Earth Science and the Environment (with CengageNOW Printed Access Card)

by Thompson, Graham R.; Turk, Jon

• ISBN13: 9780495112877
• ISBN10: 0495112879
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-10-04
• Publisher: Brooks Cole

Summary

Using two themes, earth systems and environmental issues, EARTH SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT provides a rich overview of all Earth-related disciplines, including geology, meteorology, hydrology, oceanography, and astronomy. The authors provide a sense of how Earth functions as a single system composed of interacting subsystems and integrates coverage of enviromental issues in both the authoritative narrative and stunning multi-part visuals that emphasize the beauty of Earth science. To further enrich your experience, this earth science textbook is fully integrated with the ThomsonNOW online tutorial system. Web-based, assessment-driven, and completely flexible, the system provides you with a personalized learning plan based on a diagnostic pre-test to maximize your study time by focusing your attention where it is needed most.

Table of Contents

Earth Systems	1	(18)
Flowers Bloom on Earth, Venus Boils, and Mars Freezes	2	(2)
The Earth's Four Spheres	4	(4)
Earth Systems	8	(1)
Time and Rates of Change in Earth Science	9	(3)
Threshold and Feedback Effects	12	(1)
Humans and Earth Systems	13	(6)
Focus On: Hypothesis, Theory, and Law	15	(4)
UNIT 1 EARTH MATERIALS AND TIME	19	(108)
Minerals	20	(24)
What Is a Mineral?	23	(1)
The Chemical Composition of Minerals	24	(1)
Crystals: The Crystalline Nature of Minerals	25	(3)
Physical Properties of Minerals	28	(3)
Mineral Classes and the Rock-Forming Minerals	31	(2)
Commercially Important Minerals	33	(3)
Harmful and Dangerous Rocks and Minerals	36	(8)
Focus On: Elements, Atoms, and Chemical Bonds	26	(18)
Rocks	44	(29)
Rocks and the Rock Cycle	45	(2)
Igneous Rocks	47	(4)
Sedimentary Rocks	51	(10)
Metamorphic Rocks	61	(12)
Focus On: Cooling and Crystallization of Magma: Bowen's Expertment	52	(21)
Geologic Time: A Story in the Rocks	73	(23)
Earth Rocks, Earth History, and Mass Extinctions	74	(3)
Geologic Time	77	(2)
Relative Geologic Time	79	(2)
Unconformities and Correlation	81	(3)
Absolute Geologic Time	84	(5)
The Geologic Column and Time Scale	89	(7)
Focus On: Carbon-14 Dating	88	(8)
Geologic Resources	96	(31)
Mineral Resources	97	(1)
Ore and Ore Deposits	97	(8)
Mineral Reserves	105	(1)
Mines and Mining	105	(1)
Energy Resources: Coal, Petroleum, and Natural Gas	106	(5)
Energy Resources: Tar Sands and Oil Shale	111	(1)
Energy Resources: Renewable Energy	112	(3)
Energy Resources: Nuclear Fuels and Reactors	115	(2)
Conservation as an Alternitive Energy Resource	117	(2)
Energy for the Twenty-First Century	119	(8)
Focus On: The 1872 Mining Law	103	(24)
UNIT 2 INTERNAL PROCESSES	127	(104)
The Active Earth: Plate Tectonics	128	(26)
Alfred Wegener and the Origin of an Idea: The Continental Drift Hypothesis	129	(2)
The Earth's Layers	131	(4)
The Sea-Floor Spreading Hypothesis	135	(2)
The Theory of Plate Tectonics	137	(6)
The Anatomy of a Tectonic Plate	143	(1)
Why Plates Move: The Earth As a Heat Engine	143	(2)
