Exploring earth science

Cover
Exploring Earth Science
Brief Contents
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Contributing Authors and Illustrators
CHAPTER 1: The Nature of earth science
	1.1 How Do Earth’s Features and Processes Influence Where and How We Live?
	1.2 How Does Earth Science Explain Our World?
	1.3 What Forces and Processes Affect Our Planet?
	1.4 How Do Natural Systems Operate?
	1.5 What Are Some Important Earth Cycles?
	1.6 How Do Earth’s Four Spheres Interact?
	1.7 How Do We Depict Earth’s Surface?
	1.8 How Do We Depict Earth’s Heights, Slopes, and Subsurface Aspects?
	1.9 How Do We Describe Locations on Earth?
	1.10 How Do We Describe Time and Rates?
	1.11 What Is Earth’s Place in the Solar System?
	1.12 How Do We Approach Earth Science Problems?
	1.13 How Do We Develop Scientific Explanations?
	1.14 How Do Scientific Ideas Get Established?
	1.15 CONNECTIONS: How Are Earth-System Processes Expressed in the Black Hills and in Rapid City?
	1.16 INVESTIGATION: How Are Earth Processes Affecting This Place?
CHAPTER 2: Minerals and Mineral Resources
	2.1 What Is the Difference Between a Rock  and a Mineral?
	2.2 How Are Minerals Put Together in Rocks?
	2.3 How Do We Distinguish One Mineral from Another?
	2.4 What Controls a Crystal’s Shape?
	2.5 What Causes Cleavage in Minerals?
	2.6 How Are Minerals Classified?
	2.7 What Is the Crystalline Structure of Silicate Minerals?
	2.8 What Are Some Common Silicate Minerals?
	2.9 What Are Some Common Nonsilicate Minerals?
	2.10 What Are the Building Blocks of Minerals?
	2.11 How Do Atoms Bond Together?
	2.12 How Do Chemical Reactions Help Minerals  Grow or Dissolve?
	2.13 What Are Mineral Deposits and How Do They Form?
	2.14 CONNECTIONS: How Are Minerals Used  in Society?
	2.15 INVESTIGATION: What Minerals Would You Use to Build a House?
CHAPTER 3: Earth Materials
	3.1 How Do Rocks Form?
	3.2 What Can Happen to a Rock?
	3.3 What Sedimentary Environments Occur on Land?
	3.4 What Sedimentary Environments Are Near  Shorelines and in Oceans?
	3.5 Where Do Clasts Come From?
	3.6 What Are the Characteristics of Clastic Sediments?
	3.7 What Are Some Common Sedimentary Rocks?
	3.8 Why Do Sedimentary Rocks Have Layers?
	3.9 What Textures Do Igneous Rocks Display?
	3.10 What Are Common Igneous Rocks?
	3.11 What Are Some Metamorphic Features?
	3.12 What Are Metamorphic Processes and Rocks?
	3.13 CONNECTIONS: How Are Different Rock Types  Expressed in Landscapes?
	3.14 INVESTIGATION: What Materials Compose  These Landscapes?
CHAPTER 4: Earth History
	4.1 How Do We Infer the Relative Ages of Events?
	4.2 What Is the Significance of an Unconformity?
	4.3 How Are Ages Assigned to Rocks and Events?
	4.4 What Are Fossils?
	4.5 How and Why Did Living Things Change  Through Geologic Time?
	4.6 How Was the Geologic Timescale Developed?
	4.7 What Is the Evidence for the Age of Earth?
	4.8 What Events Occurred Early in Earth’s History and How Did Earth Change Over Time?
	4.9 What Were Some Milestones in the Early History  of Life on Earth?
	4.10 What Were Some Milestones in the Later History  of Life on Earth?
	4.11 How Do We Study Ages of Landscapes?
