The geology of Australia / David Johnson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Johnson, David, 1947 May 11- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Geology--Australia.

Geology.

Geology, Stratigraphic.

Paleogeography--Australia.

Paleogeography.

Paleontology--Australia.

Paleontology.

Physical geography--Australia.

Physical geography.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 348 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Geology of Australia provides a vivid and informative account of the evolution of the Australian continent over the last 4400 million years. Starting with the Precambrian rocks that hold clues to the origins of life and the development of an oxygenated atmosphere, it goes on to cover the warm seas, volcanism and episodes of mountain building, which formed the eastern third of the Australian continent. This illuminating history details the breakup of the supercontinents Rodinia and Gondwana, the times of previous glaciations, the development of climates and landscapes in modern Australia, and the creation of the continental shelves and coastlines. Separate chapters cover the origin of the Great Barrier Reef, the basalts in Eastern Australia, and the geology of the Solar System. This second edition features two new chapters, covering the evolution of life on Earth while emphasising the fossil record in Australia, and providing a geological perspective on climate change. From Uluru to the Great Dividing Range, from earthquakes to dinosaurs, from sapphires to the stars The Geology of Australia is a comprehensive exploration of the timeless forces that have shaped this continent.

Contents:

Cover

Title

Copyright

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations and units

1 An Australian perspective

Australia: age, stability, climate, main features

Box 1.1 Radiometric dating of rocks

Box 1.2 What is geology?

Australian geology

2 The Earth: A geology primer

Model of the Earth

Plate tectonics

Box 2.1 Age-dating the rocks

Minerals

Types of rocks

Box 2.2 Two types of volcanoes

Box 2.3 Metamorphism

Shaping of the landscape

Box 2.4 The Australian regolith and soils

Box 2.5 Caves

Coastal and offshore areas

Orogenic cycle

Geological time scale

3 Building the core of Precambrian rocks

The original Earth

Archaean

Proterozoic

Box 3.1 Geology of Uluru and Kata-Tjuta

Origin of life

Box 3.2 Wilpena Pound and the Ediacaran fauna

Supercontinents: Rodinia and Gondwana

4 Warm times: Tropical corals and arid lands

Part of Gondwana

Explosive radiation of life

Warm seas with arid plains, volcanic arcs and deep troughs

Granites

Box 4.1 Cooma - granite emplacement and metamorphism 435 - 433 Ma ago

5 Icehouse: Carboniferous and Permian glaciation

A glaciated continent

The volcanic arc

Development of the coal basins

Box 5.1 Glossopteris and the vegetation of the cold-climate peatlands in Gondwana

Box 5.2 Burning mountain: Mt Wingen

6 Mesozoic warming: The great inland plains and seas

Warm plains and then seas

Box 6.1 The great extinction of life 251 Ma ago

The great inland plains

Box 6.2 The Sydney Basin

Development of inland seas

7 Birth of modern Australia: Flowering plants, mammals and deserts

Australia emerges

Box 7.1 Pollen data from brown coal and other Tertiary deposits

The last 15 million years: cooling and growth of the ice-caps

Australia's arid interior.

8 The history and evolution of life on Earth

Fossils

Box 8.1 How are fossils preserved?

History and evolution of life on earth

9 Eastern highlands and volcanoes barely extinct

Volcanic provinces

Box 9.1 Basalts as a source of gemstones

Seamount chain offshore

Origins of the volcanics and the Great Divide

10 Building the continental shelf and coastlines

Origin of the outline

Box 10.1 Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone

Sea levels

Types of coasts

Box 10.2 Tsunamis

Box 10.3 Coastal erosion problems

The Australian coastline

Box 10.4 Comparison of Sydney Harbour and Port Phillip Bay

11 Great Barrier Reef

Introduction to reefs

Box 11.1 Effects of cyclones on the Great Barrier Reef

Reef types

Reef deposits

Formation of the Great Barrier Reef

Box 11.2 Extent of terrigenous sediment in the Great Barrier Reef

Continental slope and trough seaward of the Great Barrier Reef

12 Planets, moons, meteorites and impact craters

Earth in context

Meteorites

Impact craters

Box 12.1 Large meteorite impacts: Eltanin and Chicxulub

Past and future of Earth in the Solar System

13 A geological perspective on climate change

Geological factors influencing climate change

Box 13.1 Solar heating or greenhouse gas warming?

Scales of climate change

Box 13.2 Evidence for climate change

Mechanisms of short-term climate change

14 Cycles in a continental journey

Global wandering

Cycles of deformation

Cycles of climates

Evolution and extinctions

Epilogue - lessons of geological perspective

Sources and references

Figure sources

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-38551-2

1-139-88691-6

1-107-39871-1

1-107-39030-3

1-107-38386-2

1-107-38738-8

1-139-19485-2

OCLC:

862614466