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Helping readers to understand the hopes and the hazards facing humankind by learning more about the causes and the consequences of environmental change, Environmental Geology is a valuable guide to an exciting and relatively new science that deals with the relationship between people and their geologic environment. Chapter by chapter, this volume details the many ways man-made and natural forces have brought about serious - and in some cases, irreversible - damage to the earth, including: - Climate Change: The Greenhouse Effect - Hydrologic Activity: Water Flow and Flooding - Coastal Processes: Seacoasts and Estuaries - Tectonic Hazards: Earthquakes and Volcanoes - Desertification: Deserts and Droughts - Natural Resources: Depletion of Industrial Materials - Land Use: The Changing Landscape.
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environmental Geology Facing the challenges of our changing earth Jon erickson Foreword by Peter D. Moore, PH.D. ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY Facing the Challenges of Our Changing Earth Copyright © 2002 by Jon Erickson All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Facts On File, Inc. 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Erickson, Jon, 1948– Environmental geology : facing the challenges of our changing earth / Jon Erickson ; foreword by Peter D. Moore. p. cm.—(The living earth) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8160-4727-8 (acid-free paper) 1. Environmental geology. I.Title. QE38.E75 2002 550—dc21 2001051108 Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, instituti