	4.12 CONNECTIONS: What Is the History  of the Grand Canyon?
	4.13 INVESTIGATION: What Is the Geologic History  of This Place?
CHAPTER 5: Plate Tectonics
	5.1 What Is Inside Earth?
	5.2 What Are the Major Features of Earth?
	5.3 Why Do Some Continents Have Matching Shapes?
	5.4 Where Do Earthquakes and Volcanoes Occur?
	5.5 What Causes Tectonic Activity to Occur in Belts?
	5.6 What Happens at Divergent Boundaries?
	5.7 What Happens at Convergent Boundaries?
	5.8 What Happens Along Transform Boundaries?
	5.9 How Does Seafloor Vary from Place to Place?
	5.10 What Features Occur Along Mid-Ocean Ridges?
	5.11 How Do Oceanic Islands, Seamounts,  and Oceanic Plateaus Form?
	5.12 What Are the Characteristics and History of Continental Hot Spots?
	5.13 How Do Plates Move and Interact?
	5.14 How Is Paleomagnetism Used to Determine Rates of Seafloor Spreading?
	5.15 CONNECTIONS: Why Is South America Lopsided?
	5.16 INVESTIGATION: Where Is the Safest Place to Live?
CHAPTER 6: Volcanism and Other Igneous Processes
	6.1 How Does Magma Form?
	6.2 How Does Magma Move?
	6.3 What Is and Is Not a Volcano?
	6.4 What Controls the Style of Eruption?
	6.5 What Hazards Are Associated with Volcanoes?
	6.6 What Volcanic Features Consist of Basalt?
	6.7 What Are Composite Volcanoes and Volcanic Domes?
	6.8 What Disasters Were Caused by Composite  Volcanoes and Volcanic Domes?
	6.9 What Are Calderas?
	6.10 What Types of Volcanism and Other Igneous Processes Occur Along Plate Boundaries?
	6.11 How Do Large Magma Chambers Form and How Are They Expressed in Landscapes?
	6.12 How Are Small Intrusions Formed  and Expressed in Landscapes?
	6.13 What Areas Have the Highest Potential for Volcanic Hazards?
	6.14 CONNECTIONS: What Volcanic Hazards Are Posedby Mount Rainier?
	6.15 INVESTIGATION: How Would You Assess Hazards on This Volcano?
CHAPTER 7: Deformation and Earthquakes
	7.1 What Is Deformation and How Is It Expressed in Landscapes?
	7.2 How Are Fractures Expressed in Landscapes?
	7.3 How Are Folds Expressed in Landscapes?
	7.4 What Is an Earthquake?
	7.5 How Does Faulting Cause Earthquakes?
	7.6 How Do Earthquake Waves Travel?
	7.7 How Do We Determine the Location  and Size of an Earthquake?
	7.8 Where Do Most Earthquakes Occur?
	7.9 What Causes Earthquakes Along Plate  Boundaries and Within Plates?
	7.10 How Do Earthquakes Cause Damage?
	7.11 How Does a Tsunami Form and Cause  Destruction?
	7.12 What Were Some Recent Large Earthquakes?
	7.13 What Were Some Major North American  Earthquakes?
	7.14 CONNECTIONS:  What Is the Potential for  Earthquakes Along the San Andreas Fault?
	7.15 Investigation: Where Did This Earthquake  Occur, and What Damage Might Be Expected?
CHAPTER 8: Mountains, Basins, and Continental Margins
	8.1 Why Are Some Regions High in Elevation?
	8.2 Where Do Mountain Belts and High Regions Form?
	8.3 How Do Local Mountains Form?
	8.4 Where Do Basins Form?
	8.5 How Do Mountains and Basins Form  at Convergent Continental Margins?
	8.6 How Does Continental Extension Occur?
	8.7 What Features Characterize the Interiors and Margins of Continents?
	8.8 How Do Marine Evaporite Deposits Form?
	8.9 How Do Reefs and Coral Atolls Form?
	8.10 What Are Tectonic Terranes?
