1st Edition
Earth Materials Components of a Diverse Planet
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There is a large and growing need for a textbook that can form the basis for integrated classes that look at minerals, rocks, and other Earth materials. Despite the need, no high-quality book is available for such a course. Earth Materials is a wide-ranging undergraduate textbook that covers all the most important kinds of (inorganic) Earth materials. Besides traditional chapters on minerals and rocks, this book features chapters on sediments and stratigraphy, weathering and soils, water and the hydrosphere, and mineral and energy deposits. Introductions to soil mechanics and rock mechanics are also included.
This book steers away from the model of traditional encyclopedic science textbooks, but rather exposes students to the key and most exciting ideas and information, with an emphasis on thinking about Earth as a system. The book is written in such a manner as to support inquiry, discovery and other forms of active learning. All chapters start with a short topical story or vignette, and the plentiful photographs and other graphics are integrated completely with the text.
Earth Materials will be interesting and useful for a wide range of learners, including geoscience students, students taking mineralogy and petrology courses, engineers, and anyone interested in learning more about the Earth as a system.
Part I - Introduction to Earth
1 The Origin of the Elements and Earth
1.1 Orion
1.2 The big picture
1.3 The beginning
1.4 Origin of the solar system
1.5 Evolution of the solar system
1.6 What is Earth made of today?
Questions for thought—chapter 1
2 Earth Systems and Cycles
2.1 A Sand County Almanac
2.2 The Earth system and my aquarium
2.3 Systems and scientific investigations
2.4 Rocks and the Rock Cycle
2.5 From continental drift to plate tectonics
2.6 The theory of plate tectonics
2.7 The water cycle
2.8 Carbon and the carbon cycle
Questions for thought—chapter 2
Part II - Fundamental Earth Materials
3 Minerals
3.1 Zeolites
3.2 Minerals defined
3.3 Importance of minerals
3.4 Studying minerals from the past to present
3.5 Elements, minerals, and rocks
3.6 Mineral formation
3.7 Common elements and the most common minerals
3.8 Mineral compositions
3.9 Mineral stability
3.10 Mineral classification
3.11 Mineral properties and identification
Questions for thought—chapter 3
4 Mineral Crystals
4.1 Cuevo de los Cristales
4.2 Crystallography and crystal chemistry
4.3 The process of crystallization
4.4 Ionic crystals
4.5 Silicate minerals
4.6 Elemental substitutions in mineral crystals
4.7 The arrangement of atoms in crystalline solids
Questions for thought—chapter 4
5 Igneous Petrology and the Nature of Magmas
5.1 Volcanism in Yellowstone National Park
5.2 Igneous petrology
5.3 Magma compositions
5.4 Magma sources
5.5 Magma movement
5.6 Different kinds of rocks
5.7 Melting of minerals and rocks
5.8 The importance of partial melting and partial crystallization
5.9 The most common occurrences of melts of different compositions
5.10 A closer look at magma chemistry
Questions for thought—chapter 5
6 Plutonic Rocks
6.1 Yosemite Valley
6.2 Plutons of different kinds
6.3 Minerals in igneous rocks
6.4 Different kinds of plutonic rocks
6.5 The southeast face of El Capitan
6.6 The Sierra Nevada Batholith
6.7 The American Cordillera
6.8 Mafic and ultramafic plutonic rocks
Questions for thought—chapter 6
7 Volcanoes and Their Products
7.1 Tambora and Toba
7.2 Volcanology
7.3 Volcanic eruptions
7.4 Xenoliths and volatiles
7.5 Classifying eruptions
7.6 From magma to rock
7.7 Naming volcanic rocks
Questions for thought—chapter 7
8 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks
8.1 Sedimentation during the formation of the Appalachian Mountains
8.2 Sediment and sedimentary environments
8.3 Products of weathering and erosion
8.4 Transportation and deposition of clastic sediment
8.5 Diagenesis and lithification
8.6 Sedimentary layers and structures
8.7 Different kinds of sedimentary rocks
Questions for thought—chapter 8
9 Stratigraphy
9.1 Rocks of the Grand Canyon
9.2 Formations, groups, and members
9.3 Stratigraphy
9.4 Interpreting the environment of deposition
9.5 Rock lithology
9.6 Geological time
9.7 Subsurface stratigraphy
Questions for thought—chapter 9
10 Metamorphic Rocks
10.1 Wollastonite in the Adirondack Mountains
10.2 Metamorphic rocks
