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An Introduction to the Earth-Life System

All titles
An Introduction to the Earth-Life System

An Introduction to the Earth-Life System

Charles Cockell, The Open University, Milton Keynes
Richard Corfield, The Open University, Milton Keynes
Nancy Dise, The Open University, Milton Keynes
Neil Edwards, The Open University, Milton Keynes
Nigel Harris, The Open University, Milton Keynes
No date available
Paperback
9780521729536
Paperback
    Description

    This concise undergraduate textbook brings together Earth and biological sciences to explore the co-evolution of the Earth and life over geological time. Written for a one-semester course, it explores the Earth system at and above the surface of the Earth by examining the interactions and feedback processes between the geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. It also explains how the Earth's surface environment involves a complex interplay between these systems. Through a wealth of features and student questioning, the book allows students to understand how physical controls make our planet hospitable for life, investigate the processes of global change that operate on a range of timescales, understand important cross-disciplinary connections and explore how the whole Earth system has evolved. Finally, it assesses how and why the climate of the Earth has varied over geological time, and considers whether life itself is passive or an active agent for change.

    • Presents an Earth System Science approach to support courses that emphasize the interactions between the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere
    • Includes review questions and answers, over 50 quantitative student exercises, set-aside focus boxes, chapter summaries and learning outcomes, glossary, and a supporting website with figures, further exercises, and solutions
    • Designed for a one-semester course at intermediate undergraduate level

    Reviews & endorsements

    'This innovative Earth science textbook provides a thoroughly new way to look at the history of Earth and life. The pedagogic aspects are particularly well thought through and current research case studies, engaging questions, and practical examples will be beneficial to both students and instructors.' Mike Benton, University of Bristol

    '… this textbook will be suitable for geoscience educators as well as for students as a stimulating reading or an invitation to more profound thinking. … Nature amateurs and professional geoscientists may find this book a good source of information on selected subjects like the carbon cycle or the influences of the mountain growth on climate.' Paläontologie Allgemeine

    '… well illustrated … very accessible …' The Geographical Journal

    See more reviews

    Product details

    No date available
    Paperback
    9780521729536
    326 pages
    263 × 211 × 18 mm
    1.074kg
    220 colour illus.

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    Environmental Conservation

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    Contents

    Table of Contents

    • 1. A habitable planet
    • 2. The emergence and persistence of life
    • 3. The carbon cycle
    • 4. Plate tectonics, climate and life
    • 5. Mountains and climate change
    • 6. Life in the Phanerozoic
    • 7. The Earth at extremes
    • 8. Summary
    • Answers to questions
    • Appendices
    • Further reading
    • Glossary
    • Index.
      • Show more
    Courses
    Instructors have used or reviewed this title for the following courses
    • Biogeochemical Earth
    • Earth our habitable planet
    • Evolution of Earth
    • Evolution of Earth & Its Life
    • Evolution: Patterns and Processes of Change in Nature
    • Geology and Public Issues
    • Historical Geology
    • Integrated Environmental Science I
    • Introduction to Environmental Science
    • Physics of the Biosphere
    • The Living Planet: Impact of the Biosphere on the Earth System
    Resources
    Resources for
    Type
    Earth-Life System Exercises
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    Chapter 3 Figures
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    Chapter 2 Figures
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    Title Page
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    Appendix Figures
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    Earth-Life System Solutions
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    Chapter 5 Figures
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    Chapter 1 Figures
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    Correction notice posted on behalf of the Open University
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    Chapter 6 Figures
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    Additional Information
    About the authors
      Contributors

    • Charles Cockell, Richard Corfield, Neil Edwards, Nigel Harris

      • Authors
    • Charles Cockell , The Open University, Milton Keynes

      Charles Cockell is Professor of Microbiology at The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK. His academic interests lie in geomicrobiology, astrobiology and space exploration and he has undertaken expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic, among other places, to study life in extreme environments. Professor Cockell has written and edited six other books including Impossible Extinction (Cambridge University Press, 2003).

    • Richard Corfield , The Open University, Milton Keynes
    • Nancy Dise , The Open University, Milton Keynes
    • Neil Edwards , The Open University, Milton Keynes
    • Nigel Harris , The Open University, Milton Keynes

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