This book introduces the reader to the Great Lakes and considers their soil-forming factors and processes, taxonomic structure of the soils, soil geography and pedodiversity, while also addressing the importance and protection of soils in the Great Lakes Coastal Zone. The Great Lakes are an important part of the USA and Canada. Home to 33 million people, including 90% of all Canadians, the Great Lakes account for 20% of the world’s surface freshwater and 90% of the USA’s freshwater. Key industries include shipping, steel and automobile production, energy generation, fishing, pulp and papermaking, agriculture, and recreation. To date, there has been no comprehensive inventory of the region’s soils, which are now subject to dramatic climate change and environmental degradation. This book was prepared using the US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service databases, including the Web Soil Survey, Soil Series Extent Explorer, soil classification and characterization databases, and county soil surveys, supplemented by shoreline viewer software, the author’s independent research, consultation with colleagues, and survey trips around the Great Lakes.

This Proceedings contains about 270 papers on a wide range of research topics on coastal sediment processes, including nearshore sediment transport and modeling, beach processes, shore protection and coastal managements, and coastal resilience building.The unique book provides a comprehensive documentation of cutting-edge research on coastal sediment process and morphodynamics from eminent researchers worldwide. Readers can learn the most current knowledge on numerous topics concerning coastal sediment processes and shore protection.

A. Rorsch TNO Board of Management In 1985 the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research TNO, in cooperation with the Netherlands Ministry for Housing, Physical Planning and the Environment, took the initiative for a conference on an important environmental problem: contaminated soil and groundwater. We named it, somewhat self-assured, the First International TNO Conference on Contaminated Soil. And indeed the contamination of soils and groundwater proved to be an environmental issue of such an extent that soon after the successful first conference, TNO started preparations for a second one, this time in cooperation with the State Ministry for the Environment (Umweltbehorde) of Hamburg. And now we are on the brink of the third conference, organized together with the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre (Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe). We feel honoured that the Federal Ministry for Research and Technology (BMFT) is again generously supporting this conference, and has anew declared it a BMFT Status Seminar. The conference (generally referred to as Contaminated Soil '85, Contaminated Soil '88 and Contaminated Soil '90, respectively) has successively gained in importance and prestige, which is reflected by the increasing number of participants and contributions to the scientific programme.

As a wetland of international importance located in China, the Poyang Lake Basin's incredible topographical and biological diversity has provided a congregating point for scientists from around the world to engage in cross-disciplinary research. In particular, the International Conference on Poyang Lake Complex Environment System was instrumental i