Content

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Scope

Background

The scope of the Special Journal of Geology, Ecology, and Climate Change [SJ-GEC] defines the content of what we accept. The topic of climate change cuts across global boundaries making it universally Interesting in both research academics and administrations.  The impact and advances are so obvious that all creatures both plant animal and man echoes the facts that the issue is fast becoming a driving force that shapes the dynamics of policies, economy social lives, and the environment.

Geology

Basics

• Papers within our scope and with details on what geology is, how it similar or different from the other sciences, why we study Earth, mineral, and rocks

• Papers within our scope and with details on the nature of Earth’s interior, plate tectonics, plate boundaries, and how very slow geological processes can have enormous impacts over time

• Papers with details on the nature of atoms and their constituents, particularly the behavior of electrons and the formation of ions including an explanation of bonding within minerals

Mineral lattices

• Papers with details on mineral lattices and elucidate how they influence mineral properties, Categorize minerals into groups based on their compositions and describe a silica tetrahedron and the ways in which tetrahedra combine to make silicate minerals

• Papers within our scope that Differentiate between ferromagnesian and other silicate minerals, elucidate some of the mechanisms of mineral formation, and describe some of the important properties for identifying minerals
• Papers with details on the rock cycle and the types of processes that lead to the formation of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks, and elucidate why there is an active rock cycle on Earth

• Papers within our scope that  elucidate partial melting and the geological processes that lead to melting, including a description of the range of chemical compositions of magmas, the processes that take place during the cooling and crystallization of magma, and the typical order of crystallization according to the Bowen reaction series

Magma composition

• Papers that elucidate how magma composition can be changed by fractional crystallization and partial melting of the surrounding rocks, including how to apply the criteria for igneous rock classification based on mineral proportions

Phaneritic, porphyritic, and pegmatitic textures

• Popes with details on the origins of phaneritic, porphyritic, and pegmatitic textures and Identify plutons on the basis of their morphology and their relationships to the surrounding rocks and elucidate the origin of a chilled margin

• Papers within our scope that elucidate the relationships between plate tectonics, the formation of magma, and volcanism with emphasis on the range of magma compositions formed in differing tectonic environments, and   the relationship between magma composition (and gas content) and eruption style

Geological and eruption-style

• Papers within our scope that elucidate the geological and eruption-style differences between different types of volcanoes, especially shield volcanoes, composite volcanoes, and cinder cones with emphasis on types of hazards posed to people and to infrastructure by the different types of volcanic eruptions

The behavior of volcanic eruption

• Papers within our scope and with details the behaviors that we can expect to observe when a volcano is ready to erupt, and the techniques that we can use to monitor those behaviors and predict eruptions including types of volcanoes that have erupted and the characteristics of some of those eruptions

Cobbles, pebbles, sand, silt, and clay

• Papers within our scope that shows the differences between cobbles, pebbles, sand, silt, and clay and elucidate the relationship between clast size and the extent to which clasts can be transported by moving water or by wind

• Papers within our scope and with details on the characteristics of the various types of clastic sedimentary rock, including the significance of differences in the composition of sandstones including the differences in the characteristics and depositional environments of various types of chemical sedimentary rocks

Sedimentary depositional environments

• Papers that differentiate between various sedimentary depositional environments in both terrestrial and marine environments, and elucidate how the formation of sedimentary basins can be related to plate tectonic processes

• Papers within our scope that shows how to interpret past depositional environments and climates
• Using the features of sedimentary rocks, including grain characteristics, sedimentary structures, and fossils, and also to elucidate the importance of and differences between groups, formations, and members

Nature of metamorphic rocks

• Papers within our scope and with details on the factors that influence the nature of metamorphic rocks and elucidate why each one is important and the mechanisms for the formation of foliation in metamorphic rocks

• Papers that Classify metamorphic rocks on the basis of their texture and mineral content, and elucidate the origins of these differences including the various settings in which metamorphic rocks are formed, and elucidate the links between plate tectonics and metamorphism

• Papers within our scope on the important processes of regional metamorphism, and elucidate how rocks that were metamorphosed at depths of 10 km or 20 km can now be found on Earth’s surface including contact metamorphism, metasomatism, and elucidate the key role hydrothermal fluids
• Papers within our scope that uses basic geological principles to the determination of the relative ages of rocks

Age-dating techniques, History of the geological time scale

• elucidate the difference between relative and absolute age-dating techniques, the history of the geological time scale and the relationships between eons, eras, periods, and epochs

• Papers within our scope on the importance and significance of unconformities, that estimate the age of a rock based on the fossils that it contains, with details on applications and limitations of isotopic techniques for geological dating, and which use isotopic data to estimate the age of a rock

