Frozen Earth : The Once and Future Story of Ice Ages / / Doug Macdougall

• Autore: Macdougall J. D. <1944->
• Pubblicazione: Berkeley : , : University of California Press, , [2013]; ©2013
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (283 pages)
• Disciplina: 551.792
• Soggetto topico: Glacial epoch; Global environmental change; Paleoclimatology
• Soggetto non controllato: biographical chapters; biology; cataclysmic floods; climate and disaster; climate change; climate; climatology; earth sciences; ecology; engaging; environment; environmental changes; geography; geology; glacial interval; glaciation; history; human evolution; human migration; ice age; marine and oceanic; nasa; natural history; natural sciences; nature; oceanography; paleontology; phenomenon; planetary science; pleistocene ice age; pleistocene; popular science; prehistory; science and math; science; snowball earth; weather
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di contenuto: Front matter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- PREFACE TO THE 2013 EDITION -- CHAPTER ONE. Ice, Ice Ages, and Our Planet's Climate History -- CHAPTER TWO. Fire, Water, and God -- CHAPTER THREE. Glaciers and Fossil Fish -- CHAPTER FOUR. The Evidence -- CHAPTER FIVE. Searching for the Cause of Ice Ages -- CHAPTER SIX. Defrosting Earth -- CHAPTER SEVEN. The Ice Age Cycles -- CHAPTER EIGHT. Our Planet's Icy Past -- CHAPTER NINE. Coring for the Details -- CHAPTER TEN. Ice Ages, Climate, and Evolution -- CHAPTER ELEVEN. The Last Millennium -- CHAPTER TWELVE. Ice Ages and the Future -- SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING -- INDEX
• Sommario/riassunto: In this engrossing and accessible book, Doug Macdougall explores the causes and effects of ice ages that have gripped our planet throughout its history, from the earliest known glaciation-nearly three billion years ago-to the present. Following the development of scientific ideas about these dramatic events, Macdougall traces the lives of many of the brilliant and intriguing characters who have contributed to the evolving understanding of how ice ages come about. As it explains how the great Pleistocene Ice Age has shaped the earth's landscape and influenced the course of human evolution, Frozen Earth also provides a fascinating look at how science is done, how the excitement of discovery drives scientists to explore and investigate, and how timing and chance play a part in the acceptance of new scientific ideas. Macdougall describes the awesome power of cataclysmic floods that marked the melting of the glaciers of the Pleistocene Ice Age. He probes the chilling evidence for "Snowball Earth," an episode far back in the earth's past that may have seen our planet encased in ice from pole to pole. He discusses the accumulating evidence from deep-sea sediment cores, as well as ice cores from Greenland and the Antarctic, that suggests fast-changing ice age climates may have directly impacted the evolution of our species and the course of human migration and civilization. Frozen Earth also chronicles how the concept of the ice age has gripped the imagination of scientists for almost two centuries. It offers an absorbing consideration of how current studies of Pleistocene climate may help us understand earth's future climate changes, including the question of when the next glacial interval will occur.
• Titolo autorizzato: Frozen Earth
• ISBN: 0-520-95494-7
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9910817605703321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II