Go on an outdoor treasure hunt and enjoy all nature has to offer with this field guide to rockhounding, perfect for armchair geologists or anyone headed out on an adventure! Geology meets treasure hunting with this field guide to rockhounding! If you've ever kept an interesting rock or shell, bought a polished stone from a gift shop, or even just enjoyed a 'gram of a really cool crystal, congratulations! You've already experienced a rockhounding adventure! Rockhouding for Beginners shows you how to take your rockhounding to the next level, providing everything you need to know from tips for finding local sources for really cool finds to techniques for safely cleaning, cutting, polishing, and caring for the best samples. Complete with full-color photos to help you identify each rock and mineral wherever you find them, this guide has all the rockhounding information you need whether you're ready to get down and dirty or simply want to learn more from the comfort of your couch.

This is the ultimate photographic guide to the world of rocks and minerals, as well as how to build your own collection. An extensive introduction section describes the impact of factors such as time, weather and water erosion on the development of these substances, and the part played by natural phenomena such as volcanoes and earthquakes. Specimens are grouped according to their chemical composition and characteristics, and all entries include quick-reference identification checklists to aid recognition. A scientific introduction looks at the origins of these materials and their impact on the landscape, with examples of striking natural formations and explanatory diagrams. The amateur geologist is shown how to identify specimens by their appearance, texture, hardness, and density, as well as how to extract samples safely, how to clean and store rocks and minerals, and build and present their own collection. Featuring over 800 images, this book is a classic illustrated encyclopedia and field guide on an endlessly fascinating and richly consuming subject.

Newly published in a fifth edition, this definitive guide takes the mystery out of appreciating, buying and selling gemstones. It covers everything from the romance and history of more than 1,800 gemstones to their geographic locations; scientific, physical and colour properties; and the way they are formed, structured and mined. The book also fully covers the optical features of gems - light and colour, luminescence, refraction and inclusions - and key information about the densities and chemical elements of each stone, with fascinating details on different cuts, polishing, gems, hardness, cleavage, classification, trade names, rarity and more. There are also many charts and diagrams as well as magnificent colour photographs of the stones with data about them on the facing page. If you want only one book on gemstones in your library, this would be the one!

A fascinating exploration of exquisite images captured from natural materials, and of their applications in fashion, environmental design, and apps that anticipate a new era of digitally-driven individual creativity. Data From Nature begins with the chance encounter between an ammonite and a digital scanner and goes on to relate the author's growing immersion in the micro-scale beauty of minerals and--thanks to new digital means of production--their applications in wide areas of design. These include an award-winning range of silk scarves for Liberty of London (also sold in Saks Fifth Avenue); "frocks from rocks"; a striking architectural facade in London, and the transformation of his own house and garden using the latest digital techniques. Along the way we learn about how minerals form in the Earth; ways they have been admired and imagined from ancient civilizations to the dawn of Modernity; and discover how the inlaid surfaces of Renaissance cabinets of curiosity could inspire creative coloring and design apps intended to equip children and adults alike to participate creatively in the Digital Revolution. And as if all this weren't enough, the book ends as improbably as it started with a short biography of a "lost" (for which read "fictional") seventeenth-century artist, Carlo Alcite, whose "works" reveal powers of invention and draftsmanship worthy of a baroque master.

Trace metals play key roles in life - all are toxic above a threshold bioavailability, yet many are essential to metabolism at lower doses. It is important to appreciate the natural history of an organism in order to understand the interaction between its biology and trace metals. The countryside and indeed the natural history of the British Isles are littered with the effects of metals, mostly via historical mining and subsequent industrial development. This fascinating story encompasses history, economics, geography, geology, chemistry, biochemistry, physiology, ecology, ecotoxicology and above all natural history. Examples abound of interactions between organisms and metals in the terrestrial, freshwater, estuarine, coastal and oceanic environments in and around the British Isles. Many of these interactions have nothing to do with metal pollution. All organisms are affected from bacteria, plants and invertebrates to charismatic species such as seals, dolphins, whales and seabirds. All have a tale to tell.

The Rhaetian Penarth Group includes the former Westbury Beds, Cotham Beds, and White Lias. It crops out in a narrow strip from the Devon and Dorset coast to the mouth of the Tees, and is particularly well known from the exposures along the Bristol Channel. This diverse suite of late Triassic sedimentary rocks is internationally famous for the fossils that it yields, most notably from the bone beds. Coverage is comprehensive, with separate chapters on foraminifera, gastropods, bivalves, crustaceans, insects, echinoderms, other invertebrates, conodonts, fish, tetrapods, trace fossils and plants. There are background chapters on sedimentology, stratigraphy and the formation of the bone beds. The guide is copiously illustrated with specimens from all major UK public collections of Penarth Group fossils illustrated on 26 plates and 30 text-figures. It will be of use both to collectors who want to know more about this diverse and interesting suite of fossils, as well as to students of geology who wish to understand their conditions of deposition and accumulation.

