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OverviewThis is the story of a single pebble. It is just a normal pebble, as you might pick up on holiday - on a beach in Wales, say. Its history, though, carries us into abyssal depths of time, and across the farthest reaches of space. This is a narrative of the Earth's long and dramatic history, as gleaned from a single pebble. It begins as the pebble-particles form amid unimaginable violence in distal realms of the Universe, in the Big Bang and in supernova explosions and continues amid the construction of the Solar System. Jan Zalasiewicz shows the almost incredible complexity present in such a small and apparently mundane object. Many events in the Earth's ancient past can be deciphered from a pebble: volcanic eruptions; the lives and deaths of extinct animals and plants; the alien nature of long-vanished oceans; and transformations deep underground, including the creations of fool's gold and of oil. Zalasiewicz demonstrates how geologists reach deep into the Earth's past by forensic analysis of even the tiniest amounts of mineral matter. Many stories are crammed into each and every pebble around us. It may be small, and ordinary, this pebble - but it is also an eloquent part of our Earth's extraordinary, never-ending story. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Jan Zalasiewicz (Professor of Palaeobiology, University of Leicester)Publisher: Oxford University Press Imprint: Oxford University Press Dimensions: Width: 14.70cm , Height: 2.60cm , Length: 22.30cm Weight: 0.439kg ISBN: 9780199569700ISBN 10: 0199569703 Pages: 256 Publication Date: 23 September 2010 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsPrologue ; 1. Stardust ; 2. From the Depths of the Earth ; 3. Distant Lands ; 4. To the Rendezvous ; 5. The Sea ; 6. Ghosts Observed ; 7. Ghosts in Absentia ; 8. Where on Earth? ; 9. Gold! ; 10. The Oil Window ; 11. Making Mountains ; 12. Breaking the Surface ; 13. FuturesReviewsIt builds to a satisfying picture of how our planet's history is etched into every fragment of the pebble. New Scientist Impressively skilful narrative...Geology has a gifted new popular science writer. New Scientist Author InformationJan Zalasiewicz is a Lecturer in Geology at the University of Leicester, before that working at the British Geological Survey. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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