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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > Palaeontology
French astronomer Camille Flammarion (1842 1925) won acclaim for
bringing science to a general readership. His Astronomie populaire
(1880) and its translation into English as Popular Astronomy (1894)
are both reissued in this series. The present work, on the origins
of the Earth and humankind, sold tens of thousands of copies.
Flammarion's original purpose was to update Zimmermann's Le monde
avant la creation de l'homme, published a quarter of a century
earlier. However, scientific understanding had progressed so much
that he decided to rewrite the work completely. First published in
1886, it contains some 400 wood engravings depicting dramatic
landscapes, dinosaurs, fossils and much more. Ranging from early
chapters on the universe and solar system, through to later
discussion of the emergence of humankind after aeons of evolution,
this book will prove an absorbing read for those interested in a
nineteenth-century perspective on the origins of life."
A lavish volume in celebration of the astonishing fossils uncovered
in Abu Dhabi's deserts, a region once lush, green, and teeming with
now-extinct animals This lavish volume celebrates the astonishing
wealth of fossils uncovered in recent decades in Abu Dhabi's
desert. These prehistoric findings, around seven million years in
age, record a period when the region was lush, green, and teeming
with diverse mammals, all now extinct. With more than one hundred
full-color photographs, including reconstructions of extinct
animals, this book is both a visual delight and a unique glimpse
into Arabia's ancient past. All text in the book is presented in
both English and Arabic. Distributed for the Yale Peabody Museum of
Natural History
The field of paleoclimatology relies on physical, chemical, and
biological proxies of past climate changes that have been preserved
in natural archives such as glacial ice, tree rings, sediments,
corals, and speleothems. Paleoclimate archives obtained through
field investigations, ocean sediment coring expeditions, ice sheet
coring programs, and other projects allow scientists to reconstruct
climate change over much of earth's history.
When combined with computer model simulations, paleoclimatic
reconstructions are used to test hypotheses about the causes of
climatic change, such as greenhouse gases, solar variability,
earth's orbital variations, and hydrological, oceanic, and tectonic
processes. This book is a comprehensive, state-of-the art synthesis
of paleoclimate research covering all geological timescales,
emphasizing topics that shed light on modern trends in the earth's
climate. Thomas M. Cronin discusses recent discoveries about past
periods of global warmth, changes in atmospheric greenhouse gas
concentrations, abrupt climate and sea-level change, natural
temperature variability, and other topics directly relevant to
controversies over the causes and impacts of climate change. This
text is geared toward advanced undergraduate and graduate students
and researchers in geology, geography, biology, glaciology,
oceanography, atmospheric sciences, and climate modeling, fields
that contribute to paleoclimatology. This volume can also serve as
a reference for those requiring a general background on natural
climate variability.
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North American Index Fossils
- Conularida, Pteropoda, Cephalopoda, Annelida, Trilobita, Phyllopoda, Ostracoda, Cirripedia, Malacostraca, Merostomata, Arachnida, Myriopoda, Insecta, Cystoidea, Blastoidea, Crinoidea, Ophiuroidea, Asteroidea, Echinoidea and A
(Paperback)
Hervey Woodburn Shimer, Amadeus William Grabau
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Discovery Miles 12 150
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The main focus of this book is on providing students, neurosurgery
trainees, certified neurosurgeons and colleagues in neighbouring
disciplines essential information on the evolution of the central
nervous system (CNS) of craniata and homo. Therefore the book is
divided in three parts: Part I is describing the evolution of CNS
of craniata (starting 800 million of years ago). Part II is
explaining in detail the exceptional position of the human
encephalon. Part III is discussing maturity and immaturity of all
parts of CNS of craniatas and the consequences concerning further
development of brain structure and psychological functions. In all
parts anatomical fundamentals are presented in the form of didactic
and self-explanatory illustrations.
This substantial volume showcases 35 of the presentations delivered
at the 5th International Brachiopod Congress in Copenhagen. The
brachiopod congresses are a focus for cutting-edge research in
brachiopod palaeontology and neontology. The presentations from the
Copenhagen Congress cover a wide range of material from basic
morphology and taxonomy through advances in molecular phylogeny and
ultrastructural studies to the biogeography and palaeoecology of
the phylum. About 75% of the papers relate to fossil brachiopods
and the rest to living forms The following fields are represented
in the volume: Taxonomy/Morphology (25%), Ecology/Palaeoecology
(35%) and Stratigraphy/Biogeography (20%), phylogeny (10%) and
Biochemistry/Genetics (10%). The volume is beautifully illustrated
throughout and the papers together represent an exciting snapshot
of contemporary brachiopod research as it continues into the third
millennium.
