The Planet in a Pebble

A journey into Earth's deep history

Jan Zalasiewicz (Professor of Palaeobiology, University of Leicester)

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English

Oxford University Press
22 May 2012

Mathematics & Sciences; Popular science; Rocks, minerals & fossils

Series: Oxford Landmark Science

This is the story of a single pebble. It is just a normal pebble, as you might pick up on holiday - on a beach in Wales, say. Its history, though, carries us into abyssal depths of time, and across the farthest reaches of space. This is a narrative of the Earth's long and dramatic history, as gleaned from a single pebble. It begins as the pebble-particles form amid unimaginable violence in distal realms of the Universe, in the Big Bang and in supernova explosions and continues amid the construction of the Solar System. Jan Zalasiewicz shows the almost incredible complexity present in such a small and apparently mundane object. Many events in the Earth's ancient past can be deciphered from a pebble: volcanic eruptions; the lives and deaths of extinct animals and plants; the alien nature of long-vanished oceans; and transformations deep underground, including the creations of fool's gold and of oil. Zalasiewicz demonstrates how geologists reach deep into the Earth's past by forensic analysis of even the tiniest amounts of mineral matter. Many stories are crammed into each and every pebble around us. It may be small, and ordinary, this pebble - but it is also an eloquent part of our Earth's extraordinary, never-ending story.

By: Jan Zalasiewicz (Professor of Palaeobiology University of Leicester)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 195mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 281g
ISBN: 9780199645695
ISBN 10: 0199645698
Series: Oxford Landmark Science
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 22 May 2012
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active