Building Planet Earth: Five Billion Years of Earth History - Hardcover

Cattermole, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521582784 ISBN 13: 9780521582780

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2000

Synopsis

Building Plant Earth presents a description of Earth as a planet, commencing with its physical and chemical evolution out of the primordial solar nebula. The condensation of elements and their redistribution are described, leading into a section dealing with mapping, geophysical and geochemical studies. This establishes the gross structure of the Earth, following which basic principles and processes of plate tectonics are then described, leading to the elucidation of the working of geological cycles. The main thrust of the remainder of the book is a description of the geological evolution of the Earth. Volcanism and seismicity, ice ages and climate, isotopic techniques and age dating, are all treated. The impact of mass extinctions, global-warming and ozone holes are included. The book is illustrated profusely and closes with a number of useful appendices.

About this title

Review

Building Planet Earth superbly illustrates and describes the geology of Earth, how it formed, became structured and evolved into the planet as we know it today, with its present distribution of continents, oceans and dazzling diversity of life. This 4.6 billion year history of the third rock from the Sun is an extraordinary story and understanding its main geological processes has become more important for ensuring our future on this increasingly crowded planet.

Designed for the general reader, Building Planet Earth explains these fundamental Earth processes--how the atmosphere interacts with the oceans to produce our changing climates; how the heat from the Earth's central core drives surface processes such as plate tectonics with its related earthquakes, fault movements, vulcanism; how mountains are formed and sediments deposited to form layers of strata with their economically important hydrocarbons that fuelled the industrial revolution; and, how life prospered and declined through evolution and extinction, sometimes being abruptly terminated by catastrophic events from outer space. The combination of good graphics, artwork and photographic illustration make this a visually attractive and accessible read, complete with short bibliography, glossary and index.--Douglas Palmer

Review

'In straightforward language we are taken from the Earth's beginnings, given some understanding of the Earth's heat engine, and guided through the patterns of Earth's history. An excellent book!' Irish Astronomical Journal

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521582784
• ISBN 13: 9780521582780
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 292