In the years since the 1977 Aegean conferences in Athens and Izmir there has been an explosion of new information on the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly on the Turkish area. Some three years ago we sensed that the time might be ripe for a meeting to consider all aspects of geology relevant to the tectonic evolution of the Eastern Mediterranean. We sounded out opinion in most of the European laboratories involved and received enthusiastic support for the idea. The boundaries of the area to be discussed were fixed early on: the Apennines to the west, the Carpathians and Caucasus to the north, the Zagros to the east and North Africa to the south. The meeting concentrated on the Late Palaeozoic to Recent evolution, as few coherent tracts of older rocks exist in the area. 

The East African Orogen (EAO) marks one of earth’s greatest collision zones, a global feature in space (about 6000 km long where it is preserved in Africa and Antarctica; Fig. 1) and in time (350 million years of evolution) (Stern, 1994). The EAO formed when fragments of East and West Gondwana collided, beginning ~630 Ma ago (Meert, 2003). The southern part of the EAO is also known as the Mozambique Belt and is thought to be where the most intense continent-continent collision occurred. The Mozambique Belt is thus dominated by deformed, metamorphosed, and anatectically reworked older crust <...>

Along with storms, floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, landslides are one of the most severe natural hazards. Even though they cause fewer victims than other hazards, landslides are responsible for huge economic damage around the world, with losses of hundreds of millions of Euros per year. In addition, differently from other hazards, even small magnitude events represent a serious threat, deeply affecting transportation corridors and disrupting movements of men and goods. Finally, landslides can cause strong geomorphological modifications inducing permanent changes in the landscape.

For many cencuries miners have been excavating below the ground surface in their ceaseless search for minerals. Originally, these underground operations were simply a downward extension of the small excavations created to exploit surface outcrops. As mineral exploration methods became more sophisticated, resulting in the discovery of large ore bodies at considerable depth below surface, underground mining methods were developed to exploit these deposits.

This book is intended as a comprehensive survey of the entire field of geophysical exploration. The author has endeavored to present the subject in broad perspective, emphasizing the relations, differences, common features, and, above all, the fundamentals of geophysical methods. The material is divided into two parts of six chapters each. The first part, written in elementary language, addresses those desiring an insight into the working principles and geological applications of geophysical methods. It is intended for individuals in executive and geologic advisory capacity and for persons not directly concerned with field or laboratory operations.

Amonп the major results of the Upper Mantle Project, two are especially significant. First, it has been clearly demonstrated that the earth is not radially symmetric: important lateral inhomogeneities exist in the uppermost 700 kilometers. Second, it is now clear that large-scale motions of the upper parts of the earth are taking place now and have taken place in the past.

With this book, we hope to introduce readers to the world of physical geology and to share with them the excitement of exploring Earth and the processes that formed it. We hope that readers of this book will gain a better understanding of Earth and an increased awareness of our planet. When traveling by airplane, a reader will appreciate how mountains, rivers, and deserts were formed, and what governs their locations, shapes, and textures.