Earth Science - Hardcover

Tarbuck, Edward J.; Lutgens, Frederick K.; Tasa, Dennis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0130484563 ISBN 13: 9780130484567

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2002

Synopsis

Earth Science offers a reader-friendly overview of our physical environment for the reader with little or no exposure to science. The emphasis is on readability, with clear explanations and examples, superb illustrations by the renowned Dennis Tasa, and an incredible collection of full color photographs and topographical maps. Topics covered in this highly readable and interesting book are geology, oceanography, astronomy, and meteorology. For readers needing a basic informational book about Earth Science.

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Earth Science Tenth Edition, like its predecessors, is a college-level text designed for an introductory course that often has the same name as this text. It consists of seven units that emphasize broad and up-to-date coverage of basic topics and principles in geology, oceanography, meteorology, and astronomy. The book is intended to be a meaningful, nontechnical survey for undergraduate students with little background in science. Usually these students are taking an Earth science class to meet a portion of their college's or university's general requirements.

In addition to being informative and up-to-date, a major goal of Earth Science is to meet the need of beginning students for a readable and user-friendly text, a book that is a highly usable "tool" for learning basic Earth science principles and concepts.

Distinguishing Features

Readability

The language of this book is straightforward and written to be understood. Clear, readable discussions with a minimum of technical language are the rule. The frequent headings and subheadings help students follow discussions and identify the important ideas presented in each chapter. In the Tenth Edition, improved readability was achieved by examining chapter organization and flow, and writing in a more personal style. Large portions of the text were substantially rewritten in an effort to make the material more understandable.

Focus on Learning

When a chapter has been completed, three useful devices help students review. First, the Chapter Summary recaps all of the major points. Next is a checklist of Key Terms with page references. Learning the language of Earth science helps students learn the material. This is followed by Review Questions that help students examine their knowledge of significant facts and ideas. Each chapter closes with a reminder to visit the Website for Earth Science, Tenth Edition (http://www.prenhall.com/tarbuck). It contains many excellent opportunities for review and exploration.

Illustrations and Photographs

The Earth sciences are highly visual. Therefore, photographs and artwork are a very important part of an introductory book. Earth Science, Tenth Edition, contains dozens of new high-quality photographs that were carefully selected to aid understanding, add realism, and heighten the interest of the reader.

The illustrations in each new edition of Earth Science keep getting better and better. In the Tenth Edition more than 100 pieces of line art are new or redesigned. The new art illustrates ideas and concepts more clearly and realistically than ever before. The art program s carried out by Dennis Tasa, a gifted artist and respected Earth science illustrator.

Focus on Basic Principles and Instructor Flexibility

Although many topical issues are treated in Earth Science, Tenth Edition, it should be emphasized that the main focus of this new edition remains the same as its predecessors—to foster student understanding of basic Earth science principles. Whereas student use of the text is a primary concern, the book's adaptability to the needs and desires of the instructor is equally important. Realizing the broad diversity of Earth science courses in both content and approach, we have continued to use a relatively nonintegrated format to allow maximum flexibility for the instructor. Each of the major units stands alone; hence, they can be taught in any order. A unit can be omitted entirely without appreciable loss of continuity, and portions of some chapters may be interchanged or excluded at the instructor's discretion.

Three Important Themes

The newly revised and expanded "Introduction to Earth Science" that opens the text acquaints students with three important themes that recur throughout the book—Earth as a System, People and the Environment, and Understanding Earth.

Earth as a System

An important occurrence in modern science has been the realization that Earth is a giant multi-dimensional system. Our planet consists of many separate but interacting parts. A change in any one part can produce changes in any or all of the other parts—often in ways that are neither obvious nor immediately apparent. Although it is not possible to study the entire system at once, it is possible to develop an awareness and appreciation for the concept and for many of the system's important interrelationships. Therefore, starting with the new section on "Earth System Science" in the Introduction, the theme of "Earth as a System" keeps recurring through all major units of the book. It is a thread that "weaves" through the chapters and helps tie them together.

