Earth and mind: These are the substance and essence of our work as geoscientists. Earth is the focus of our work—understanding its systems and sensitivities. Mind is the most important asset we bring to this work. Geoscientists learn a body of knowledge that frames their thinking, a battery of methods that they can use to address a problem, and a sophisticated set of skills for collecting and analyzing data. But perhaps most important, geoscientists have a way of thinking about Earth that grows from a combination of their training, their scientific work, and their world experiences. While each individual is unique, geoscientists share a common core of interests, approaches, skills and knowledge that constitute geoscience expertise. This volume explores the nature of that expertise. <...>

A system is an entity composed of diverse but interrelated parts that function as a whole (Kump et al., 1999a). The individual parts, often called components, interact with each other as the system evolves with time. Components include reservoirs of matter or energy, described by mass or volume, and subsystems, which behave as systems within a system. In recent years, the Earth has been considered a complex planetary system that evolved over 4.6 billion years of time. It includes reservoirs, such as the crust, mantle, and core, and subsystems, such as the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Because many of the reservoirs in the Earth interact with each other and with subsystems, such as the atmosphere, there is an increasing tendency to consider most or all of the Earth’s reservoirs as subsystems. <...>

In scientific terms, a system is any set of interactions that can be  separated from the rest of the universe for the purposes of study, observation, and measurement. Therefore, as ystem is so mething in which the various parts fit together and sea mlessly work in harmony. Earth has four major systems that work together. These systems are identified as the hydrosphere, the a tmosphere, the lithosphere, and the biosphere.
Of all the planets in our solar system, Earth stands out because of the presence of water. When viewed from space, the first notable feature about our planet is its blue color. This color comes from the oceans of water that cover more than 70% of its surface. No other planet in our solar system has liquid water on its surface <...>

The fundamental concepts of mineralogy and petrology are explained in this highly illustrated, full-color textbook, to create a concise overview for students studying Earth materials. The relationship between minerals and rocks and how they relate to the broader Earth, materials, and environmental sciences is interwoven throughout. Beautiful photos of specimens and CrystalViewer’s three-dimensional illustrations allow students to easily visualize minerals, rocks, and crystal structures.