The Young Earth

1. Front Matter

   Pages iii-xvii

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2. Background concepts and field evidence

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Introduction

      • E. G. Nisbet

      Pages 3-11

   3. Geochronology and other uses of isotopic analysis

      • E. G. Nisbet

      Pages 12-35

   4. Archaean terrains: the available geological evidence

      • E. G. Nisbet

      Pages 36-97

3. Reconstructing the Archaean Earth

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 99-99

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   2. The beginnings of life

      • E. G. Nisbet

      Pages 101-145

   3. Archaean continents

      • E. G. Nisbet

      Pages 146-197

   4. Archaean volcanism

      • E. G. Nisbet

      Pages 198-248

   5. Mineral deposits in Archaean rocks

      • E. G. Nisbet

      Pages 249-305

   6. Models of the early Earth

      • E. G. Nisbet

      Pages 306-354

4. Back Matter

   Pages 355-402

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'What are we going to do with a parcel of old stones?' wrote the director of an African museum a century and a half ago, when one of my ancestors presented him with a splendid collection of fossils of mammal-like reptiles. Old stones, however intriguing, are difficult to interpret, dusty, and do not fit well in the neatly ordered contents of a house of learning. Archaean geology, which is the study of the Earth's history in the period from after 9 the end of planetary accretion (4.5-4.4 x 10 years ago) up to the beginning 9 of the Proterozoic (2.5 x 10 years ago) is much the same - a parcel of old stones seemingly impossible to understand. Yet these stones contain the history of our origins: they can tell us a story that is interesting not just to the geologist (for whom this book is primarily written) but instead addresses the human condition in general.

• Archean
• Proterozoic
• evolution
• geochronology
• growth
• stratigraphy

• Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

  E. G. Nisbet

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