Earth system history / Системная история Земли

This edition benets from the expertise of a new coauthor, Dr. John A. Luczaj, from the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. John’s added knowledge and experience in many areas of geology have brought a fresh view to many aspects of the textbook.
We coauthors share not only an intellectual passion for the history of our planet and its life, but also an aesthetic and romantic excitement about our subject, with its immense scale in time and space. Our goal is to instill similar enthusiasm in students.
This edition, like those that preceded it, is founded on the basic principle that the physical and biological history of Earth are so thoroughly intertwined that they must be treated in an integrated fashion. Once again, Chapters 1–10 introduce the facts, processes, and concepts that are required for comprehension of Chapters 11–20, which present the narrative of changes in the Earth system since its inception. Each of these later chapters, focusing on a particular geological interval, begins with broad topics, such as the nature of the life that populated the planet and patterns of global paleogeography and climate change. Most of these chapters then narrow their focus to examine important regional events. <...>