Author Description

Introducing geology, the essentials of plate tectonics, and other important concepts -- Atoms, elements, and minerals -- Igneous rocks, the origin and evolution of magma, and intrusive activity -- Volcanism and extrusive rocks -- Weathering and soil -- Sediment and sedimentary rocks -- Metamorphism and metamorphic rocks -- Time and geology -- Mass wasting -- Streams and floods -- Groundwater -- Glaciers and glaciation -- Deserts and wind action -- Waves, beaches, and coasts -- Geologic structures -- Earthquakes -- Earth's interior and geophysical properties -- The sea floor -- Plate tectonics: the unifying theory -- Mountain belts and the continental crust -- Global climate change -- Resources -- The Earth's companions.