| Description |
xi, 242 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm |
| Note |
Includes index. |
| Contents |
Acknowledgments -- Introduction : the time before science -- 1. Setting the scene -- The trinity of natural disasters -- Myths and legends -- 2. Beginnings -- What is the structure of the Earth? -- How old is the Earth? -- Has the Earth changed during its history? -- 3. New battles -- The rocks of the Earth -- The battle is joined -- New horizons -- 4. Toward continental drift -- Important ideas -- The contracting Earth -- The land beneath the sea -- 5. On the road to explaining volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis -- Volcanoes -- Earthquakes -- Tsunamis -- The next stage -- 6. Continental drift : a theory without a cause -- A big debate -- Isostasy -- Continental drift -- In the shadow of continental drift -- 7. New horizons -- The challenge of the sea -- Mapping the ocean floor -- 8. Seafloor spreading -- A theory emerges -- A theory comes of age -- The paleomagnetic key -- How fast does it work? -- 9. The plot thickens -- Deep-sea sedimentation -- Probing the sediment blanket -- The history of the seabed -- 10. The cycle of birth, life, and destruction -- The dynamics of seafloor spreading -- 11. Plate tectonics : the Earth science "theory of everything" -- A great leap forward -- Transform faults and new ideas -- Plates and "plate tectonics" -- The theory of everything? -- 12. Hydrothermal activity : a new ocean world -- The thin red layer -- The lost heat -- Exploring the mid-ocean ridges -- A new world -- The pieces begin to fit together -- Diversity : "black smokers" and "white smokers" -- Vent communities -- Safe havens and the origin of life -- 13. Plate tectonics and volcanoes -- 14. Plate tectonics and earthquakes -- 15. Plate tectonics and tsunamis -- 16. Predicting and mitigating against volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis -- Volcanoes : "fire and molten rock" -- Earthquakes : "when the Earth moves" -- Tsunamis : "the big wave" -- Coping with natural disasters -- Epilogue : deadly years and megadisasters -- Change -- The year 2004 -- Megadisasters -- Index. |
| Subject |
Plate tectonics.
|
|
Plate tectonics. |
|
Continental drift.
|
|
Continental drift. |
| ISBN |
9780814409206 |
|
0814409202 |
|
