Two volumes from Salem’s series, Earth Science, Earth’s Surface & History explores the land masses and seas of the world. And the full content of the set is available online, free.

This two-volume set describes mountain ranges, the oceans, continental movement, and a wide variety of features that have influenced life on earth. Detailed explorations of the evolution of dinosaurs, fish, birds, plant life and humans, as they were influenced by the earth’s surface, fill this set. Fantastic disruptions, from Mount St. Helens to the ice ages are woven into the story of how the earth influences everything.

Designed to meet the needs of students in Earth science at the high school and undergraduate levels, these two volumes represent a focused, revised and heavily updated edition from Salem Press’s five-volume Earth Science of 2001. Now more than ten years later, the updated editions (available as an eight-volume series or individually in two-volume sets) will provide students with clearly explained information on the most important and widely discussed issues relating to Earth science.

SCOPE AND COVERAGE

Earth Science: Earth’s Surface & History, comprising over 125 lengthy essays on basic topics, is designed to provide an introduction to our latest understanding of the Earth.

ORGANISATION AND FORMAT

All of the essays begin with ready-reference top matter, including a summary statement in which the contributing author explains why the topic is important to the study of the Earth. A listing of principal terms and their definitions helps to orient the reader to the essay. The text itself is broken by informative subheadings that guide the readers to areas of particular interest. An annotated and updated bibliography close each essay referring the reader to external sources for further study that are of use to both students and non specialists. Finally, a host of cross-references directs the reader to other essays that offer information on related topics.

SPECIAL FEATURES

At the end of every volume, several appendices are designed to assist in the retrieval of information. As mentioned above, the alphabetical list of contents lists all essays alphabetically by title, followed by page numbers. The categorised list of contents, more detailed than the general table of contents breaks the essays into useful categories to offer readers access to related essays. The set also includes more than 1,000 illustrations-tables, charts, drawings, and photographs-that display basic principles, phenomena and geological features of our world and the solar system.