Tidal Friction and the Earth’s Rotation

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-VIII

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2. Historical Background and Introduction

   • P. Brosche

   Pages 1-4

3. Pre-Telescopic Astronomical Observations

   • F. R. Stephenson

   Pages 5-21

4. Tidal Deceleration of the Earth’s Rotation Deduced from Astronomical Observations in the Period A D. 1600 to the Present

   • L. V. Morrison

   Pages 22-27

5. Determination of the Rotation of the Earth (at Present)

   • H. Enslin

   Pages 28-42

6. Effect of Tidal Friction on the Lunar Orbit and the Rotation of Earth and Its Determination by Laser Ranging

   • O. Calame, J. D. Mulholland

   Pages 43-54

7. Tides of the Solid Earth from Gravimetric Measurements

   • M. Bonatz

   Pages 55-61

8. Tidal Friction in the Solid Earth: Loading Tides Versus Body Tides

   • J. Zschau

   Pages 62-94

9. Tidal Dissipation in the Oceans

   • K. Lambeck

   Pages 95-97

10. The Influence of Solid Earth Deformations on Semidiurnal and Diurnal Oceanic Tides

    • W. Zahel

    Pages 98-124

11. Numerical Computation of Tidal Friction for Present and Ancient Oceans

    • J. Sündermann, P. Brosche

    Pages 125-144

12. The Earth’s Palaeorotation

    • K. Lambeck

    Pages 145-153

13. Periodic Growth Features in Fossil Organisms and the Length of the Day and Month

    • C. T. Scrutton

    Pages 154-196

14. Geological and Geophysical Evidence Relating to Continental Growth and Dynamics and the Hydrosphere in Precambrian Times: a Review and Analysis

    • J. D. A. Piper

    Pages 197-241

15. Back Matter

    Pages 243-243

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P.Brosche The development of the ideas and observational techniques related to the subject of our meeting "Tidal friction and the Earth's rotation", Bielefeld, September 1977 is one of the most fascinating books - not merely chapters! - of the modern history of science. Its genealogical tree is as intricate as that of mankind itself: There are dead ends and superfluous re-discoveries. Due to these circumstances and to the pure extent of the topic, it is impossible to give more than a few highlights here. The first relevant observational fact was discovered by the famous English astronomer E. Halley in 1695 (Berry, 1961). He simply could not arrive at an agreement between ancient and recent eclipses using a constant mean angular motion of the Moon. Instead, he had to intro­ duce an empirical acceleration term in the mean motion. Known as the "secular acceleration", it has ever since been a most challenging sub­ ject of celestial mechanics and a main branch of the genealogical tree already mentioned. In 1754, completely independently and almost certainly in ignorance of those specialists' activities, the German philosopher Kant established the idea of tidal friction as a decelerating mechanism for the rotation of the Earth (Felber, 1974). Although he made some errors in his rough computations, the majority of the constitutive elements of his concept have survived to the present day (Brosche, 1977).

• Cambrian
• Deformation
• Paleozoic
• Permian
• Proterozoic
• Rotation
• Tide
• data analysis
• development
• formation
• growth
• history
• ocean
• satellite
• sediment

• Observatorium Hoher List, Universitätssternwarte Bonn, Daun/Eifel, Germany

  Peter Brosche

• Institut für Meereskunde, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg 13, Germany

  Jürgen Sündermann

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