Why the Book Was Written
During years of teaching courses in physical geology and
environmental geology at San Diego State University, it
was obvious that natural disasters topics drew heightened
levels of interest and questions from students. This led to
creating a course called "Natural Disasters," which was
not advertised in any way. Yet almost instantly, students
reading through the fine print of semester course offerings
saw the "Natural Disasters" listing and enrollments skyrocketed.
Over a few years, new teaching techniques were
developed to reach large auditorium audiences, and enrollments
rose to 5,000 students per academic year. Some
of these experiences are described in a Journal of Geoscience
Education article by Pat Abbott and Ernie Zebrowski
[v. 46 (1998), pp. 471–75].
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, fires, floods, and other high-energy
processes of our active Earth affect students’ lives. Students
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 10 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 11 through 15. Chapter 11 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 12 on short-term climate
change and severe weather phenomena, such as thunderstorms,
lightning, and tornadoes. Chapter 13 examines
hurricanes and the coastline. The emphasis on water continues
in chapter 14 on floods and how human activities
increase flood damage. Chapter 15 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 16 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, sealevel
rise and fall, impacts, biologic processes, and the
role of humans in the latest mass dying. Chapter 17 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
The sixth edition of this popular textbook marks a major
change—it now is in color!
All line art has been redrawn in new color versions.
Black-and-white photos have been replaced by color
images.
More than 100 new color photos have been added.
All chapters have been revised and updated.
A new chapter on tsunami has been added.
SupplementsFor the StudentOnline Learning Center at www.mhhe.com/abbott6e.
This site gives you the opportunity to further explore topics
presented in the book using the Internet. The site
contains interactive quizzing with immediate feedback,
animations, web links, a career center, and more.For the InstructorOnline Learning Center at www.mhhe.com/abbott6e.
Take advantage of the Instructor’s Manual and Power-
Point lecture outlines.Presentation Center
Accessed through the Online Learning Center, the Presentation
Center is an online digital library containing
assets such as art, photos, tables, and PowerPoints that
can be used to create customized lectures, visually enhanced
tests and quizzes, compelling course websites, or
attractive printed support materials.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 user-friendly computerized testing
software that allows instructors to quickly create customized
exams. Instructors can 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.
2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education