Table of Contents

Preface; 1. An Australian perspective; 2. The Earth: a geology primer; 3. Building the core of Precambrian rocks; 4. Warm times: tropical corals and arid lands; 5. Icehouse: Carboniferous and Permian glaciation; 6. Mesozoic warming: the great inland plains and seas; 7. Birth of modern Australia: flowering plants, mammals and deserts; 8. History and evolution of life on Earth; 9. Eastern highlands and volcanoes barely extinct; 10. Building the continental shelf and coastlines; 11. Great Barrier Reef; 12. Planets, moons, meteorites and impact craters; 13. A geological perspective on climate change; 14. Cycles in a continental journey; Index.

Promotional Information

This book provides a vivid account of the evolution of the Australian continent over the last 4400 million years.

About the Author

David Johnson holds an adjunct position as a Senior Principal Research Fellow in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University.

Reviews

'This well illustrated introduction … is particularly useful for students in that it not only deals with the geological development of the continent but also discusses the basic principles and processes of geology from a southern hemisphere perspective. … The abundant illustrations are invariably of high quality and range from colour photos of sites, rocks and fossils to maps, cross-sections and diagrams plus plenty of other black and white illustrations from numerous sources … along with a very full and useful bibliography and index. … For students and other geologists who are not familiar with the geology of Australia this is an ideal starting place.' Geological Magazine