Geology: The Science of the Earth's Crust

In this chapter it is our purpose to briefly consider geology in its direct relations to the arts and industries. When we realize that the value of strictly geologic products ta...

We are more or less familiar with the division of all materials of nature into the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. With slight exceptions minerals are the materials whi...

Since the Cenozoic era is the last one of geologic time, it will be of particular interest to trace out the main events which have led up to the present day conditions, especial...

Beginning with the earliest Paleozoic, the legible records of events of earth history are far more abundant and less defaced than those of earlier times. Stratified rocks of the...

Vertebrates comprise the highest subkingdom of all animals with man himself at the very top. They are characterized by the possession of a vertebral column, which, in all but th...

The crust of the earth is unstable. To the modern student of geology the old notion of a "terra firma" is outworn. The idea of an unshakable, immovable earth could never have em...

Most streams are incessantly at work cutting or eroding their way into the earth's crust and carrying off the products of weathering. By this means the general level of lands is...

A study of the animals of the past is not only of great interest in itself, but also it furnishes a mainstay of the great doctrine of organic evolution. At the very outset of ou...

It has been estimated that approximately 1,500 cubic miles of water fall upon the surface of the United States each year. About one-half of this goes back into the atmosphere by...

Lakes are ephemeral features on the face of the earth. Compared to the tens of millions of years of known earth history, lakes, even large ones, are very short lived. They may,...

We shall now consider the older rocks of the Earth, including those of Archeozoic, Proterozoic, and Paleozoic ages. What are the salient points in the very early history of the...

Not only because of the great power and terrifying grandeur of violent eruptions, but also because of their destruction of life and property, volcanoes stand out in the popular...

Earth features are not fixed. The person of ordinary intelligence, surrounded as he is by a great variety of physical features, is, unless he has devoted some study to the subje...

A glacier may be defined as a mass of flowing ice. The motion may not be that of flowage in the usually accepted sense of the term. A discussion of the various theories of glaci...

Mountains constitute the grandest relief features of the earth, and some of the most profound lessons of earth changes may be learned by studying them. To the layman who views g...

Have we any knowledge regarding the beginning of life on our planet? Our answer to this question must be decidedly in the negative. We can, however, be very positive in regard t...

It is well known that the waters of the sea cover nearly three-fourths of the surface of the earth. We think of the United States as being a large piece of land of over three mi...

All rocks at and near the surface of the earth crumble or decay. The term "weathering" includes all the processes whereby rocks are broken up, decomposed, or dissolved. A mass o...

What was the condition of North America during the first or Triassic period of the Mesozoic era, approximately 8 or 10 million years ago? As a result of the Appalachian Revoluti...

The problem of the origin of the earth is essentially astronomical rather than geological, because geological history is considered to have begun when common earth processes, su...

Only during the last quarter of a century have geologists come to properly appreciate the really important geological work of the wind. One reason for this is the fact that peop...

In the preparation of this book the author has attempted to present, in popular form, the salient points of a general survey of the whole great science of geology, the science w...