Summary
Contents
Subject index
This unique addition to reference literature provides an introduction to the major concepts and contemporary issues that are essential for students of environmental science and environmental studies to know. With over 200 entries authored by world-class names like Anthony Brazel, John Day and Edward Keller, this text is divided into six sections: Environmental Science, Environments, Paradigms & Concepts, Processes & Dynamics, Scales & Techniques, and Environmental Issues.
Geologic Time
Geologic Time
The Dutch author and historian Hendrick Van Loon portrayed the staggering immensity of geologic time with the following allegory:
High up in the North in the land called Svithjod, there stands a rock. It is one hundred miles high and one hundred miles wide. Once every thousand years a little bird comes to this rock to sharpen its beak. When the rock has thus been worn away, then a single day of eternity will have gone by. (The Story of Mankind, 1922.)
Time is measured by the events that take place within it. For geologists – for whom geologic time is a particular possession not shared by other scientists – Earth history is recorded by the rocks and the events that have affected them. ...
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