10.3 Agents of metamorphism
10.4 Metamorphic textures
10.5 Metamorphic reactions
10.6 Burial metamorphism
10.7 Regional metamorphism
10.8 Contact metamorphism
10.9 Other types of metamorphism
Questions for thought—chapter 10
Part III - Surficial Geology and Resources
11 Weathering and Soils
11.1 Mesopotamia
11.2 Weathering
11.3 Soil
Questions for thought—chapter 11
12 Water and the Hydrosphere
12.1 The Salton Sea
12.2 Water on Earth
12.3 The water cycle
12.4 The ocean systems
12.5 Freshwater systems
12.6 Water chemistry
12.7 Freshwater quality
Questions for thought—chapter 12
13 Mineral Deposits
13.1 Bingham Canyon, Utah
13.2 Why dig such a big hole?
13.3 Mineral deposits and ore deposits
13.4 The formation of ore deposits
13.5 Placer deposits
13.6 Chemical ore deposits
13.7 Sedimentary ore deposits
13.8 Igneous ore deposits
13.9 Other kinds of ore deposits
13.10 Is mining necessary?
Questions for thought—chapter 13
14 Energy Resources
14.1 Star wars
14.2 The energy that we use
14.3 Fossil fuels
14.4 Alternatives to fossil fuels
14.5 Energy sources in the future
Questions for thought—chapter 14
Part IV - Engineering Properties
15 Soil Mechanics
15.1 The Leaning Tower of Pisa
15.2 Soil mechanics
15.3 Sediments, soils, and rocks
15.4 Consolidated and unconsolidated materials
15.5 Soil composition and index properties
15.6 Soil classification
15.7 Soil strength
Questions for thought—chapter 15
16 Rock Mechanics
16.1 Problems in Coeur d’Alene
16.2 Forces and stress
16.3 Strain—rock deformation in response to stress
16.4 On a larger scale
16.5 Determining values for rock strength
Questions for thought—chapter 16
Biography
Dexter Perkins is a Professor at the University of North Dakota, USA. He was an undergraduate at the University of Rochester before moving to Ann Arbor to attend Law School at the University of Michigan, USA. He subsequently transferred to Michigan's Department of Geology and received a masters and a PhD degree. He is presently (in 2019) in his 38th year at UND.
Kevin R. Henke is retired from the Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) at the University of Kentucky, USA. He obtained his M.S. in Geology at the University of North Dakota in 1984, and his Ph.D. at the same university in 1997. His interests range from topics such as metamorphic petrology, mineralogy and geochemistry.
Adam Simon is Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan, USA. He obtained his Ph.D at the University of Maryland in 2003. His fields of study are economic geology, igneous petrology and geochemistry.
Lance D. Yarbrough is Assistant Professor of Geology and Geological Engineering at the University of Mississippi, USA, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 2006. His areas of expertise include engineering geology, remote sensing, and geotechnical engineering.
The geologists who wrote this textbook, including Perkins (Univ. of North Dakota) and three coauthors, have adopted a broader focus on earth materials than is usual in geology texts, where emphasis is frequently limited to inorganic material. Beyond the expected chapters on rock classification and crystallography, these authors also highlight the various systems that affect earth materials, such as tectonics, hydrology, and erosion, including the results of weathering. Readers will even find chapters on human-influenced geology, as demonstrated in the energy and engineering sectors by such activities as fracking and mining. This unusual breadth of material allows for context and relationships to be featured, but also results in the fact that no particular topic is treated in great depth. Written to engage introductory-level readers, the text is structured so that each chapter begins with an interesting narrative or famous example of the subject at hand and concludes with review questions. Nearly every page features at least one photographic image, figure, or graph in support of the text to demonstrate the concepts covered in the text. Advanced researchers will prefer books that focus on a narrower range of topics but in more detail. Novices will appreciate the conversational style adopted here, along with the relatively short narratives and frequent illustrations.
Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates. General readers.
J.M. Cook (University of West Georgia) in CHOICE, July 2020 Vol. 57, No. 11
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