	8.11 How Did the Continents Join and Split Apart?
	8.12 CONNECTIONS: How Do Oil and Natural Gas Form?
	8.13 INVESTIGATION: Where Will Mountains and  Basins Form in This Region?
CHAPTER 9: Sculpting Landscapes
	9.1 What Can We Observe in Landscapes?
	9.2 What Physical Processes Affect Earth Materials Near the Surface?
	9.3 How Do Chemical Processes Affect  Earth Materials Near the Surface?
	9.4 How Does the Type of Earth Material Influence Weathering?
	9.5 How Do Climate, Slope, Vegetation, and Time  Influence Weathering?
	9.6 How Is Weathering Expressed?
	9.7 How Are Landscapes Eroded?
	9.8 How Do Landscapes Record Transport and Deposition by Gravity, Streams, Ice, and Waves?
	9.9 How Do Landscapes Record Transportand Deposition by Wind?
	9.10 How Do Arches and Natural Bridges Form?
	9.11 How Do Caves Form?
	9.12 What Is Karst Topography?
	9.13 CONNECTIONS: What Formed Diverse  Landscapes of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado?
	9.14 INVESTIGATION: How Did These Landscapes  Form?
CHAPTER 10: Soil and Unstable Slopes
	10.1 What Is Soil?
	10.2 How Important Are Water and Organics in Soil?
	10.3 How Does Soil Form?
	10.4 How Do Terrain, Parent Material, Vegetation, and Time Affect Soil Formation?
	10.5 What Are the Major Types of Soil?
	10.6 What Types of Soils Are Most Influenced  by Their Climate?
	10.7 What Other Factors Control the Formationand Distribution of Soils?
	10.8 What Are the Causes and Impacts of Soil Erosion?
	10.9 What Controls the Stability of Slopes?
	10.10 How Do Slopes Fail?
	10.11 How Does Material on Slopes Fall and Slide?
	10.12 How Does Material Flow Down Slopes?
	10.13 Where Do Slope Failures Occur in the U.S.?
	10.14 CONNECTIONS: How Do We Assess the Risk for Problem Soils and Future Slope Failures?
	10.15 INVESTIGATION: Which Areas Have the  Highest Risk of Slope Failure or Problem Soils?
CHAPTER 11: Glaciers, Coasts, and Changing Sea Levels
	11.1 What Are Glaciers?
	11.2 How Do Glaciers Form, Move, and Vanish?
	11.3 How Do Glaciers Erode, Transport, and Deposit?
	11.4 What Are the Landforms of Alpine Glaciation?
	11.5 What Are the Landforms of Continental  Glaciation?
	11.6 What Features Are Peripheral to Glaciers?
	11.7 What Happened During Past Ice Ages?
	11.8 What Starts and Stops Glaciations?
	11.9 What Processes Occur Along Coasts?
	11.10 What Causes High Tides and Low Tides?
	11.11 How Do Waves Form and Propagate?
	11.12 How Is Material Eroded, Transported,  and Deposited Along Coasts?
	11.13 What Landforms Occur Along Coasts?
	11.14 What Are Some Challenges of Living  Along Coasts?
	11.15 What Happens When Sea Level Changes?
	11.16 What Causes Changes in Sea Level?
	11.17 CONNECTIONS: What Coastal Damage Was Caused by TheseRecent Atlantic Hurricanes?
	11.18 INVESTIGATION: What Is Happening Along  the Coast of This Island?
CHAPTER 12: Streams, Lakes, and Groundwater
	12.1 Where Does Water Occur on Our Planet?
	12.2 How Do We Use Fresh Water?
	12.3 What Is a Drainage Network?
	12.4 How Do Streams Transport Sediment and Erode Their Channels?
	12.5 How Do Stream Systems Change Downstreamor Over Short Time Frames?
	12.6 Why Do Streams Have Curves?
	12.7 What Features Characterize Steep Streams?
