Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Milton E. Harr, Groundwater and Seepage, 1962, McGraw-Hill, reprinted by Dover, 1991. [Focus is on
mathematical methods of solution for flows in fully saturated soils, and for flows with phreatic surfaces.
Well illustrated.]
Jacob Bear, Dynamics of Fluids in Porous Media, Dover Publications, 1988, originally published ~1962.
[Advanced classic on groundwater flows.]
Jacob Bear, Hydraulics of Groundwater, 1979, McGraw-Hill.
Environmental geology (including discussion of natural hazards, pollution and hazardous waste issues) and
geomorphology (see also items on fluvial processes and sediment transport in fluid dynamics section
below); there is not a clear separation between this section and that above on hydrology/hydrogeology:
Perry H. Rahn, Engineering Geology: An environmental approach, 2nd edition, 1996, Prentice-Hall. [Clear
discussion of nearly all concepts addressed in the course, with many field examples cited and discussed.
Highly recommended, although the mathematical equations presented occasionally require scrutiny.]
Mike R. Leeder and Marta Perez Arlucea, Physical Processes in Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2006,
Blackwell. [New text, not yet released at time of preparation of this list; seems to cover many course topics.]
John R. L. Allen, Principles of Physical Sedimentology, 1985, George Allen & Unwin Ltd. [Excellent general
book on mechanics of processes in sediment settlement, transport and deposition.] (related book: John R. L.
Allen, Experiments in Physical Sedimentology, 1985, George Allen & Unwin Ltd. [Lab experiments, partly
discussed in the main text.])
Philip A. Allen, Earth Surface Processes, 1997, Blackwell Science, Ltd.
Barbara W. Murck, Brian J. Skinner and Stephen C. Porter, Environmental Geology, Wiley, 1996. [Qualitative
and descriptive, with more focus on facts and examples than quantitative analysis, but has marvelous color
pictures and illustrations, and is recommended for that.]
Dorothy Merritts, Andrew de Wet and Kursten Menking, Environmental Geology: An Earth systems science
approach, W. H. Freeman, 1998. [Again, qualitative and descriptive, with more focus on facts and examples
than quantitative analysis, but has marvelous color pictures and illustrations, and is recommended for that.]
Stanley A. Schumm, Jean F. Dumont and John M. Holbrook, Active Tectonics and Alluvial Rivers, Cambridge
Univ. Press, 2000.
Keith J. Tinkler and Ellen E. Wohl, editors, Rivers over Rock: Fluvial processes in bedrock channels, 1998,
American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Monograph 107, Washington, DC.
Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe and Andrea Rinaldo, Fractal River Basins: Chance and self-organization, 1997,
Cambridge Univ Press.
David E. Daniel (editor), Geotechnical Practice for Waste Disposal, 1993, Kluwer Academic Publishers.
[Major source book on issues of modern landfill site planning and maintenance.]
Xuede Qian, Robert M. Koerner, and Donald H. Gray, Geotechncial Aspects of Landfill Design and
Construction, 2001, Prentice Hall. [Good coverage of use of geomembranes and engineering design.]
Hari D. Sharma and Krishna R. Reddy, Geoenvironmental Engineering: Site Remediation, Waste Containment,
and Emerging Waste Management Techonolgies, 2004, John Wiley & Sons.
Issa S. Oweis and Raj P. Khera, Geotechnology of Waste Management, 2nd edition, 1998, PWS Publishing
Company.
Michael D. LaGrega, Philip L. Buckingham, Jeffrey C. Evans and the Environmental Resources Management
Group, Hazardous Waste Management, 1994, McGraw-Hill.
Juana B. Eweis, Sarina J. Ergas, Daniel P. Y. Chang and Edward D. Schroeder, Bioremediation Principles,
1998, McGraw-Hill.
Continuum mechanics of fluids and solids (see also sections below on fluid dynamics and on soil and rock
mechanics):
Gerard V. Middleton and Peter R. Wilcock, Mechanics in the Earth and Environmental Sciences, 1994,
Cambridge University Press. [Provides a reasonable introduction to continuum mechanics for students of
earth and environmental science. Includes dimensional analysis and elementary fluid and solid mechanics,
including rock/soil strength, effective stress concept, Darcy law and groundwater seepage, turbulent flows,
etc. Many digressions into explanation of geological phenomena. Some nice example problems.]
