Building Planet Earth

Part I. Beginnings: 1. Planet Earth; 2. The formation of earth; 3. The primaeval earth; 4. Methods of the earth scientist; Part II. The Earth's Heat Engine: 5. The earth's heat engine; 6. Magma; 7. The perpetual dynamo; 8. Continents and oceans; 9. The earth from space; Part III. Patterns of Earth History: 10. Dating the rock record; 11. Integrating earth history; 12. The early continents; 13. The drifting continents; 14. Late Precambrian times; 15. The Appalachian story; 16. Late Palaeozoic mobile belts; 17. Gondwanaland evolves; 18. Stirring in the Alps; Part IV. Gondwanaland and More Recent Events: 19. Gondwanaland before the break-up; 20. Gondwanaland disrupted; 21. New oceans for old; 22. The Pacific Ocean; 23. The Cordilleran Chains; 24. The Pleistocene epoch; 25. Early man; 26. The earth now; 27. What next? Appendices; Bibliography; Glossary of terms; The history of life; Data for the earth and planets, Index.