Understanding Earth S Deep Past

There is little dispute within the scientific community that humans are changing Earth's climate on a decadal to century time-scale. By the end of this century, without a reduction in emissions, atmospheric CO2 is projected to increase to levels that Earth has not experienced for more than 30 million years. As greenhouse gas emissions propel Earth toward a warmer climate state, an improved understanding of climate dynamics in warm environments is needed to inform public policy decisions. In Understanding Earth's Deep Past, the National Research Council reports that rocks and sediments that are millions of years old hold clues to how the Earth's future climate would respond in an environment with high levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases. Understanding Earth's Deep Past provides an assessment of both the demonstrated and underdeveloped potential of the deep-time geologic record to inform us about the dynamics of the global climate system. The report describes past climate changes, and discusses potential impacts of high levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases on regional climates, water resources, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and the cycling of life-sustaining elements. While revealing gaps in scientific knowledge of past climate states, the report highlights a range of high priority research issues with potential for major advances in the scientific understanding of climate processes. This proposed integrated, deep-time climate research program would study how climate responded over Earth's different climate states, examine how climate responds to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and clarify the processes that lead to anomalously warm polar and tropical regions and the impact on marine and terrestrial life. In addition to outlining a research agenda, Understanding Earth's Deep Past proposes an implementation strategy that will be an invaluable resource to decision-makers in the field, as well as the research community, advocacy organizations, government agencies, and college professors and students.

“Tells the story . . . of how ‘natural philosophers’ developed the ideas of geology accepted today . . . Fascinating.” —San Francisco Book Review Earth has been witness to dinosaurs, global ice ages, continents colliding or splitting apart, and comets and asteroids crashing, as well as the birth of humans who are curious to understand it. But how was all this discovered? How was the evidence for it collected and interpreted? In this sweeping and accessible book, Martin J. S. Rudwick, the premier historian of the Earth sciences, tells the gripping human story of the gradual realization that the Earth’s history has not only been long but also astonishingly eventful. Rudwick begins in the seventeenth century with Archbishop James Ussher, who famously dated the creation of the cosmos to 4004 BC. His narrative later turns to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when geological evidence was used—and is still being used—to reconstruct a history of the Earth that is as varied and unpredictable as human history. itself. Along the way, Rudwick rejects the popular view of this story as a conflict between science and religion and shows how the modern scientific account of the Earth’s deep history retains strong roots in Judeo-Christian ideas. Extensively illustrated, Earth’s Deep History is an engaging and impressive capstone to Rudwick’s distinguished career. “Deftly explains how ideas of natural history were embedded in cultural history.” —Nature “An engaging read for nonscientists and specialists alike.” —Library Journal “Wonderfully erudite and absorbing.” —Times Literary Supplement “Fascinating, well written, and novel . . . Essential.” —Choice “Thrilling.” —London Review of Books

If aliens came to Earth 100 millions years in the future, what traces would they find of long-extinct humanity's brief reign on the planet? This engaging and thought-provoking account looks at what our species will leave behind, buried deep in the rock strata, and provides us with a warning of our devastating environmental impact.

There is little dispute within the scientific community that humans are changing Earth's climate on a decadal to century time-scale. By the end of this century, without a reduction in emissions, atmospheric CO2 is projected to increase to levels that Earth has not experienced for more than 30 million years. As greenhouse gas emissions propel Earth toward a warmer climate state, an improved understanding of climate dynamics in warm environments is needed to inform public policy decisions. In Understanding Earth's Deep Past, the National Research Council reports that rocks and sediments that are millions of years old hold clues to how the Earth's future climate would respond in an environment with high levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases. Understanding Earth's Deep Past provides an assessment of both the demonstrated and underdeveloped potential of the deep-time geologic record to inform us about the dynamics of the global climate system. The report describes past climate changes, and discusses potential impacts of high levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases on regional climates, water resources, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and the cycling of life-sustaining elements. While revealing gaps in scientific knowledge of past climate states, the report highlights a range of high priority research issues with potential for major advances in the scientific understanding of climate processes. This proposed integrated, deep-time climate research program would study how climate responded over Earth's different climate states, examine how climate responds to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and clarify the processes that lead to anomalously warm polar and tropical regions and the impact on marine and terrestrial life. In addition to outlining a research agenda, Understanding Earth's Deep Past proposes an implementation strategy that will be an invaluable resource to decision-makers in the field, as well as the research community, advocacy organizations, government agencies, and college professors and students. (National Academies Press website 5/16/2011).

Mammoths and dinosaurs, tropical forests in northern Europe and North America, worldwide ice ages, continents colliding and splitting apart, comets and asteroids crashing catastrophically onto the Earth - these are just some of the surprising features of the eventful history of our planet, stretched out over several billion years. But how was it all discovered, how was the evidence for the Earth’s long history collected and interpreted, and what sorts of people put together this reconstruction of a deep past that no human beings could ever have witnessed? In Earth’s Deep History, Martin J. S. Rudwick tells the gripping story of the gradual realization that the Earth’s history has not only been unimaginably long but also astonishingly eventful in utterly unexpected ways. Rudwick, the world’s premier historian of the Earth sciences, is the first to make the story of the discovery of the Earth’s deep history attractively accessible to readers without prior knowledge of either the history or the science, and in so doing he reveals why it matters to us today.

Explaining the what, the how and the why of climate science, this multidisciplinary new book provides a review of research from the last decade, illustrated with cutting-edge data and observations. A key focus is the development of analysis tools that can be used to demonstrate options for mitigating and adapting to increasing climate risks. Emphasis is given to the importance of Earth system feedback mechanisms and the role of the biosphere. The book explains advances in modelling, process understanding and observations, and the development of consistent and coherent studies of past, present and 'possible' climates. This highly illustrated, data-rich book is written by leading scientists involved in QUEST, a major UK-led research programme. It forms a concise and up-to-date reference for academic researchers or students in the fields of climatology, Earth system science and ecology, and also a vital resource for professionals and policymakers working on any aspect of global change.

Foraminiferal Micropaleontology for Understanding Earth’s History incorporates new findings on taxonomy, classification and biostratigraphy of foraminifera. Foraminifera offer the best geochemical proxies for paleoclimate and paleoenvironment interpretation. The study of foraminifera was promoted by oil exploration due to its exceptional use in subsurface stratigraphy. A rapid technological development in the past 20 years in the field of imaging microfossils and in geochemical microanalysis have added novel information about foraminifera. Foraminiferal Micropaleontology for Understanding Earth’s History builds an understanding of biology, morphology and classification of foraminifera for its varied applications. In the past two decades, a phenomenal growth has occurred in geochemical proxies in shells of foraminifera, and as a result, crucial information about past climate of the earth is achieved. Foraminifera is the most extensively used marine microfossils in deep-time reconstruction of the earth history. Its key applications are in paleoenvironment and paleoclimate interpretation, paleoceanography, and biostratigraphy to continuously improve the Geologic Time Scale. Provides an overview of the Earth history as witnessed and evidenced by foraminifera Discusses a variety of geochemical proxies used in reconstruction of environment, climate and paleobiology of foraminifera Presents a new insight into the morphology and classification of foraminifera by modern tools of x-ray microscopy, quantitative methods, and molecular research

"Every pebble has many stories to tell. Its particular atoms, its crystals, its minerals, its grains, its textures, its strata, its tiny fossils bear evidence to a history that stretches back billions of years."--Book flap.