History of the Earth’s Atmosphere

History of the Earth’s Atmosphere

Author: Michael I. Budyko

Publisher: Springer

Published: 1987-03-16

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The authors of this book have studied the changes in the chemi cal composition of the atmosphere during geological history with regard to its close relationship to the evolution of the Earth's sedimentary shell. Beginning in 1977, the initial results of this study have been published as articles and parts of several monographs. Since new material clarifying atmospheric evolution have been obtained recently, the necessity has arisen to write a book treating the major results of investigations of the history of the atmosphere. In this book much consideration is given to the interrelation between the evolution of animate nature and changes in atmospheric composition. It proved be necessary to study the history of the two components of atmospheric air: carbon dioxide and oxygen. Attempts have been made to repre sent quantitatively the conclusions drawn here, i. e. to determine by calculation the changes in the amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen over much of the history of the atmosphere. These calculations, performed in most detail for the Phanerozoic and to a lesser degree for the Late Precambrian, are supplemented with estimates of changes in the chemical composition of the atmosphere in the Early Precambrian. Comparisons have been drawn between the changes in the chemical composition of the atmosphere and the development of animate nature, a close relationship being found to exist between the stages of the evolution of organisms and variations in the chemical composition of the atmosphere.


Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

Author: William M. White

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-07-24

Total Pages: 1680

ISBN-13: 9783319393117

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Encyclopedia is a complete and authoritative reference work for this rapidly evolving field. Over 200 international scientists, each experts in their specialties, have written over 330 separate topics on different aspects of geochemistry including geochemical thermodynamics and kinetics, isotope and organic geochemistry, meteorites and cosmochemistry, the carbon cycle and climate, trace elements, geochemistry of high and low temperature processes, and ore deposition, to name just a few. The geochemical behavior of the elements is described as is the state of the art in analytical geochemistry. Each topic incorporates cross-referencing to related articles, and also has its own reference list to lead the reader to the essential articles within the published literature. The entries are arranged alphabetically, for easy access, and the subject and citation indices are comprehensive and extensive. Geochemistry applies chemical techniques and approaches to understanding the Earth and how it works. It touches upon almost every aspect of earth science, ranging from applied topics such as the search for energy and mineral resources, environmental pollution, and climate change to more basic questions such as the Earth’s origin and composition, the origin and evolution of life, rock weathering and metamorphism, and the pattern of ocean and mantle circulation. Geochemistry allows us to assign absolute ages to events in Earth’s history, to trace the flow of ocean water both now and in the past, trace sediments into subduction zones and arc volcanoes, and trace petroleum to its source rock and ultimately the environment in which it formed. The earliest of evidence of life is chemical and isotopic traces, not fossils, preserved in rocks. Geochemistry has allowed us to unravel the history of the ice ages and thereby deduce their cause. Geochemistry allows us to determine the swings in Earth’s surface temperatures during the ice ages, determine the temperatures and pressures at which rocks have been metamorphosed, and the rates at which ancient magma chambers cooled and crystallized. The field has grown rapidly more sophisticated, in both analytical techniques that can determine elemental concentrations or isotope ratios with exquisite precision and in computational modeling on scales ranging from atomic to planetary.


Oxygen

Oxygen

Author: Donald E. Canfield

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2015-12-01

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 0691168369

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The remarkable scientific story of how Earth became an oxygenated planet The air we breathe is twenty-one percent oxygen, an amount higher than on any other known world. While we may take our air for granted, Earth was not always an oxygenated planet. How did it become this way? Donald Canfield—one of the world's leading authorities on geochemistry, earth history, and the early oceans—covers this vast history, emphasizing its relationship to the evolution of life and the evolving chemistry of the Earth. Canfield guides readers through the various lines of scientific evidence, considers some of the wrong turns and dead ends along the way, and highlights the scientists and researchers who have made key discoveries in the field. Showing how Earth’s atmosphere developed over time, Oxygen takes readers on a remarkable journey through the history of the oxygenation of our planet.


Evolution on Planet Earth

Evolution on Planet Earth

Author: Lynn Rothschild

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2003-06-19

Total Pages: 469

ISBN-13: 0080494854

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Driving evolution forward, the Earth's physical environment has challenged the very survival of organisms and ecosystems throughout the ages. With a fresh new perspective, Evolution on Planet Earth shows how these physical realities and hurdles shaped the primary phases of life on the planet. The book's thorough coverage also includes chapters on more proximate factors and paleoenvironmental events that influenced the diversity of life. A team of notable ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and paleontologists join forces to describe drifting continents, extinction events, and climate change -- important topics that continue to shape Earth's inhabitants to this very day. In a world where global change has become an international issue, this book provides a several billion-year evolutionary perspective on what the environment and environmental change means to life.* Provides thorough background information on each topic while introducing cutting-edge research* Features original material solicited from the leading minds in evolutionary biology and geology today* Emphasizes the influence of massive geological forces - continental drift, volcanic activity, sea and tides


