Landforming: An Environmental Approach to Hillside Development, Mine Reclamation and Watershed Restoration - Hardcover

Schor, Horst J.; Gray, Donald H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471721794 ISBN 13: 9780471721796

Verlag: Wiley, 2007

Inhaltsangabe

The first hands-on instruction guide to landform grading and revegetation
 
Landform grading provides a cost-effective, attractive, and environmentally compatible way to construct slopes and other landforms that are stable and that blend in with the natural surroundings. Landform grading design and construction technology have advanced rapidly during the past decade, and this book explains the technique, its uses, its various applications, and its significant advantages. 

Landforming: An Environmental Approach to Hillside Development, Mine Reclamation and Watershed Restoration, presents the first comprehensive and practical guidebook to the innovative techniques of landform grading and revegetation.

Citing numerous practical applications in such areas as hillside housing developments, mass grading operations, surface mining and watershed reclamation projects, the authors--one an internationally recognized instructor and the other an engineer with over thirty years of practical experience in the field--have teamed up to provide valuable information on:   

• The aesthetic and ecological benefits of landform grading and revegetation
• Analyses that demonstrate the stability of landform designed slopes
• Real-world design/construction procedures
• Construction in both upland slope areas and in stream corridors
• Analytical procedures and design aids to assist implementation
• Well documented and comprehensive case studies of actual projects

Written in straightforward language and liberally illustrated with informative photographs and schematic drawings, the text should prove of value to practicing professionals in such diverse fields as land planning, civil  and geotechnical engineering, landscape architecture, and geology as well as to personnel in a variety of local, state and federal regulatory agencies and environmental interest groups.

HORST J. SCHOR is the originator of the Landforming and Revegetation Concept and is Principal of H.J. Schor Consulting. He has developed landform grading designs that have been implemented in a variety of hillside grading and mining reclamation projects for a diverse list of clients. He has been a guest lecturer at The University of Wisconsin-Madison, The University of Dresden, Germany and The University of California at Irvine.

DONALD H. GRAY, PHD, is Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The University of Michigan. In addition to speaking and teaching internationally, he has co-authored three books on subjects related geotechnical engineering and biotechnical slope protection.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Horst J. Schor is the originator o the Landforming and Revegetation Concept and is Principal of H. J. Schor Consulting. He has developed landform grading designs that have been implemented in a variety of hillside grading and mining reclamation projects for a diverse list of clients. He has been a guest lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dresden University of Technology, Germany, and the University of California, Irvine.

Donald H. Gray, PHD, is Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan. In addition to speaking and teaching internationally, he has coauthored three books on subjects related geotechnical engineering and biotechnical slope protection.

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THE FIRST AHDSN-ON INSTRUCTION GUIDE TO LANDFORM GRADING AND REVEGETATION.

Landform grading provides a cost-effective, attractive, and environmentally compatible way to construct slopes and other landforms that are stable and blend in with the natural surroundings. landforms that are stable and blend in with the natural surroundings. Landform grading design and construction technology have advanced rapidly during the past decade, and this book explains the technique, its uses, its various applications, and its significant advantages.

Landforming: An Environmental Approach to Hillside Development, Mine Reclamation and Watershed Restoration presents the first comprehensive and practical guidebook to the innovative techniques of landform grading and revegetation.

Citing numerous practical applications in such areas as hillside housing developments, mass grading operations, and surface mining and watershed reclamation projects, the authors-one an internationally recognized instructor and the other an engineer with over thirty years of practical experience in the field-have teamed up to provide valuable information on:

• The aesthetic and ecological benefits of landform grading and revegetation
• Analyses that demonstrate the stability of landform designed slopes
• real-World design/Construction procedures
• Construction in both upland slope areas and in stream corridors
• Analytical procedures and design aids to assist implementation
• Well-documented and comprehensive case studies of actual projects

Written in straightforward language and liberally illustrated with informative photographs and schematic drawings, the text should prove of value to practicing professionals in such diverse fields as land planning, civil and geotechnical engineering, landscape architecture, and geology as well as to personnel in a variety of local, sate, and federal regulatory agencies and environmental interest groups.

