Waubonsee Community College

A brief history of geology, Kieran D. O'Hara

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

contains biographical information

illustrationsmaps

index present

non fiction

A brief history of geology

bibliography

1004012931

Kieran D. O'Hara

"Geology as a science has a fascinating and controversial history. Kieran D. O'Hara's book provides a brief and accessible account of the major events in the history of geology over the last 200 years--from early theories of Earth structure during the Reformation, through major controversies over the age of the Earth during the Industrial Revolution, to the more recent twentieth-century development of plate tectonic theory, and on to current ideas concerning the Anthropocene. Most chapters include a short feature box providing more technical and detailed elaborations on selected topics. The book also includes a history of the geology of the Moon, a topic not normally included in books on the history of geology. the author concludes that the history of geology fits very well with Thomas Kuhn's ideas put forward in his famous book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and--for the first time--this book places the history of geology into a broader scientific context. The book will appeal to students of Earth science, researchers in geology who wish to learn more about the history of their subject, and general readers interested in the history of science."--Dust jacketApproximately 200 years of the history of the development of the study of geology

Major nineteenth-century players -- Toward a geologic time scale -- A vestige of a beginning : the age of the earth -- The origin of igneous rocks -- Tectonics in crisis -- Continental drift -- Plate tectonics -- Isotope and trace element geology -- Ice ages and ice cores -- Geology and evolution of the moon -- Welcome to the Anthropocene : a man-made epoch? -- The structure of geological revolutions