Frozen Earth : The Once and Future Story of Ice Ages / Doug Macdougall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Macdougall, J. D., 1944- Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Glacial epoch.

Global environmental change.

Paleoclimatology.

Local Subjects:

Glacial epoch.

Global environmental change.

Paleoclimatology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (283 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2013]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this engrossing and accessible book, Doug Macdougall explores the causes and effects of ice ages that have gripped our planet throughout its history, from the earliest known glaciation-nearly three billion years ago-to the present. Following the development of scientific ideas about these dramatic events, Macdougall traces the lives of many of the brilliant and intriguing characters who have contributed to the evolving understanding of how ice ages come about. As it explains how the great Pleistocene Ice Age has shaped the earth's landscape and influenced the course of human evolution, Frozen Earth also provides a fascinating look at how science is done, how the excitement of discovery drives scientists to explore and investigate, and how timing and chance play a part in the acceptance of new scientific ideas. Macdougall describes the awesome power of cataclysmic floods that marked the melting of the glaciers of the Pleistocene Ice Age. He probes the chilling evidence for "Snowball Earth," an episode far back in the earth's past that may have seen our planet encased in ice from pole to pole. He discusses the accumulating evidence from deep-sea sediment cores, as well as ice cores from Greenland and the Antarctic, that suggests fast-changing ice age climates may have directly impacted the evolution of our species and the course of human migration and civilization. Frozen Earth also chronicles how the concept of the ice age has gripped the imagination of scientists for almost two centuries. It offers an absorbing consideration of how current studies of Pleistocene climate may help us understand earth's future climate changes, including the question of when the next glacial interval will occur.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PREFACE TO THE 2013 EDITION

CHAPTER ONE. Ice, Ice Ages, and Our Planet's Climate History

CHAPTER TWO. Fire, Water, and God

CHAPTER THREE. Glaciers and Fossil Fish

CHAPTER FOUR. The Evidence

CHAPTER FIVE. Searching for the Cause of Ice Ages

CHAPTER SIX. Defrosting Earth

CHAPTER SEVEN. The Ice Age Cycles

CHAPTER EIGHT. Our Planet's Icy Past

CHAPTER NINE. Coring for the Details

CHAPTER TEN. Ice Ages, Climate, and Evolution

CHAPTER ELEVEN. The Last Millennium

CHAPTER TWELVE. Ice Ages and the Future

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

INDEX

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780520954946

0520954947

OCLC:

827207384