Earth as an Evolving Planetary System

by Kent C. Condie

Overview

Earth as an Evolving Planetary System presents the key topics and questions relating to the evolution of the Earth's crust and mantle over the last four billion years. It examines the role of plate tectonics in the geological past via geological evidence and proposed plate reconstruction.

Kent Condie synthesizes data from the fields of oceanography, geophysics, planetology, and geochemistry to examine the key topics and questions relating to the evolution of the Earth's crust and mantle. This volume provides a substantial update to Condie's established text, Plate Tectonics and Crustal Evolution, 4E. It emphasizes the interactive nature of various components of the Earth system on time scales of tens to hundreds of millions of years, and how these interactions have affected the history of the atmosphere, oceans, and biosphere.

* New insight on interaction and evolution of Earth system
* Examines the role of castrophic events in Earth's history
* New section on the evolution of the mantle

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780080494586
Publisher:	Elsevier Science & Technology Books
Publication date:	03/31/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	350
File size:	29 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Kent Condie is emeritus professor of geochemistry at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM where he taught from 1970 to 2015. His textbook, Plate Tectonics and Crustal Evolution, was first published in 1976 and has gone through four editions. In addition, Condie has written seven other professional books the most recent of which, Earth as an Evolving Planetary System is now in the fourth edition. He is author or co-author of over 750 articles published scientific journals. He was awarded NMT’s Distinguished Research Award in 1987. In addition, he was elected the Vice President of the International Association for Gondwana Research in 2002 and in 2007 was bestowed an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He was awarded the Penrose Medal of the Geological Society of America in 2018.

Table of Contents

1. Earth Systems
2. The Crust
3. Tectonic Settings
4. The Mantle
5. The Core
6. The Atmosphere and Oceans
7. Living Systems
8. Crustal and Mantle Evolution
9. The Supercontinent Cycle and Mantle Plume Events
10. Comparative Planetary Evolution

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Presents key topics and questions relating to the evolution of the Earth's crust and mantle over the last four billion years, and examines the role of plate tectonics in the geological past via geological evidence and proposed plate reconstruction.

Editorial Reviews

"I have found Kent Condie’s book to be a masterpiece, very interesting and truly enjoyable to read. Upon completion of this book, the reader will likely realize how exciting and important the interdisciplinary work is that has lead scientists to understand most of the unknown features of our unique planet." —Pure and Applied Geophysics, August 2, 2013

"…a masterpiece, very interesting and truly enjoyable to read. Upon completion of this book, the reader will likely realize how exciting and important is the interdisciplinary work that has lead scientists to understand most of the unknown features of our unique planet." —Pure and Applied Geophysics, April 2013

Praise for the first edition:"What we can find in this book is a snapshot of current knowledge regarding the Earth's components and how these consituent parts challenge Earth scientists to integrate their sub-disciplines into a holistic view of our home. The book is an excellent textbook for either an upper class undergraduate course or a graduate course in Earth history." —Eos (Bulletin of the American Geophysical Union), 2005

"Author Kent Condie synthesizes data from the fields of oceanography, geophysics, planetology, and geochemistry to examine the key topics and questions relating to the evolution of Earth's crust and mantle. This volume provides a substantial update to Condie's established text,Plate Tectonics and Crustal Evolution, Fourth Edition. It emphasizes the interactive nature of various components of the Earth system on timescales of tens to hundreds of millions of years, and how these interactions have affected the history of the atmosphere, oceans, and biosphere." —Linda Chappell, Information and Research Services, Lunar and Planetary Institute

"Condie (earth and environmental science, New Mexico Tech) synthesizes data and research from a wide variety of fieldsgeophysics, planetology, oceanography, paleoclimatology, geologyto present a systematic view of the Earth as a singular planetary system of animate and inanimate processes. This book started decades ago as an overview of plate-tectonics, and in the last two editions has been published under a new name as plate-tectonics became no longer the focus. Written for advanced undergraduate or graduate students in the Earth sciences, the majority of the text considers the geology and geochemistry of the inner Earth clear up to the mantle. The last few chapters consider Earth history over all, the origins and impact of life, and comparative planetary evolution throughout the solar-system. This second edition includes not only new seismic tomography data and high resolution U/Pb zircon dating, but also new chapters on the super-continent cycle and great events in Earth history. Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier." —Reference and Research Book News, October 2012

From the Publisher