Download or read book Earth History and Palaeogeography written by Trond H. Torsvik and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a complete Phanerozoic story of palaeogeography, using new and detailed full-colour maps, to link surface and deep-Earth processes.
Download or read book Earth History and Palaeogeography written by Trond H. Torsvik and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-12-01 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using full-colour palaeogeographical maps from the Cambrian to the present, this interdisciplinary volume explains how plate motions and surface volcanism are linked to processes in the Earth's mantle, and to climate change and the evolution of the Earth's biota. These new and very detailed maps provide a complete and integrated Phanerozoic story of palaeogeography. They illustrate the development of all the major mountain-building orogenies. Old lands, seas, ice caps, volcanic regions, reefs, and coal beds are highlighted on the maps, as well as faunal and floral provinces. Many other original diagrams show sections from the Earth's core, through the mantle, and up to the lithosphere, and how Large Igneous Provinces are generated, helping to understand how plates have appeared, moved, and vanished through time. Supplementary resources are available online, making this an invaluable reference for researchers, graduate students, professional geoscientists and anyone interested in the geological history of the Earth.
Download or read book Palaeogeography and Palaeobiogeography Biodiversity in Space and Time written by Paul Upchurch and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2011-10-24 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biogeography represents one of the most complex and challenging aspects of macroevolutionary research, requiring input from both the earth and life sciences. Palaeogeographic reconstruction is frequently carried out by researchers with backgrounds in geology and palaeontology, who are less likely to be familiar with the latest biogeographic techniq
Download or read book Ancient Supercontinents and the Paleogeography of Earth written by Lauri J. J Pesonen and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2021-10-06 with total page 664 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient Supercontinents and the Paleogeography of Earth offers a systematic examination of Precambrian cratons and supercontinents. Through detailed maps of drift histories and paleogeography of each continent, this book examines topics related to Earth's tectonic evolution prior to Pangea, including plate kinematics, orogenic development, and paleoenvironments. Additionally, this book discusses the methodologies used, principally paleomagnetism and tectonostratigraphy, and addresses geophysical topics of mantle dynamics and geodynamo evolution over billions of years. Structured clearly with consistent coverage for Precambrian cratons, this book combines state-of-the-art paleomagnetic and geochronologic data to reconstruct the paleogeography of the Earth in the context of major climatic events such as global glaciations. It is an ideal, up-to-date reference for geoscientists and geographers looking for answers to questions surrounding the tectonic evolution of Earth. - Provides robust paleogeographies of Precambrian cratons based on high-quality paleomagnetic and geochronologic data and critically tested by global geological datasets - Includes links to updated databases for the Precambrian such as PALEOMAGIA and the Global Paleomagnetic Database (GPMDB) - Presents full-color maps of the drift histories of each continent as well as their paleogeographies - Discusses key questions regarding continental drift, the supercontinent cycle, and the geomagnetic dipole hypothesis and analyzes palaeography in the context of Earth's holistic evolution
Download or read book Plate Tectonics written by Wolfgang Frisch and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-11-26 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This textbook explains how mountains are formed and why there are old and young mountains. It provides a reconstruction of the Earths paleogeography and shows why the shapes of South America and Africa fit so well together. Furthermore, it explains why the Pacific is surrounded by a ring of volcanos and earthquake-prone areas while the edges of the Atlantic are relatively peaceful. This thoroughly revised textbook edition addresses all these questions and more through the presentation and explanation of the geodynamic processes upon which the theory of continental drift is based and which have led to the concept of plate tectonics. It is a source of information for students of geology, geophysics, geography, geosciences in general, general natural sciences, as well as professionals, and interested layman.
Download or read book The Story of Earth Life written by Terence McCarthy and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2013-07-10 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Geologically speaking, southern Africa is without equal, a treasure house of valuable minerals with a geological history dating back some 3 600 million years. In addition, the evolution of plants and animals, especially mammals and dinosaurs, is well preserved in the region, which also probably has the best record of the origin of modern man. This book provides a fascinating insight into that remarkable history: how southern Africa, and to some extent the world, came to be the way it is - how its mineral deposits formed, its life evolved and its landscape was shaped. Along the way readers will be enthralled by accounts of the Big Bang that marked the beginning of time and matter, by drifting and colliding continents, folding and fracturing of rocks, meteors colliding with the Earth, the time when the Earth froze over, volcanic eruptions and the start of life. Anyone interested in the landscape and ecosystems in which we live will be intrigued to discover how our natural landmarks were formed, from the deserts of Namibia to the mountains of the Western Cape or Mpumalanga. Why is South Africa so rich in minerals? How did glacial deposits come to be found in the Karoo? Why did dinosaurs become extinct? How did mammals develop from reptiles? How closely related are we to the apes? The answers to many such questions are found in this lavishly illustrated volume. The authors also suggest how we can learn from the past in order to anticipate the future - for instance, to be able to predict earthquakes, deal with volcanic eruptions and meet the challenges of global climate change.
