Fractals and Dynamic Systems in Geoscience

Concepts and methods of fractal geometry penetrate various branches of human knowledge to an increasing degree. This tendency is particularly striking in the geosciences, because many processes occurring in and on the Earth result in time dependences and spatial patterns that have a fractal character. The contributions in this volume arose from the "3rd International Symposium on Fractals and Dynamic Systems in Geosciences", held at Stara Lesna, Slovakia in June, 1997. The volume contains new ideas and applications of fractal geometry in such diverse branches of geoscience as engineering geology, the physics of the lithosphere (including faulting, seismicity, and fluid flow), and climate behavior.

Chaotic dynamic systems and non-linear processes, together with the resulting fractals and multifractals, are fundamental for analyzing data and understanding processes in the Earth and Environmental Sciences. Many processes and phenomena, poorly recognized only a few years ago, now can be studied and understood with the help of conceptual models from the fields of fractals and dynamics systems. This represents a bold step towards understanding how planet Earth works.

The twenty-one papers presented in this volume reflect the state of fundamental and applied research on fractals and dynamic systems in Geoscience, from magma dynamics to geomorphology, from seismology to space science. The volume is of interest to scientists using fractals, multifractals, non-linear dynamics and chaos theory for analyzing complex datasets, as those arising from geological and geophysical processes. Postgraduate students and students in various fields of geoscience as well as physics and applied mathematics will also find the book to be a valuable resource for a clear view of the leading-edge research on fractals and dynamic systems in Geoscience.