formations, which were constituents of a ca. 7 km thick pile of sediments. This was thrusted during the late phase of the Alpine Cycle - lasting for 250 Ma - onto the European continental margin and is subaerially exposed since the middle Tertiary. After explaining the different processes of cave-formation, the geological formations hosting caves are listed up chronologically; with additional references concerning the locations of the caves and their distinctive features. A few caves, important for tourists and/or speleologists, are characterized in detail. Finally the processes are explained, by which primary caves can originate.
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Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Mar 20, 2023
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Papers by Hubert Engelbrecht