The definitive guide to rocks and minerals, completely updated for the fifth edition, includes 385 color photographs showing rocks, minerals, and geologic formations. Hundreds of minerals are described, with details such as geographic formations. Hundreds of minerals are described, with details such as geographic distribution, physical properties, chemical composition, and crystalline structures.

Trace fossils are the products of the activities of ancient organisms, including tracks, trails, burrows, borings, eggs and faecal remains. The importance of these fossils compared with body fossils (shells, bones) is that they provide the palaeontologist with evidence of how the ancient organism actually functioned, including activities such as locomotion, feeding, reproduction and social behaviour, for which no other data exist. They also provide the only evidence of the existence of soft-bodied organisms for which no other fossil material has survived.

A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017

A rich and exuberant group biography of the first geologists, the people who were first to excavate from the layers of the world its buried history.

These first geologists were made up primarily, and inevitably, of gentlemen with the necessary wealth to support their interests, yet boosting their numbers, expanding their learning and increasing their findings were clergymen, academics - and women. This lively and eclectic collection of characters brought passion, eccentricity and towering intellect to geology and Brenda Maddox in Reading the Rocks does them full justice, bringing them to vivid life.

The new science of geology was pursued by this assorted band because it opened a window on Earth's ancient past. They showed great courage in facing the conflict between geology and Genesis that immediately presented itself: for the rocks and fossils being dug up showed that the Earth was immeasurably old, rather than springing from a creation made in the six days that the Bible claimed. It is no coincidence that Charles Darwin was a keen geologist.

The individual stories of these first geologists, their hope and fears, triumphs and disappointments, the theological, philosophical and scientific debates their findings provoked, and the way that as a group, they were to change irrevocably and dramatically our understanding of the world is told by Brenda Maddox with a storyteller's skill and a fellow scientist's understanding. The effect is absorbing, revelatory and strikingly original.

This colorful and easy-to-use reference guide dedicated to collecting rocks, gems and minerals is ideal for readers who want to expand their understanding without getting lost in a maze of science. Beautifully illustrated with 700 color photographs providing wonderful detail and smartly organized to take the hassle out identification, readers will enjoy the simplicity of the guide and the enthusiasm and knowledge of author Patti Polk, one of the top agate collectors in the world and a self-proclaimed "rockhound." In addition to updating all values - a unique feature to the guide - author Polk is expanding her offerings to include new rare mineral specimens, as well as adding "rough" specimens to complement existing photos of finished samples Readers will also enjoy two areas that our competitors don't bother with: values and lapidary, which is the cutting and polishing of rocks and gemstones for jewelry or display. Impressively, the reference guide serves as a general escort for the beginning collector, yet it is comprehensive enough to cover all the important rocks, minerals and gems that any seasoned collector would need to refer to for information.

More than 60 million members of the species "felis domesticus" - house cats - live in the United States alone. Welcomed into homes as part of the family and revered as gods by the ancient Egyptians, domestic cats are descendants of a proud lineage that includes the giant sabre-toothed tiger, the graceful cheetah of the African plains, and the powerful bobcat of the Americas.;Acclaimed artist Mauricio Anton and renowned paleontologist Alan Turner collaborate to produce the first book of its kind - a fascinating natural history linking extinct larger feline species with those still living, including lions, tigers, cougars and cheetahs. Using superb illustrations and photos to supplement lucidly written text, "The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives" chronicles 25 million years of evolution, revealing the common ancestry of today's familiar big cats.;In addition to a compelling account of the evolution and anatomy of big cats past and present, "The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives" also explores the behaviour of these magnificent creatures. Living species and fossil remains make possible the reconstruction of the cats' social and predatory behaviour, supplementing the reader's unde

The two most fascinating questions about extraterrestrial life are where it is found and what it is like. In particular, from our Earth-based vantage point, we are keen to know where the closest life to us is, and how similar it might be to life on our home planet. This book deals with both of these key issues. It considers possible homes for life, with a focus on Earth-like exoplanets. And it examines the possibility that life elsewhere might be similar to life here, due to the existence of parallel environments, which may result in Darwinian selection producing parallel trees of life between one planet and another. Understanding Life in the Universe provides an engaging and myth-busting overview for any reader interested in the existence and nature of extraterrestrial life, and the realistic possibility of discovering credible evidence for it in the near future.

The unique fossils featured in Caves of the Ape-Men were excavated at cave-sites which today are clustered within the first World Heritage Site to be proclaimed in South Africa under the auspices of UNESCO. This title includes excellent visuals of the area, a brief account of its history, and an accessible assessment of its importance for understanding the emergence of hominids – the early creatures transitional between the great apes and man – and, later, some of the earliest representatives of our own species. The publication is based on short text boxes interspersed with illustrations of key fossil specimens as old as four million years. Also included are reconstructions of how these hominids might have appeared and the dramatic landscapes within which they were discovered. Three scientific books on different aspects of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site have appeared recently. As Sterkfontein is the richest single fossil hominid site in the world it deserves to be promoted as one of the foremost tourist attractions in Africa, along with half a dozen other local sites also immensely rich in fossil specimens. Together, these sites proclaim South Africa as one of the key areas which saw the emergence of human ancestors in the distant past. The Cradle of Humankind clearly meets the criterion of an internationally acclaimed destination to which justice should be accorded in a volume, containing high quality visuals while at the same time informing the visitor and providing an accurate account, which will be treasured forever.

