Includes bibliographical references and index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Andesitic rocks -- Aquifers -- Asteroids -- Athabasca oil sands -- Basaltic rocks -- Batholiths -- Beaches and coastal processes -- Biogenic sedimentary rocks -- Bolides -- Boltwood uses radioactivity to determine ages of rocks -- Carbonate compensation depths -- Carbonate minerals -- Carbonatites -- Clays -- Clays and clay minerals -- Contact metamorphism -- Coriolis effect -- Crystals -- The "deep-impact" mission : geology of a comet -- Deep-sea sedimentation -- Deglaciation -- Deltas -- Desert landforms -- Desert pavement -- Desertification -- Deserts -- Diagenesis -- Diamond -- Diatomite -- Doell and Dalrymple discover the magnetic reversals of earth's poles -- Drainage basins -- Earthquake prediction -- Earthquakes -- Earth's crust -- Earth's internal structure -- Earth's moon -- Economic geology -- Engineering seismology -- Evaporites -- External processes -- Floods -- Fluvial and Karst processes -- The Gaia hypothesis -- Gem minerals -- Geochemical cycles -- Geologic timescale -- Geology -- German meteor expedition discovers the Mid-Atlantic Ridge -- Glaciations -- Glaciers -- Gondwanaland and Laurasia -- Granitic rocks -- Gutenberg discovers earth's mantle-outer core boundary -- Heezen and Ewing discover the Midoceanic Ridge -- Hess, Harry Hammond -- Hess identified the cause of continental drift -- Hutton proposes the geological theory of uniformitarianism -- Igneous processes, rocks, and mineral deposits -- Internal geologic processes -- International system of units -- Kimberlites -- Lehmann discovers earth's inner core -- Limestone -- Lithosphere -- Lomonosov issues the first catalog of minerals -- Lunar exploration -- Magma crystallization -- Marble -- Mars exploration rovers -- Mean sea level -- Metamictization -- Metamorphic processes, rocks, and mineral deposits -- Mineralization and hydrothermal solutions -- Mineraology -- Mohs hardness scale -- Mountain building -- Nesosilicates and Sorosilicates -- New horizons Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission -- Nonsilicates -- Nucleosynthesis -- Ocean acidification -- Ocean margins -- Oceans' origin -- Oil shale and tar sands -- Oldham and Mohorovičić discover earth's interior structure -- Ophiolites -- Orbicular rocks -- Paleontology -- Physical properties of rocks -- Placer deposits -- Planet formation -- Planetary exploration -- Planetary interiors -- Plate tectonics -- Plutonic rocks and mineral deposits -- Pumice -- Pyroclastic flows -- Quartz and silica -- Reefs -- Regional metamorphism -- Richter, Charles Francis -- Richter develops a scale for measuring earthquake strength -- Riverbed forms -- Salt domes -- Sand and gravel -- Sandstone -- Seafloor spreading -- Secondary enrichment of mineral deposits -- Sedimentary processes, rocks, and mineral deposits -- Shale -- Silicates -- Siliciclastic rocks -- Slate -- Soils -- Steno presents his theories of fossils and dynamic geology -- Streams and rivers -- Structure and physical properties of minerals -- Subduction and orogeny -- Sub-seafloor metamorphism -- Ultrapotassic rocks -- Volcanoes -- Weathering -- Wegener, Alfred -- Wegener proposes the theory of continental drift -- Xenoliths -- Zeolites.

This book explores the science about the solid Earth, the rocks that comprise it, and the processes by which they change over time. It also provides coverage of other Earth sciences, including hydrology and the atmospheric sciences, as they integrate into a major aspect of Earth's system and planetary science. A glossary, a comprehensive further reading list, and a subject index are also included.