This volume presents the current state of knowledge on the osseous
projectile weaponry that was produced by Pleistocene cultures
across the globe. Through cross-cultural and temporal comparison of
manufacturing methods, design, use methods, and associated
technology, chapters in this volume identify and discuss
differences and similarities between these Pleistocene cultures.
The central research questions addressed in this volume include:
(a) how did osseous weaponry technology develop and change through
time and can these changes be tied to environmental and/or social
influences?; (b) how did different Pleistocene cultures design and
adapt their osseous weaponry technology to their environment as
well as changes in that environment?; and (c) can we identify
cultural interaction between neighboring groups through the
analysis of osseous weapons technology - and if so - can we use
these items to track the movement of peoples and/or ideas across
the landscape? Through addressing these three central research
questions, this volume creates an integrated understanding of
osseous technology during a vital period in Modern Human cultural
development which will be useful for students and advanced
researchers alike.
This edited volume presents current archaeological research and
data from the major early Acheulean sites in East Africa, and
addresses three main areas of focus; 1) the tempo and mode of
technological changes that led to the emergence of the Acheulean in
East Africa; 2) new approaches to lithic collections, including
lithic technology analyses; and 3) the debated coexistence of the
Developed Oldowan and the early Acheulean. The chapters are the
proceedings from the workshop titled "The Emergence of the
Acheulean in East Africa", held at University of Rome "La Sapienza"
on September 12-13, 2013. The aim of the workshop was to bring
together researchers currently working in this field in East
Africa, in order to define the characteristics and the evolution of
the early Acheulean. The volume was expanded with some chapters on
the preceding Oldowan, on the African fauna and on paleovegetation,
on the Acheulean in Asia and, eventually, on the Acheulean in
Europe. The book is addressed to the scientific community, and will
be of interest to researchers, graduate students, archaeologists,
paleontologists, and paleoanthropologists. This volume is dedicated
to the memory of Jean Chavaillon (March 25, 1925 - December 21,
2013), the leading archaeologist and Quaternary geologist who
researched with unfailing enthusiasm the earliest human cultures
and directed from 1965 to 1995 the French Archaeological Mission at
Melka Kunture.
Paleoecology is a discipline that uses evidence from fossils to
provide an understanding of ancient environments and the ecological
history of life through geological time. This text covers the
fundamental approaches that have provided the foundation for
present paleoecological understanding, and outlines new research
areas in paleoecology for managing future environmental and
ecological change. Topics include the use of actualism in
paleoecology, development of paleoecological models for
paleoenvironmental reconstruction, taphonomy and exceptional fossil
preservation, evolutionary paleoecology and ecological change
through time, and conservation paleoecology. Data from studies of
invertebrates, vertebrates, plants and microfossils, with added
emphasis on bioturbation and microbial sedimentary structures, are
discussed. Examples from marine and terrestrial environments are
covered, with a particular focus on periods of great ecological
change, such as the Precambrian-Cambrian transition and intervals
of mass extinction. Readership: This book is designed for advanced
undergraduates and beginning graduate students in the earth and
biological sciences, as well as researchers and applied scientists
in a range of related disciplines.
Written for non-specialists, this detailed survey of dinosaur
origins, diversity, and extinction is designed as a series of
successive essays covering important and timely topics in dinosaur
paleobiology, such as "warm-bloodedness," birds as living
dinosaurs, the new, non-flying feathered dinosaurs, dinosaur
functional morphology, and cladistic methods in systematics. Its
explicitly phylogenetic approach to the group is that taken by
dinosaur specialists. The book is not an edited compilation of the
works of many individuals, but a unique, cohesive perspective on
Dinosauria. Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of new, specially
commissioned illustrations by John Sibbick, world-famous
illustrator of dinosaurs, the volume includes multi-page drawings
as well as sketches and diagrams. First edition Hb (1996):
0-521-44496-9 David E. Fastovsky is Professor of Geosciences at the
University of Rhode Island. Fastovsky, the author of numerous
scientific publications dealing with Mesozoic vertebrate faunas and
their ancient environments, is also scientific co-Editor of
Geology. He has undertaken extensive fieldwork studying dinosaurs
and their environments in Montana, North Dakota, Arizona, Mexico,
and Mongolia. David B. Weishampel is a professor at the Center for
Functional Anatomy and Evolution at Johns Hopkins University,
School of Medicine. Weishampel is best known for discovering,
researching, and naming several rare European dinosaur species.
During the 1980s Weishampel gained fame for his work with American
paleontologist Jack Horner and later named the famous plant-eating,
egg-laying Orodromeus, Horner. Now, a decade after his pioneering
studies with Horner, Weishampel is most widely known for his
current work on the Romanian dinosaur fauna. He is the author and
co-author of many titles, including The Dinosaur Papers, 1676-1906
(Norton, 2003); The Dinosauria, (University of California, 1990);
and Dinosaurs of the East Coast, (Johns Hopkins University Press,
1996).
