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The Elements of Geology
William Harmon Norton was Professor of geology at Cornell University. Norton wrote this textbook wanting to develop the relationship between causes and their effects in a clear cut manner. Norton stresses the importance of the teacher using field study and observation along with the text. The book is divided into three sections. External geology concentrates on weather, glaciers, wind etc. Internal geology studies the earths crust, earthquakes, volcanoes etc. The final section, historical geology, covers carboniferous, Mesozoic, tertiary, etc.
- GenresGeology
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1906
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 22, 2022
Geology (from Greek γῆ (gê) 'earth', and λoγία (-logía) 'study of, discourse') is a fascinating subject, is about the Earth that we all live in. The current epoch is the Holocene, part of The Holocene extinction, otherwise referred to as the sixth mass extinction or Anthropocene extinction.
Earth, as a mega structure with its brain, has its own time, and this book covers well the previous epochs. It starts with earthworms, which in 5 years those little creatures can move the UK's land mass, for example, rejuvenating land with minerals and oxygen. Now, if you have dropped, by mistake, a plastic bag, you indeed will move it deeper into the ground so the roots of the spinach that you ate yesterday be enriched with microplastics. In fact, for the first time in world history, we dont have only tube babies but babies born with microplastics as part of their nutritional mix.
It covers volcanos and earthquakes, but becouse it's old does not mention that every time we build a new water dam, the weight applied to that land could put extra pressure on tectonic plates and trigger an earthquake. I guess it is the same with our body, too much pressure in the spine, and you could break it. Imagine that the 2004 tsunami in Asia made our day smaller by 2.68 microseconds due to a decrease in the oblateness of the Earth.
It covers all the details of how mountains are formed and what kind of debris you can find in avalanches and floods. Of course, it does not cover the 2 million bodies of Chinese that died becouse of the Yellow River floods in the 30s and surely ddoesnot give any prediction as to what could happen with all that pressure building up on the 3 Gorges dam. Perhaps we will read it on the news sometime, like Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered by an earthquake in the Asia Pacific region.
I know that im sarcastic, intentionally, becouse we dont know much about the house we live in nor try to protect it anyhow; we build like there is no tomorrow and with no limits. I guess it is good to read such books to see the larger perspective of things and connect the dots. Of course, you could still believe in the old greek myth of Enceladus; who cares anyway?
Earth, as a mega structure with its brain, has its own time, and this book covers well the previous epochs. It starts with earthworms, which in 5 years those little creatures can move the UK's land mass, for example, rejuvenating land with minerals and oxygen. Now, if you have dropped, by mistake, a plastic bag, you indeed will move it deeper into the ground so the roots of the spinach that you ate yesterday be enriched with microplastics. In fact, for the first time in world history, we dont have only tube babies but babies born with microplastics as part of their nutritional mix.
It covers volcanos and earthquakes, but becouse it's old does not mention that every time we build a new water dam, the weight applied to that land could put extra pressure on tectonic plates and trigger an earthquake. I guess it is the same with our body, too much pressure in the spine, and you could break it. Imagine that the 2004 tsunami in Asia made our day smaller by 2.68 microseconds due to a decrease in the oblateness of the Earth.
It covers all the details of how mountains are formed and what kind of debris you can find in avalanches and floods. Of course, it does not cover the 2 million bodies of Chinese that died becouse of the Yellow River floods in the 30s and surely ddoesnot give any prediction as to what could happen with all that pressure building up on the 3 Gorges dam. Perhaps we will read it on the news sometime, like Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered by an earthquake in the Asia Pacific region.
I know that im sarcastic, intentionally, becouse we dont know much about the house we live in nor try to protect it anyhow; we build like there is no tomorrow and with no limits. I guess it is good to read such books to see the larger perspective of things and connect the dots. Of course, you could still believe in the old greek myth of Enceladus; who cares anyway?
July 3, 2020
A good introduction to basics if a bit outdated where it comes to paleontology.
February 2, 2013
Very good introduction to the field
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews