Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover
  • Book
  • © 1986

Perspectives on a Dynamic Earth

Authors:

  1. T. R. Patron

    1. School of Earth Sciences, Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Sections

Buy it now

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
    PDF

  2. A cooling, contracting Earth

    • T. R. Patron
    Pages 1-22

  4. The development of geological technology

    • T. R. Patron
    Pages 35-69

  5. The geology of the ocean basins

    • T. R. Patron
    Pages 70-81

  6. The impact of palaeomagnetism

    • T. R. Patron
    Pages 82-91

  7. The revolution

    • T. R. Patron
    Pages 92-117

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 137-142
    PDF
Back to top

About this book

This book is an attempt to put into practice these precepts of Popper and Koestler as far as they can be applied to the Earth sciences at an elementary level. It is felt that the time is ripe for such a presentation, for the revolution that has taken place over the past 20 years within the Earth sciences has made more people directly aware of the way science works and of the necessity of knowing its history to achieve a full understanding of the problems involved. Emerging from the revolution has been the immensely unifying and extremely fruitful concept of plate tectonics, and developments leading to its establishment form the core of the book (Chs 4, 5 & 6). However, to see plate tectonics in context, it is necessary to look at what happened before, and this is done in the first three chapters. Chapter 1 is concerned with the development of ideas about the shape, size and mass of the Earth, which led to broad concepts about the Earth's structure and finally to a model of a cooling, contracting Earth, capable of explaining geological history and the major topographic features of the Earth. Chapter 2 goes on to show how even though the acceptance of this idea gradually broke down in the first half of the 20th century, possible alternatives, which are now at the core of plate tectonics, were also rejected.
Back to top

Keywords

Back to top

Authors and Affiliations

  • School of Earth Sciences, Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia

    T. R. Patron

Back to top

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Perspectives on a Dynamic Earth

  • Authors: T. R. Patron

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4069-7

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: T. R. Patron 1986

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-0-04-550043-7Published: 30 June 1986

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-009-4069-7Published: 06 December 2012

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: 160

  • Number of Illustrations: 29 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Historical Geology, Geomorphology

Back to top

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top
Access via your institution

Buy it now

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Search

Navigation