The Chemistry of Life’s Origins

The Chemistry of Life’s Origins

Author: J. Mayo Greenberg

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 429

ISBN-13: 9401119368

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume contains the lectures presented at the second course of the International School of Space Chemistry held in Erice (Sicily) from October 20 - 30 1991 at the "E. Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture". The course was attended by 58 participants from 13 countries. The Chemistry of Life's Origins is well recognized as one of the most critical subjects of modem chemistry. Much progress has been made since the amazingly perceptive contributions by Oparin some 70 years ago when he first outlined a possible series of steps starting from simple molecules to basic building blocks and ultimate assembly into simple organisms capable of replicating, catalysis and evolution to higher organisms. The pioneering experiments of Stanley Miller demonstrated already forty years ago how easy it could have been to form the amino acids which are critical to living organisms. However we have since learned and are still learning a great deal more about the primitive conditions on earth which has led us to a rethinking of where and how the condition for prebiotic chemical processes occurred. We have also learned a great deal more about the molecular basis for life. For instance, the existence of DNA was just discovered forty years ago.


Earth

Earth

Author: Edmond A. Mathez

Publisher:

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 9781565845954

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A collection of essays and articles provides a study of how the planet works, discussing Earth's structure, geographical features, geologic history, and evolution.


Earth as an Evolving Planetary System

Earth as an Evolving Planetary System

Author: Kent C. Condie

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2011-08-22

Total Pages: 593

ISBN-13: 0123852285

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Earth as an Evolving Planetary System, Second Edition, explores key topics and questions relating to the evolution of the Earth's crust and mantle over the last four billion years. This updated edition features exciting new information on Earth and planetary evolution and examines how all subsystems in our planet—crust, mantle, core, atmosphere, oceans and life—have worked together and changed over time. It synthesizes data from the fields of oceanography, geophysics, planetology, and geochemistry to address Earth's evolution. This volume consists of 10 chapters, including two new ones that deal with the Supercontinent Cycle and on Great Events in Earth history. There are also new and updated sections on Earth's thermal history, planetary volcanism, planetary crusts, the onset of plate tectonics, changing composition of the oceans and atmosphere, and paleoclimatic regimes. In addition, the book now includes new tomographic data tracking plume tails into the deep mantle. This book is intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, with a basic knowledge of geology, biology, chemistry, and physics. It also may serve as a reference tool for structural geologists and professionals in related disciplines who want to look at the Earth in a broader perspective. - Kent Condie's corresponding interactive CD, Plate Tectonics and How the Earth Works, can be purchased from Tasa Graphic Arts here: http://www.tasagraphicarts.com/progptearth.html - Two new chapters on the Supercontinent Cycle and on Great Events in Earth history - New and updated sections on Earth's thermal history, planetary volcanism, planetary crusts, the onset of plate tectonics, changing composition of the oceans and atmosphere, and paleoclimatic regimes - Also new in this Second Edition: the lower mantle and the role of the post-perovskite transition, the role of water in the mantle, new tomographic data tracking plume tails into the deep mantle, Euxinia in Proterozoic oceans, The Hadean, A crustal age gap at 2.4-2.2 Ga, and continental growth


Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments

Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments

Author: Vivien Gornitz

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2008-10-31

Total Pages: 1062

ISBN-13: 1402045514

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

One of Springer’s Major Reference Works, this book gives the reader a truly global perspective. It is the first major reference work in its field. Paleoclimate topics covered in the encyclopedia give the reader the capability to place the observations of recent global warming in the context of longer-term natural climate fluctuations. Significant elements of the encyclopedia include recent developments in paleoclimate modeling, paleo-ocean circulation, as well as the influence of geological processes and biological feedbacks on global climate change. The encyclopedia gives the reader an entry point into the literature on these and many other groundbreaking topics.


The Story of Earth

The Story of Earth

Author: Robert M. Hazen

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2013-07-30

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 0143123645

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Hailed by The New York Times for writing “with wonderful clarity about science . . . that effortlessly teaches as it zips along,” nationally bestselling author Robert M. Hazen offers a radical new approach to Earth history in this intertwined tale of the planet’s living and nonliving spheres. With an astrobiologist’s imagination, a historian’s perspective, and a naturalist’s eye, Hazen calls upon twenty-first-century discoveries that have revolutionized geology and enabled scientists to envision Earth’s many iterations in vivid detail—from the mile-high lava tides of its infancy to the early organisms responsible for more than two-thirds of the mineral varieties beneath our feet. Lucid, controversial, and on the cutting edge of its field, The Story of Earth is popular science of the highest order. "A sweeping rip-roaring yarn of immense scope, from the birth of the elements in the stars to meditations on the future habitability of our world." -Science "A fascinating story." -Bill McKibben