How to read a rock : our planet's hidden stories / Jan Zalasiewicz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zalasiewicz, J. A., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Petrology.

Rocks.

Physical Description:

223 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : Smithsonian Books, [2022]

Summary:

"Rocks are time machines and the keepers of our history. This guide is a geological field trip through Earth's incredible rock formations and the stories they hold"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. How to read rocks

Rocks: The literal foundation of our lives

Earth: A rocky dynamic planet powered by heat

Hard interior: Reading Earth's deepest rocks

Driving forces: Plate tectonics

Minerals: The building blocks of rocks

Formation: How minerals combine to make rocks

The endless rock cycle: Formation, decay and renewal of rocks

Where to see rocks: From urban to natural settings

A question of scale: From planets to grains of sand

Topographical clues: Deciphering the landscape

2. Rocks from magma

Deep heat: The making of magma

Cooling down: The formation of plutonic rock

Close-up: Examining granites and gabbros

Fragments of deep Earth: Xenoliths

Magma injections: Sills and dykes

Magma reaches the surface: Volcanic eruptions

Explosively diverse: The types of volcano

Pillows and folded rope: Lava flows

Traps in time: Giant lava landscapes

Volcanic ash layers: Ash fall

Volcanic ash layers: Ash flow layers

The diamond volcanoes: Kimberlites

3. Sedimentary rocks and fossils

Gradual obliteration: Erosion, weathering and decay

From rivers to the sea: The endless sedimentary conveyor belt

Transformation: How sediment becomes hard rock

Pebbles, boulders and monoliths: The largest sedimentary grains

Sand and sandstones: The story of a grain of sand

Natural wonders: Sand ripples and sand dunes

Mudrocks: Witnesses to history

Below the surface: Ocean strata

Chemical and biological rocks: From limestones to phosphates

Telling the time: Fossils

4. Metamorphism and tectonics

The rise of strata: Marine deposits at altitude

Tectonically compressed mud: The making of a slate

The heart of a mountain belt: Schists, gneisses and migmatites

Cracking open: Where tectonic plates pull apart

Epic impact: Where tectonic plates collide

In opposite directions: Where tectonic plates slide

The heat effect: Baking by magma

Hot water underground: The making of mineral veins

Tectonic forces: Crumpling rocks

Prone to fracture: Breaking rocks and fault zones

Topographical clues: Reading tectonic landscapes

5. Rocks as storytellers

Survivors: The oldest rocks of all

Hotter Earth: Rocks from the Archean Eon

Microbial construction: Stromatolites

Changing atmospherics: The oxygen transformation

Force of nature: How animals changed Earth's geology

Sites of diversity: Ancient coral reefs

Desertscapes: Dunes, fulgurites and salt rocks

Waterborne: How rivers disperse sediment

Ancient coastlines: How they've changed

Floral explosion: The greening of the land

Marine catastrophe: When oceans die

Deep impact: When asteroids strike

Hothouse: The rocks of a warmer Earth

Ice age: Rocks in a colder era

Polar record: What ice cores tell us about climate

6. Human-made rocks

Extraction: Quarries and mines

Mined and manufactured: Natural and synthetic minerals

Concrete: Earth's abundant new rock

Sand: Small grains, big business

Firing the imagination: The science of bricks

Prehistoric origins: How hydrocarbons formed

Black cloud: The consequences of burning fossil fuels

Increasing acidity: The limestone rock crisis

Hydrocarbon transformations: An explosion of plastics

Dams and river re-plumbing: Human intervention

Subterranean: Underground rock transformations

Cityscapes: Urban rock strata

Technofossils: Unique rocks

7. Rocks on other planets

Space rocks: Meteorites

Terrestrial scars: Meteor craters on Earth

Extraterrestrial impact: Craters on other planets

The Moon's rocks: Ancient highlands and basaltic seas

Mercury: The iron planet

Venus: A hidden volcanic landscape

Red planet: The ancient volcanoes of Mars

Mars strata: Traces of a warmer, wetter planet

Io: The most volcanically active body in the solar system

Icy exteriors: Europa and Callisto

Reading the landscape: Titan

Lesser status: Pluto

Asteroids: `Minor planets' of big scientific interest

Comets: Very occasional visitors

Interstellar geology: The rocks of other star systems.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

9781588347282

1588347281

OCLC:

1349515599

Publisher Number:

99992489075