The developing scientific discipline of Medical Geology has absorbed equally researchers and contributors parallel bearing in mind its exceedingly interdisciplinary aspect. It is in excess of two and half billion years from the time when the primary properties of natural life initiated to impact Earth's atmosphere, waters and continents. The branch of medical geology has sustained to develop in attention and standing over the preceding few decades. This exclusive investigation field emphases on interactions among geological settings and human being, resulting in together damaging and positive health consequences. Not astonishingly, the discipline is comprehensive and difficult, and generally needs a wide-ranging interdisciplinary attention to report the diversity of human healthiness matters and diseases explicitly associated to geological materials or earth structure events. This book delivers a model of the multiplicity noticeable through numerous study subjects. For instance, scholars continue attracted in health problems subsequently after contact to toxic minerals and absence of vital trace elements, complications by main origins in geology, either natural or anthropogenic. On the other hand, investigation generally results in health benefits that for instance are connected by hot springs and sand baths or definite well-being protecting properties interconnected to natural elements in consumed water or elements extracted from Earth minerals in pharmaceutical industries. Several elements are vital to human, animal and vegetal wellbeing in trivial dosages. Furthermost of these elements are engaged into the human organisation through nourishment, water, and air. It is the goal of this book to present the topic to students and academics both in the fields of Medicine and Geology concerned in geosphere humanoid connections.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Medical Geology: Impacts of the Natural Environment on Public Health" that was published in Geosciences.

Over two billion people live in tropical lands. Most of them live in intimate contact with the immediate geological environment, obtaining their food and water directly from it. The unique geochemistry of these tropical environments have a marked influence on their health, giving rise to diseases that affect millions of people. The origin of these diseases is geologic as exemplified by dental and skeletal fluorosis, iodine deficiency disorders, trace element imbalances to name a few. This book, one of the first of its kind, serves as an excellent introduction to the emerging discipline of Medical Geology.

Medical Geology is a rapidly growing field concerned with the relationship between natural geological factors and human and animal health, as well as with improving our understanding of the influence of environmental factors on the geographical distribution of health problems. This book brings together the work of geoscientists and medical/public health researchers, which addresses health problems caused, or exacerbated by geological materials (rocks, minerals, atmospheric dust and water) and processes (including volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Among the environmental health problems discussed in this book are: exposure to toxic levels of trace essential and non-essential elements such as arsenic and mercury; trace element deficiencies; exposure to natural dusts and to radioactivity; naturally occurring organic compounds in drinking water; volcanic emissions, etc. The text also deals with the many health benefits of geologic materials and processes. This wide-ranging volume covers issues in medical geology all over the world with each author covering their respective region. It provides examples from different continents as well as a state-of-the-art review of the latest developments in the discipline. The authors are all recognized geoscientific and medical experts working in the field. The book is written for a wide variety of specialists from geologists, geochemists, pathologists and medical doctors to veterinarians and biologists.

The field of geoengineering is at a crossroads where the path to high-tech solutions meets the path to expanding applications of geotechnology. In this report, the term "geoengineering" includes all types of engineering that deal with Earth materials, such as geotechnical engineering, geological engineering, hydrological engineering, and Earth-related parts of petroleum engineering and mining engineering. The rapid expansion of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information technology begs the question of how these new approaches might come to play in developing better solutions for geotechnological problems. This report presents a vision for the future of geotechnology aimed at National Science Foundation (NSF) program managers, the geological and geotechnical engineering community as a whole, and other interested parties, including Congress, federal and state agencies, industry, academia, and other stakeholders in geoengineering research. Some of the ideas may be close to reality whereas others may turn out to be elusive, but they all present possibilities to strive for and potential goals for the future. Geoengineers are poised to expand their roles and lead in finding solutions for modern Earth systems problems, such as global change, emissions-free energy supply, global water supply, and urban systems.