GeoSciences PhD thesis and dissertation collection
Recent Submissions
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Invasive alien species in urbanised marine environments: management applications of natural and manipulated salinity stress
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-12-16)The development of the world’s oceans is not only changing the physical appearance of our coastlines, but also the marine communities that inhabit them. Increasing human activity in the seas has contributed to the spread ... -
Systematics, biomechanics and ecology of mammals of the Kilmaluag Formation (Jurassic) of Scotland
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-01-20)The Middle Jurassic was a pivotal time in the macroevolution of mammals. The earliest mammaliaform branches flourished alongside non-mammalian cynodonts (tritylodontids) and the first crown group mammals. Recent fossil ... -
Advanced techniques for subsurface imaging Bayesian neural networks and Marchenko methods
(The University of Edinburgh, 2020-01-23)Estimation of material properties such as density and velocity of the Earth’s subsurface are important in resource exploration, waste and CO2 storage and for monitoring changes underground. These properties can be used ... -
Impacts of anthropogenic aerosols on air quality, climate, and extremes
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-12)Anthropogenic aerosols have significant impacts on global air quality and climate. However, there are still major uncertainties in our understanding of their characteristics and effects, particularly the mechanisms through ... -
Separating polar ionospheric and lithospheric magnetic signals in satellite data
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-12-09)Both the interior of the Earth and near-Earth space contain a variety of interacting magnetic field sources, which together make up the “geomagnetic field”. When a magnetic field measurement is made, either on Earth or ... -
Regimes of land dispossession, crisis, and uneven development on Crete’s contested edge
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-12-10)By examining the political economy of two ongoing investments in land on Eastern Crete’s area of Sitía, this thesis contributes intellectually to the research fields of the geographies of the crisis in Europe and the ... -
Taxonomy, systematics and ecomorphological diversity of Teleosauroidea (Crocodylomorpha, Thalattosuchia), and the evaluation of the genus ‘Steneosaurus’
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-12-10)Teleosauroidea represented an extraordinary group of crocodylomorphs that thrived in predominately shallow marine environments during the Mesozoic Era. While they have previously been considered as ‘marine gharials’ of ... -
Applying financial risk approaches to the challenge of assessing natural disturbance risks to forests
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-26)The commercial forest sector manages a significant proportion of the global forest resource, just under a third being classified as ‘production forest’. This sector faces a number of threats, including those from natural ... -
Deep and intermediate water mass history of the Western Indian Ocean
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-07-03)This research focuses on reconstructing the history of various oceanic conditions, ranging from surface to deep layers, in the Western Indian Ocean over the last glacial cycle. A new data set is presented, composed of ... -
Identifying the vulnerable forests of Southeast Asia, and transforming them into a conservation and climate change mitigation priority
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-26)Facing the threat of climate change, preventing land use change in tropical forest areas has been identified as one of the main strategies to reduce carbon emissions to the atmosphere. However, the rate of tropical forest ... -
Social-ecological drivers of tree growth and diversity: interdisciplinary learning with smallholder carbon agroforestry schemes in Mexico, Uganda and Mozambique
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-26)Achieving sustainable landscapes is one of our greatest challenges, not least in the tropics in which almost half of the world’s people live, many of whom experience high levels of poverty. Yet land use policy interventions ... -
Fire trace: plans and practices of conservation and development in Belize's coastal savanna, 1920 to present
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-26)This thesis examines the past century of wildfire management of the coastal pine savanna in Belize. Combining political ecology with historical geography, it draws on archival evidence, interviews, and ethnographic enquiry ... -
Analysing mangrove forest structure and biomass in the Niger Delta
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-26)Mangrove forests are important in providing a range of ecosystem services, including food provision to local communities and carbon storage, while being globally restricted to tropical coastlines. The conservation and ... -
Role of participation in collective capability development at the grassroots level: the case of an emergent indigenous NGO in southern Chile
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-26)The links between individual and collective levels in the CA, and its relevance for the expansion of human capabilities and well-being, remain as one of the most relevant knowledge gaps across the empirical and theoretical ... -
Understanding socio-economic and environmental impacts of large scale land acquisitions in Zambia: a case study of Nansanga farm block
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-26)The surge in large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) in the global south has captured the attention of activists, development practitioners, policy makers and academics. Whilst proponents of LSLAs speak of opportunities ... -
Rock physics theory and analysis for fractured carbonate reservoirs
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-26)The analysis of a geological reservoir's elastic and electrical properties forms the cornerstone of geophysical reservoir characterisation. These properties are significantly influenced by a reservoir's pore and fracture ... -
Examination of the factors which influence farmers’ intentions towards the implementation of nutrient management planning
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-26)Nutrients such as Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K) and other micronutrients such as such as magnesium, manganese and cobalt, are essential for the continued growth of global agricultural production. ... -
Rock physics in four dimensions
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-26)The measurement of the seismic velocity of a medium is fundamental to many applications in geoscience and engineering. Examples include the monitoring of: ice sheet melting, the health of concrete structures, temperature ... -
Precision livestock farming: potential application for sheep systems in harsh environments
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-26)Scottish hill sheep systems are comparable to other extensive sheep systems in harsh environments around the world. They face a number of difficulties, including low productivity, poor economic viability, labour availability ... -
Experimental and numerical investigations of geomechanical controls on petrophysical changes of carbonates during fluid flow
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-26)In flooding experiments, porosity and permeability of carbonate rocks is enhanced through the dissolution of the rock matrix, which further increase the permeability as well as the inter-connection of the pre-existing ...