	12.8 What Features Characterize Low-Gradient  Streams and Deltas?
	12.9 What Features Are Associated with Streams?
	12.10 What Is and What Is Not a Flood?
	12.11 Where Is Groundwater Found?
	12.12 How and Where Does Groundwater Flow?
	12.13 What Is the Relationship Between Surface Water and Groundwater?
	12.14 What Problems Are Associated  with Groundwater Pumping?
	12.15 How Can Water Become Contaminated?
	12.16 How Does Groundwater Contamination Move and How Do We Clean It Up?
	12.17 CONNECTIONS: What Is Going On  with the Ogallala Aquifer?
	12.18 INVESTIGATION: Who Polluted Surface Water  and Groundwater in This Place?
CHAPTER 13: Energy and Matter in the Atmosphere
	13.1 What Is the Atmosphere?
	13.2 What Is Energy and How Is It Transmitted?
	13.3 What Are Heat and Temperature?
	13.4 What Is Latent Heat?
	13.5 What Is Electromagnetic Radiation?
	13.6 What Causes Changes in Insolation?
	13.7 Why Do We Have Seasons?
	13.8 What Controls When and Where  the Sun Rises and Sets?
	13.9 How Does Insolation Interact with the Atmosphere?
	13.10 What Is Ozone and Why Is It So Important?
	13.11 How Much Insolation Reaches the Surface?
	13.12 How Does Earth Maintain an Energy Balance?
	13.13 How Do Insolation and Outgoing  Radiation Vary Spatially?
	13.14 Why Do Temperatures Vary Between Oceans  and Continents?
	13.15 CONNECTIONS: How Are Variations in Insolation Expressed Between the North and South Poles?
	13.16 INVESTIGATION: How Do We Evaluate Sites  for Solar-Energy Generation?
CHAPTER 14: Atmospheric Motion
	14.1 How Do Gases Respond to Changesin Temperature and Pressure?
	14.2 What Causes Winds?
	14.3 What Causes Some Local and Regional Winds?
	14.4 What Are Some Significant Regional Winds?
	14.5 How Do Variations in Insolation Cause Global  Patterns of Air Pressure and Circulation?
	14.6 How Does Air Circulate in the Tropics?
	14.7 How Does Air Circulate in High Latitudes?
	14.8 How Does Surface Air Circulate in Mid-Latitudes?
	14.9 How Does Air Circulate Aloft  Over the Mid-Latitudes?
	14.10 CONNECTIONS: What Causes Monsoons?
	14.11 INVESTIGATION: What Occurs During Seasonal Circulation Shifts?
CHAPTER 15: Atmospheric Moisture
	15.1 How Does Water Occur in the Atmosphere?
	15.2 What Is Humidity?
	15.3 How Do Specific Humidity and Dew Point Varyfrom Place to Place and Seasonally?
	15.4 What Happens When Air Rises or Sinks?
	15.5 How Does the Surface Affect the Rising of Air?
	15.6 What Mechanisms Can Force Air to Rise?
	15.7 What Do Clouds Tell Us About Weather?
	15.8 What Conditions Produce Fog?
	15.9 How Does Precipitation Form?
	15.10 How Do Sleet and Freezing Rain Form?
	15.11 What Is the Distribution of Precipitation?
	15.12 CONNECTIONS: What Caused the Recent Great Plains Drought?
	15.13 INVESTIGATION: How Do Global Patterns of Humidity, Water Vapor, and Precipitation Compare?
CHAPTER 16: Weather and Storms
	16.1 Why Does Weather Change?
	16.2 What Are Fronts?
	16.3 Where Do Mid-Latitude Cyclones Form and Cross North America?
	16.4 What Conditions Produce Thunderstorms?
	16.5 Where Are Thunderstorms Most Common?
	16.6 What Causes Hail?
	16.7 What Causes Lightning and Thunder?
	16.8 What Is a Tornado?
