Efnisyfirlit

• Cover
• Introduction
• About This Book
• Foolish Assumptions
• Icons Used in This Book
• Beyond the Book
• Where to Go from Here
• Part 1: Studying the Earth
• Chapter 1: Rocks for Jocks (and Everybody Else)
• Finding Your Inner Scientist
• Focusing on Rock Formation and Transformation
• Mapping Continental Movements
• Moving Rocks around on Earth’s Surface
• Interpreting a Long History of Life on Earth
• Chapter 2: Observing Earth through a Scientific Lens
• Realizing That Science Is Not Just for Scientists
• Using a Methodical Approach: The Scientific Method
• Building New Knowledge: A Scientific Theory
• Speaking in Tongues: Why Geologists Seem to Speak a Separate Language
• Chapter 3: From Here to Eternity: The Past, Present, and Future of Geologic Thought
• Catastrophe Strikes Again and Again
• Early Thoughts on the Origin of Rocks
• Developing Modern Geologic Understanding
• Uniformi-what? Understanding the Earth through Uniformitarianism
• Pulling It All Together: The Theory of Plate Tectonics
• Forging Ahead into New Frontiers
• Chapter 4: Home Sweet Home: Planet Earth
• Earth’s Spheres
• Examining Earth’s Geosphere
• Part 2: Elements, Minerals, and Rocks
• Chapter 5: It’s Elemental, My Dear: A Very Basic Chemistry of Elements and Compounds
• The Smallest Matter: Atoms and Atomic Structure
• Chemically Bonding
• Formulating Compounds
• Chapter 6: Minerals: The Building Blocks of Rocks
• Meeting Mineral Requirements
• Making Crystals
• Identifying Minerals Using Physical Characteristics
• Realizing Most Rocks Are Built from Silicate Minerals
• Remembering the Nonsilicate Minerals
• Gemstones
• Chapter 7: Recognizing Rocks: Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic Types
• Mama Magma: Birthing Igneous Rocks
• Merging Many Single Grains of Sand: Sedimentary Rocks
• Stuck between a Rock and a Hard Place: Metamorphic Rocks
• Tumbling through the Rock Cycle: How Rocks Change from One Type to Another
• Part 3: One Theory to Explain It All: Plate Tectonics
• Chapter 8: Adding Up the Evidence for Plate Tectonics
• Drifting Apart: Wegener’s Idea of Continental Drift
• Coming Together: How Technology Sheds Light on Plate Tectonics
• Chapter 9: When Crustal Plates Meet, It’s All Relative
• Density Is Key
• Two of a Kind: Continental and Oceanic Crust
• Understanding Why Density Matters: Isostasy
• Defining Plate Boundaries by Their Relative Motion
• Shaping Topography with Plate Movements
• Chapter 10: Who’s Driving This Thing? Mantle Convection and Plate Movement
• Running in Circles: Models of Mantle Convection
• Using Convection to Explain Magma, Volcanoes, and Underwater Mountains
• Shake, Rattle, and Roll: How Plate Movements Cause Earthquakes
• Part 4: Superficially Speaking: About Surface Processes
• Chapter 11: Gravity Takes Its Toll: Mass Wasting
• Holding Steady or Falling Down: Friction versus Gravity
• Focusing on the Materials Involved
• Triggering Mass Movements
• Moving Massive Amounts of Earth, Quickly
• A More Subtle Approach: Creep and Soil Flow (Solifluction)
• Chapter 12: Water: Above and Below Ground
• Hydrologic Cycling
• Streams: Moving Sediments toward the Ocean
• Eroding a Stream Channel to Base Level
• Seeking Equilibrium after Changes in Base Level
• Leaving Their Mark: How Streams Create Landforms
• Flowing beneath Your Feet: Groundwater
• Chapter 13: Flowing Slowly toward the Sea: Glaciers
• Identifying Three Types of Glaciers
• Understanding Ice as a Geologic Force
• Eroding at a Snail’s Pace: Landforms Created by Glacial Erosion
• Leaving It All Behind: Glacial Deposits
• Where Have All the Glaciers Gone?
