Pure Appl. Geophys. Ó 2013 Springer Basel DOI 10.1007/s00024-013-0702-x

Pure and Applied Geophysics

Book Review ‘‘Earth as an Evolving Planetary System’’, by Kent C. Condie, Second Edition, Elsevier/Academic Press, 2011; ISBN: 978-0-123-85227-4, USD 60.41 MAURIZIO MATTESINI1,2 This second edition of Earth as an Evolving Planetary System highlights fascinating recent understanding of the Earth and planetary evolution and analyses how all subsystems (crust, mantle, core, atmosphere, oceans and life) have interplayed together and evolved over the last 4 billion years. The author collected and amalgamated a huge amount of data from different fields such as oceanography, geophysics, paleoclimatology, geology, planetology, and geochemistry to address the Earth’s evolution. The scope of Kent Condie’s book is simply amazing. The textbook is structured into ten chapters, summing up to a total of 574 pages. After a brief and useful introduction in Chapter 1 (Earth Systems), where the reader will certainly appreciate the stimulating list of ‘‘Ifs’’ for the Earth, the following chapters deal with a precise description of each Earth’s subsystem and its singular evolution-interaction process. Chapter 2 (The Crust) is next up, with an attractive overview of the Earth’s crust, spanning from its seismic structure, classification of various crustal types, composition, heat flow, continents, exhumation, cratonization and rheology. This chapter summarizes the physical and chemical properties of the crust and reviews important characteristics of crustal provinces. The reader will likely appraise the focus on several interesting datasets by using clear

1 Departamento de Fı´sica de la Tierra, Astronomı´a y Astrofı´sica I, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain. E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] 2 Instituto de Geociencias (UCM-CSIC), Facultad de Ciencias Fı´sicas, Plaza de Ciencias 1, 28040 Madrid, Spain.

figures and well structured tables that really enhance concepts in the text. Chapter 3 (Tectonic Settings) handles the plate tectonics, the main mechanism by which the Earth has cooled for the last 4 Ga. This chapter constitutes one of the most representative parts of the text and has special focus on ocean ridges, mantle plumes, continental rifts, cratons, arc systems, orogens, and distribution and origin of mineral and energy resources. The important role played by the Earth’s mantle in the evolution of crust and as a generator for thermal and mechanical driving forces for plate tectonics, is carefully revised in chapter 4. Interesting, the chapter starts by presenting a series of exciting questions and/ or mantle topics that will be then addressed throughout the chapter. Several nice figures and schematic diagrams are included to explain salient mantle issues, such as seismic structure, mantle upwellings and geoid anomalies, temperature distribution, lithosphere, low-velocity zone, transition zone, lower mantle, water in mantle, plate driving forces, mantle plumes, mantle geochemical components and mantle convection. Chapter 5 (The Core) covers a succinct, yet very well structured description of the main Earth’s core concepts, beginning with core’s temperature, inner core anisotropy and rotation, composition, age and geodynamo. The chapter ends up by describing the origin of the core, its growing mechanism and evolution. While important core topics are generally well explained, subsequent editions may benefit from the inclusion of a more extensive and updated ‘‘Core Temperature’’ section, which might consider the possibility of a much higher (*7,000 K) Earth’s

M. Mattesini

Pure Appl. Geophys.

inner core temperature (BELONOSHKO et al. 2000; SOLA and ALFE` 2009). An interesting chapter 6 (Earth’s Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, and Biosphere) follows on the atmosphere–ocean system, its evolution and biosphere. Atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere cannot be considered in isolation from the solid Earth and this chapter, together with chapter 8, leaves this point rather clear. The author does an outstanding job here, especially in organizing and explaining the most important topics. The whole chapter reads very well and it is clearly documented and referenced. Chapter 7 (Crustal and Mantle Evolution) reviews closely related history of Earth’s crust and mantle, addressing how many crust features are controlled by processes in the mantle. The reader is guided through a stunning journey of discovery, which starts from the description (definition) of the Hadean, Earth’s oldest rocks, crustal origin, continental growth, secular changes in crust and mantle and finishes by analysing the Earth’s thermal history. Chapter 8 (The Supercontinent Cycle) is up next with an attractive overview of a geologic phenomenon that has left a great imprint on Earth’s history. The chapter begins with the supercontinent reconstruction, the continent collision and assembly, the youngest supercontinent and the later ones. The supercontinent cycle is then specifically analysed including its close relation with mantle processes, such as convection, mantle upwellings and mantle plumes. The following two new chapters were introduced in this second edition to offer the reader a more complete and expanded area of knowledge. Chapter 9 (Great Events in Earth History) presents a really appealing work about the origin of life and the possibilities of life beyond Earth. Emphasis is placed by the author on the following eight great events that were specially critical in the origin or/and evolution of life: the origin of the Moon, origin of life, the onset of plate tectonics, the great oxidation event, the snowball Earth, mass extinction at the end of the Permian, the cretaceous superplume event, and

mass extinction at the end of the cretaceous. All these fascinating sections are written in a concise yet informative, easy to understand style, thus making this chapter a very pleasant reading experience. The book closes in Chapter 10 (Comparative Planetary Evolution) where the uniqueness of Earth is very well emphasized in comparison to the other planets. Why are plate tectonics, continents, oceans and the presence of free oxygen in the atmosphere unique features to Earth? Although there is no precise answer to this question, Kent Condie explores some possible reasons, establishing specific comparisons to other planets of the solar system. This book is written for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and it assumes a basic knowledge of geology, biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics, which most students in the Earth Sciences acquire during their undergraduate education. It also may serve as a desk reference book for various specialists in Earth Sciences that want to stay update on what scientific advances in this field are on. The layout is excellent, figures and tables are often given in colour and are particularly helpful in supporting the content. The reader will definitely appreciate the use of bold character to highlight important key-words and also the ‘‘further reading’’ section at the end of each chapter. In sum, I have found Kent Condie’s book to be a masterpiece, very interesting and truly enjoyable to read. Upon completion of this book, the reader will likely realize how exciting and important is the interdisciplinary work that has lead scientists to understand most of the unknown features of our unique planet. The text meets this challenge very well.

REFERENCES BELONOSHKO, A. B., R. AHUJA, and B. JOHANSSON, Quasi ab initio molecular dynamics study of iron melting. Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 3638 (2000). SOLA, E. and ALFE`, D. Melting of Iron under Earth’s Core Conditions from Diffusion Monte Carlo Free Energy Calculations, Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 078501 (2009).

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