Download Free Glaciation A Very Short Introduction Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Glaciation A Very Short Introduction and write the review.

An overview of glaciers and ice sheets as systems, considering the role of geomorphology and sedimentology in studying them, and their impacts on our planet in terms of erosional and depositional processes
"In an era of warming climate, the study of the ice age past is now more important than ever. This book examines the wonders of the Quaternary ice age - to show how ice age landscapes and ecosystems were repeatedly and rapidly transformed as plants, animals, and humans reorganized their worlds." --Publisher.
"In an era of warming climate, the study of the ice age past is now more important than ever. This book examines the wonders of the Quaternary ice age - to show how ice age landscapes and ecosystems were repeatedly and rapidly transformed as plants, animals, and humans reorganized their worlds."--Publisher.
The study of the Quaternary ice age has revolutionized ideas about Earth system change and the pace of landscape and ecosystem dynamics. The Ice Age: A Very Short Introduction looks at evidence from the continents, the oceans, and the ice core records, and the human stories behind it all. Jamie Woodward examines the remarkable environmental shifts that took place during the Great Ice Age of the Quaternary Period. He explores the evolution of ideas, evaluates the contributions of the leading players in the great debates, and presents some of the ingenious methods that have been used to retrieve information about the recent geological past. In an era of warming climate, the study of the ice age past is now more important than ever. This book examines the wonders of the Quaternary ice age - to show how ice age landscapes and ecosystems were repeatedly and rapidly transformed as plants, animals, and humans reorganized their worlds. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
The fascinating story of how a harsh terrain that resembled modern Antarctica has been transformed gradually into the forests, grasslands, and wetlands we know today.
The study of glaciers is important not only for explaining how landscapes are created, but also for understanding global issues such as climate change and sea-level rise. This book examines the characteristics of glaciers, explores how they shape the landscape, and explains their role in the unfolding drama of global environmental change. It also considers the impact of glaciers on human activity, and the potential impact of humans on the future growth or melting of the world's ice. The aim of the book is to provide a quick, straightforward introduction to glaciers and glacial landscapes. It is intended for people who have very little background knowledge in the subject, and is pitched very much at an introductory level. Given the importance of glaciers in the global environmental system it is surprising that they come and go in the teaching syllabus. For a few years, lots of students are studying glaciers at school, then for a few years nobody is doing glaciers and everybody is studying rivers instead. Teachers who perhaps did not study glaciers at university suddenly find that a curriculum change at school leaves them having to teach glaciers to their own students. Students at university find that they have to deal with glaciers at degree level even though they never studied them at school. University lecturers find that the students just enrolled on what was intended as a degree-level glaciers module have no background at all in the subject. And members of the general public who just want to find out a little bit about glaciers discover that the only books available are either coffee-table books with no real information or advanced texts intended for people who already have some expertise. This little book throws itself into that picture with the aim of helping all those readers!
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.
Examining what landscape is, and how we use a range of ideas and techniques to study it, Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles demonstrate how geomorphologists have built on classic methods pioneered by some great 19th century scientists to examine our Earth.
Glaciers and Glaciation is the classic textbook for all students of glaciation. Stimulating and accessible, it has established a reputation as a comprehensive and essential resource. In this new edition, the text, references and illustrations have been thoroughly updated to give today's reader an up-to-the minute overview of the nature, origin and behaviour of glaciers and the geological and geomorphological evidence for their past history on earth. The first part of the book investigates the processes involved in forming glacier ice, the nature of glacier-climate relationships, the mechanisms of glacier flow and the interactions of glaciers with other natural systems such as rivers, lakes and oceans. In the second part, the emphasis moves to landforms and sediment, the interpretation of the earth's glacial legacy and the reconstruction of glacial depositional environments and palaeoglaciology.
In this Very Short Introduction Bill McGuire explores the potential catastrophes facing our planet. Assessing both the probability of these events happening in the future, and our chances of survival, this new edition brings our understanding of global disasters and risk research up to date, by using recent case studies from around the world.