Landform grading provides a cost-effective, attractive, and environmentally compatible way to construct slopes and other landforms that are stable and blend in with the natural surroundings. landforms that are stable and blend in with the natural surroundings. Landform grading design and construction technology have advanced rapidly during the past decade, and this book explains the technique, its uses, its various applications, and its significant advantages.

Landforming: An Environmental Approach to Hillside Development, Mine Reclamation and Watershed Restoration presents the first comprehensive and practical guidebook to the innovative techniques of landform grading and revegetation.

Citing numerous practical applications in such areas as hillside housing developments, mass grading operations, and surface mining and watershed reclamation projects, the authors-one an internationally recognized instructor and the other an engineer with over thirty years of practical experience in the field-have teamed up to provide valuable information on:

• The aesthetic and ecological benefits of landform grading and revegetation
• Analyses that demonstrate the stability of landform designed slopes
• real-World design/Construction procedures
• Construction in both upland slope areas and in stream corridors
• Analytical procedures and design aids to assist implementation
• Well-documented and comprehensive case studies of actual projects

Written in straightforward language and liberally illustrated with informative photographs and schematic drawings, the text should prove of value to practicing professionals in such diverse fields as land planning, civil and geotechnical engineering, landscape architecture, and geology as well as to personnel in a variety of local, sate, and federal regulatory agencies and environmental interest groups.

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Landforming

An Environmental Approach to Hillside Development, Mine Reclamation and Watershed RestorationBy Horst J. Schor

John Wiley & Sons

Copyright © 2007 Horst J. Schor
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-471-72179-6

Chapter One

Introduction to Landform Grading and Revegetation

A great number of picture books have been compiled to show people that nature is beautiful. But the type of beauty stressed in those books is, in my opinion, the superficial kind of beauty of form evaluated solely as ornament without consideration of function and purpose. Nature is never beautiful in this sense. If things in nature are beautiful, their beauty is not superficial but the resultant form of definite purpose. In the main nature is practical-much more so than man. Its forms are functional forms derived from necessity. And precisely because in the best sense of the word they are functional, these forms are beautiful. Andreas Feininger, The Anatomy of Nature (1956)

1.1 FORM AND FUNCTION IN NATURE

Performance, efficiency, and functionality are generally regarded as important goals or aspects of engineering or physical design. These are goals that tend to have well understood metrics and criteria. What about the role of beauty, aesthetics, and visual impact in design? Are these merely secondary considerations of much less importance? How can they be factored into a cost-benefit analysis, a performance evaluation, or an energy-efficiency audit? Are they considerations that a design engineer or even an earthwork contractor should be concerned about?

It would be a mistake, however, to disregard these more abstract goals in design. Humans have displayed an ageless desire for beauty that transcends simple functionality, as evidenced by our arts, crafts, architecture, and by many of our engineering structures. Greek vases, the cathedral at Chartres in France, and the Golden Gate Bridge in California are all expressions of this impulse.

Perhaps there is greater congruence between beauty and functionality than at first meets the eye. Suppose we substitute for the word "beauty" the word "form," which is an attribute or component of beauty. Form is much less subjective and more amenable to useful description. Form is also a critical component or aspect of the natural world. Form shows up everywhere in nature ... in organic structures-whether flora or fauna. Form also shows up in nonorganic entities, ranging from mega structures, such as glaciated landscapes to fourth order, glaciated landforms-such as eskers, drumlins, and moraines.

Most people would agree that natural forms are attractive and beautiful. The question is why? In the absence of some supernatural force or directive, why should nature care about beauty? In fact, nature seems to be quite ruthless; forms that are not efficient and essential for survival tend to be discarded. Evolution works to optimize efficient design and functionality. We have a great deal to learn from nature in this regard.

