The Solid Earth: An Introduction to Global Geophysics
Cambridge University Press
Edition: 2, 12/20/2004
EAN 9780521893077, ISBN10: 0521893070
Paperback, 728 pages, 25 x 19.5 x 4.5 cm
Language: English
The Solid Earth is a general introduction to the study of the physics of the solid Earth, including the workings of both the Earth's surface and its deep interior. The emphasis throughout is on basic physical principles rather than instrumentation or data handling. The second edition of this acclaimed textbook has been revised to bring the content fully up-to-date and to reflect the most recent advances in geophysical research. It is designed for undergraduates on introductory geophysics courses who have a general background in the physical sciences, including introductory calculus. It can also be used as a reference book for graduate students and other researchers in geology and geophysics. Each chapter ends with exercises of various degrees of complexity, for which solutions are available to instructors from www.cambridge.org/9780521893077. The book contains an extensive glossary of geological and physical terms, as well as appendices that develop more advanced mathematical topics.
Preface
Acknowledgements
Sources
1. Introduction
2. Tectonics on a sphere
the geometry of plate tectonics
3. Past plate motions
4. Seismology
measuring the interior
5. Gravity
6. Geochronology
7. Heat
8. The deep interior of the Earth
9. The oceanic lithosphere
ridges, transforms, trenches and oceanic islands
10. The continental lithosphere
A1. Scalars, vector and differential operators
A2. Theory of elasticity and elastic waves
A3. Geometry of ray paths and inversion of earthquakes body wave time-distance curves
A4. The least-squares method
A5. The error function
A6. Units and symbols
A7. Numerical data
A8. IASP91 Earth model
A9. Preliminary reference Earth model isotropic version - PREM
Glossary
Index.
'... the second edition is significantly improved and augmented ... More than ever this book stands out as both an excellent introduction for geophysics undergraduates and a valuable reference text for researchers ...'. Astronomy & Geophysics