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Amid widespread international concern over changes in ocean levels resulting from the greenhouse effect, Anthony Hallam's Phanerozoic Sea-Level Changes is the first book exclusively dedicated to sea-level change in the Phanerozoic Eon, the time ranging from 590 million years ago to the present.

Complements the many popular and often sensational accounts, multi-author volumes, and studies on a particular mass extinction with a focuses scientific investigation of all the known mass extinctions with sufficient technical detail to excite geologists and paleontologists. Discusses the Big Five, one late in each of the Ordovician, Devonian, Permian, Triassic, and the famous Cretaceous that saw the end of the Dinosaurs; and minor mass extinctions from the early Cambrian the Cenozoic. Also examines the current paleontological, geological, and sedimentological evidence of environmental change; and sets out the cases for causes by climate change, marine regressions, asteroid or comet impact, anoxia, and volcanic eruptions. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The general acceptance of plate tectonics and continental drift by the early 1970s galvanized the study of biogeography. This reference work attempts to distill the results of over two decades of prolific research into a form accessible to students.

This is a book about the dramatic periods in the Earth's history called mass extinctions - short periods (by geological standards) when life nearly died out on Earth. The most famous is the mass extinction that happened about 65 million years ago, and that caused the death of the dinosaurs. But that was not the worst mass extinction: that honour goes to the extinction at the end of the Permian Period, about 250 million years ago, when over 90% of life is thought to have becomeextinct.What caused these catastrophes? Was it the effects of a massive meteorite impact? There is evidence for such an impact about 65 million years ago. Or was it a period of massive volcanic activity? There is evidence in the rocks of huge lava flows at periods that match several of the mass extinctions. Was it something to do with climate change and sea level? Or was it a combination of some or all of these?The question has been haunting geologists for a number of years, and it forms one of the most exciting areas of research in geology today. In this book, Tony Hallam, a distinguished geologist and writer, looks at all the different theories and also what the study of mass extinctions might tell us about the future. If climate change is a key factor, we may well, as some scientists have suggested, be in a period of mass extinction of our own making.

Here is a new edition of a widely acclaimed account of the most celebrated controversies in the history of geology--a book that covers many of the most important ideas that have emerged since the birth of the science. Among the great debates described here are those involving catastrophe theory, uniformitarianism, the discovery of the Ice Age, speculation concerning the age of the earth, and the advent of new ideas on plate tectonics and continental drift. In presenting these key topics, the author opens the fascinating history of geology to a wide audience. Frequently citing original sources, the author gives readers a sense of the colorful and at times immensely entertaining language of scientific discourse. This edition includes a new chapter on the emergence of stratigraphy in the nineteenth century, focusing on controversies surrounding the Cambrian-Silurian and Devonian. Another new chapter reviews the mass extinction theory, which is still hotly debated. Other chapters have been revised to reflect recent developments and changes in the field. Authoritative and highly readable, this unique work will interest all readers interested in the history of science and especially the origin of the prevailing ideas in geology today.

Views the continental drift hypothesis and its sequel in their scientific and historical context.