	16.9 Where and When Do Tornadoes Strike?
	16.10 What Are Some Other Types of Wind Storms?
	16.11 What Is a Tropical Cyclone?
	16.12 What Affects the Strength of a Tropical Cyclone?
	16.13 CONNECTIONS: What Happened During Hurricane Sandy?
	16.14 INVESTIGATION: Where Would You Expect  Severe Weather?
CHAPTER 17: Oceans and Their Interactions with Other Earth Systems
	17.1 What Causes Ocean Currents?
	17.2 What Is the Global Pattern of Surface Currents?
	17.3 How Do Sea-Surface Temperatures Vary from Place to Place and Season to Season?
	17.4 What Causes Water to Rise or Sink?
	17.5 What Are the Global Patterns of Temperature and Salinity?
	17.6 What Processes Affect Ocean Temperature  and Salinity in Tropical and Polar Regions?
	17.7 How Are the Atmosphere, Oceans, and Cryosphere Coupled?
	17.8 What Connects Equatorial Atmosphericand Oceanic Circulation?
	17.9 What Are the Phases of ENSO?
	17.10 What Are the Effects of ENSO?
	17.11 CONNECTIONS: What Types of Life Reside  in the Oceans?
	17.12 INVESTIGATION: What Oceanic and Atmospheric  Patterns Are Predicted for a Newly Discovered  Planet?
CHAPTER 18: Climates Around the World
	18.1 How Do We Classify Climates?
	18.2 What Are the Most Common Climate Types?
	18.3 What Is the Setting of Tropical Climates?
	18.4 What Conditions Cause Arid Climates?
	18.5 What Causes Warm Temperate Climates?
	18.6 What Are the Settings  of Mid-Latitude Climates?
	18.7 What Causes Subarctic and Polar Climates?
	18.8 What Is the Role of Carbon in the Climate?
	18.9 What Is the Evidence for Climate Change?
	18.10 What Factors Influence Climate Change?
	18.11 What Are the Consequences  of Climate Change?
	18.12 How Do We Use Computers  to Study Climate Change?
	18.13 CONNECTIONS: What Are Non-Fossil Fuel  Sources of Energy?
	18.14 INVESTIGATION: What Kinds of Climate  and Weather Would Occur in This Place?
CHAPTER 19: Our Solar System
	19.1 How Do We Explore Other Planets and Moons?
	19.2 Why Is Each Planet and Moon Different?
	19.3 What Can We Observe on the Inner Planets?
	19.4 What Is On the Surface of Our Moon?
	19.5 What Is Observed on Jupiter and Its Moons?
	19.6 What Is Observed on Saturn and Its Moons?
	19.7 What Do We Observe on the Outer Planets and Their Moons?
	19.8 CONNECTIONS: What Have We Learned  About Mars?
	19.9 INVESTIGATION: How and When Did Geologic Features on This Alien World Form?
CHAPTER 20: Our Universe
	20.1 How Do We Observe the Universe?
	20.2 What Is Our Framework for Observingthe Universe?
	20.3 How Does Temperature Influence the Type  of Light an Object Emits?
	20.4 How Do We Use Spectra to Study the Universe?
	20.5 What Controls the Motions of Objects?
	20.6 How Do We Measure Distance, Motion,  and Mass of Astronomical Objects?
	20.7 What Processes and Features  Characterize Stars?
	20.8 How Do Low-Mass Stars Change Over Time?
	20.9 How Do High-Mass Stars Change Over Time?
	20.10 What Objects Represent Remnants of Stars?
	20.11 What Are Galaxies, Including the Milky Way?
	20.12 CONNECTIONS: How Did the Universe Form,  and How Is It Changing Through Time?
	20.13 INVESTIGATION: What Are These Astronomical Objects, and How Did They Form?
Glossary
Index
Seasons Night Sky Star Maps