Supercontinents	145	(1)
Isostasy: Vertical Movement of the Lithosphere	145	(1)
How Plate Movements Affect Earth Systems	145	(9)
Earthquakes and the Earth's Structure	154	(26)
Anatomy of an Earthquake	155	(2)
Earthquake Waves	157	(4)
Earthquakes and Tectonic Plate Boundaries	161	(5)
Earthquake Prediction	166	(1)
Earthquake Damage and Hazard Mitigation	167	(5)
Studying the Earth's Interior	172	(2)
The Earth's Magnetism	174	(6)
Volcanoes and Plutons	180	(28)
Magma	181	(3)
Basalt and Granite	184	(2)
Partial Melting and the Origin of Continents	186	(1)
Magma Behavior	187	(2)
Plutons	189	(3)
Volcanoes	192	(4)
Volcanic Explosions: Ash-Flow Tuffs and Calderas	196	(4)
Risk Assessment: Predicting Volcanic Eruptions	200	(2)
Volcanic Eruptions and Global Climate	202	(6)
Mountains	208	(23)
Folds and Faults: Geologic Structures	209	(7)
Mountains and Mountain Ranges	216	(1)
Island Arcs	217	(1)
The Andes: Subduction at a Continental Margin	218	(3)
The Himalayas: A Collision between Continents	221	(4)
Mountains and Earth Systems	225	(6)
UNIT 3 SURFACE PROCESSES	231	(142)
Weathering, Soil, and Erosion	232	(30)
Weathering and Erosion	233	(1)
Mechanical Weathering	234	(2)
Chemical Weathering	236	(3)
Soil	239	(8)
Erosion	247	(1)
Landslides	247	(4)
Types of Landslides	251	(4)
Three Historic Landslides	255	(2)
Predicting and Avoiding Landslides	257	(5)
Focus On: Representative Reactions in Chemical Weathering	238	(4)
Focus On: Soil Erosion and Agriculture	242	(6)
Focus On: The Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest	248	(14)
Fresh Water: Streams, Lakes, Ground Water, and Wetlands	262	(33)
The Water Cycle	263	(1)
Streams	264	(5)
Stream Erosion and Mountains: How Landscapes Evolve	269	(2)
Stream Deposition	271	(1)
Floods	272	(4)
Lakes	276	(2)
Ground Water	278	(7)
Hot Springs, Geysers, and Geothermal Energy	285	(2)
Wetlands	287	(8)
Water Resources	295	(31)
Water Supply and Demand	296	(2)
Dams and Diversion	298	(9)
The Great American Desert	307	(4)
Water and International Politics	311	(1)
Water Pollution	311	(2)
How Sewage, Detergents, and Fertilizers Pollute Waterways	313	(1)
Toxic Pollutants, Risk Assessment, and Cost--Benefit Analysis	314	(1)
Ground Water Pollution	315	(3)
Nuclear Waste Disposal---Yucca Mountain	318	(2)
The Clean Water Act---A Modern Perspective	320	(6)
Glaciers and Ice Ages	326	(27)
Formation of Glaciers	327	(1)
Glacial Movement	328	(4)
Glacial Erosion	332	(4)
Glacial Deposits	336	(5)
The Pleistocene Ice Age	341	(4)
Snowball Earth: The Greatest Ice Age in Earth History	345	(2)
The Earth's Disappearing Glaciers	347	(6)
Deserts and Wind	353	(20)
Why Do Deserts Exist?	354	(3)
Water and Deserts	357	(4)
Two American Deserts	361	(1)
Wind	362	(6)
Desertification	368	(5)
UNIT 4 THE OCEANS	373	(56)
Ocean Basins	374	(24)
The Origin of Oceans	375	(2)
The Earth's Oceans	377	(1)
Studying the Sea Floor	378	(1)
Features of the Sea Floor	379	(9)
Sediment and Rocks of the Sea Floor	388	(2)
Continental Margins	390	(8)
Oceans and Coastlines	398	(31)
Geography of the Oceans	400	(1)
Sea Water	400	(2)
Tides	402	(2)
Sea Waves	404	(1)
Storm Surge	405	(1)
Ocean Currents	405	(5)
The Sea Coast	410	(2)
Emergent and Submergent Coastlines	412	(4)
