Impact Tectonics

Impact Tectonics
Author: Christian Koeberl
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 588
Release: 2005-03-11
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9783540241812

A collection of international contributions presenting current knowledge of impact tectonics, geological and geophysical investigations of terrestrial impact structures, and suggested new impact structures, resulting from the IMPACT program.

The Rise of Fishes

The Rise of Fishes
Author: John A. Long
Publisher:
Total Pages: 232
Release: 1995
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

Armored fishes and monster sharks, fishes with arms and fishes that breathe air--these and many other strange creatures are part of the remarkable story told in this book. In The Rise of Fishes, John Long traces the evolutionary history of fishes over the course of 500 million years, describes the discovery of extraordinary fossil remains, and explains the techniques used in their interpretation. Featuring more than 300 color illustrations, the book includes photographs of fossils from around the world as well as the author's dramatic color illustrations of what the fish may have actually looked like. Long tells the story of how these creatures lived and developed and why their rise from the waters of the archaic seas and rivers onto land was so momentous an event in the evolution of life on earth. He combines current scientific information with entertaining stories about his own field work in Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Antarctica. Detailed, accessible, and lavishly illustrated, The Rise of Fishes is a book for anyone with an interest in evolution, fossils, or fish.

Feathered Dinosaurs

Feathered Dinosaurs
Author: John Long
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2008-09-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0199706905

Scientists have recovered more than a billion fossils, but no discovery has been more breath-taking than the fossils recently found in northern China, findings which prove that several families of dinosaurs had feathers, or feathery hair-like coverings, adorning their bodies. Now in the beautifully designed Feathered Dinosaurs, paleontologist John Long and illustrator Peter Schouten provide a stunning visual record of these extraordinary prehistoric creatures, illuminating the evolutionary march from primitive, feathered dinosaurs through to the first true flying birds. Schouten, an acclaimed natural history artist, has created 80 full-color paintings that capture the striking physical traits of these feathered dinosaurs. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of the lifestyles of modern birds and mammals, plus the extant scientific data regarding how these dinosaurs might have looked and behaved, Schouten has produced not only the most beautiful but also the most accurate visual representations of these animals in print. Equally important, John Long, a noted paleontologist and widely published science author (with some 24 books to his credit), provides an engaging companion text that places these feathered dinosaurs within the larger family of dinosaurs--for instance, outlining their relationship to T. Rex and Velociraptor, species well known to Jurassic Park fans--and discusses the factual information that can be deduced from their fossil remains, in effect providing an insightful natural history of this remarkable group. A true marriage of art and science, Feathered Dinosaurs presents an unprecedented visual record of one of the most significant breakthroughs in the history of vertebrate paleontology--the discovery that many predatory dinosaurs were cloaked with feathers, perhaps just as colorful and fanciful as those of their living relatives.

Australia's Lost World

Australia's Lost World
Author: Michael Archer
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2000
Genre: Animals, Fossil
ISBN: 9780253339140

In Queensland, in northeast Australia, lies one of the most significant fossil deposits in the world—Riversleigh. Here, the remains of many thousands of weird and wonderful prehistoric animals have been superbly preserved in the limestone outcrops. There are marsupial lions, carnivorous kangaroos, 23-foot long pythons, primitive platypuses, and early ancestors of the now extinct Tasmanian tiger. So important is this site to our understanding of what has happened to Australia and its living cargo over the last 25 million years that Riversleigh has been inscribed on the World Heritage List. Michael Archer, Suzanne J. Hand, and Henk Godthelp, the principal scientists on a remarkable excavation since 1976, explain the vast environmental and geographic changes that have occurred in this area since Australia broke away from the supercontinent of Gondwana, and how the animals on board this continental raft evolved through the ages. Photographs and evocative artwork bring to life the teeming tropical world that once existed in the now arid wastes of Riversleigh, and the authors discuss some of the unusual techniques used on a dig. They describe how to recognize fossils, how to date them, and how to reconstruct extinct animals from them. Originally published as Riversleigh: The Story of Animals in Ancient Rainforests of Inland Australia, this award-winning book is being issued for the first time in the United States.

The Rise of Animals

The Rise of Animals
Author: Mikhail A. Fedonkin
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2007
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780801886799

An essential resource for paleontologists, biologists, geologists, and teachers, The Rise of Animals is the best single reference on one of earth's most significant events.

Woodlands

Woodlands
Author: David Lindenmayer
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2005-09-09
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0643099875

Australia's little known woodlands once covered huge areas of the eastern side of our continent. Woodlands are distinguished from forests by the fact that their canopies do not touch, tree heights are usually lower and they usually have a grassy understorey. They support a fascinating and diverse array of birds, mammals, reptiles, frogs, invertebrates and plants, and have been under massive pressure from grazing and agriculture over the past 200 years. In many cases only small remnant patches of some types of woodland survive. Understanding and appreciating woodlands is an important way forward for promoting their sustainable management and conservation. Woodlands: A Disappearing Landscape explains with lucid text and spectacular photographs the role that woodlands play in supporting a range of native plants and animals that has existed there for millions of years. The book is set out as a series of logically linked chapters working from the woodland canopy (the tree crowns), through the understorey, the ground layers, and to the lowest lying parts of landscape – wetlands, creeks and dams. Each chapter illustrates many key topics in woodland biology with text and images, explaining important aspects of woodland ecology as well as woodland management and conservation.

Magnificent Mihirungs

Magnificent Mihirungs
Author: Peter F. Murray
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2004-03-04
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780253342829

Over millions of years, Australia's unique biodiversity has produced a large cabinet of curiosities. Among the weirder members of this group were the Mihirungs, members of the now extinct family Dromornithidae. Made up of several genera of flightless birds—among them one of the very largest birds that ever lived—the dromornithids ranged from 60-kilogram beasts, 1.5 meters tall, to giants twice that size, weighing nearly half a metric ton. They were, by orders of magnitude, the largest "geese" that ever lived. One species was comparable in size to the Ele-phantbird of Madagascar and the Giant Moa of New Zealand. This book is the first major study of this unique and highly diverse group. It aims to present as complete a synthesis as possible of current information about this fascinating family of birds.

The Greenland Caledonides

The Greenland Caledonides
Author: A. K. Higgins
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2008
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0813712025

Accompanying CD-ROM contains fold. col. map, entitled, in both formats, "Caledonian orogen : East Greenland 70°N-82°N : Geological map 1:1 000 000.

Wildlife of Gondwana

Wildlife of Gondwana
Author: Patricia Vickers-Rich
Publisher: Raupo
Total Pages: 276
Release: 1993-01-01
Genre: Gondwana (Continent)
ISBN: 9780730103158

This volume traces the history of the vertebrate faunas of Gondwana. The authors begin with the origins of life before the Gondwanan landmass coalesced.