• Papers within our scope with details on the techniques for dating geological materials using tree rings and magnetic data as well as elucidate why the knowledge of geological time is critical to both geologists and the public in general

• Papers that elucidate the variations in the composition and characteristics of Earth’s different layers and
• Compare the characteristics and behavior of the two types of seismic body waves

Seismic-wave velocity

• Papers within our scope that deals with the variations in seismic-wave velocity as a function of rock type and temperature and pressure conditions including a description of the ways that seismic data can be used to understand planetary interiors
• Papers within our scope with details on the temperature variations within Earth and their implications for internal processes such as mantle convection as well as elucidate the origins of Earth’s magnetic field and the timing of magnetic field reversals including the isostatic relationship between the crust and the mantle, and the implications of that relationship for geological processes on Earth

Early evidence for continental drift

• Papers within our scope on the early evidence for continental drift and Alfred Wegener’s role in promoting this theory and which elucidate some of the other models that were used early in the 20th century to understand global geological features

• Papers within our scope with details on the numerous geological advances that provided the basis for understanding the mechanisms of plate tectonics and the evidence that plates have moved and lithosphere is created and destroyed

Seven major plates

• Papers within our scope that list the seven major plates, their extents, and their direction of motion, and identify the types of boundaries between them including the geological processes that take place at divergent and convergent plate boundaries, and elucidate why transform faults exist
• Papers that elucidate how supercontinents form and how they break apart and describe the mechanisms for plate movement

• Papers within our scope and with details on the types of stresses that exist within the Earth’s crust elucidate how rocks respond to those stresses by brittle, elastic, or plastic deformation, or by fracturing and highlights how rocks become folded and know the terms used to describe the features of folds

• Papers within our scope and with details on the conditions under which rocks fracture, the different types of faults, including normal, reverse, thrust, and strike-slip, the strike, and dip of a geological feature, and plot strike and dip information on a map

The hydrological cycle

• Papers within our scope that elucidate the hydrological cycle and its relevance to streams and what residence time means in this context, describe a drainage basin and elucidate the origins of different types of drainage patterns and elucidate how streams become graded and how certain geological and anthropogenic changes can result in a stream losing its gradation

• Papers within our scope and with details on the formation of stream terraces, describe the processes by which sediments are moved by streams and the flow velocities that are necessary to erode them from the stream bed and keep them suspended in the water, elucidate the origins of natural stream levees and describe the process of stream evolution and the types of environments where one would expect to find straight-channel, braided, and meandering streams

• Papers within our scope with details on the annual flow characteristics of typical streams and the processes that lead to flooding, describe some of the important historical floods on earth, determine the probability of a flood of a particular size based on the flood history of a stream and elucidate some of the steps that we can take to limit the damage from flooding

Concepts of porosity and permeability

• Papers within our scope that elucidate the concepts of porosity and permeability and the importance of these to groundwater storage and movement, describe the relative porosities and permeabilities of some common geological materials, define aquifers, aquitards, confining layers, and the differences between confined and unconfined aquifers and elucidate the concepts of hydraulic head, the water table, potentiometric surface, and hydraulic gradient, and apply the Darcy equation for estimating groundwater flow

• Papers with details on the flow of groundwater from recharge areas to discharge areas

Groundwater flow in karst systems

• Describe the nature of groundwater flow in karst systems, elucidate how wells are used to extract groundwater and the implications of over-pumping a well including how observation wells are used to monitor groundwater levels and the importance of protecting groundwater resources

• Papers that distinguish between natural and anthropogenic contamination of groundwater and describe some of the ways that groundwater can become contaminated, and how contamination can be minimized

The strength of materials on slopes

• Papers that outlines some of the factors that influence the strength of materials on slopes, including type of rock, presence and orientation of planes of weakness such as bedding or fractures, type of unconsolidated material, and the effects of water

• Papers that elucidate what types of events can trigger mass wasting, the types of motion that can happen during mass wasting, describe the main types of mass wasting — creep, slump, translational slide, rotational slide, fall, and debris flow or mudflow — in terms of the types of materials involved, the type of motion, and the likely rates of motion and elucidate what steps we can take to delay mass wasting, and why we cannot prevent it permanently, as well as outline some of the measures that can be taken to mitigate the risks associated with mass wasting

Timing and extent of Earth’s past glaciations,

• Papers with details on the timing and extent of Earth’s past glaciations, going as far back as the early Proterozoic, the important geological events that led up to the Pleistocene glaciations and how the Milankovitch orbital variations along with positive feedback mechanisms have controlled the timing of those glaciations as well as the differences between continental and alpine glaciation

