Dramatic advances in technology are opening up completely new avenues of enquiry to Earth scientists in finding out how the Earth works in real time or near real time. Monitoring the Earth is the first book to review these developments for a non-specialist readership, ranging from plate tectonics through weathering and sedimentation to the growth of coral reefs. It exposes new findings, considers further possibilities and reviews the relative merits of approaches based on the new tools, at all times in the perspective of the Earth scientist rather than the technologist.
Recent advances in computing, satellite technology and mass spectrometry now make it possible to monitor changes at the Earth's surface, such as the uplift of the Himalayas, that were previously considered too slow or too extensive for direct measurement. The book outlines these developments and their application to a wide range of phenomena, from large to small scale, including plate tectonics, the faulting and folding of rocks, weathering and sedimentation, the movement of glaciers, and the growth of coral reefs.Various processes that are not normally considered part of physical geology are also considered, such as meteorite impacts, the infall of cosmic dust, variations in solar output, gravity and geomagnetism, and the Earth's orbital geometry. The results from these new fields are already helping Earth scientists analyze and explain the underlying mechanisms, notably with regard to the storage and release of strain during earthquakes (see cover). The new measurements are beginning to show how they interact with sea level, river behaviour and climate, and thus justify their inclusion in the physical geology of the space age.
Fully illustrated with line drawings and photographs, and complete with an extensive bibliography encompassing the scattered literature covering the field, Monitoring the Earth is intended for undergraduates in geology, geomorphology, geomatic engineering and planetary science, and should also be of interest to astronomers and historians of science.
Claudio Vita-Finzi was Professor of Neotectonics at University College London
before moving to the Department of Mineralogy at the Natural History Museum
in 2001 as a Research Associate. He has worked on Holocene deformation in
South America, the Near East and Southeast Asia, and is the author of many
papers and books, including Recent Earth movements (1986). In 1994
he was awarded the G. K. Warren Prize of the US Academy of Sciences for
his work in fluvial geology and was elected to the American Philosophical
Society in 1997.
Preface
Location; Altitude; Time
Meteorites; Craters; Debris; Dust; Comets
Sunspots; Variability of the Sun's ultraviolet irradiance; Solar activity and the surface record
The figure of the Earth; Orbit; Rotation; Polar motion; Precession; Gravity; Magnetism
Plate translation; Plate interaction; Plate deformation: interiors; Movement, mechanism and forces
Glaciers; Ice sheets; Sea ice; Sea level; Loading by ice and water
Volcanoes; Mountain ranges; Submerged ridges and volcanoes
Faults; Fault systems; Folds
Channels; Mass movement; Surfaces
Organic stirring; Bioerosion; Construction; Organic clocks
Bibliography; Index
234×156 mm 256pp.
ISBN: 1-903544-12-2 PB £21.95
ISBN-13: 978-1-903544-12-9
Published in 2002
A Terra original publication
CLICK TO SEE THE SAMPLER PDF: 812Kb (perhaps
4 minutes to download with a modem) containing the complete preliminary
pages and the first three pages of each chapter of the book, with graphics
excluded in order to minimize file size. An inspection-copy request form
will be found at the end of the file. Adobe Acrobat Reader is necessary
to open the file; an 8.6Mb download, it is available free of charge from:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html
but is also widely available on CDs given away with computer magazines.
If you have Acrobat Reader installed and your browser is not configured
to open it automatically when encountering a PDF file, open Acrobat Reader
separately and then access the file via your browser.