The intimate connection between form and function in nature is discussed at length by Feininger (1956, 1976), who describes multiple examples from the natural world-both animate and inanimate. Superior natural forms exhibit certain intrinsic properties such as clarity of organization, economy of material, symmetry of shape, and perfection of execution among others. Feininger maintains that everything in nature is designed for a purpose and that nature achieves aesthetically pleasing designs in the process. In other words, beauty is intrinsic to the very purposefulness of design in the natural world.

The concept of form following function is clearly manifest in the case of geomorphic forms. Consider the evolution of streams and upland slopes. Streams are required to transport both water and sediment. Their equilibrium profiles tend toward concave shapes over time in order to achieve this purpose as efficiently as possible; that is, gradients are steeper in the headwater region and flatten out gradually toward the mouth. Their plan forms may be sinuous or braided, depending upon the gradient and flow (discharge) at any particular point.

Slopes, likewise, transport sediment and water; in so doing, they tend toward equilibrium profiles over time. The processes in this case are more complex. Terrestrial landscapes and landforms consisting of hills and upland slopes (including valley sides) are acted upon primarily by "diffusive" and "fluvial" processes, respectively. Diffusive processes include slope wash and creep. Fluvial processes, on the other hand, are characterized by pronounced incision and formation of channels-e.g., gullying and stream-channel erosion. These processes and the resulting landform shapes are discussed in greater detail in Chapters 4 and 5. The important point to observe in the case of either stream or slope development is the presence of curvilinear shapes, compound slope forms, and general absence of planar, unvarying slope gradients.

Finally, it is important to note that beauty as a design component can be considered a "value-added" type that can provide economic as well as aesthetic benefits. This value-added component may allow easier regulatory approval, higher market value, lower maintenance and repair costs, and greater client satisfaction. It should be no surprise, therefore, that this book is titled Landforming, which attempts to replicate stable, natural landforms and by association their inherent beauty.

1.2 HUMAN IMPACT ON LANDFORMS

Humans have modified the surface of the earth for centuries, extracting minerals, for agricultural purposes and for urban development. In the process of this alteration, artificial landforms have been created that often bear little resemblance to natural landforms and topography. Haigh (1978) claims that humans have become an important geomorphic agent and that a large percentage of the earth's landforms are man-made and artificial (anthropogenic).

This landform alteration, or reshaping process, has largely been conceived by what might be called the "linear perspective." This perspective tends to substitute natural landforms, which are characterized by complex shapes, with much simpler landforms, characterized by planar surfaces with single, unvarying gradients. The "linear perspective," and the grading practices that derive from it, are driven to some extent by economic factors and expediency. The long-term stability and environmental impact of such grading practices have generally not been taken into account.

The prevalence of the linear perspective in conventional grading practice is somewhat puzzling. Most people would probably agree that natural landforms are more interesting and pleasing to behold. And yet those in charge of promulgating and promoting modern grading designs have apparently not been troubled by the incongruence and dissonance between natural and most artificial landforms. Numerous geomorphic studies of natural landscapes (Hack and Goodlett, 1960; Howard, 1988; Roering et al., 1999) have shown, for example, that many soil-mantled hillslopes have compound, curvilinear shapes. Some of these hillsides are not only convex in profile but also in planform. Parsons (1988) recognized that slope units may be planar, concave, or convex in plan, just as they may be in profile. Accordingly, nine possible slope-unit shapes are required for completeness, as shown schematically in Figure 1.1. Where slopes transition into valley networks or convergent parts of the landscape, slope and channel profiles tend to...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Wiley
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2007
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0471721794
• ISBN 13: 9780471721796
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 368
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Wiley-VCH GmbH; product_safety@wiley.com; ; Boschstrasse 12; Weinheim; 69469; Deutschland