For hundreds of years, people found the fossils of ancient sea creatures at the tops of tall mountains. Scientists puzzled over this problem. A fish couldn't have swum up a mountain. And how could rocks on a mountain move up from the bottom of a sea? Geologists finally found the answers they needed in the 1960s, when they developed the theory of plate tectonics. This theory revolutionized our understanding of the earth. Plate tectonics explains how volcanoes form, why earthquakes happen, and what goes on deep inside the earth to make the continents move. This book tells the story of scientists and their discoveries to explain how the theory of plate tectonics came to be.

Discusses plate tectonics, the theory that the surface of the earth is always moving, and the connection of this phenomenon to earthquakes and volcanoes.

This book provides an overview of the history of plate tectonics, including in-context definitions of the key terms. It explains how the forerunners of the theory and how scientists working at the key academic institutions competed and collaborated until the theory coalesced.

Palaeomagnetism, plates, hot spots, trenches and ridges are the subject of this unusual book. Plate Tectonics is a book of exercises and background information that introduces and demonstrates the basics of the subject. In a lively and lucid manner, it brings together a great deal of material in spherical trigonometry that is necessary to understand plate tectonics and the research literature written about it. It is intended for use in first year graduate courses in geophysics and tectonics, and provides a guide to the quantitative understanding of plate tectonics.

Learn about the forces shaping the world's crust.

This textbook explains how mountains are formed and why there are old and young mountains. It provides a reconstruction of the Earths paleogeography and shows why the shapes of South America and Africa fit so well together. Furthermore, it explains why the Pacific is surrounded by a ring of volcanos and earthquake-prone areas while the edges of the Atlantic are relatively peaceful. This thoroughly revised textbook edition addresses all these questions and more through the presentation and explanation of the geodynamic processes upon which the theory of continental drift is based and which have led to the concept of plate tectonics. It is a source of information for students of geology, geophysics, geography, geosciences in general, general natural sciences, as well as professionals, and interested layman.

"Inspired by a GSA Penrose Conference held in Lander, Wyoming, June 14-18, 2006, this volume discusses the beginning and evolution of plate tectonics on Earth, and gives readers an introduction to some of the uncertainties and controversies related to the evolution of the planet. In the first three sections of the book, which cover isotopic, geochemical, metamorphic, mineralization, and mantle geodynamic constraints, a variety of papers address the question of when "modern-style" plate tectonics began on planet Earth. The next set of papers focuses on the geodynamic or geophysical constraints for the beginning of plate tectonics. The volume's final section synthesizes a broad range of evidence, from planetary analogues and geodynamic modeling, to Earth's preserved geologic record. This work provides an excellent graduate level text summarizing the current state of knowledge and will be of interest to a wide range of earth and planetary scientists."--Publisher's website.

This textbook on plate tectonics is designed for students in geology and geophysics to acquire in-depth knowledge of quantitative methods in plate kinematics and dynamics. Quantitative Plate Tectonics can also be used as a reference book by geoscientists who desire to expand their knowledge beyond their own specialization, or by oil-and-gas professionals and ore deposit specialists that need to investigate the geodynamic context of formation of geologic resources. Finally, this book can be considered as a comprehensive monograph on plate tectonics, which addresses the different quantitative aspects of this broad discipline, which has been traditionally partitioned into separate or quasi-separate branches. Additional material, available at http://extras.springer.com, includes two computer programs for the analysis of marine magnetic anomalies and for plate kinematic modelling, as well as some important geophysical data sets and models. Solutions to the exercises are also included. A unified quantitative description of plate tectonics, combining geological and geophysical perspectives Professional software, manual verification examples and applications are available as additional material Includes detailed calculations, examples, and problem sets per chapter Well illustrated "Dr. Schettino has produced a book covering in a rigorous way the kinematics and dynamics of plate tectonics. The fundamental physics governing geodynamic processes is discussed quantitatively, the relevant equations are clearly derived, and the implications of results are illustrated with examples and problems. The book will repay careful reading not only by postgraduate students in geophysics and geology, but also by any Earth scientist who wishes to acquire a quantitative understanding of plate tectonics."Giorgio Ranalli, Distinguished Research Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton university, Ottawa, Canada (author of "Rheology of the Earth", two editions, 1987 and 1995) "This text gives an excellent quantitative presentation of the kinematics and the dynamics of plate tectonics that integrates many aspects of the Earth sciences and provides a powerful model of the dynamic behaviour of the Earth. The geological and geophysical processes involved in elucidating the theory are clearly illustrated through a perfectly balanced level of mathematical and physical concepts including derivation of the relevant equations, examples and problems. The book is intended for advanced undergraduates, graduate students and professional earth scientists requiring an overview of the essential processes of plate tectonics." Marco Ligi, Senior Researcher, National Research Council of Italy, Istituto di Scienze Marine, Bologna, Italy.

Presents an introduction to volcanoes and earthquakes, explaining how the movement of the Earth's interior plates cause their formation and describing the volcanoes which currently exist around the world as well as some of the famous earthquakes of the nineteenth through twenty-first cenuturies.

This volume contains background information and supporting documents for The Ice Flow Theory, a new theory that describes how the Earth's ocean basins developed into what they are today and how the continents were shaped including the development of the fold mountain systems. It provides information for locating oil, gas and coal deposits as well as information on earthquake and tsunami causes. This theory also explains prehistoric animal migration, isolation and extinction causes without the need for continental migration or extinction level events.