Download or read book The Formation and Evolution of Africa written by Douwe J. J. van Hinsbergen and published by Geological Society of London. This book was released on 2011 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The African continent preserves a long geological record that covers almost 75% of Earth's history. The Pan-African orogeny (c. 600-500 Ma) brought together old continental kernels (West Africa, Congo, Kalahari and Tanzania) to form Gondwana and subsequently the supercontinent Pangaea by the late Palaeozoic. The break-up of Pangaea since the Jurassic and Cretaceous, primarily through opening of the Central Atlantic, Indian, and South Atlantic oceans, in combination with the complicated subduction history to the north, gradually shaped the African continent. This volume contains 18 contributions that discuss the geology of Africa from the Archaean to the present day.
Download or read book Ice Age Earth written by Alastair G. Dawson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ice Age Earth provides the first detailed review of global environmental change in the Late Quaternary. Significant geological and climatic events are analysed within a review of glacial and periglacial history. The melting history of the last ice sheets reveals that complex, dynamic and catastrophic change occurred, change which affected the circulation of the atmosphere and oceans and the stability of the Earth's crust.
Download or read book Early Palaeozoic Biogeography and Palaeogeography written by D.A.T. Harper and published by Geological Society of London. This book was released on 2014-01-27 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Early Palaeozoic was a critical interval in the evolution of marine life on our planet. Through a window of some 120 million years, the Cambrian Explosion, Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, End Ordovician Extinction and the subsequent Silurian Recovery established a steep trajectory of increasing marine biodiversity that started in the Late Proterozoic and continued into the Devonian. Biogeography is a key property of virtually all organisms; their distributional ranges, mapped out on a mosaic of changing palaeogeography, have played important roles in modulating the diversity and evolution of marine life. This Memoir first introduces the content, some of the concepts involved in describing and interpreting palaeobiogeography, and the changing Early Palaeozoic geography is illustrated through a series of time slices. The subsequent 26 chapters, compiled by some 130 authors from over 20 countries, describe and analyse distributional and in many cases diversity data for all the major biotic groups plotted on current palaeogeographic maps. Nearly a quarter of a century after the publication of the ‘Green Book’ (Geological Society, London, Memoir12, edited by McKerrow and Scotese), improved stratigraphic and taxonomic data together with more accurate, digitized palaeogeographic maps, have confirmed the central role of palaeobiogeography in understanding the evolution of Early Palaeozoic ecosystems and their biotas.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments written by Vivien Gornitz and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-10-31 with total page 1062 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of Springer’s Major Reference Works, this book gives the reader a truly global perspective. It is the first major reference work in its field. Paleoclimate topics covered in the encyclopedia give the reader the capability to place the observations of recent global warming in the context of longer-term natural climate fluctuations. Significant elements of the encyclopedia include recent developments in paleoclimate modeling, paleo-ocean circulation, as well as the influence of geological processes and biological feedbacks on global climate change. The encyclopedia gives the reader an entry point into the literature on these and many other groundbreaking topics.
Download or read book Carboniferous Giants and Mass Extinction written by George R. McGhee Jr. and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-07 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Picture a world of dog-sized scorpions and millipedes as long as a car; tropical rainforests with trees towering over 150 feet into the sky and a giant polar continent five times larger than Antarctica. That world was not imaginary; it was the earth more than 300 million years ago in the Carboniferous period of the Paleozoic era. In Carboniferous Giants and Mass Extinction, George R. McGhee Jr. explores that ancient world, explaining its origins; its downfall in the end-Permian mass extinction, the greatest biodiversity crisis to occur since the evolution of animal life on Earth; and how its legacies still affect us today. McGhee investigates the consequences of the Late Paleozoic ice age in this comprehensive portrait of the effects of ancient climate change on global ecology. Carboniferous Giants and Mass Extinction examines the climatic conditions that allowed for the evolution of gigantic animals and the formation of the largest tropical rainforests ever to exist, which in time turned into the coal that made the industrial revolution possible—and fuels the engine of contemporary anthropogenic climate change. Exploring the strange and fascinating flora and fauna of the Late Paleozoic ice age world, McGhee focuses his analysis on the forces that brought this world to an abrupt and violent end. Synthesizing decades of research and new discoveries, this comprehensive book provides a wealth of insights into past and present extinction events and climate change.