• Papers with details on how snow and ice accumulate above the equilibrium line and are converted to ice as well as to elucidate how basal sliding and internal flow facilitate the movement of ice from the upper part to the lower part of a glacier

• Papers with details on and identify the various landforms related to alpine glacial erosion, including U-shaped valleys, arêtes, cols, horns, hanging valleys, truncated spurs, drumlins, Roches moutonées, glacial grooves, and striae as well as identify various types of glacial lakes, including tarns, finger lakes, moraine lakes, and kettle lakes including the nature and origins of lodgement till, ablation till, and glaciofluvial, glaciolacustrine, and glaciomarine sediments

Formation and the important features of waves

• Papers on the factors that control wave formation and the important features of waves
• elucidate how water is disturbed beneath a wave, and how that affects the behaviour of waves as they approach the shore

• Papers on the origins of longshore currents and longshore drift, why some coasts are more affected by erosion than others and describe the formation of coastal erosional features, including stacks, arches, cliffs, and wave-cut platforms and on the process of coastal straightening

• Papers on the origins of beaches, spits, bay mouth bars, tombolos, and barrier islands
• Describe the origins of carbonate reefs, the various mechanisms of sea-level change (eustatic, isostatic, and tectonic), and the implications for coastal processes as well as the positive and negative implications of human interference with coastal processes

Major topographic features of the seafloor,

• Papers on the origins of the major topographic features of the seafloor, including continental shelves and slopes, spreading ridges, seamount chains, and isolated seamounts, and deep submarine canyons

• Papers on the various components of oceanic crust: pillow basalts, sheeted dykes, gabbro bodies, layered gabbro, and layered ultramafic rock as well as the age distribution of oceanic crust, and elucidate why all of it is relatively young
• Papers on the types of sediments and sedimentary rocks that accumulate on the seafloor, and elucidate why different types of sediment are present in different areas, the origins of sea-floor methane hydrates
• As well as regional variations in the salinity and temperature of ocean water

Nature of major ocean-surface currents

• Papers on the general nature of major ocean-surface currents and the origins of deep-ocean circulation patterns as well as the importance of ocean currents to our climate

• Papers on the properties of greenhouse gases and their role in controlling the climate
• elucidate the difference between climate forcing and climate feedbacks as well as the mechanisms of climate forcing related to solar evolution, continental drift, continental collisions, volcanism, Earth and Sun orbital variations, and changing ocean currents

Significance of albedo to climate

• Papers on the significance of albedo to climate and how the melting of ice or snow and forestry affect albedo, the roles of the melting of permafrost, breakdown of methane hydrates, and temperature-related solubility of CO₂ as positive feedbacks as well as the ways that our extraction and use of fossil fuels contribute to climate change

• Papers on how food production contributes to climate change and the steps that we can take as individuals to limit our personal contribution to climate change

• Papers on the role of climate change in sea-level rise, and why we are already committed to more than a metre of additional sea-level rise, the link between climate change and the distribution of diseases and pests

Importance of geological resources to our way of life

• Papers on the importance of geological resources to our way of life, the types of materials mined and elucidate some of the processes involved in the formation of metal deposits, how a metal deposit is developed into a mine

• Papers on acid rock drainage (ARD) and discuss why some mines can lead to ARD and contamination of the environment by metals, the important industrial materials extracted in Canada, and describe what they are used for including the processes that lead to the formation of coal deposits

Processes that lead to the formation of oil and gas

• Papers that deal with the processes that lead to the formation of oil and gas, the distinction between source rocks and reservoir rocks, and the importance of traps, the origins, and recovery of some of the unconventional fossil fuels, and the origins, discovery, and extraction of diamonds in Canada

• Papers on the depositional environments and types of sedimentary rock that accumulated on the western margin of North America and in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) during the Paleozoic, the extents, geological origins, and migration of the accreted terranes of British Columbia and Yukon and how terrane accretion on the west coast during the Mesozoic contributed to the formation of the Rocky Mountains and how that, in turn, provided the source material for a thick sequence of

Mesozoic sedimentary rock

• Papers on the Mesozoic sedimentary rock in the WCSB, the origins of the Mesozoic intrusive igneous rocks of the Coast Range and other areas within British Columbia, the geological effects of the accretion of the Pacific Rim and Crescent Terranes, the nature of WCSB deposition in the early Cenozoic, the ongoing volcanism and earthquake activity in western Canada, and the general effects of the Pleistocene glaciation in western Canada

• Papers on what happened during the big bang, and elucidate how we know it happened, how clouds of gas floating in space can turn into stars, planets, and solar systems and the types of objects that are present in our solar system, and why they exist where they do

