Description
Emphasising the interconnected nature of environmental geology and the multidimensional processes of the Earth, this highly anticipated new edition of Merritt’s classic text provides a balanced approach to environmental issues and builds an informed student understanding with case studies, conceptual explanations, and relevant presentation of material. By far the most concise book for its course, it remains the only textbook to use an earth systems approach to exploring how the Earth works, the human impact on the environment, and the characteristics of different natural hazards. Dorothy Merritts, Kirsten Menking and Andrew DeWet Part I Introduction 1. Dynamic Earth Systems Earth System Science The Concept of Systems Earth’s Environmental Systems Earth’s Energy Systems Population, Resources, Pollution, Hazards, and Planetary Boundaries Part II: Solid Earth Systems and Geologic Time 2. Plate Tectonics: Solid Earth in Motion An Early Conundrum and the Scientific Method Plate Properties and Motions Piecing the Theory Together The Driver of Plate Tectonics 3. Earthquakes: Their Causes, Hazards, and Risks The Build-up and Release of Seismic Energy Assessing Earthquake Hazards Minimizing the Risks from Earthquakes 4. Earth Materials: Elements, Minerals, and Rocks Minerals: Building blocks of the lithosphere Rocks and the Rock Cycle Rock and Mineral Resources 5. Volcanoes Volcanic Eruptions Volcanic Hazards Minimizing the Risks from Volcanic Eruptions 6. Geologic Time Scales of Time and Earth System Cycles Measuring Time: Relative and Absolute Age Dating Fossils, Evolution, and Relative Geologic Time Global Change over Different Scales of TimePart III Earth’s Surface Systems 7. The Biosphere Biosphere Structure and Functioning Ecosystem Services Water Purification Human Impacts on the Biosphere 8. Soil and Weathering Systems The Pedosphere: A Geomembrane to Other Earth Systems Biological Processes and their Role in Weathering Pedosphere Resources: Soils, Clays, and Mineral Ores Soil Erosion Hazards, Land Degradation, and Soil Conservation Soil Erosion: A Quiet Crisis Mass Movement Hazards and Their Mitigation Part IV Fluid Earth Systems 9. Earth The Hydrologic Cycle Drainage Basins and Streams Floods Altered Streams Wetlands Managing and Restoring Streams and Wetlands Water Resources and Protection Droughts 10. The Groundwater System Water in the Ground Groundwater As a Resource Groundwater Hazards Groundwater Pollution and Its Cleanup 11. The Atmospheric System The Atmosphere: An Envelope of Gases Atmospheric Circulation and Climate Storms Severe Weather Tropical Storms and Hurricanes Human Influence on Atmospheric Chemistry Air Pollution and Environmental Management 12. The Ocean and Coastal System The Ocean Basins Coastlines Sea Level Changes Seawater Chemistry Ocean Structure and Circulation Circulation in the Surface Mixed Layer Circulation in the Deep Ocean Coastal Processes and Hazards of Living by the Sea Coastal Erosion and Attempts to Control It Controlling Cliff Erosion Human Impacts on the Seas Waste Disposal and Polluted Runoff Along Continental Shelves Part V Energy, Changing Earth, and Human-Earth Interactions 13. Energy Energy and Humans Earth’s Energy System Petroleum: Crude Oil and Natural Gas Renewable Energy: Solar, Wind, And Hydroelectric The “New Energy Era”: Green Buildings and the Road Taken 14. Understanding Climatic and Environmental Change Climate on Terrestrial Planets Causes of Climatic Change Influence of Plate Tectonics on Climate Indicators of Environmental Change Global Climate Models 15. Humans and the Whole Earth System: Living in the Anthropocene Planetary Boundaries Anthropogenic Climate Change Impacts of Rising Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Sea Level Rise Coming to Grips with the Anthropocene
