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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > Palaeontology > General
A classic work from the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
describing the mosasaurs, a group of large predatory marine lizards
of the Mesozoic Mosasaurs have captured the imagination of readers
everywhere interested in prehistoric life, and they remain a focus
of paleontological study to this day. This edition of Dale
Russell's Systematics and Morphology of American Mosasaurs presents
the complete, classic text, generously illustrated with more than
one hundred drawings and photographs, and includes a new foreword
by vertebrate paleontologist Jacques A. Gauthier (Yale University
and Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History). Distributed for the
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
Earth's climate has undergone dramatic changes over the geologic
timescale. At one extreme, Earth has been glaciated from the poles
to the equator for periods that may have lasted millions of years.
At another, temperatures were once so warm that the Canadian Arctic
was heavily forested and large dinosaurs lived on Antarctica.
Paleoclimatology is the study of such changes and their causes.
Studying Earth's long-term climate history gives scientists vital
clues about anthropogenic global warming and how climate is
affected by human endeavor.
In this book, Michael Bender, an internationally recognized
authority on paleoclimate, provides a concise, comprehensive, and
sophisticated introduction to the subject. After briefly describing
the major periods in Earth history to provide geologic context, he
discusses controls on climate and how the record of past climate is
determined. The heart of the book then proceeds chronologically,
introducing the history of climate changes over millions of
years--its patterns and major transitions, and why average global
temperature has varied so much. The book ends with a discussion of
the Holocene (the past 10,000 years) and by putting manmade climate
change in the context of paleoclimate.
The most up-to-date overview on the subject, "Paleoclimate"
provides an ideal introduction to undergraduates, nonspecialist
scientists, and general readers with a scientific background.
This is a personal account of the human side of Everett C Olson's
distinguished career as a palaeobiologist. Origins and the
combination of events that led to a formal education at the
University of Chicago, the selection of a career, and an interest
in the Permian are reviewed. Then Olson vividly describes two
decades of field work in Texas, emphasising the people, places and
events that he and his co-workers encountered there at mid-century.
The second half of the book is devoted to Olson's pioneering
efforts in establishing and strengthening ties between
palaeontologists of the US and USSR during the Cold War years and
especially his deepening friendship with Professor Ivan A Efremov.
Olson and Efremov, two scientists from different cultures, wrestled
with opposing philosophies but shared common interests and
emotions. This book will certainly be of interest to the many
people who have known Dr Olson as colleague, mentor, and friend.
For the general reader, the book provides insights into the career
of a distinguished contemporary scientist and represents an
important chapter in the 20th century history of palaeontology,
earth science, and international scientific relations.
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