From his stunning discovery of "Tyrannosaurus rex "one hundred
years ago to the dozens of other important new dinosaur species he
found, Barnum Brown led a remarkable life (1873OCo1963), spending
most of it searching for fossilsOCoand sometimes oilOCoin every
corner of the globe. One of the most famous scientists in the world
during the middle of the twentieth century, BrownOCowho lived fast,
dressed to the nines, gambled, drank, smoked, and was known as a
ladiesOCO manOCobecame as legendary as the dinosaurs he uncovered.
"Barnum Brown "brushes off the loose sediment to reveal the man
behind the legend. Drawing on BrownOCOs field correspondence and
unpublished notes, and on the writings of his daughter and his two
wives, it discloses for the first time details about his life and
travelsOCofrom his youth on the western frontier to his spying for
the U.S. government under cover of his expeditions. This absorbing
biography also takes full measure of BrownOCOs extensive scientific
accomplishments, making it the definitive account of the life and
times of a singular man and a superlative fossil hunter.
This book introduces the reader to the unique geology of Greece.
This country is a natural geology laboratory that can help us
understand the present-day active geodynamic processes in the
Hellenic orogenic arc, including earthquakes, volcanoes, coastline
changes and other processes of uplift and subsidence, as well as
the intense erosion, transport and deposition of sediments.
Additionally, Greece offers a remarkable geological museum,
reflecting the complex history of the area over the last 300
million years. By studying the rocks of Greece, one can discover
old oceanic basins, e.g. in the Northern Pindos and Othrys
mountains, crystalline rocks of Palaeozoic age, old granitic and
volcanic rocks, as well as other sedimentary rocks including
fossils from the shallow neritic facies to pelagic and abyssal
facies. The younger sediments demonstrate the continuously changing
palaeogeography of Greece, with areas of lakes, high plateaus and
gulfs that are transformed into new forms of islands, peninsulas or
high mountains, etc. All the above subjects are included in the
book, which describes the tectonic structure of the geological
strata, together with the evolutionary stages of the
palaeogeography and geodynamics within the broader Mediterranean
context. A special characteristic of the book is the development of
the orogenic model of the Hellenides with the application of the
tectono-stratigraphic terrane concept in the Tethyan system.
Xiaoming Wang and Richard H. Tedford have spent the past 20
years studying the evolutionary history of the family Canidae. Both
are well known for having established the modern framework for the
evolutionary relationship of canids. Combining their research with
Mauricio Ant?n's impeccable reconstructions of both extinct and
extant species, Wang and Tedford present a remarkably detailed and
nuanced portrait of the origin and evolution of canids over the
past 40 million years.
The authors cull their history from the most recent scientific
research conducted on the vast collections of the American Museum
of Natural History and other leading institutions. The fossil
record of the Canidae, particularly those from their birth place in
North America, are the strongest of their kind among known groups
of carnivorans. Such a wonderfully detailed evolutionary history
provides access to a natural history that is not possible with many
other groups of carnivorans.
With their rich fossil record, diverse adaptations to various
environments, and different predatory specializations, canids are
an ideal model organism for the mapping of predator behavior and
morphological specializations. They also offer an excellent
contrast to felids, which remain entrenched in extreme predatory
specializations. The innovative illustrated approach in this book
is the perfect accompaniment to an extremely important branch of
animal and fossil study. It transforms the science of paleontology
into a thrilling visual experience and provides an unprecedented
reference for anyone fascinated by dogs.
When fossils of birds from China's Jehol region first appeared in
scientific circles, the world took notice. These Mesozoic
masterpieces are between 120 and 131 million years old and reveal
incredible details that capture the diversity of ancient bird life.
Paleontologists all over the world began to collaborate with
Chinese colleagues as new and wondrous fossil-related discoveries
became regular events. The pages of National Geographic and major
scientific journals described the intricate views of feathers as
well as food still visible in the guts of these ancient birds. Now,
for the first time, a sweeping collection of the most interesting
of Jehol's avian fossils is on display in this beautiful book.
Birds of Stone makes visible the unexpected avian diversity that
blanketed the earth just a short time (geologically speaking) after
a dinosaur lineage gave rise to the first birds. Our visual journey
through these fossils is guided by Luis M. Chiappe, a world expert
on early birds, and Meng Qingjin, a leading figure in China's
natural history museum community. Together, they help us understand
the "meaning" of each fossil by providing straightforward
narratives that accompany the full-page photographs of the Jehol
discoveries. Anyone interested in the history of life-from
paleontologists to inquisitive birders-will find Birds of Stone an
irresistible feast for the eyes and mind.
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