• Chapter 14: Blowing in the Wind: Moving Sediments without Water
• Lacking Water: Arid Regions of the Earth
• Transporting Particles by Air
• Deflating and Abrading: Features of Wind Erosion
• Just Add Wind: Dunes and Other Depositional Wind Features
• Paving the Desert: Deposition or Erosion?
• Chapter 15: Catch a Wave: The Evolution of Shorelines
• Breaking Free: Waves and Wave Motion
• Shaping Shorelines
• Categorizing Coastlines
• Part 5: Long, Long Ago in This Galaxy Right Here
• Chapter 16: Getting a Grip on Geologic Time
• The Layer Cake of Time: Stratigraphy and Relative Dating
• Show Me the Numbers: Methods of Absolute Dating
• Relatively Absolute: Combining Methods for the Best Results
• Eons, Eras, and Epochs (Oh My!): Structuring the Geologic Timescale
• Chapter 17: A Record of Life in the Rocks
• Explaining Change, Not Origins: The Theory of Evolution
• The Evolution of a Theory
• Putting Evolution to the Test
• Against All Odds: The Fossilization of Lifeforms
• Correcting for Bias in the Fossil Record
• Hypothesizing Relationships: Cladistics
• Chapter 18: Time before Time Began: The Precambrian
• In the Beginning … Earth’s Creation from a Nebulous Cloud
• Addressing Archean Rocks
• Originating with Orogens: Supercontinents of the Proterozoic Eon
• Single Cells, Algal Mats, and the Early Atmosphere
• Questioning the Earliest Complex Life: The Ediacaran Fauna
• Chapter 19: Teeming with Life: The Paleozoic Era
• Exploding with Life: The Cambrian Period
• Building Reefs All Over the Place
• Spinal Tapping: Animals with Backbones
• Planting Roots: Early Plant Evolution
• Tracking the Geologic Events of the Paleozoic
• Chapter 20: Mesozoic World: When Dinosaurs Dominated
• Driving Pangaea Apart at the Seams
• Repopulating the Seas after Extinction
• The Symbiosis of Flowers
• Recognizing All the Mesozoic Reptiles
• Climbing the Dinosaur Family Tree
• Flocking Together: The Evolutionary Road to Birds
• Laying the Groundwork for Later Dominance: Early Mammal Evolution
• Chapter 21: The Cenozoic Era: Mammals Take Over
• Putting Continents in Their Proper (Okay, Current) Places
• Entering the Age of Mammals
• Living Large: Massive Mammals Then and Now
• Right Here, Right Now: The Reign of Homo Sapiens
• Arguing for the Anthropocene
• Chapter 22: And Then There Were None: Major Extinction Events in Earth’s History
• Explaining Extinctions
• End Times, at Least Five Times
• Modern Extinctions and Biodiversity
• Part 6: The Part of Tens
• Chapter 23: Ten Ways You Use Geologic Resources Every Day
• Burning Fossil Fuels
• Playing with Plastics
• Gathering Gemstones
• Drinking Water
• Creating Concrete
• Paving Roads
• Accessing Geothermal Heat
• Fertilizing with Phosphate
• Constructing Computers
• Building with Beautiful Stone
• Chapter 24: Ten Geologic Hazards
• Changing Course: River Flooding
• Caving In: Sinkholes
• Sliding Down: Landslides
• Shaking Things Up: Earthquakes
• Washing Away Coastal Towns: Tsunamis
• Destroying Farmland and Coastal Bluffs: Erosion
• Fiery Explosions of Molten Rock: Volcanic Eruptions
• Melting Ice with Fire: Jokulhlaups
• Flowing Rivers of Mud: Lahars
• Watching the Poles: Geomagnetism
• Index
• About the Author
• Supplemental Images
• Advertisement Page
• Connect with Dummies
• End User License Agreement