Early stages in Earth’s history

• Papers on the early stages in Earth’s history, including how it developed its layered structure, and where its water and atmosphere came from, how the Moon formed, and how we know, the progress so far in the hunt for habitable-zone planets outside of our solar system and why the planetary systems we have discovered so far raise questions about our model of how the solar system formed

Ecology Scope

Ecology & Oceanography

• Papers with details on the Study of the ‘big picture’ of the environment through ecology or oceanography as a critical part of marine biology
• Papers with answers on how organisms in the marine environment move, get energy, or reproduce?
• Papers on how organisms adapt to the stresses of their environment and how they interact with each other?
• Papers within our scope that examine processes, with details about the physiology of an organism (how does it work?) as well as how that organism is similar to or different from other life in the ocean.
• Papers that advance our understanding of life in the sea, and may even have implications for human health or engineering.

Prevention of animal extinction

• Papers that deal with evidence and facts that will help prevent animal extinction with the hope that we humans can learn what will prevent our own extinction one day.
• Papers showing how over-hunting, fishing deforestation, and other habitat loss will impact species extinction.
• Papers on how the competition of introduced species may lead to the extinction of important species in the universe.
• Papers with evidence showing the extent of damage that humans can do to animal species in the world.
• Papers on the animal world that highlight how they might be assisted to adapt to their habitats vis-à-vis climate change, and to human development activities.

Microbial ecology

• Inter-relationship between microorganisms and their environment
• The ecology of microorganisms in natural and engineered environments
• Genomic, metagenomic, and molecular advances in the understanding of microbial interactions and phylogeny;
• Microbial drivers of biogeochemical processes;
• Inter- and intraspecific microbial communication;
• Ecological studies of animal, plant, and insect microbiology and disease;
• Microbial processes and interactions in extreme or unusual environments;
• Microbial population and community ecology,
• Technological advances that allow us to increase our understanding of microbial diversity and interactions are also welcome.
• Pathogens in the environment
• Microbial determinants of the carbon cycle and aquatic ecosystems
• Phage plasmids and mobile elements in ecology
• Microbial Biofilms in the eco-system
• Soil-microbe interactions and Microbial Evolution
• Host-microbe interactions in the ecosystem
• Aquatic Microbiology, Genes, and Genomes

Ornithological studies

• Papers with detailed ornithological studies about birds, their migration and numbers, evolving patterns of breeding, settling, and about their preferences for environmental conditions including whether the bird is reacting to preferred territory or environmental pressures.
• Papers on factors for birds’ environmental preference which may include but not limited to many elements why birds prefer certain conditions and later adapt to somewhere else: natural evolution,  Or are there other forcing factors such as aggressive competition, invading species or something else?
• Papers dealing with factors for aggressive behavior by other species in an ecosystem which might show the magnitude of environmental change such as response to a previously abundant resource that is suddenly limited due to natural processes such as drought and flood

Environmental pressure on both aquatic and terrestrial life

• Papers dealing with the impact of environmental pressure on both aquatic and terrestrial life which it is supporting with emphasis on whether an observation is a temporary or long-term issue and whether population density is likely to change, when and for how long. Such papers may wish to consider fluctuations that are likely to have a range of causes and these fluctuations are best observed in birds as good predictor’s biodiversity and environmental change.
• Papers that have details on the utilization of animals as a resource with emphasis on their impact on our own cultural and social development just like the impacts of the crops we have cultivated, the livestock we have farmed, and how we have used and shaped the environment and the resources – around us.

Zoo-archaeology

• We want papers that deals with the following questions about the study of animals in relation to humans called zoo-archaeology: which animals were used as resources (eaten, for skin, or for bones); who did the work of hunting, working the bone, skinning, plucking of the animals; what influence does the animals had on culture (diet, whether the animals were considered cultural icons – objects of worship) and what is the prevalence of certain animal species that can tell us about the environment at the time
• We want papers within our scope that deal with utilized birds, the extent to which they were utilized, and how prevalent they were in certain areas per unit time so that the data generated will help us plot an environmental change graph depicting natural and human impacts. A specific example may be to expect to see different bird species in a drained former wetland,

Changing environment and migrations

• Papers that identify the bone structures of birds so as to tell us a lot about the changing environment and migrations in the past so we can better understand modern bird populations, habits, and morphology.
• We want papers on Biological control and with details on the best technique for use of the natural enemies and predators of pests to control damage to crops and this is based in part on knowing the ecology of pests, which is used to understand when and where they are the most vulnerable to their enemies. Such papers on Biological control should alleviate crop damage by insects, saves money, and decreases problem associated with pesticides.