A guide to identifying fossils found in California.

The clearest and sharpest recognition guide to over 500 invertebrate, vertebrate, and plant fossils from around the world. This comprehensive pocket guide is the perfect introduction to finding, identifying, and collecting fossils. It features more than 500 species of plant and animal fossils, from trilobites and megafauna to dinosaurs and ancient trees. This handbook cuts through the complicated identification process with expertly written and thoroughly vetted text that features precise description, enabling you to recognize a species instantly. Over 1,000 photographs, with illuminating annotations, help you to pick out a fossil's chief characteristics and distinguishing features, while a colour illustration shows the fossil as a living plant or animal. The detailed introduction explains what a fossil is and how they are classified. Start building your own collection with advice on where to look for fossils, what tools and safety equipment are needed for collecting, and how best to organize a fossil collection. To help you in the initial stages of identification, this book provides a visual identification key that makes it easy to recognize a fossil and place it in its correct group. Finally, a concise glossary gives instant understanding of technical and scientific terms.

The principles of stratigraphic paleobiology can be readily applied to the nonmarine fossil record. Consistent spatial and temporal patterns of accommodation and sedimentation in sedimentary basins are an important control on stratigraphic architecture. Temperature and precipitation covary with elevation, causing significant variation in community composition, and changes in base level cause elevation to undergo predictable changes. These principles lead to eight sets of hypotheses about the nonmarine fossil record. Three relate to long-term and cyclical patterns in the preservation of major fossil groups and their taphonomy, as well as the occurrence of fossil concentrations. The remaining hypotheses relate to the widespread occurrence of elevation-correlated gradients in community composition, long-term and cyclical trends in these communities, and the stratigraphic position of abrupt changes in community composition. Testing of these hypotheses makes the stratigraphic paleobiology of nonmarine systems a promising area of investigation.

With this informative guide, you can explore the mineral-rich state of New York, from the beaches to the mountains. It describes the states' best rockhounding sites and covers popular and commercial sites as well as numerous little-known areas. This handy guide also describes how to collect specimens, includes maps and directions to each site, and lists rockhound clubs in the state. "Rockhounding New York" offers a complete introduction to this many-faceted hobby and is an invaluable sourcebook.

From the outback of Australia to the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and the savanna of Madagascar, the award-winning science writer and dinosaur enthusiast John Pickrell embarks on a world tour of new finds, meeting the fossil hunters who work at the frontier of discovery. He reveals the dwarf dinosaurs unearthed by an eccentric Transylvanian baron; an aquatic, crocodile-snouted carnivore bigger than T. rex that once lurked in North African waterways; a Chinese dinosaur with wings like a bat; and a Patagonian sauropod so enormous it weighed more than two commercial jet airliners. Other surprising discoveries hail from Alaska, Siberia, Canada, Burma, and South Africa. Why did dinosaurs grow so huge? How did they spread across the world? Did they all have feathers? What do sauropods have in common with 1950s vacuum cleaners? The stuff of adventure movies and scientific revolutions, Weird Dinosaurs examines the latest breakthroughs and new technologies that are radically transforming our understanding of the distant past. Pickrell opens a vivid portal to a brand-new age of fossil discovery, in which fossil hunters are routinely redefining what we know and how we think about prehistory's most iconic and fascinating creatures.

The story of one citizen's fight to preserve a US stake in the future of clean energy and the elements essential to high tech industries and national defense. American technological prowess used to be unrivaled. But because of globalization, and with the blessing of the U.S. government, once proprietary materials, components and technologies are increasingly commercialized outside the U.S. Nowhere is this more dangerous than in China's monopoly of rare earth elements-materials that are essential for nearly all modern consumer goods, gadgets and weapons systems. Jim Kennedy is a retired securities portfolio manager who bought a bankrupt mining operation. The mine was rich in rare earth elements, but he soon discovered that China owned the entire global supply and manufacturing chain. Worse, no one in the federal government cared. Dismayed by this discovery, Jim made a plan to restore America's rare earth industry. His plan also allowed technology companies to manufacture rare earth dependent technologies in the United States again and develop safe, clean nuclear energy. For years, Jim lobbied Congress, the Pentagon, the White House Office of Science and Technology, and traveled the globe to gain support. Exhausted, down hundreds of thousands of dollars, and with his wife at her wits' end, at the start of 2017, Jim sat on the edge of victory, held his breath and bet it all that his government would finally do the right thing. Like Beth Macy's Factory Man, this is the story of one man's efforts to stem the dehumanizing tide of globalization and Washington's reckless inaction. Jim's is a fight we need to join.