Download or read book Ancient Landscapes of Western North America written by Ronald C. Blakey and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Allow yourself to be taken back into deep geologic time when strange creatures roamed the Earth and Western North America looked completely unlike the modern landscape. Volcanic islands stretched from Mexico to Alaska, most of the Pacific Rim didn’t exist yet, at least not as widespread dry land; terranes drifted from across the Pacific to dock on Western Americas’ shores creating mountains and more volcanic activity. Landscapes were transposed north or south by thousands of kilometers along huge fault systems. Follow these events through paleogeographic maps that look like satellite views of ancient Earth. Accompanying text takes the reader into the science behind these maps and the geologic history that they portray. The maps and text unfold the complex geologic history of the region as never seen before. Winner of the 2021 John D. Haun Landmark Publication Award, AAPG-Rocky Mountain Section
Download or read book Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record written by Michael J. Benton and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-04-25 with total page 1001 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a comprehensive overview of the science of the history of life. Paleobiologists bring many analytical tools to bear in interpreting the fossil record and the book introduces the latest techniques, from multivariate investigations of biogeography and biostratigraphy to engineering analysis of dinosaur skulls, and from homeobox genes to cladistics. All the well-known fossil groups are included, including microfossils and invertebrates, but an important feature is the thorough coverage of plants, vertebrates and trace fossils together with discussion of the origins of both life and the metazoans. All key related subjects are introduced, such as systematics, ecology, evolution and development, stratigraphy and their roles in understanding where life came from and how it evolved and diversified. Unique features of the book are the numerous case studies from current research that lead students to the primary literature, analytical and mathematical explanations and tools, together with associated problem sets and practical schedules for instructors and students. “..any serious student of geology who does not pick this book off the shelf will be putting themselves at a huge disadvantage. The material may be complex, but the text is extremely accessible and well organized, and the book ought to be essential reading for palaeontologists at undergraduate, postgraduate and more advanced levels—both in Britain as well as in North America.” Falcon-Lang, H., Proc. Geol. Assoc. 2010 “...this is an excellent introduction to palaeontology in general. It is well structured, accessibly written and pleasantly informative .....I would recommend this as a standard reference text to all my students without hesitation.” David Norman Geol Mag 2010 Companion website This book includes a companion website at: www.blackwellpublishing.com/paleobiology The website includes: · An ongoing database of additional Practical’s prepared by the authors · Figures from the text for downloading · Useful links for each chapter · Updates from the authors
Download or read book Regional Geology and Tectonics Principles of Geologic Analysis written by David G. Roberts and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2012-03-26 with total page 908 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of the series is to compile and pass on the accumulated knowledge of regional geology that is being lost as generalists with field experience are replaced by specialists with computers. It is designed to appeal to both academic and petroleum geologists. In this third and final part of Volume One, geologists discuss extensional basins including rifts, passive margins, and inverted extensional basins. The chapters have a broadly similar layout, and where appropriate include a section on the petroleum system. They cover non-volcanic and transform passive margins, cratonic basins on pre-Cambrian and Paleozoic basements, and world maps. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).
Download or read book Structural Geology written by Donal M. Ragan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-09-03 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This combination of text and lab book presents an entirely different approach to structural geology. Designed for undergraduate laboratory classes, it provides a step-by-step guide for solving geometric problems arising from structural field observations. The book discusses both traditional methods and cutting-edge approaches, with emphasis given to graphical methods and visualization techniques that support students in tackling challenging two- and three-dimensional problems. Numerous exercises encourage practice in using the techniques, and demonstrate how field observations can be converted into useful information about geological structures and the processes responsible for creating them. This updated fourth edition incorporates new material on stress, deformation, strain and flow, and the underlying mathematics of the subject. With stereonet plots and solutions to the exercises available online at www.cambridge.org/ragan, this book is a key resource for undergraduates, advanced students and researchers wanting to improve their practical skills in structural geology.
Download or read book Introducing Palaeontology written by Patrick Wyse Jackson and published by Dunedin Academic Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life on Earth can be traced back over 3,000 million years. Many examples of the Earth's past inhabitants are to be found in rocks, preserved as beautiful and fascinating fossils. The earliest life forms were bacteria and algae, which produced the oxygen that enabled more complex life forms to develop. About 600 million years ago, multi-cellular organisms appeared on Earth, some of which could protect themselves with hard parts, such as shells. Many of these life forms were readily fossilized and are used to subdivide geological time. Numerous species then evolved and most are now extinct. Lineages can be traced and extinctions explained as a consequence of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial events. Lavishly illustrated with photographs and explanatory diagrams, Introducing Palaeontology provides a concise and accessible introduction to the science of palaeontology. The book is divided into two parts. The first section explains what a fossil is, how fossils came to be preserved, how they are classified, and what information they can tell scientists about the rocks in which they are found. The second section introduces the major fossil groups, taking a systematic view from algae and plants, through the numerous examples of invertebrate animals, to the vertebrates, and finally to man's ancestors. Technical terms are kept to a minimum and a glossary is provided. [Subject: Palaeontolgy, Natural History]
Download or read book Hydrogeology Chemical Weathering and Soil Formation written by Allen Hunt and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores soil as a nexus for water, chemicals, and biologically coupled nutrient cycling Soil is a narrow but critically important zone on Earth's surface. It is the interface for water and carbon recycling from above and part of the cycling of sediment and rock from below. Hydrogeology, Chemical Weathering, and Soil Formation places chemical weathering and soil formation in its geological, climatological, biological and hydrological perspective. Volume highlights include: The evolution of soils over 3.25 billion years Basic processes contributing to soil formation How chemical weathering and soil formation relate to water and energy fluxes The role of pedogenesis in geomorphology Relationships between climate soils and biota Soils, aeolian deposits, and crusts as geologic dating tools Impacts of land-use change on soils The American Geophysical Union promotes discovery in Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity. Its publications disseminate scientific knowledge and provide resources for researchers, students, and professionals. Find out more about this book from this Q&A with the Editors
