5120

Meissner, Rolf

Geschichte der ErdeEnglish

Rolf Meissner

Copernicus

c2002

xiii, 202 p. ill., maps 19 cm

Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-194) and index. , Machine generated contents note: chapter 1: The Roots of Earth Sciences -- Classical Scientific Thought -- The Copernican Revolution -- From Physics and Philosophy to Geology -- The Age of the Earth -- chapter 2: The Earth in the Context of Our Solar System -- The Origins of the Solar System -- The Elements of the Solar System -- The Planets Circling the Sun -- chapter 3: The Formation of Earth and Moon -- Similarities and Differences -- Exploring the Moon -- chapter 4: The Interior of the Earth and the Role of Seismology -- Seismic Waves -- The Earthʹs Interior -- chapter 5: Rotation and Shape, Gravity and Tides -- Describing the Earthʹs Shape -- Tides -- Rotation -- chapter 6: The Earthʹs Magnetic Field -- Establishing a Physical Concept -- Reversals of the Magnetic Field -- Paleomagnetism -- chapter 7: Atom-Mineral-Rock -- Crystallization -- Minerals in Crust and Mantle -- Rocks -- chapter 8: The Early Ages -- The Archean -- The Proterozoic -- chapter 9: Radioactive Dating -- The Chemistry of Unstable Elements -- Determining the Age -- Applications of Radioactive Dating Techniques -- Carbon Dating -- chapter 10: Plate Tectonics -- Twentieth-Century Research -- Gathering Evidence -- Drifting Plates -- Pangea and Beyond -- chapter 11: The Crust of the Earth -- The Moho -- The Crust -- Hydrocarbons -- Coal -- Other Subsurface-based Resources -- chapter 12: Formation of Mountains and Basins -- Collisions -- Orogeny -- Sediment Basins -- chapter 13: New Discoveries, New Concepts -- Discoveries -- New Seismological Concepts -- chapter 14: The Phanerozoic: -- The Last 600 Million Years -- The Evolution of Life -- The Eras of the Phanerozoic -- chapter 15: Biological Evolution -- A Product of Chance -- Early Life Hypotheses -- Multicellular Life -- Human Evolution and Climate -- epilogue Our Limited Resources -- Nuclear Energy -- Alternative Energy Sources -- Outlook -- Further Reading -- Index

550