Our Dynamic Earth: A Primer

ISBN-13: 9783030903534 / Angielski / Miękka / 2023 / 194 str.

Matthew R. Bennett

Opis

Students taking undergraduate degrees in geography, ecology, earth science, and environmental science frequently take an introductory unit in Physical Geography.  Some will have not done any geography since their early teens, while others have more recent knowledge. This range of backgrounds can be challenging for both the instructor and the student, this primer aims to help. A primer is a readable introduction to a subject, more technical than a piece of popular science, but less detailed than a specialist textbook. It aims to give the reader a platform in a subject with which they may be unfamiliar, so that they can proceed simultaneously, or sequentially, to more advanced texts and information. Ideally the primer should have something for those without any knowledge, while also challenge and entertaining those who do. Not quite bedtime reading, but a step in that direction. Our Dynamic Earth introduces students to the Earth's origins, to plate tectonics, atmospheric and oceanographic circulation, as well as to a range of Earth surface processes. Idea to get you started in your studies. 

Spis treści

Preface .................................................................................................................................................. 3

Prologue: Why Physical Geography? ........................................................................................... 7

Part I: Earth history and climate ................................................................................................... 10

Chapter 1: Geological time ............................................................................................................ 10

Entropy ............................................................................................................................................ 10

No sight of a beginning, no sight of an end .......................................................................... 11

Earth’s origin story ...................................................................................................................... 14

Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 16

Chapter 2: Earth’s internal heat engine ...................................................................................... 18

Paradigms and shifting science ............................................................................................... 18

Plate tectonics ............................................................................................................................... 19

Isostasy ........................................................................................................................................... 22

Supercontinents again ................................................................................................................ 23

Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 24

Chapter 3: Volcanoes ...................................................................................................................... 26

Distribution in space and time .................................................................................................. 26

All in the eruption ......................................................................................................................... 28

Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 31

Chapter 4: Earth’s external heat engine ..................................................................................... 32

Source, receptor, and filter ........................................................................................................ 32

Earth’s heat engine ...................................................................................................................... 35

Earth’s air conditioning systems ............................................................................................. 42

Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 42

Chapter 5: Climate change is normal .......................................................................................... 43

Climate and earth history ........................................................................................................... 43

Evidence for Climate Change .................................................................................................... 45

Mechanisms of climate change ................................................................................................ 49

Landscape and land-sea distribution (1) ................................................................................ 50

Ocean basins (2) ........................................................................................................................... 51

Solar input (3) ................................................................................................................................ 52

Atmospheric content (4) ............................................................................................................. 53

Planetary-scale feedbacks ......................................................................................................... 55

Cenozoic climate change ........................................................................................................... 57

5

Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 62

Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 63

Part II: Shaping the landscape ...................................................................................................... 66

Chapter 6: The landscape beneath our feet .............................................................................. 66

Rocks and minerals ..................................................................................................................... 67

Natural decay ................................................................................................................................. 68

Soils ................................................................................................................................................. 73

Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 76

Chapter 7: Gravity and slopes ...................................................................................................... 77

Forces on a clast(s), or rock slope .......................................................................................... 77

Mass movement ............................................................................................................................ 79

Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 82

Chapter 8: Flowing water ............................................................................................................... 83

All about rain ................................................................................................................................. 83

Water on hillslopes ...................................................................................................................... 88

Surface hydrology ........................................................................................................................ 92

Channel flow .................................................................................................................................. 94

Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 100

Further reading ........................................................................................................................... 100

Chapter 9: Flowing Ice .................................................................................................................. 102

Physics of glaciers ..................................................................................................................... 103

Glacial erosion ............................................................................................................................ 106

Glacier transport ......................................................................................................................... 109

Depositional landsystems ........................................................................................................ 109

Further reading ........................................................................................................................... 113

Chapter 10: Coastal processes ................................................................................................... 115

Importance of tides .................................................................................................................... 116

Making waves .............................................................................................................................. 117

Dancing beaches ........................................................................................................................ 120

Cliffs, Shore Platforms and Erosion ...................................................................................... 123

Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 126

Further reading ........................................................................................................................... 126

Chapter 11: Landscapes around us .......................................................................................... 128

British Landscapes .................................................................................................................... 128

6

Amazonia ...................................................................................................................................... 135

Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 136

Figure Sources ................................................................................................................................ 138

O autorze

Matthew Bennett's passion for geography comes from a childhood spent in Snowdonia and he has worked widely throughout the world on a range of projects. In the 1990s he worked on glacial and Quaternary projects in the Arctic, as well as throughout the UK. He published widely on aspects of glaciology, sedimentology, and geomorphology. During this time, he also wrote several leading textbooks. In 2002 he joined Bournemouth University and Matthew started to work in Mexico on problems in Quaternary stratigraphy, environmental archaeology, and volcanic hazards. His work has featured in a range of TV and radio broadcasts, and he is known for his work on the Perfect Sandcastle. During this time Matthew also ran a successful environmental consultancy firm at Bournemouth University. He was Dean of Applied Sciences 2007 to 2010. In 2007 he joined the Koobi Fora Field School and his work on the Ileret footprints was published in Science in 2009. Since then, and working extensively throughout Africa, Matthew has published widely on ancient footprints. In 2010 Matthew became Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Internationalisation at Bournemouth a post he held until 2014. In 2014 he stepped down to focus on his research and wrote a research textbook on human footprints. Matthew’s current research involves ecological modelling of hominin evolution using a range of landscape and agent-based models as well as working on footprint projects around the world. In 2015 Matthew was awarded an Innovation Grant to translate his footprint research into a practical tool for use by forensic scientist. Since 2017 Matthew has been working at White Sands National Park in New Mexico which has one of the largest concentrations of Pleistocene footprints anywhere in the world.  These tracks have been dated to the Last Glacial Maximum which makes the White Sands footprints the oldest human tracks in the Americas, work that was published in Science in 2021.