How the Earth Works, 4 Volume Set

Michael E. Wysession

ISBN 10: 1598034073 ISBN 13: 9781598034073

Synopsis

Imagine coming upon Earth as a traveler from another galaxy. It wouldn't take you long to discover Earth's fascinating variety. The combination of continents, oceans, and atmosphere makes it unique among all the planets in the solar system, and perhaps in the galaxy. These features also create the conditions for life in all its diversity. But where did the land, water, and air come from? And how do these systems work together to produce the complex phenomena that are evident everywhere on this beautiful planet? Consider these The steady, slow decay of radioactive elements deep inside Earth provides the heat that keeps our planet at a slow boil, moving massive amounts of mantle rock in a cyclic pattern of convection and creating plate tectonics. A mid-ocean ridge system snakes around Earth like the seam on a baseball. The slow drift of Earth's tectonic plates-moving at the rate that hair grows-splits the ridges apart, pulling rock up to fill the gap. One of the most energetic environments on Earth is where land and ocean the seashore. Waves crashing against the coasts of North America can be heard as background static on seismometers located at the center of the continent.An Astonishing JourneyHow the Earth Works takes you on an astonishing journey through time and space. In 48 half-hour lectures, you will look at what went into making our planet-from the big bang, to the formation of the solar system, to the subsequent evolution of Earth. You will travel to the center of our planet and out again, charting the geologic forces that churn beneath our feet to push the continents and seafloor around like so much froth on the surface of a pot of soup. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis are byproducts of our planet's ceaseless activity, and you will focus on specific examples of each to learn why and when they occur. Volcanic activity has produced the atmosphere as a side effect, and you will learn how this sea of air functions at the global scale. Earth's surface is mostly water, and you will explore the cycling of this vital substance throughout the planet, along with its role in climate, erosion, plate tectonics, and biology. Not only are humans at the mercy of our planet's natural forces, but we ourselves have also become agents of change. We are altering the Earth's land, water, and air faster than any other geologic process. This will be another theme of your how humans have transformed watersheds, leveled mountains, changed the balance of gases in the atmosphere, and caused the extinction of enough species to hasten the end of the 65-million-year-old Cenozoic era. It is vitally important that we understand the nature of our geologic powers, if we are to have any hope of controlling them.Your A Scientific Sherlock HolmesProfessor Michael E. Wysession is the ideal guide for this expedition. A geophysicist with a specialty in seismology, he has developed techniques for using seismic waves from earthquakes to deduce the three-dimensional structure of the interior of the Earth. Like a scientific Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Wysession uses this approach to "see"into a realm that was previously more mysterious than galaxies billions of light years away. As a leader in geoscience education, Professor Wysession has wide experience teaching Earth science to students from high school through the advanced graduate level. For this course, he assumes no prior background in science and introduces all the concepts you will need to understand how the Earth works-from basic physics, chemistry, astronomy, and biology to the fundamentals of geology, mineralogy, hydrology, and atmospheric science. Each lecture builds upon preceding ones to deepen your understanding of key concepts. For example, Professor Wysession spends the first four lectures laying the groundwork for the introduction of plate tectonics in Lecture 5. Almost everything he discusses thereafter relates in some way to this revolutionary theory, which is as instrumental to Earth science as the Copernican theory is to astronomy. How the Earth Works is the perfect complement to The Teaching Company's in-depth geology series, Nature of An Introduction to Geology. Taught by Professor John J. Renton, that course covers Earth's minerals, rocks, soils, and the processes that operate on them through time. How the Earth Works also touches on these subjects, but it ranges farther afield to investigate Earth as a system, as one might study a complicated machine. Such a focus makes this course truly a user's manual to the planet. Whether your interest is geology, cosmology, biology, climate science, or even human history, Professor Wysession shows how these perspectives fit into the comprehensive picture of our planet.Fitting the Pieces TogetherYou don't have to travel far to realize that we live in a world of startling contrasts-in landforms, natural resources, flora and fauna, climates, vulnerability to natural disasters, and other characteristics. Professor Wysession...

Edition details

• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1598034073
• ISBN 13: 9781598034073
• Binding: Unknown Binding