Donald L. Turcotte and Gerald Schubert, Geodynamics, 2nd edition, 2002, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [Introduces
several areas of continuum mechanics of interest for geophysics.]
Y. C. Fung, A First Course in Continuum Mechanics, Third Edition, 1994, Prentice-Hall. [General introduction
to continuum mechanics at an elementary level.]
Lawrence E. Malvern, Introduction to the Mechanics of a Continuous Medium, 1969, Prentice-Hall. [Graduate
level introduction to continuum mechanics, emphasizing solids, elastic and non-elastic, as well as fluids.]
Lee A. Segall, with George H. Handelman, Mathematics Applied to Continuum Mechanics, 1977, Macmillan
Publ. Co., reprinted 2007, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics [Book at an advanced
undergraduate or beginning graduate student level for mathematically inclined students who already have
some introduction to continuum mechanics, e.g., at the level of understanding the origins of the stress tensor
concept and the equations of motion for a continuum. Good treatments of that level of static elasticity and
elastodynamics, viscous fluid dynamics and boundary layers, and gravity waves in inviscid fluids.]
fluids:
Hunter Rouse, Elementary Mechanics of Fluids, 1946, John Wiley and Sons., reprinted in Dover paperback
edition, 1978. [This is a classic, available at a very modest price -- so should be part of your personal
collection!. Elementary introduction to fluid mechanics, with instructive photographs of real flows. Excellent
treatment of such course topics as Bernoulli equation, open channel flows and hydraulic jumps, and
turbulence, boundary layers and drag at walls.]
Andrew R. Paterson, A First Course in Fluid Dynamics, 1983, Cambridge. [Complementary to the books by
Rouse, and to that by Middleton and Wilcock, which tend to emphasize other aspects of the subject; also, at a
modestly more advanced mathematical level. Chapter 13 discusses small amplitude, linearized, water waves,
and Chapter 15 discusses nonlinear aspects of surface waves in channels and hydraulic jumps.]
Frank M. White, Fluid Mechanics, Fourth Edition, 1999, McGraw-Hill. [Introductory book on fluid mechanics.
Well written, with broad coverage intended to suit the needs of beginning students in all areas of engineering,
mechanical, chemical, civil, environmental, etc.]
Stephen Whitaker, Introduction to Fluid Mechanics, 1968, Prentice Hall, reissued 1981 w/ corrections, Krieger
Publ. Co., Malabar. [Good, rigorous introduction to fluid mechanics, more or less aimed at engineering
students, but at a more demanding level than those above. Has good coverage of open channel flows and wall
resistance in turbulent flow.]
D. J. Acheson, Elementary Fluid Dynamics, 1990, Oxford University Press. [Mathematically rigorous but well
written and accessible introduction, covering the classical background in fluid dynamics but touching also on
many emerging ideas, as of 1990, in the subject.]
David Jon Furbish, Fluid Physics in Geology: An Introduction to Fluid Motions on Earth's Surface and within its
Crust, 1997, Oxford Univ. Press. [Good coverage of nearly all fluid topics in its domain, including thermal
and diffusive processes, and good introduction to turbulence, but no treatment of hydraulic jump and bed
resistance in open channel flows, or of gravity waves except at long wavelength.]
Bernard LeMehaute, An Introduction to Hydrodynamics and Water Waves, 1976, Springer-Verlag, N.Y.
[Coverage of elementary turbulence concepts and application to open channel, and pipe, flows. Also,
extented introduction to water waves, including nonlinear shallow wave problems.]
R. J. Garde, Turbulent Flow, 1994, John Wiley & Sons. [Elementary coverage of turbulence with special focus
on open channel flows, at next level to coverage in standard books for a first course in fluid mechanics.]
George K. Batchelor, An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics, 1967, Cambridge Univ. Press. [Considered a classic
as an advanced introduction to fluid dynamics at the graduate level -- although in the interest of thoroughness
with what is covered, some important topics are not covered, notably turbulence.]
Pijush K. Kundu and Ira M. Cohen, Fluid Mechanics, 2nd edition, 2002, Academic Press. [Introduction to fluid
dynamics at a graduate level; broad coverage of engineering and geophysical topics. This and Batchelor make
a good pair, with somewhat complementary coverage.]
solids:
Stephen H. Crandall, Norman F. Dahl and Thomas J. Lardner, An Introduction to the Mechanics of Solids, 1978,
2nd edition, McGraw-Hill. [Good introductory book on the mechanics of solids and structures, with
mechanical and civil engineering focus.]
