Iain Gilmour - Böcker

The rich geological record of the Cretaceous Period reveals a world that experienced extreme climatic warmth and significantly higher global sea levels than today. It therefore provides a natural case study of the Earth in 'greenhouse' climatic mode, which this interdisciplinary textbook analyses from the perspective of Earth System Science. After surveying the evidence for conditions on the Cretaceous Earth, this book explores the interactions between the physical, chemical and biological processes, within the Earth and at its surface. These processes control the prevailing environmental conditions on Earth and the book highlights the major differences between the Cretaceous and the present world. Finally, the mass extinction that terminated the period, and its possible causes, are investigated. Designed for undergraduate and graduate courses, this textbook features chapter summaries, focus boxes, and questions and answers throughout the text. The book is supported by a website hosting sample pages, selected illustrations, and worked exercises.

How did life on Earth begin? How common is it elsewhere in the Universe? Written and edited by planetary scientists and astrobiologists, this undergraduate-level textbook provides an introduction to the origin and nature of life, the habitable environments in our solar system and the techniques most successfully used for discovery and characterisation of exoplanets. This third edition has been thoroughly revised to embrace the latest developments in this field. Updated topics include the origins of water on Earth, the exploration of habitable environments on Mars, Europa and Enceladus, and the burgeoning discoveries in exoplanetary systems. Ideal for introductory courses on the subject, the textbook is also well-suited for self-study. It highlights important concepts and techniques in boxed summaries, with questions and exercises throughout the text, with full solutions provided. Online resources, hosted at www.cambridge.org/features/planets, include selected figures from the book, self-assessment questions and sample tutor assignments.

Ongoing advances in Solar System exploration continue to reveal its splendour and diversity in remarkable detail. This undergraduate-level textbook presents fascinating descriptions and colour images of the bodies in the Solar System, the processes that occur upon and within them, and their origins and evolution. It highlights important concepts and techniques in boxed summaries, while questions and exercises are embedded at appropriate points throughout the text, with full solutions provided. Written and edited by a team of practising planetary scientists, this third edition has been updated to reflect our current knowledge. It is ideal for introductory courses on the subject, and is suitable for self-study. The text is supported by online resources, hosted at www.cambridge.org/solarsystem3, which include selected figures from the book, self-assessment questions and sample tutor assignments, with outlines of suggested answers.

The diversity of papers presented in this volume attest to the fact that impact cratering is very much a biological process. This volume is the tenth in a series of books resulting from the activities of the scientific programme, "Response of the Earth System to Impact Processes" (IMPACT), by the European Science Foundation. The papers were presented at an international meeting at King's College, Cambridge in 2003. These papers investigate the effects of asteroid and comet impacts on a diversity of biological and evolutionary processes including the survival of organics and microbial ecosystems to the extinction of organisms.

Only 10% of the 150 or so known impact craters on Earth date from the early Precambrian Era, a time period covering some 88% of the Earth's history. Yet this Era encompasses fundamental events in the origin and evolution of our planet from the origin of life itself to the development of continents. The papers in this volume were presented at a workshop sponsored by the European Science Foundation Scientific Network on Impact cratering held in Cambridge, UK, in December 1998. The papers outline the present state of scientific understanding of the role impacts may have played in the biological and geological evolution of the Early Earth.