Earth as an Evolving Planetary System

by Kent C. Condie

"Earth as an Evolving Planetary System" explores key topics and questions relating to the evolution of the Earth's crust and mantle over the last four billion years. This Second Edition features exciting new information on Earth and planetary evolution and examines how all subsystems in our planet-crust, mantle, core, atmosphere, oceans and life-have worked together and changed over time.aKent Condie synthesizes data from the fields of oceanography, geophysics, planetology, and geochemistry to address EarthOCOs evolution.Slides of all figures in the book can be downloaded onathe companion //www.elsevierdirect.com/companion.jsp?... Condie's corresponding interactive CD, a"Plate Tectonics and How the EarthaWorks," acan be purchased from Tasa Graphic Arts //www.tasagraphicarts.com/progptearth.h... new chapters on the Supercontinent Cycle and on Great Events in Earth historyNew and updated sections on Earth's thermal history, planetary volcanism, planetary crusts, the onset of plate tectonics, changing composition of the oceans and atmosphere, and paleoclimatic regimesAlso newain this Second the lower mantle and the role of the post-perovskite transition, the role of water in the mantle, new tomographic data tracking plume tails into the deep mantle, Euxinia in Proterozoic oceans, The Hadean, A crustal age gap at 2.4-2.2 Ga, and continental growth"

578 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2004

Reviews

[Mike Parkes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dense, but information-packed history of the long history of our planet, focused on the geology and interactions with the biosphere.

If you read Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" and want more, maybe try "The Earth" by Richard Fortey or Prothero's textbook "Evolution of the Earth". If you read those, and still want to go deeper, than this might just be the book for you. Try to find a larger-dimension version - the version I own is a seriously shrunken edition that loses some of the value of the extensive graphics.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good title for this book would be "Introductory Advanced Macrogeology"