The Dynamic Earth
Presenting an issue on the earth as a system ofinteracting fluids, including living matter. Some of the Rows are fast; others slow, but overall the planet is maintained in a remarkably steady state...
Features
The Earth's Core
Indirect evidence indicates that it is an iron alloy, solid toward the center but otherwise liquid. It is the turbulent flow of the liquid that generates the earth's magnetic field
The Earth's Mantle
The great shell of sllicate that lies above the metallic core is heated by the decay of radiQactive isotopes. The heat energizes massive convection currents in the upper 700 kllometers of the ductile rock...
The Oceanic Crust
It is created and destroyed in a Row outward from midocean ridges to subduction zones, where it plunges back into the mantle. Currently it is being opened to view by submersibles and novel instrumentation...
The Continental Crust
It is much older than oceanic crust, some of it dating back nearly four billion years. It is constantly reworked, however, by cycles of tectonics, volcanism, erosion and sedimentation
The Atmosphere
Its dynamic activity serves to distribute the energy of solar radiation received by the earth. Models of this activity help to explain climates of the past and predict those of the future...
The Biosphere
The totality of microbial, animal and plant lik on the earth not only is sustained by the lithosphere, the hydrosphere and the atmosphere but also has powerfully shaped their evolution
Departments
50 and 100 Years Ago: September 1983
Science and the Citizen, September 1983
- Letters
Letters to the Editors, September 1983
- Recommended
Books, September 1983
- Mathematical Recreation
Mathematical Games, September 1983
- Amateur Scientist
The Amateur Scientist, September 1983
- Departments
The Authors, September 1983
Bibliography, September 1983
