This
is a revised edition of the book on the theory, methods, and applications
of digital terrain analysis in the context of multiscale problems of soil science
and geology. The
content of the book is based on long-standing, interdisciplinary research of the
author.
The book is divided into three
parts.
Part I represents main
concepts, principles, and methods of digital terrain modeling. In Chapter 1, there is a brief historical overview
of the progress of geomorphometry and digital terrain analysis in the context of soil and geological studies. Chapter 2 discusses the basic notions of digital
terrain modeling: the concept of the topographic surface; five main groups
of morphometric variables (local, non-local, solar, and combined
attributes, and structural lines); and key landform classifications.
Chapter 3 concerns techniques to produce digital elevation models (DEMs),
main types of DEM grids, issues of DEM resolution including the sampling
theorem and its sequences, as well as interpolation approaches. Chapter 4
deals with calculation of morphometric variables on plane and spheroidal
regular grids. Chapter 5 investigates the problem of errors and accuracy of
digital terrain models (DTMs). Chapter 6 considers DTM decomposition,
denoising, and generalization. Chapter 7 presents a universal spectral
analytical method based on high-order orthogonal expansions using the
Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind with the subsequent Fejér
summation. Chapter 8 examines peculiarities of DTM visualization.
Part II
discusses various aspects of the use of
digital terrain analysis in soil science. Chapter 9 probes into the main regularities in the influence of topography
on spatial distribution of soil properties. Chapter 10 concerns determination of the adequate grid
spacing for DTM-based soil studies. Chapter 11 looks at predictive soil
mapping, a growing branch of soil science. Chapter 12 presents two case
studies on DTM-based analysis of relationships
between topography and soil.
Part III looks at applications of digital terrain modeling
in geology. Chapter 13 probes into applications of data on curvatures of the
land and stratigraphic surfaces in research of folds and folding processes.
Chapter 14 concerns revealing and classification of
topographically expressed lineaments and faults. Chapter 15 looks at relationships between zones of
flow accumulation and natural phenomena a priori associated with
fault intersections. Chapter 16 examines a hypothesis on tectonically and topographically expressed,
global helical structures using spheroidal digital terrain modeling of the
Earth, Mars, Venus, and the Moon.
Chapter 17 concludes the book summarizing its main themes. Appendix A briefly describes the
software LandLord intended for digital
terrain analysis.
The book is addressed to
geomorphometrists, soil scientists, geologists, geoscientists, geomorphologists,
geographers, and GIS scientists (at scholar, lecturer, and postgraduate
student levels, with mathematical skills). This book is also intended for
the GIS professionals in industry and research laboratories focusing on
geoscientific and soil research.
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