In this attractively illustrated volume, eminent biologist Sir Richard Southwood offers a remarkable survey of life in all its forms, ranging from the earliest single-celled bacteria, to the evolution and extinction of animals such as the dinosaurs, to the variety of life today.
The book follows the major geological periods--such as the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian--explaining how great planetary changes such as the movement of the continents, the rising and falling of sea level, and the periods of glaciation, affected the forms of life on Earth. Beginning with the earliest and simplest forms of life, Southwood discusses such amazing creatures as bacteria that live around geysers and thermal vents and can survive in boiling water. He explains how the development of skeletons triggered the Cambrian Explosion, when animals such as trilobites, sea scorpions, shellfish, cephalopods first spread around the earth. He also examines such landmarks of evolution as the appearance of eggs in shells and of insects in flight. We read about the great dinosaurs and the arrival of the mammals and the primates, and the great extinctions, including the Permian (the largest in fossil history, wiping out 95% of animals) and the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) extinction (the one that wiped out the dinosaurs). Southwood concludes by examining the impact of humanity on Earth, considering if we ourselves might not unleash the next major extinction.
Southwood's love for his subject, for the life he describes so vividly, shines through this carefully crafted story. Generously illustrated with line drawings showing the fauna and flora of the Earth, both past and present, The Story of Life will enthrall anyone interested in nature and natural history.

Stories of creative people and how they inspired, influenced, challenged, and occasionally infuriated one another Readers who fell in love with The Eighth Lively Art will delight in the stories and profiles that the painter and paleontologist Wesley Wehr has collected in this follow-up to his earlier memoir of Pacific Northwest artistic and intellectual life in the 1950s and 1960s. Above all, these are Wehr's accounts, distilled by passionate recollection, of what some remarkable artists and thinkers brought out in him and in each other - stories of creative people and how they inspired, influenced, challenged, and occasionally infuriated one another.

The Grenville Province, covering much of upstate New York, southeastern Ontario, and southern Quebec, has been the source of many amazing mineral specimens. Its crystalline rocks are more than a billion years old, and unlike most mineralogical heritage sites, new discoveries are the rule rather than the exception.The province also contains deposits of commercially important minerals such as iron, zinc, talc, garnet, apatite, and mica. More than 400 photographs highlight specimens from the world-renowned collections of the Canadian Museum of Nature, the New York State Museum, and selected private collections. This pleasurable journey includes sections devoted to colorful gemstones and fluorescent minerals, and explains the mineralogical, geological, and historical significance of these minerals.

Die Entdeckung der Neandertaler vor rund 150 Jahren hat immer wieder fur aufgeregte Diskussionen in Archaologie und Anthropologie gesorgt. Die Fragen, welchen genetischen Beitrag sie zur Entwicklung des heutigen Menschen geleistet haben oder warum die Neandertaler letztendlich ausstarben, sind bis heute ungeklart. Dieser Streit in der Wissenschaft, die unterschiedlichen Interpretationen der Fossilien gestern und heute sowie die Evolution und Kultur des Neandertalers werden erstmalig vollstandig und mit attraktivem Bildmaterial dargestellt. In einem aktuellen Anhang des Neanderthal Museums wird uber die spektatkularen Neufunde im Neandertal und von anderen Orten Deutschlands berichtet."

"Seit den vierziger Jahren des 19. Jahrhunderts wird die geologische Fazieskunde wissenschaftlich im strengsten Sinne des Wortes betrie- ben, doch findet man auffallenderweise auch heutzutage die groesste Unklarheit und Unordnung in den Methoden und die groessten Lucken bei den bisherigen Ergebnissen dieser Wissenschaft . . . Es bestehen nebeneinander die verschiedensten Angaben uber die Bildungsweise gewisser Schichten und man bringt tagtaglich neue Meinungen hervor, ohne die anderen zu widerlegen . . . Es ist hoechste Zeit, dass die Prinzi- pien der Faziesforschung eindeutig bestimmt werden und dass die um- fangreiche Literatur, die solche Fragen behandelt, revidiert werde. " Diese der "Geologischen Fazieskunde" von Laszlo Strausz (1928) vorangestellten Satze haben auch heute Gultigkeit. Dies gilt auch fur die vom Schliffbereich ausgehende Mikrofazies-Analyse von Karbonat- gesteinen. Auch hier bestehen methodische Schwierigkeiten, sind die Interpretationsmoeglichkeiten, bedingt durch den raschen Fortschritt der Paloekologie und der Karbonatsedimentologie, einem steten Wech- sel unterworfen, und fehlen zusammenfassende UEbersichten uber die aus verschiedenen Gebieten der Geowissenschaften stammende um- fangreiche Literatur. Das vorliegende Buch soll keine Synthese darstellen, sondern die derzeitigen Moeglichkeiten mikrofazieller Untersuchungen zeigen und auf sinnvolle neue Entwicklungen aufmerksam machen. Dies gilt so- wohl fur die Prazisierung von Mikrofazies-Typen und fur die auf diesen Typen aufgebauten Fazies-Modelle als auch fur die wechselseitigen Beziehungen zwischen biogenen und abiogenen Faktoren der Karbo- natsedimentation. Wesentliche Entwicklungsmoeglichkeiten bestehen fur Untersuchungen uber die Zusammenhange zwischen physikalischen Parametern von Karbonatgesteinen und Faziestypen und zwischen geochemischen Kriterien und in der Mikrofazies zum Ausdruck kom- menden sedimentaren und diagenetischen Merkmalen.

