This book takes the reader through the complete weathering cycle, from the continents to the oceans, from the perspective of modern radiogenic isotope geochemistry. Topics include surface weathering, fluvial processes, environmental pollution, oceanography and paleoceanography, sedimentary mineral diagenesis and radiometric dating, thus bridging the gap between processes acting on the Earth today and the geological record. Extensive use is made of carefully selected case studies, both pioneering and state-of-the-art. This book enables the reader to critically assess previous work from the literature as well as encouraging already established researchers to apply the most modern isotopic approaches to their particular field of study.

An exploration of how the Cryogenian Period, when our planet was covered in ice for millions of years, created today’s remarkable biodiversity   More than half a billion years ago, our world was completely covered by glaciers, a “Snowball Earth� that persisted for millions of years. Incredibly, this unimaginable cold led to the remarkable diversification of life on earth known as the Cambrian explosion. With a geologist’s eye and a knack for storytelling, Graham Shields explores when and how such inhospitable conditions enabled animals to evolve, radiate, and diversify into our earliest ancestors.   This journey navigates the wild swings between hot and cold climates, oxygenation and asphyxiation, biological radiations and extinctions, asking how such instability relates to grander forces that brought our planet to its modern state. Shields guides readers through evidence found in the Australian outback, Mongolia, Scotland, and other locales, revealing how geologists can trace glaciation, the atmosphere, oceans, mountain building, and more through the earth’s rocks, providing a comprehensive theory of how life evolved and diversified.