New Views on an Old Planet

In this new revised edition of his award-winning book on the Earth’s history, Professor van Andel updates and expands his earlier text, drawing on a wealth of new knowledge that has become available in the last decade. This book examines the major changes in the Earth’s history - the evolution of the solid Earth, the changing oceans and atmospheres and the progression of life - to render a historical account of the Earth’s evolution. Much new knowledge has been gained in the last decade, and while little material has been deleted, this new edition has grown to cover the key topics, including a chapter on how we can improve our grasp on geological time. Mindful of the current interest in global change, new sections describe the green-house effect and address its possible future ramifications. In prose that is both concise and compelling, New Views on an Old Planet: A History of Global Change makes Earth history appealing to the general reader. It will serve as an excellent text for introductory courses in the earth and environmental sciences.

Spis treści:
Part I. Foundations
1. Reading the record of the rocks
2. Perspective on time
Part II. Climate Past and Present, The Ice Age
3. Climate and climate change
4. Portrait of an ice age
5. Explaining glaciations
Part III. Drifting Continents, Rising Mountains
6. Continental drift and plate tectonics
7. Continental breakup and continental drift
8. Converging plates and colliding continents
Part IV. Changing Oceans, Changing Climates
9. The sea comes in, the sea goes out
10. Other times and other oceans
11. Onward to the ice age
12. A matter of rhythm
Part V. The Four-Billion-Year Childhood
13. Birth of the solid earth
14. Water for the sea, air for the atmosphere
15, The dawn of life
Part VI. Life, Time and Change
16. Beyond Darwin
17. Bones of our ancestors
18. Evolution and environment
19. Crises and catastrophes.