Minerals are the building blocks of rocks – they make up the solid Earth’s crust. Understanding Minerals & Crystals takes a close look at minerals, how they form, why they differ and how to go about identifying them.

It begins by examining the nature of atoms and the way they bind together to form minerals with distinctive crystal structures; and it discusses the nature and classification of these crystals, and includes a mineral identification key.

The second part of the book contains detailed descriptions of some 80 common and important minerals, including how they were named, their properties, ID pointers, uses and where in the world they are found. All are lavishly illustrated with full-colour photographs.

This book will be invaluable to those interested in any of the earth sciences, or in mineral/crystal collecting – from academics and students to general enthusiasts.

This is a richly illustrated reference book that provides a unique, comprehensive, and up-to-date survey of the rocks and structures of fault and shear zones. These zones are fundamental geologic structures in the Earth's crust. Their rigorous analysis is crucial to understanding the kinematics and dynamics of the continental and oceanic crust, the nature of earthquakes, and the formation of gold and hydrocarbon deposits. To document the variety of fault-related rocks, the book presents more than six hundred photographs of structures ranging in scale from outcrop to submicroscopic. These are accompanied by detailed explanations, often including geologic maps and cross sections, contributed by over 125 geoscientists from around the world. The book opens with an extensive introduction by Arthur W. Snoke and Jan Tullis that is itself a major contribution to the field. Fault-related rocks and their origins have long been controversial and subject to inconsistent terminology. Snoke and Tullis address these problems by presenting the currently accepted ideas in the field, focusing on deformation mechanisms and conceptual models for fault and shear zones. They define common terminology and classifications and present a list of important questions for future research. In the main, photographic part of the book, the editors divide the contributions into three broad categories, covering brittle behavior, semi-brittle behavior, and ductile behavior. Under these headings, there are contributions on dozens of subtopics with photographs from localities around the world, including several "type" areas. The book is an unrivaled source of information about fault-related rocks and will be important reading for a broad range of earth scientists, including structural geologists, petrologists, geophysicists, and environmental specialists. Originally published in 1998. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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 Evolution of the Igneous Rocks, by N. L. Bowen, appeared in 1928 and had a profound influence on later generations of petrologists. Drawing on his series of lectures at Princeton University in the spring of 1927, Dr. Bowen identified, outlined, and applied the principles of physical chemistry relevant to petrological processes. Whereas the major petrochemical questions he discussed are still relevant today, the answers appear to change with time. The purpose of the present volume is to provide an updated view of those questions, in the light of almost fifty years of accumulated observations, using the principles Bowen set forth. Originally published in 1979. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The Gulf of Mexico Basin is one of the most prolific hydrocarbon-producing basins in the world, with an estimated endowment of 200 billion barrels of oil equivalent. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the basin, spanning the US, Mexico and Cuba. Topics covered include conventional and unconventional reservoirs, source rocks and associated tectonics, basin evolution from the Mesozoic to Cenozoic Era, and different regions of the basin from mature onshore fields to deep-water subsalt plays. Cores, well logs and seismic lines are all discussed providing local, regional and basin-scale insights. The scientific implications of seminal events in the basin's history are also covered, including sedimentary effects of the Chicxulub Impact. Containing over 200 color illustrations and 50 stratigraphic cross-sections and paleogeographic maps, this is an invaluable resource for petroleum industry professionals, as well as graduate students and researchers interested in basin analysis, sedimentology, stratigraphy, tectonics and petroleum geology.

This completely updated and revised, full-color edition of Rockhounding Utah reveals the grandeur of the state's exposed formations, its canyon walls etched with fossils, and the spires and arches of the Needles District in Canyonlands National Park. Each description of the 86 state's sites includes concise information on the material to be found there, the tools to bring, the best season to visit, the vehicle to drive, or when a remote find suggests it's time to lace up the hiking boots. Readers will glean new insights into the obsidian of the Black Rock sites, jasper at Hell's Backbone, petrified wood at Bullfrog Turnoff, and fossils of sea lillies along the Wasatch Range.