Why the Book Was Written
In the early 1970s, Bill Ganus and I developed an environmental geology course
at San Diego State University. The growing awareness of the environment and
the availability of good textbooks made it natural to offer a general education
course looking at geological hazards, resource utilization and disposal, and intelligent planning in concert with the environment. The course had moderately
successful enrollments, chugging along at 25 to 35 students per semester for over a decade.
In 1987, Tom Rockwell and I were discussing the environmental geology
course and speculating on why it never attracted large enrollments. We agreed thatthe natural disasters portions of the course were the most popular. So, I formallychanged the name of the course to “Natural Disasters” but did not change thecourse description or textbook, or advertise the change in any way. Yet almost instantly,students reading through the fine print of semester course offerings saw the “Natural Disasters” listing and enrollments skyrocketed. Now we offer multiple sections filling more than 5,000 classroom seats per academic year and still do not satisfy demand.
San Diego State University students do not have to take Natural Disasters. They
can select from over 30 courses among 10 departments with offerings such as Biology
of Sex, Evolution, Origin of Life, The Oceans, Dinosaurs, and Confronting
AIDS. But more students opt for Natural Disasters than any other course. If your department
could benefit from higher enrollments of nonmajor students, I strongly recommend
offering a Natural Disasters course. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes,
and other high-energy processes of our active Earth affect children’s lives. As students,
they want to understand why these natural disasters happen. The students’
high level of interest can be channeled by the instructor into some significant understanding about how the Earth works. About the Book
This book focuses on natural disasters: how the normal processes of the Earth
concentrate their energies and deal heavy blows to humans and their structures.
It largely ignores the numerous case histories describing human actions and resultant
environmental responses; these topics are left to the excellent textbooks
on environmental geology. Nor does this book address resource extraction, utilization,
and disposal; these subjects are covered by fine textbooks on earth resources,
minerals, energy, soils, and water. This book is concerned with how the
natural world operates and, in so doing, kills and maims humans and destroys
their works.
Throughout the book, certain themes are maintained:
• Energy sources underlying disasters
• Plate tectonics and climate change
• Earth processes operating in rock, water, and atmosphere
• Significance of geologic time
• Complexities of multiple variables operating simultaneously
• Detailed and readable case histories
The text aims to explain important principles about the Earth and then develop further
understanding through numerous case histories. I hope that students will actually
enjoy reading most of this book.
The primary organization of the book is based on an energy theme. Chapter 1
leads off with data describing natural disasters and the human population. Chapter
2 examines the energy sources underlying disasters: (1) Earth’s internal energy from
its formative impacts and continuing decay of radioactive
elements; (2) gravity; (3) external energy from the Sun;
and (4) impacts with asteroids and comets.
Disasters fueled by Earth’s internal energy are addressed
in chapters 3 through 8 and are organized on a
plate-tectonics theme. Chapter 3 provides the basic description
of plate tectonics and its relationship to earthquakes.
Chapter 4 covers the basic principles of
earthquake geology, seismology and tsunami. Chapter 5
uses plate tectonics and historic and prehistoric records
to explain earthquakes along western North America.
Chapter 6 examines the history and potential for earthquakes
throughout the rest of North America. The intent
is to cover every geographic area and major historic
earthquake. Chapters 7 and 8 discuss volcanoes; their
characteristic magmas are organized around the three
Vs—viscosity, volatiles, and volume. Eruptive behaviors
are related to plate-tectonic setting. As throughout,
case histories are employed to enliven the text.
Disasters powered primarily by gravity are covered
in chapter 9 on mass movements. Many types are discussed
and illustrated, from falls to flows and slides to
subsidence.
Disasters fueled by the external energy of the Sun are
examined in chapters 10 through 14. Chapter 10 begins
with principles of atmosphere and ocean underlying
weather and climate, and then moves on to long-term climate
change over timescales of millions, thousands, and
hundreds of years. The time focus shrinks through the
chapter, leading into chapter 11 on short-term climate
change and severe weather phenomena, such as thunderstorms,
lightning, and tornadoes. Chapter 12 examines
hurricanes and the coastline. The emphasis on water continues
in chapter 13 on floods and how human activities
increase flood damage. Chapter 14 on fire examines the
liberation of ancient sunlight captured by photosynthesis
and stored in organic material.
Before moving to the fourth energy source (impacts),
chapter 15 examines the great dyings encased in the fossil
record. The intent is to document the greatest of all
natural disasters and to use multiple variables in analyzing
their causes. Specific mass extinctions are examined
using causative factors, such as continental unification
and separation, climate change, flood-basalt volcanism,
sea-level rise and fall, impacts, biologic processes, and
the role of humans in the latest mass dying. Chapter 16
examines impact mechanisms in greater detail and includes
plans to protect Earth from future impacts.
There is a lot of material in this book, probably too
much to cover in one semester. But the broad range of natural
disasters topics allows each instructor to select those
chapters that cover their interests and local hazards. The
goal is to involve the students for a lifetime in understanding
the Earth, atmosphere, oceans, and skies—to observe,
think, explain, and discuss. New to This Edition
For the fifth edition, all chapters have been revised and updated,
and many new pieces of line art have been created,
and lots of new photos, and new tables have been added.
Changes include major reorganizations and expansions.
Chapter 1 has more physical and economic data on disasters
and hazards and now covers human population, the condensed
remains of the former chapter 16. Chapter 2 examines
energy flows in Earth history and natural disasters.
Chapters 6 and 7 on volcanism have been significantly revised
while retaining the continuous sequence based on
plate tectonics and magma characteristics, with eruptions
explained using the three Vs—viscosity, volatiles, and volume.
Chapters 10 and 11 have been radically reorganized.
They begin with expanded principles to increase the basis
for understanding climate change and severe weather. Chapter
14 on fire has again added several new figures and new
tables on wildland fire data and how fires work. Chapter 15
on mass extinctions has added new sections on fossils plus
new photos. SupplementsFor the StudentOnline Learning Center at www.mhhe.com/abbott5e.
This site gives you the opportunity to further explore
topics presented in the book using the Internet. The site
contains interactive quizzing with immediateFor the InstructorOnline Learning Center at www.mhhe.com/abbott5e.
Take advantage of the instructor’s manual, Power-
Point lecture outlines, and access to PageOut—McGraw-
Hill’s course management tool.Digital Content Manager CD-ROM
This CD-ROM contains all of the line art, photographs, and tables
from the book to make customizing your multimedia
presentation easy. You can organize figures in any order
you want; add labels, lines, and your own artwork; integrate
materials from other sources; edit and annotate
lecture notes; and then have the option of placing your
media lecture into a presentation program, such as
PowerPoint.Instructor’s Testing and Resource CD-ROM
This cross-platform CD-ROM provides a wealth of
resources for the instructor. Supplements featured on
this CD-ROM include computerized testing software
that allows instructors to quickly create customized
exams. This user-friendly program allows instructors to
sort questions by format, edit existing questions or add
new ones; and scramble questions for multiple versions
of the same test.
Other assets on this CD are grouped within easy-touse
folders. The Instructor’s Manual and Test Item File
are available in both Word and PDF formats. Word files of
the test bank are included for those instructors who prefer
to work outside of the test-generator software.
To obtain an instructor login for this Online Learning Center, ask your local sales representative.
If you're an instructor thinking about adopting this textbook, request a free copy for review.
2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education