Description
Book SynopsisStudents taking undergraduate degrees in geography, ecology, earth science, and environmental science frequently take an introductory unit in Physical Geography. Some will have not done any geography since their early teens, while others have more recent knowledge. This range of backgrounds can be challenging for both the instructor and the student, this primer aims to help. A primer is a readable introduction to a subject, more technical than a piece of popular science, but less detailed than a specialist textbook. It aims to give the reader a platform in a subject with which they may be unfamiliar, so that they can proceed simultaneously, or sequentially, to more advanced texts and information. Ideally the primer should have something for those without any knowledge, while also challenge and entertaining those who do. Not quite bedtime reading, but a step in that direction. Our Dynamic Earth introduces students to the Earth's origins, to plate tectonics, atmospheric and oceanographic circulation, as well as to a range of Earth surface processes. Idea to get you started in your studies.
Table of ContentsPreface .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Prologue: Why Physical Geography? ........................................................................................... 7
Part I: Earth history and climate ................................................................................................... 10
Chapter 1: Geological time ............................................................................................................ 10
Entropy ............................................................................................................................................ 10
No sight of a beginning, no sight of an end .......................................................................... 11
Earth’s origin story ...................................................................................................................... 14
Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 16
Chapter 2: Earth’s internal heat engine ...................................................................................... 18
Paradigms and shifting science ............................................................................................... 18
Plate tectonics ............................................................................................................................... 19
Isostasy ........................................................................................................................................... 22
Supercontinents again ................................................................................................................ 23
Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 24
Chapter 3: Volcanoes ...................................................................................................................... 26
Distribution in space and time .................................................................................................. 26
All in the eruption ......................................................................................................................... 28
Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 31
Chapter 4: Earth’s external heat engine ..................................................................................... 32
Source, receptor, and filter ........................................................................................................ 32
Earth’s heat engine ...................................................................................................................... 35
Earth’s air conditioning systems ............................................................................................. 42
Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 42
Chapter 5: Climate change is normal .......................................................................................... 43
Climate and earth history ........................................................................................................... 43Evidence for Climate Change .................................................................................................... 45
Mechanisms of climate change ................................................................................................ 49
Landscape and land-sea distribution (1) ................................................................................ 50
Ocean basins (2) ........................................................................................................................... 51
Solar input (3) ................................................................................................................................ 52
Atmospheric content (4) ............................................................................................................. 53
Planetary-scale feedbacks ......................................................................................................... 55
Cenozoic climate change ........................................................................................................... 57
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Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 62
Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 63
Part II: Shaping the landscape ...................................................................................................... 66
Chapter 6: The landscape beneath our feet .............................................................................. 66
Rocks and minerals ..................................................................................................................... 67
Natural decay ................................................................................................................................. 68
Soils ................................................................................................................................................. 73
Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 76
Chapter 7: Gravity and slopes ...................................................................................................... 77
Forces on a clast(s), or rock slope .......................................................................................... 77
Mass movement ............................................................................................................................ 79
Further reading ............................................................................................................................. 82
Chapter 8: Flowing water ............................................................................................................... 83
All about rain ................................................................................................................................. 83
Water on hillslopes ...................................................................................................................... 88
Surface hydrology ........................................................................................................................ 92
Channel flow .................................................................................................................................. 94
Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 100
Further reading ........................................................................................................................... 100
Chapter 9: Flowing Ice .................................................................................................................. 102
Physics of glaciers ..................................................................................................................... 103
Glacial erosion ............................................................................................................................ 106
Glacier transport ......................................................................................................................... 109
Depositional landsystems ........................................................................................................ 109
Further reading ........................................................................................................................... 113
Chapter 10: Coastal processes ................................................................................................... 115
Importance of tides .................................................................................................................... 116
Making waves .............................................................................................................................. 117
Dancing beaches ........................................................................................................................ 120
Cliffs, Shore Platforms and Erosion ...................................................................................... 123
Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 126
Further reading ........................................................................................................................... 126
Chapter 11: Landscapes around us .......................................................................................... 128
British Landscapes .................................................................................................................... 128
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Amazonia ...................................................................................................................................... 135
Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 136
Figure Sources ................................................................................................................................ 138
