Every day we walk across its surface, admiring its variety of plants, animals, and landscapes. Earth has taken billions of years to evolve into the planet we now inhabit. This volume examines this long history, from Earth’s origins in a cloud of gas and dust to its place as a planet teeming with life. It addresses questions that scientists have long debated:

Die Erde, der Mond und einige andere Himmelskörper sind aus Gesteinen aufgebaut. Gesteine sind aus meist mehreren Mineralen geformt und können daher als Mineralaggregate beschrieben werden. Minerale bestehen aus einem Element (z.B. Silber, Kupfer) oder einer chemischen Verbindung (z.B. Halit, NaCl) und aus einem festen, kristallinen, symmetrischen Körper, d.h. sie weisen eine Kristallstruktur mit regelmäßig angeordneten Atomen, Ionen oder Molekülen auf. Minerale sind auf natürliche Weise im Erdkörper gewachsen – und wurden durch einen geologischen Prozess gebildet.

Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology is the most widely adopted, user-friendly manual available for teaching laboratories in introductory geology and geoscience. The manual has been produced under the auspices of the American Geological Institute (AG1) and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT). It is backed up by an Internet site, GeoTools (ruler, protractor, UTM grids, sediment grain size scale, etc.), Instructor Resource Guide, Instructor Transparency Set, and an Instructor Resource Center (IRC) on CD-ROM.

Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology is the most widely adopted, user-friendly manual available for teaching laboratories in introductory geology and geoscience. The manual has been produced under the auspices of the American Geological Institute (AGI) and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT). It is backed up by an Internet site, GeoTools (ruler, protractor, UTM grids, sediment grain-size scale, etc.), Instructor Resource Guide, Instructor Slide Set, Instructor Transparency Set, and a Digital Image Gallery (DIGIT) CD-ROM.'

Environmental geology is the study of the relationship between humans and their geological environment. This relationship goes both ways. Not only do naturally occurring geological phenomena affect the lives of people each day, but also human activities affect geological processes, sometimes with tragic consequences. Given the growing global population, the potential risk for experiencing abrupt, if not catastrophic, geological and climatic changes has never been greater for more people.

Rock is the main ingredient in planet Earth. Nearly everything under your feet is rock. It may be buried out of sight, but it’s always there. Rocks are full of surprises and secrets. They give us precious gems, gold, and vital resources such as iron and glass. Written into rock is a record of Earth’s fascinating history, preserved as fossils. <...>

The book: Geology and Mineral Resources, by Dr. R. K. Upadhyay starts with a brief introduction about the universe, its galaxies, solar systems, various planets including our own “mother earth”. Mineral resources and the various geological dynamic processes of the Earth have left their imprints on human kind and helped shape their history.

The current approach to the study of the origin of life and to the search for life elsewhere is based on two assumptions. First, life is a purely physical phenomenon closely linked to specific environmental conditions. From this, we hypothesise that when these environmental conditions are met, life will arise and evolve. If these assumptions are valid, the search for life elsewhere should be a matter of mapping what we know about the range of environments in which life can exist, and then simply trying to find these environments elsewhere. Second, life can be clearly distinguished from the non-living world.

Геология – наука о Земле. Однако это определение требует уточнения, так как в настоящее время изучением Земли занимается целый ряд наук, имеющих свои определенные задачи и методы познания. 

Содержание современной геологии сводится к изучению образования и развития земной коры и жизни на Земле от самых отдаленных времен до нашей эры. В соответствии с содержанием геология делится на два тесно связанных между собой раздела, нередко рассматриваемых как обособленные дисциплины: а)геологию динамическую (физическую), изучающую разнообразные геологические процессы, под влиянием которых происходят в настоящее время  происходили в прошлом изменения земной коры, и б) геологию историческую, изучающую изменения земной коры во времени и пространстве и связь развития органического мира с развитием земной коры