R. O. Davis and A. P. Selvadurai, Elasticity and Geomechanics, 1996, Cambridge Univ. Press, and Plasticity
and Geomechanics, 2002, Cambridge Univ. Press. [This pair of books makes for an accessible introduction to
solid mechanics at the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level, with focus on topics of interest
for civil engineering geomechanics.]
Rowland Richards, Jr., Principles of Solid Mechanics, 2001, CRC Press. [Introduction at advanced
undergraduate or beginning graduate level; some emphasis on topics of interest for geomechanics.]
Stefan Timoshenko and J. Norman Goodier, Theory of Elasticity, 1951, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill. [Classic
introduction to elasticity, at advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level.]
L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifschitz (trans. J. B. Sykes and W. S. Reid): Theory of Elasticity, 1959,
Pergamon/Addison Wesley, 1959. [Limited presentation of fundamentals of stress and strain, but otherwise
excellent presentation of elasticity theory at an advanced level, with tasteful choice of topics.]
Fluid dynamics for earth and environment, including sediment transport (see also continuum mechanics
Tien Hsing Wu, Soil Mechanics, 2nd edition, Allyn and Bacon, 1976. [Book on soil mechanics with good
treatment of soil formation, properties of clay, and soil-water interaction, plus consolidation and strength
topics.]
James K. Mitchell and Kenichi Soga, Fundamentals of Soil Behavior, 3rd edition, John Wiley and Sons, 2005
(earlier edition: James K. Mitchell, 2nd edition, John Wiley and Sons, 1993). [Also good treatment of soil
formation, properties of clay, and soil-water interaction.]
Robert D. Holtz and William D. Kovacs, Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering, Prentice-Hall, 1981.
David Muir Wood, Soil Behaviour and Critical State Soil Mechanics, 1990, Cambridge University Press. [Good
modern presentation of soil mechanics, largely organized around critical state theory. More limited general
coverage of field.]
John Atkinson, An Introduction to The Mechanics of Soils and Foundations through Critical State Soil
Mechanics, 1993, McGraw-Hill International Limited. [Presentation of soil mechanics organized around
critical state theory. Useful for that aspect.]
Kenji Ishihara, Soil Behavior in Earthquake Geotechnics, Oxford University Press, 1996. [Good for soil
dynamics.]
Steven L. Kramer, Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, Prentice Hall, 1996. [Also good for soil dynamics.]
Richard M. Iverson, Mark E. Reid and Richard G. LaHusen, Debris-flow mobilization from landslides, 1997, in
Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, vol.25, pp.85-138. [Good review article; the mechanics of
debris flows is not well covered in existing textbooks, beyond simple Bingham-like models.]
G. Lorenzini and N. Mazza, Debris Flow Phenomenology and Rheological Modelling, 2004, WIT Press.
Daniel Hillel, Fundamentals of Soil Physics, 1980, Academic Press (reissued and expanded as Environmental
Soil Physics, 1998, Academic Press). [Clearly written book on soil-water interactions, with generally precise
derivations of basic equations, especially for unsaturated conditions of interest for agriculture and soil/plant
interface, and for evaporation and infiltration.]
T. J. Marshall, J. W. Holmes and C. W. Rose, Soil Physics, 1996, 3rd edition, Cambridge Univ. Press.
John C. Jaeger, Neville G. W. Cook, and Robert W. Zimmerman, Fundamentals of Rock Mechanics, 4th ed.,
2007, Blackwell Publishing Co. (earlier edition: John C. Jaeger and Neville G. W. Cook, Fundamentals of
Rock Mechanics, 3rd edition, 1979, Chapman and Hall)
Yves Gueguen and Victor Palciauskas, Introduction to the Physics of Rocks, 1994, Princeton University Press.
[Coverage of porous media and fluid interactions in Chp. 2, elements of stress and strain in solids in Chp. 4,
fluid circulation in Chp. 5, and poroelastic response in Chp. 6.]
Yves Gueguen and Maurice Bouteca, editors, Mechanics of Fluid-Saturated Rocks, 2004, International
Geophysics Series, Volume 89, Elsevier Academic Press [Good modern review on rock deformation and its
interaction with an infiltrating pore fluid. Chp. 1 provides an excellent introduction to poroelasticity. Chp. 5
surveys the mechanics of deformation localization into shear bands.]
