Author: C. E. P. Brooks

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-21

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 9781331933526

Excerpt from The Evolution of Climate Geologist very early in the history of their science, in fact as soon as fossils began to be examined, found indisputable evidence of great variations in climate. The vegetation which resulted in the coal measures could have grown only in a sub-tropical climate, while over these are vast remains of ice-worn boulders and scratched rocks which obviously have been left by ice existing under polar conditions. Such records were not found only in one region, but cropped up in juxtaposition in many parts of the world. Remains of sub-tropical vegetation were found in Spitzbergen, and remains of an extensive ice-sheet moving at sea-level from the south were clearly recognized in central and northern India. At first it was simply noticed that the older fossils generally indicated a warmer climate, and it was considered that the early climate of a globe cooling from the molten state would be warm and moist, and so account for the observed conditions. It was recognized that the ice remains were relatively recent, and so far as a cause for the Ice Age was sought it was considered that astronomical changes would be sufficient. It was only when geologists began to find records of ice ages far anterior to the Carboniferous Age, and astronomers proved by incontrovertible observations and calculations that changes in the earth's orbit, or its inclination to that orbit, could not account for the ice ages, that the importance and inexplicability of the geological evidence for changes of climate came to be clearly recognized. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.