Mysteries of the Deep: How Seafloor Drilling Expeditions Revolutionized Our Understanding of Earth History...

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James Lawrence Powell

Mysteries of the Deep

How Seafloor Drilling Expeditions Revolutionized Our Understanding of Earth History

James Lawrence Powell

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Hardback

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English

MIT Press
26 March 2024

Geography

Under the radar-or, rather, sonar-of most people and many scientists, for the last six decades ships have plied the world's oceans, mining the seafloor for its secrets-and quietly resolving confounding geological mysteries. Continental drift and plate tectonics. The origin of the Hawaiʻian Islands. The erstwhile disappearance of the Mediterranean. The mystery of the ice ages. All are part of the story told by deep-sea drilling-and chapters in the history that unfolds in Mysteries of the Deep. In a series of vignettes ranging from the voyage of the HMS Challenger in the 1870s to the adventures of research ship Chikyū in the 2020s, James Powell recounts the surprises the seafloor has yielded to the probing of scientists.

With a global, sometimes even extraterrestrial scope and a scientific reach that extends to every corner of geology and astrobiology, Powell's work recounts how cores extracted from the ocean floor have-

produced insights into microbial life on Mars and the end of dinosaurs' tenure on Earth

demonstrated that astronomical cycles control many geological events, and even human evolution

used a past episode of global warming to reveal the peril of high temperatures today

shown that global warming could melt enough Antarctic ice to drown the seacoasts

The mysteries uncovered by deep-sea drilling, and covered by Powell in this eye-opening book, are many and various, often surprising and sometimes alarming-consequential not just for the science of the seafloor, but for how we learn about our planet's past and what we can do about its future.

A groundbreaking chronicle of scientific ocean drilling-a crowning achievement of the twentieth century-and how it shaped our knowledge of Earth's past.

Under the radar-or, rather, sonar-of most people and many scientists, for the last six decades ships have plied the world's oceans, mining the seafloor for its secrets-and quietly resolving confounding geological mysteries. Continental drift and plate tectonics. The origin of the Hawaiʻian Islands. The erstwhile disappearance of the Mediterranean. The mystery of the ice ages. All are part of the story told by deep-sea drilling-and chapters in the history that unfolds in Mysteries of the Deep. In a series of vignettes ranging from the voyage of the HMS Challenger in the 1870s to the adventures of research ship Chikyū in the 2020s, James Powell recounts the surprises the seafloor has yielded to the probing of scientists.

With a global, sometimes even extraterrestrial scope and a scientific reach that extends to every corner of geology and astrobiology, Powell's work recounts how cores extracted from the ocean floor have-

produced insights into microbial life on Mars and the end of dinosaurs' tenure on Earth

demonstrated that astronomical cycles control many geological events, and even human evolution

used a past episode of global warming to reveal the peril of high temperatures today

shown that global warming could melt enough Antarctic ice to drown the seacoasts

The mysteries uncovered by deep-sea drilling, and covered by Powell in this eye-opening book, are many and various, often surprising and sometimes alarming-consequential not just for the science of the seafloor, but for how we learn about our planet's past and what we can do about its future.

By: James Lawrence Powell
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 133mm,
Weight: 567g
ISBN: 9780262048927
ISBN 10: 0262048922
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 26 March 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 The Voyage of HMS Challenger 7 3 Coral Reefs: Rainforests of the Sea 23 4 Probing the Seafloor 33 5 Nothing Beats a Map 53 6 Do Seafloors Spread and Continents Drift? 65 7 Continental Drift to Plate Tectonics 77 8 Hotspots in the Mantle 97 9 When the Mediterranean Dried Up 113 10 The Glacial Theory 129 11 The Astronomical Pacemaker 143 12 Astrochronology 157 13 Crater of Doom 171 14 The Hot, Deep Biosphere 187 15 The Seventh Continent 199 16 Eocene Doomsday 209 17 Human Evolution 219 18 Looking Back and Ahead 231 Appendix: Vessels and Programs 239 Acknowledgments 241 Notes 243 Index 263

James Powell is a retired geologist and university administrator. He is the author of several books, including The Inquisition of Climate Science and The 2084 Report- An Oral History of the Great Warming.