Several new and revised special interest boxes relate to Earth as a system. To remind the reader of this important theme, the small icon you see at the beginning of this section is used to mark these boxes. Finally, each chapter concludes with a section on Examining the Earth System. The questions and problems found here are intended to develop an awareness and appreciation for some of the Earth system's many interrelationships.

People and the Environment

Because knowledge about our planet and how it works is necessary to our survival and well being, the treatment of environmental issues has always been an important part of Earth Science. Such discussions serve to illustrate the relevance and application of Earth science knowledge. With each new edition this focus has been given greater emphasis. This is certainly the case with the Tenth Edition. The text integrates a great deal of information about the relationship between people and the natural environment and explores the application of the Earth sciences to understanding and solving problems that arise from these interactions.

In addition to many basic text discussions, 22 of the text's special interest boxes involve the "People and the Environment" theme and are quickly recognized by the distinctive icon you see at the beginning of this section.

Understanding Earth

As members of a modern society, we are constantly reminded of the benefits derived from science. But what exactly is the nature of scientific inquiry? Developing an understanding of how science is done and how scientists work is a third important theme that appears throughout this book beginning with the section on "The Nature of Scientific Inquiry" in the Introduction. Students will examine some of the difficulties encountered by scientists as they attempt to acquire reliable data about our planet and some of the ingenious methods that have been developed to overcome these difficulties. Students will also explore many examples of how hypotheses are formulated and tested as well as learn about the evolution and development of some major scientific theories. Many basic text discussions as well as a number of the special interest boxes on "Understanding Earth" provide the reader with a sense of the observational techniques and reasoning processes involved in developing scientific knowledge. The emphasis is not just on what scientists know, but how they figured it out.

Highlights of the Tenth Edition

The Tenth Edition of Earth Science represent a thorough revision. Every part of the book was examined carefully with the dual goals of keeping topics current and improving the clarity of text discussions. People familiar with preceding editions will see much that is new in the Tenth Edition. Among the most obvious changes are those highlighted below.

Expanded Oceanography Coverage

In order to provide more balanced coverage, the oceanography unit now consists of three chapters instead of two: Chapter 12, "The Ocean Floor"; Chapter 13, "Ocean Water and Ocean Life"; and Chapter 14, "The Dynamic Ocean." This change does not represent a 50 percent expansion over the previous edition. Rather it involves the addition of some new material and a modest rearrangement of topics. In addition to broader coverage, this expanded unit also has a greater emphasis on how scientists learn about the ocean. Professor Alan Trujillo of Palomar College is largely responsible for revising Chapters 12 and 14 and for preparing Chapter 13, which has a high percentage of new material.

New CD-ROM

Each copy of Earth Science, Tenth Edition, comes with a new interactive CD-ROM: GEODe: Earth Science. In addition to a revised treatment of topics in geology, the new CD-ROM now includes broad coverage of the oceans, basic meteorology, and the solar system. This greatly expanded coverage includes many new tutorials, interactive exercises, animations, and video clips. Every unit in the text now has a corresponding unit in GEODe: Earth Science. A special GEODe: Earth Science icon appears throughout the book wherever a text discussion has a corresponding GEODe: Earth Science activity.

Other Highlights

• A new feature, "Students Sometimes Ask..." is now part of every chapter. A few questions and answers are distributed at appropriate places in each chapter and identified by a large question mark. They are the kind of questions inquisitive students might ask during class sessions and are intended to add interest and relevance to text discussions. We are indebted to Professor Alan Trujillo at Palomar College for this excellent idea and for providing many of the questions and answers we used.
• Twenty-seven of the special interest boxes are new. Most are intended to illustrate and reinforce the three themes of "Earth as a System," "People and the Environment," and "Understanding Earth." The greatest number of new boxes (16) are devoted to the last of these.
• Earth Science, Tenth Edition now consists of seven units rather than the four units of previous editions. Instead of having all of geology together in one unit, the material on geology is now divided into four ...

About this edition

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0130484563
• ISBN 13: 9780130484567
• Binding: Hardcover