Beaches	416	(4)
Life in the Sea	420	(3)
Global Warming and Sea-Level Rise	423	(6)
UNIT 5 THE ATMOSPHERE	429	(128)
The Atmosphere: Evolution and Composition	430	(21)
Earth's Early Atmospheres	432	(1)
Life, Iron, and the Evolution of the Modern Atmosphere	433	(4)
The Modern Atmosphere	437	(1)
Atmospheric Pressure	437	(1)
Atmospheric Temperature	438	(1)
Air Pollution	439	(6)
Depletion of the Ozone Layer	445	(6)
Energy Balance in the Atmosphere	451	(19)
Incoming Solar Radiation	452	(3)
The Radiation Balance	455	(1)
Energy Storage and Transfer---The Driving Mechanisms for Weather and Climate	456	(3)
Temperature Changes with Latitude and Season	459	(4)
Temperature Changes with Geography	463	(7)
Focus On: Latitude and Longitude	459	(11)
Moisture, Clouds, and Weather	470	(37)
Moisture in Air	471	(1)
Cooling and Condensation	472	(2)
Rising Air and Precipitation	474	(3)
Types of Clouds	477	(3)
Fog	480	(1)
Pressure and Wind	481	(3)
Fronts and Frontal Weather	484	(6)
How Earth's Surface Features Affect Weather	490	(1)
Thunderstorms	491	(2)
Tornadoes and Tropical Cyclones	493	(3)
Hurricane Katrina	496	(3)
El Nino	499	(8)
Focus On: Inversion Layers and Air Pollution	476	(31)
Climate	507	(21)
Major Factors That Control Earth's Climate	508	(2)
Global Winds and Climate	510	(3)
Ocean Currents and Climate	513	(1)
Climate Zones of the Earth	513	(10)
Urban Climates	523	(5)
Climate Change	528	(29)
Climate Change in Earth's History	530	(3)
Measuring Climate Change	533	(2)
Astronomical Causes of Climate Change	535	(1)
Water and Climate	536	(1)
The Natural Carbon Cycle and Climate	537	(2)
Tectonics and Climate Change	539	(2)
Greenhouse Effect: The Carbon Cycle and Global Warming	541	(6)
Feedback and Threshold Mechanisms in Climate Change	547	(3)
The Kyoto Treaty on Greenhouse Warming	550	(7)
UNIT 6 ASTRONOMY	557	(1)
Motions in the Heavens	558	(23)
The Motions of the Heavenly Bodies	559	(1)
Aristotle and the Earth-Centered Universe	559	(5)
The Renaissance and the Heliocentric Solar System	564	(3)
The Motions of the Earth and the Moon	567	(6)
Modern Astronomy	573	(8)
Focus On: The Constellations	560	(21)
Planets and Their Moons	581	(26)
The Solar System: A Brief Overview	582	(1)
The Terrestrial Planets	582	(8)
The Moon: Our Nearest Neighbor	590	(3)
The Jovian Planets: Size, Compositions, and Atmospheres	593	(4)
Moons of the Jovian Planets	597	(3)
Planetary Rings	600	(1)
Pluto and Beyond	601	(1)
Asteroids, Comets, and Meteoroids	601	(6)
Focus On: Extraterrestrial Life	592	(15)
Stars, Space, and Galaxies	607	(1)
In the Beginning: The Big Bang	608	(2)
The Nonhomogeneous Universe	610	(1)
The Birth of a Star	610	(4)
The Sun	614	(3)
Stars: The Main Sequence	617	(2)
The Life and Death of a Star	619	(3)
Neutron Stars, Pulsars, and Black Holes	622	(3)
Galaxies	625	(2)
Milky Way	627	(2)
Quasars	629	(1)
Dark Matter	630	(1)
The End of the Universe	630	(2)
Why Are We So Lucky?	632
Focus On: Measuring Distances in Space	617
APPENDIX
A Identifying Common Minerals	1	(9)
B Systems of Measurement	10	(3)
C Periodic Table of the Elements	13	(2)
International Table of Atomic Weights	14	(1)
D Rock Symbols	15	(1)
E Star Maps	16
Glossary	1	(1)
Index	1