Herbert F. Wang, Theory of Linear Poroelasticity with Applications to Geomechanics and Hydrogeology, 2000,
Princeton Univ. Press. [Introduction to theory of poroelasticity (if restricted to the linear range only) and its
many applications in the earth and environmental sciences.]
Olivier Coussy, Poromechanics, 2004, Wiley. [A rigorously developed advanced treatment of the elastic and
inelastic mechanics of fluid-infiltrated solids; more successful than his earlier book (listed next) in terms of
clarity and relation to applications.]
Olivier Coussy, Mechanics of Porous Continua, 1995, transl. by F. Ulm, John Wiley & Son Ltd. [Advanced
treatment, but may be found overly formal by some, and a bit divorced from applications.]
Musharraf Zaman, Giancarlo Gioda and John Booker (eds.), Modeling in Geomechanics, 2000, John Wiley &
Sons, Ltd. [Brief chapters summarizing a broad selection of advanced topics in geomechanics.]
Roland W. Lewis and Bernard A. Schrefler, The Finite Element Method in the Static and Dynamic Deformation
and Consolidation of Porous Media, 2nd Edition, 1999, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
O. C. Zienkiewicz, A. H. C. Chan, M. Pastor, B. A. Schrefler, and T. Shiomi, Computational Geomechanics with
Special Reference to Earthquake Engineering, 1999, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Seth Stein and Michael Wysession, An Introduction to Seismology, Earthquakes, and Earth Structure, 2003,
Blackwell Publishing. [Excellent introduction to seismology and earthquake science, accessible to advanced
undergraduates.]
Thorne Lay and Terrence E. Wallace, Modern Global Seismology, 1995, Academic Press.
Keitti Aki and Paul Richards: Quantitative Seismology (two volumes), 1980, W. Freeman. [Leading advanced
book in its field.]
Committee on the Science of Earthquakes, National Research Council, Living on an Active Earth: Perspectives
on Earthquake Science, 2003, National Academies Press.
David D. Pollard and Raymond C. Fletcher, Fundamentals of Structural Geology, 2005, Cambridge University
Press. [Thorough coverage of basic solid mechanics for geology, especially elasticity and fracture
mechanics.]
Arvid M. Johnson, Physical processes in geology: A method for interpretation of natural phenomena; intrusions
in igneous rocks, fractures, and folds, flow of debris and ice, 1970, Freeman. [Pioneering book on applying
continuum mechanics in geology.]
P. Vallabh Sharma, Environmental and Engineering Geophysics, 1997, Cambridge University Press.
W. S. B. Paterson, The Physics of Glaciers, 3rd edition 1994, 4th edition 2001, Butterworth-Heinemann.
Roger LeB. Hooke, Principles of Glacier Mechanics, 2nd edition, 2005, Cambridge Univ. Press.
P. A. Shumskii, Principles of Structural Glaciology, transl. from Russian by D. Kraus, 1964, Dover
Publications, New York.
Some related essays or history:
David McCullough, The Path Between the Seas: The creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914, 1977, Simon
and Schuster.
John McPhee, The Control of Nature, 1989, Farrar Straus & Giroux (paperback 1990, Noonday Press).
[Collection of essays, including two-part series from 26 September and 3 October 1988 issues of New Yorker
entitled "Los Angeles Against the Mountains".]
Ernest Zebrowski, Jr., Perils of a Restless Planet: Scientific perspectives on natural disasters, 1997, Cambridge
University Press. [Engaging discussion of natural hazards and dealing with risk, with some emphasis on
underlying physics.]
John M. Barry, Rising Tide: The great Mississippi flood of 1927 and how it changed America, 1997, Simon and
Schuster. [Insights on attempts to alter the Mississippi and control its flooding, interwoven with a study of
politics and culture of the American south.]
Kenneth S. Deffeyes, Hubbert's Peak: The impending world oil shortage, 2001, Princeton Univ. Press.
Simon Winchester, Krakatoa: The day the world exploded: August 27, 1883, 2003, Viking/Penguin Books Ltd.
And and HarperCollins.
Simon Winchester, A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the great California earthquake of 1906.
2005, HarperCollins.
Mariana Gosnell, Ice: The nature, the history and the uses of an astonishing substance, 2005, Alfred A. Knopf.