1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910139386903321

Autore

Leddra Michael

Titolo

Time matters [[electronic resource] ] : geology's legacy to scientific thought / / Michael Leddra

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Hoboken, NJ, : Wiley, 2010

ISBN

1-4443-2326-1

1-283-20482-7

9786613204820

1-4443-2325-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xviii, 269 p. ) : ill., ports

Disciplina

551.7/01

Soggetti

Geological time

Sequence stratigraphy

Historical geology

Earth Age

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Preface. Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1 Geological time. 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 The historical perspective. 1.2.1 The march of the scientists. 1.2.2 The atomic age. 1.3 Geological time and the age of Mother Earth. 2 Dating rocks. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 The nature of stratigraphy and the principles of relative dating. 2.3 Biostratigraphy. 2.4 Radiometric dating. 2.4.1 Potassium. 2.4.2 Rubidium. 2.4.3 Uranium. 2.4.4 Carbon. 2.4.5 Mass spectrometer. 2.5 Dating by fi ssion tracks. 2.6 Magnetism. 2.6.1 Thermal remnant magnetism. 2.6.2 Depositional remnant magnetism. 2.6.3 Palaeo-magnetism and Polar wandering. 3 The origins of the geological time scale. 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Jurassic. 3.3 Carboniferous. 3.4 Triassic. 3.5 Tertiary. 3.6 Cambrian. 3.7 Silurian. 3.8 Devonian. 3.9 Permian. 3.10 Mississippian. 3.11 Quaternary. 3.12 Ordovician. 3.13 Cretaceous. 3.14 Pennsylvanian. 3.15 Proterozoic. 3.16 Archean and Hadean. 4 Plutonism versus Neptunism. 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 Neptunism. 4.3 Plutonism. 5 Uniformitarianism versus Catastrophism. 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Catastrophism. 5.3 Diluvialism. 5.4 Uniformitarianism. 5.5 Mass



extinctions. 5.6 Alternating warm and cold conditions. 5.7 Catastrophes and the nature of science. 5.8 Palaeogeography and Earth history. 6 Evolution. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Darwin and evolution. 6.3 Punctuated equilibrium and geographic speciation. 6.4 Intermediates - what are we looking for? 7 Evolution versus Creationism. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Fossils. 7.2.1 The Medieval view. 7.2.2 The 17th- and 18th-century view. 7.2.3 The 19th-century view. 7.2.4 Mantell versus Owen. 7.3 Famous Evolution versus Creation debates. 7.3.1 Huxley versus Wilberforce. 7.3.2 Huxley versus Gladstone. 7.3.3 The abolition of the equal time laws in America. 7.3.4 The nature of life and science, and Evolution versus Creationism. 7.4 Lagerstatten. 8 Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics. 8.1 Introduction. 8.2 Mountain building. 8.3 Isostasy. 8.4 Continental Drift. 8.5 Plate Tectonics. 9 What have we learnt? Bibliography. Index.

Sommario/riassunto

This title covers subjects such as the age of the earth, catastrophism vs uniformitarianism, evolution vs creationism, plutonism vs neptunism, continental drift and plate tectonics. It covers the people involved, their ideas and the scientific and religious power politics involved in the development.