The Earth : its birth and growth / Minoru Ozima, Jun Korenaga, Qing-zhu Yin.

Originally published in Japanese by Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo, 1979, as Chikyu-shi; originally published in English by Cambridge University Press, 1981, as The Earth : its birth and growth.

Cover; The Earth: Its Birth and Growth; Title; Copyright; Contents; Preface to the second edition; Preface to the first edition; Preface to the English edition; 1: Heat from within: energy supporting the dynamic Earth; THE ENERGY HIDDEN IN ROCKS; THE AMOUNT OF RADIOACTIVE ELEMENTS IN ROCKS; RADIOACTIVE ELEMENTS IN THE WHOLE EARTH; HEAT GENERATION IN THE EARTH'S INTERIOR; COMPARISON WITH SOLAR ENERGY; NOTES; 2: At the time of the Earth's birth; NUCLEOSYNTHESIS IN THE GALAXY; CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM; FROM A GASEOUS NEBULA TO PLANETESIMALS; FROM PLANETESIMALS TO PLANETS.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE EARTHAGE OF THE EARTH; HOLMES, HOUTERMANS, AND PATTERSON; NOTES; 3: Formation of the layered structure of the Earth; DISTINCTIVE LAYERED STRUCTURE; HOMOGENEOUS AND HETEROGENEOUS ACCRETION HYPOTHESIS; CHEMICAL DIFFERENTIATION AND PLANETARY ACCRETION; IRON CORE AND SILICATE MANTLE SEPARATION; HAFNIUM-TUNGSTEN CHRONOMETER: A GEOLOGICAL SANDGLASS; FORMATION OF THE INNER CORE; THE EARTH'S CORE AND THE GEOMAGNETIC FIELD; MANTLE, CRUST, AND ATMOSPHERE; NOTES; 4: Time scale of the Earth's evolution; MEASURING THOUSANDS OF MILLIONS OF YEARS.

GEOLOGICAL CLOCK USING NUCLEAR DISINTEGRATIONCORROBORATION OF THE GEOLOGICAL CLOCK; POTASSIUM-ARGON METHOD; REVERSALS OF THE EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD; AGE OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS; SHORT-LIVED ISOTOPE: A GEOLOGICAL SANDGLASS; CAI: THE OLDEST MINERAL IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM; NOTES; 5: Plate tectonics revolution; PALEOMAGNETISM AND APPARENT POLAR WANDER; CONTINENTAL DRIFT HYPOTHESIS; SEAFLOOR SPREADING THEORY; PLATE TECTONICS THEORY; WHAT DRIVES PLATES?; NOTES; 6: Evolution of the mantle; MANTLE EVOLUTION AND CRUSTAL GROWTH; NEODYMIUM ISOTOPE AS A MARKER FOR MANTLE EVOLUTION; WHY AND HOW MANTLE MELTS.

OCEANIC CRUST AND CONTINENTAL CRUSTINTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE MANTLE; CHEMICAL STRATIFICATION IN THE MANTLE?; STRUCTURE OF MANTLE CONVECTION; NOTES; 7: Origin of the atmosphere and oceans; SECONDARY ORIGIN OF THE ATMOSPHERE; DEGASSING FROM THE EARTH; IS THE DEGASSING CONTINUOUS?; USING THE ARGON ISOTOPIC RATIO; FORMATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE OCCURRED SUDDENLY; XENON -- 129: A MORE PRECISE CHRONOMETER FOR MANTLE DEGASSING; RARE GASES IN MANTLE MATERIALS; THE ORIGIN OF LIFE AND THE ATMOSPHERE; THE MYSTERY OF THE COMPOSITION OF THE EARLY ATMOSPHERE; BANDED IRON FORMATIONS AND PRODUCTION OF OXYGEN.

APPEARANCE OF OXYGEN AND CARBON ISOTOPESSULFUR ISOTOPES, A PHOTOSYNTHESIS MARKER?; NOTES; 8: Isotopes as DNA of nature; NON-RADIOGENIC STABLE ISOTOPES; STABLE ISOTOPES AS COSMIC DNA; OXYGEN ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION AND ITS VARIABILITY; PALEOTEMPERATURE AND CLIMATE; MASS-INDEPENDENT ISOTOPIC FRACTIONATION; MASS-INDEPENDENT ISOTOPIC FRACTIONATION OF MERCURY; STARDUST; NOTES; 9: The Earth's magnetism; MAGNETIC MINERALS IN ROCKS: SMALLER IS BETTER; THERMO-REMANENT MAGNETIZATION CAN PERSIST FOREVER; GENERATION OF THE GEOMAGNETIC FIELD BY GEODYNAMO.

An accessible exploration of Earth's evolution and the underlying physical and chemical principles, for students, professionals and general readers.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCOhost, viewed July 25, 2012).

English.

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