Advances in Geoengineering, Geotechnologies, and Geoenvironment for Earth Systems and Sustainable Georesources Management

Book excerpt: This book comprises the peer-reviewed proceedings of the 1st Conference on Georesources, Geomaterials, Geotechnologies and Geoenvironment (4GEO), Porto, Portugal, on November 7–8, 2019. The book interests all researchers, practitioners, and students in engineering geosciences, geotechnics, georesources, materials engineering, and earth and environmental sciences. Georesources, geomaterials, geotechnologies, and geoenvironment are very topical subjects and therefore deserve a deeper reflection by academia, practitioners, and society. That approach is vital to a correct sustainable resource management and an engineering design with nature within a geoethical framework. Georesources, understood as geological, hydrological and energetic resources are greatly important to society. Minerals, rocks, and water are resources that, over time, have assumed an important role in the technological development of communities. Given the increase in population and the increasing needs and intensification of their use, it is very important to ensure their sustainable management. Geomaterials are functional geological materials artificially processed for the generality of the activities developed by societies. The functional geomaterials may include rock, clay, granular materials, treated soils, and industrial waste. Geotechnologies are a very important tool for decision-making, supporting the collection, mapping, processing, and analysis of data with geographical information systems and other geo-techniques used in the most diverse fields, including to support the monitoring and prediction of geohazards. The geoenvironment is a transversal field that identifies continuous earth changes and to find solutions to the resulting socioeconomic and environmental changes. Climate change, industrialization, and anthropic activity are, among others, factors of pressure and alteration of the natural environment, so minimizing impacts and emerging hazards and risks. Main topics include: 1. Geomaterials, Geotechnics, and Georesources2. Geotechnologies, Engineering Geosciences, and Geohazards3. Geoenvironment, Water, and Climate Change