• We want papers that deal with how best many plants and animals can produce chemicals that protect them from predators and diseases with emphasis on how these same chemicals have been synthesized by scientists or harvested from the organism and used to treat human diseases.

General research areas

1. Marine Biogeochemistry
2. Biological Design for Sustainable Development
3. Vertebrate Zoology
4. Biology of Global Change
5. Animal Behavior and symbiosis
6. Biological Design for Sustainable Development
7. Phenotypic Plasticity
8. Behavioral Ecology
9. Population Genetics
10. Forest and Global Ecology

Natural History and Molecular Phylogeny

1. Marine Invertebrates: Natural History and Molecular Phylogeny
2. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
3. Tropical: Montane Ecology; Coastal Ecology; and Rainforest Ecology
4. Quantitative Environmental Modeling
5. Remote Sensing of Environment
6. Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

Global Environmental Policies

1. Global Environmental Policies
2. Remote Sensing of Vegetation
3. Physical Climatology
4. Physical Principles of the Environment
5. Ecological Economics

Climate Change

Careful analysis of any existing disagreement shows that the issue of a disagreement is not in the magnitude and urgency of the problem but on the extent of involvement vis-à-vis annual country budget and fiscal policies.

Special Journal of Climate change seeks to be a hub for climate change research results where experts can have quick access to real-time state of the art information relevant to professional decision making for a better society.

Variability and change –

• Descriptions,
• Causes,
• Types,
• Implications for society,
• economy,
•  policy.
• Impacts on society:  such as water, food, and people’s survival,
• economy and growth,
• policy – implementation, and
• enforcement of policies for acceptance and update in favor of climate change.
• Interactions of global dimension and
• policy-making on climate change, and
• practical approaches to coping with the problems deriving from climate change.

Authors can submit papers in the following areas: 

We will accept and review the original and previously unpublished papers in

• Climate Change Information Communication,
• Global warming,
• Mitigation,
• Adaptation
• Natural variability
• Disasters Planning processes,
• Sustainable development goals and climate change,
• Terrestrial ecosystems,
• El Niño,
• Vectors biology, and ecosystem,
• Changing Disease epidemiology,
• Microevolution,
• Changes in climate systems;
• Impacts of climate change

Greenhouse gas emissions Policy for a Climate policy

We will accept and review the original and previously unpublished papers in

• Climate change research at Global, Regional, Urban, Multi-scale, Polar, and Tropical.
• Climate downscaling
• Climate process and sensitivity studies and
• Climate Dynamics,
• Climate variability (Interpersonal, inter-annual to decadal);
• Feedbacks between local, regional, and global climate change;
• Anthropogenic climate change;
• Climate and monsoon;
• Cloud and precipitation predictions.
• Past, present, and projected climate change;
• Hydro-climate

Interdisciplinary Climate Research

We will accept and review the original and previously unpublished papers in

• Interactions among the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere;
• trace gas-,
• water- and energy-cycles,
• Climate- chemistry interactions;
• Aerosol-cloud-radiation-climate- precipitation feedbacks.
• impact of climate on land cover and land-use changes;
• air quality and pollution;
• short-term extreme events such as heat and cold waves;
• wildfire; water quality and resources;
• ecosystem,  human health, food production, economy;
• society, and on  human lifestyle

Climate Mitigation and Adaptation scope

We will accept and review the original and previously unpublished papers in

• Climate policies and strategies;
• Sustainability and clean energy;
• Energy, fuel, emission, and
• Air pollution

Geoengineering;

The following subtopics are covered that are within our scope

• Policies and strategies for green growth.
• Policies and analyses of carbon markets
• Urban policy and planning;
• vulnerability to adverse climate change.
• adaptation to worldwide climate change;
• air pollution control and moderation approaches

We also hope to get data on the following hot topics

1. Possible alteration of the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, the Pacific, and Arctic ecosystem by climate change
2. The influence of Ocean fronts on biological and physical processes
3. The magnitude of Biodiversity of intertidal food webs in response to global warming
4. Interaction between anthropogenic aerosols and greenhouse warming
5. How global warming hypoxia and acidification threaten marine species
6. World’s energy disparity from human and normal drivers
7. Individual responses to climate change impact long-term societal resilience.
8. Corals inherited traits impacts species survival of environmental change
9. Mountain forest drought can increase evapotranspiration
10. Ozone damage moderation and its impact on the world’s land ecosystems
11. Herbivore vulnerability to ocean warming and acidification
12. Species survival associated with climate change and habitat loss
13. Difference  between transient and equilibrium warmer worlds