The rich geological record of the Cretaceous Period reveals a world that experienced extreme climatic warmth and significantly higher global sea-levels than today. Elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have been implicated in these conditions. It thus provides a natural case study of the Earth in 'greenhouse' climatic mode, which this interdisciplinary textbook analyses from the perspective of Earth System Science. With mounting concerns over global warming today, an understanding of how the Earth system operates when in greenhouse mode is very relevant to studies of future climatic change.

We live on a wonderful planet that not only teems with life but shows a marvellous exuberance of form and variety. In comparison with the size of the Earth its living skin (the so-called biosphere) may be thin, but it is by no means negligible. From high in the atmosphere, where ballooning spiders wafted aloft on their silk-strings have been trapped at heights of more than 4500 m and birds such as condors cross tropical storms at altitudes well above 6000 m, via the oceans and the green continents, to deep within the Earth's crust where bacteria are known to live at depths of at least several kilometres, life is pervasive. <...>

IS is an extremely collaborative activity. Almost at the drop of a hat, GIS professionals will organize a conference, set up a Web-based list server, pull people together for discounts on training, establish a networking group, and generally do what they can to move the community forward.The standards for GIS certification in the United States, which are being worked out as we complete the manuscript for this book, explicitly include points for participating in and organizing events that benefit the entire community.

The Dinaric Karst of Croatia was formed in a tectonically active area, where several geotectonic plates of variable size are in direct contact. The African tectonic plate, with its smaller Adriatic plate, extends northwards towards the Alps. The Adriatic plate subducts under the Dinaric plate, which is the base part of the Dinaric Mountains. Therefore, this is a seismically palaeo and neotectonically active area with many earthquakes. Since these area is composed mainly of soluble carbonate rocks (mostly Mesozoic and Cenozoic ages) that are up to 8 km thick in this area, with favourable hydrogeological conditions, the karstification processes are very prominent. A brief overview of the geology of Croatia also indicates the complexity of hydrogeological processes in this area. <...>