Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Publications
  3. Textbooks
  4. Content Listing

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

36807 results in Cambridge Textbooks

Page 44 of 1841

  • Chapter 2 - The Philosophies of Geology

  • Peter Copeland, University of Houston, Janok P. Bhattacharya, McMaster University, Ontario
  • Book:
    Earth History
    Published online:
    29 April 2025
    Print publication:
    01 May 2025, pp 32-47

  • Summary

    It was during the time of the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC) that someone may have first argued that rocks can be viewed as recorders of ancient environments, although just how ancient was still not clearly understood in his time. By walking along the seashore and observing the types of sediments present and the various organisms living there, philosophers as early as Aristotle were able to deduce that the rocks which made up the landscape shared many characteristics of the modern ocean. From this, Aristotle would argue that “where there is sea, there is at another time land.” This was perhaps the first application of the now-foundational dictum of geology: “the present is the key to the past” – the idea that we can apply our understanding of the natural world today to gain an understanding of the past. This chapter reviews some of the historical milestones and key people in the development of geological reasoning and concludes with a discussion of how modern geological science works as an academic and scientific discipline.

  • Chapter 13 - The Cretaceous Extinction

  • Peter Copeland, University of Houston, Janok P. Bhattacharya, McMaster University, Ontario
  • Book:
    Earth History
    Published online:
    29 April 2025
    Print publication:
    01 May 2025, pp 258-273

  • Summary

    This chapter is specifically focused on the events that occurred at the boundary between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras, commonly referred to as the K–Pg extinction because it marks the boundary between the Cretaceous (K) and Paleogene (Pg) geologic periods. It is the most recent of the five mass extinctions introduced in Chapter 9 and has been a topic of considerable public interest because it also marks the end of the “Age of Dinosaurs” (see Chapter 12). The two main hypotheses for the cause of the extinction center on a giant asteroid impact and massive volcanic eruptions in India.

Page 44 of 1841