Our Awesome Earth

Fülszöveg

"alone, i cross a landscape conceived in a demented dream," writes Paul Martin in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. "The crater floor seems to writhe with contorted shapes: Frozen waves of lava pitch about me; giant heaps of slag tumble and slide; massive slabs tilt like reeling drunkards." The scene is one of turbulence stilled only momentarily. Just days later, Kilauea erupts anew, pumping glowing lava a thousand feet into the sky. A sense of paradox strikes. Although volcanoes can destroy, they can alsó create. Theory holds that over millions of years they shaped much of the earth's surface, fed the oceans by spewing forth water vapor, and made possible our atmosphere and Iife itself by releasing carbon dioxidé and other gases. And the processes of renewal continue. In each of the major ecosystems explored in this exciting volume, the authors found evidence-often stunning, sometimes subtle-of an earth forever in the making. In Wyoming 6oo-year-old skeletal trees standing submerged... Tovább

Fülszöveg

"alone, i cross a landscape conceived in a demented dream," writes Paul Martin in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. "The crater floor seems to writhe with contorted shapes: Frozen waves of lava pitch about me; giant heaps of slag tumble and slide; massive slabs tilt like reeling drunkards." The scene is one of turbulence stilled only momentarily. Just days later, Kilauea erupts anew, pumping glowing lava a thousand feet into the sky. A sense of paradox strikes. Although volcanoes can destroy, they can alsó create. Theory holds that over millions of years they shaped much of the earth's surface, fed the oceans by spewing forth water vapor, and made possible our atmosphere and Iife itself by releasing carbon dioxidé and other gases. And the processes of renewal continue. In each of the major ecosystems explored in this exciting volume, the authors found evidence-often stunning, sometimes subtle-of an earth forever in the making. In Wyoming 6oo-year-old skeletal trees standing submerged in a laké hint at cataclysmic earthquakes that may have lowered the land they grew on by 80 feet. In the utterly forbidding Sahara, fading frescoes depict the humán and animal Iife that flourished when the region was a "lush, river-laced expanse" thousands of years ago. There and elsewhere, the authors discovered myriad ways in which Iife has flourished, retreated, or adapted in response to changing environments. The aging earth still abounds with sights and sounds that defy explanation: Africa's elephants communicating in throbbing tones too low to be heard by the humán ear... humpback whales making Pacific waters vibrate with haunting songs ... dunes "singing" in the Sinai... tundra-üke bald spots breaking forested areas in the Great Smokies of North Carolina and Tennessee ... strands of hair from an unknown creature that may be roaming the mountains of Wyoming. Fascinating facts and more than a hundred spectacular photographs illuminate mysteries and marvels of OurAwesome Earth. Vissza