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1 The Earth in Context
2 The Way the Earth Works: Plate Tectonics
3 Patterns in Nature: Minerals
4 Up From the Inferno: Magma and Igneous Rocks
5 A Surface Veneer: Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks
6 Change in the Solid State: Metamorphic Rocks
7 The Wrath of Vulcan: Volcanic Eruptions
8 A Violent Pulse: Earthquakes
9 Crags, Cracks, and Crumples: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building
10 Deep Time: How Old is Old?
11 A Biography of Earth
12 Riches in Rock: Energy and Mineral Resources
13 Unsafe Ground: Landslides and Other Mass Movements
14 Streams and Floods: The Geology of Running Water
15 Restless Realm: Oceans and Coasts
16 A Hidden Reserve: Groundwater
17 Dry Regions: The Geology of Deserts
18 Amazing Ice: Glaciers and Ice Ages
19 Global Change in the Earth System


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(4.1) What a Geologist Sees: Antarctic Sill

This dark sill, exposed on a cliff in Antarctica, is basalt; the white rock is sandstone. A geologist’s sketch shows the cliff face as viewed face on.

(4.2) What a Geologist Imagines: Volcanic Neck at Shiprock

At this ancient volcano at Shiprock, New Mexico, ash and lava flows have eroded away, leaving a “volcanic neck”. Large dikes radiated outward from the center, like spokes of a wheel. The softer rocks that once surrounded the dikes have eroded away, leaving a wall-like remnant of the dike exposed. Shiprock was once in the interior of a volcano or below a volcano.

(4.3) What a Geologist Sees: Pluton at Torres del Paines

Torres del Paines is a spectacular group of mountains in southern Chile. The light rock is a granite pluton, and the dark rock is the remains of the country rock into which the pluton intruded. A screen of country rock (in the lower half) hides the front of the pluton. A geologist’s sketch labels the two major rock units.


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