The Geology of Australia

Cover
Cambridge University Press, 24.08.2004 - 276 Seiten
The Geology of Australia provides a vivid and informative account of the evolution of the Australian continent over the past 4400 million years. Starting with the Precambrian rocks which hold clues to the origins of life and the development of an oxygenated atmosphere, it then covers the warms seas, volcanism and multiple orogenies of the Palaeozoic, which built the eastern third of the Australian continent. This illuminating history then details the breakup of Gondwana and the development of the continental shelves and coastlines. Separate chapters cover the origin of the Great Barrier Reef, the basalts in Eastern Australia and the geology of the Solar System. From Uluru to the Great Dividing Range, from sapphires to the stars, The Geology of Australia is a comprehensive exploration of the timeless forces that have shaped this continent and that continue to do so.
 

Inhalt

AN AUSTRALIAN PERSPECTIVE
3
Box 11 Radiometric dating of rocks
5
Box 12 What is geology?
15
Australian geology
16
THE EARTH A GEOLOGY PRIMER
21
Plate tectonics
23
Box 21 Agedating the rocks
24
Minerals
32
Development of inland seas
133
BIRTH OF MODERN AUSTRALIA FLOWERING PLANTS MAMMALS AND DESERTS
141
Box 71 Pollen data from brown coal and other Tertiary deposits
151
cooling and growth of the icecaps
153
Box 72 Evidence for climate change
156
Australias arid interior
157
EASTERN HIGHLANDS AND VOLCANOES BARELY EXTINCT
166
Box 81 Basalts as a source of gemstones
175

Types of rocks
34
Box 22 Metamorphism
41
Shaping of the landscape
43
Box 23 The Australian regolith and soils
45
Coastal and offshore areas
48
Orogenic cycle
50
Geological time scale
51
BUILDING THE CORE OF PRECAMBRIAN ROCKS
54
Archaean
57
Proterozoic
62
Box 31 Geology of Uluru and KataTjuta
69
Origin of life
70
Box 32 Wilpena Pound and the Ediacaran fauna
73
Rodinia and Gondwana
75
WARM TIMES TROPICAL CORALS AND ARID LANDS
81
Explosive radiation of life
82
Fossils
84
Box 41 How are fossils preserved?
88
Warm seas with arid plains volcanic arcs and deep troughs
90
Late Devonian upheaval
96
Granites
97
Box 42 Cooma granite emplacement and metamorphism 435433 Ma
98
ICEHOUSE CARBONIFEROUS AND PERMIAN GLACIATION
101
The volcanic arc
108
Development of the coal basins
110
Box 51 Glossopteris and the vegetation of the coldclimate peatlands in Gondwana
112
Mount Wingen
115
MESOZOIC WARMING THE GREAT INLAND PLAINS AND SEAS
120
Box 61 The great extinction of life 251 Ma ago
121
The great inland plains
122
Box 62 The Sydney Basin
130
Seamount chain offshore
178
Origins of the volcanics and the Great Divide
179
BUILDING THE CONTINENTAL SHELF AND COASTLINES
184
Box 91 Australias Exclusive Economic Zone
188
Sea levels
190
Types of coasts
192
Box 92 Tsunamis
196
Box 93 Coastal erosion problems
199
The Australian coastline
202
Box 94 Comparison of Sydney Harbour and Port Phillip Bay
209
GREAT BARRIER REEF
215
Box 101 Effects of cyclones on the Great Barrier Reef
216
Reef types
219
Reef deposits
223
Formation of the Great Barrier Reef
225
Box 102 Extent of terrigenous sediment in the Great Barrier Reef
229
Continental slope and trough seaward of the Great Barrier Reef
231
PLANETS MOONS METEORITES AND IMPACT CRATERS
234
The planets
235
Earths Moon
238
Meteorites
242
Impact craters
243
Eltanin and Chicxulub
248
Past and future of Earth in the Solar System
250
CYCLES IN A CONTINENTAL JOURNEY
254
Cycles of deformation
257
Cycles of climates
261
Evolution and extinctions
269
Epilogue lessons of geological perspective
271
Index
275
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Seite 274 - ... stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed ; And on the pedestal these words appear : ' My name is Ozymandias, king of kings : Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair !

Autoren-Profil (2004)

David Johnson holds an adjunct position as a Senior Principal Research Fellow in the School of Earth Sciences, James Cook University.

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