Contents -- Preface -- PHYSICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL FOUNDATIONS -- 1. "The age of the Earth as an abode fitted for life" (Lord Kelvin, 1899) -- Age estimates without radioactivity: history of a paradox -- The paradox resolved but with continued difficulties -- Dating by radioactivity -- Ages of the solar system and the heavy elements in it -- Early development of the basic structure of the Earth -- Beginnings of life on Earth -- 2. Rotation, tides and the Moon -- Uniqueness of the Moon - why are there so few satellites in the inner solar system? -- Tides and tidal friction -- Rotation of the Earth and evolution of the Moon's orbit -- Venus and Mercury could not now have satellites, even if they once did so -- The 'lunar cataclysm', 3.8 billion years ago -- The Earth had a second satellite for 600 million years -- Impacts on Mercury -- An implication of the solar tide -- Formation of the Earth and Moon required no special physical processes -- 3. The variable Sun and other astronomical effects -- The effects on global temperature of short-term variations in sunlight -- Orbital effects -- Solar variability, sunspots and the little ice age -- The faint early sun paradox -- The size of the Sun is critical -- 4. The magnetic field -- Magnetic fields of planets -- Magnetic rocks -- Planetary dynamos -- The energy source for the Earth's dynamo -- The Earth's field varies but it is robust -- The magnetosphere: extension of the Earth's field into space -- The ionosphere and the ozone layer -- The heliosphere -- Effects of heliospheric compression -- THE EVOLVING EARTH -- 5. Internal heat and the evolution of the Earth -- Two independent heat sources maintain the environment -- The role of radioactivity -- Tectonic processes depend on sea water -- The mutual control of convection and temperature -- Effects of core heat and convective plumes in the mantle.

Tectonic effects will continue indefinitely with little change -- The continent-ocean structure -- Planetary evolution involved chemical separation -- The primitive atmosphere -- The role of biological life -- 6. The oceans -- We cannot understand the environment without understanding the oceans -- Continents and oceans have different deep structures -- Tides and tidal dissipation -- Tidal resonances -- Development of the Atlantic Ocean as a consequence of plate tectonics -- Other tidal effects -- The origin of ocean salt: evidence from the Caspian Sea -- Why are the oceans not salt saturated? The special case of dissolved calcium -- A hydrothermal source of salt -- Recycling of ocean salt -- The role of salt in ocean circulation and control of the heat budget -- Salinity of the blood of vertebrates -- Availability of calcium for carbonate production -- 7. Planetary atmospheres and the appearance of free oxygen -- Atmospheres give clues to planetary evolution -- Dense carbon dioxide has come and gone -- Oxygen from the loss of hydrogen to space -- The isotopic evidence of hydrogen loss -- Isotopes in water from deep in the Earth -- Hydrogen loss from methane -- Hydrogen loss from other planets -- Noctilucent clouds -- Does hydrogen loss produce molecular oxygen (O2) directly? -- Oxygen loss -- The history of oxygen development: the record of the banded ironstones -- Control of the oxygen abundance -- Ozone -- Atmospheric argon -- 8. Thermal balance, the greenhouse effect and sea level -- Surface temperature is controlled by radiation -- Radiation is not all the same -- Principle of the greenhouse effect -- Is the high temperature of Venus correctly described as a greenhouse effect? -- Greenhouse warming is controlled by water vapour -- A negative greenhouse effect in the stratosphere.

The approach to quantitative calculations of the greenhouse effect -- Clouds moderate the greenhouse effect -- Ocean warming and sea level rise -- Ocean warming is a transient effect -- Interpreting ice cap contraction -- 9. Environmental crises and mass extinctions of species -- Discontinuities in the fossil record -- The asteroidal impact hypothesis -- The volcanic interpretation -- Origin and effects of flood basalts -- Sulphur dioxide as the cause of volcanic cooling -- Flood basalts will occur again -- The punctuation of evolution by environmental crises -- 10. Stability of the environment -- Identifying feedback mechanisms that control the environment -- Glacial cycles and temperature stability -- Compensation for the faint early Sun -- Stability of the Earth's orbit -- Internal heat is of no consequence to the surface temperature -- The faint early Sun paradox is more serious for Mars -- Plausibility of a strong early greenhouse effect -- The ice core record: evidence of a natural CO2 balance -- Stability of the atmospheric oxygen concentration -- A return to the question of cloudiness -- 11. Inorganic mineral deposits as products of an evolving environment -- Development of the continental crust is the first stage -- What is an inorganic mineral deposit? -- Hydrothermal activity -- Placer deposits -- Laterite deposits -- Multistage mineral development requires diverse environmental conditions -- 12. Fossil fuels, buried carbon and photosynthetic oxygen -- A comment on the carbon cycle -- How much organic carbon remains sequestered? -- Photosynthesis releases oxygen from water as well as carbon dioxide -- Coal -- Oil -- Variations of coal and oil development with time and latitude -- Natural gas and coal seam gas -- Methane clathrate -- Early photosynthesis: blue-green algae -- The total buried organic carbon.

The carbon dioxide/nitrogen ratio: a comparison with Venus and Mars -- The fraction of atmospheric oxygen derived from photosynthesis -- HUMAN INFLUENCES -- 13. Effects of fossil fuel use -- The current rapid rise in atmospheric CO2 -- Solution in the oceans -- Ice core records of ice age CO2 -- Ice age CO2 interpretation -- The oceans delay the effects of greenhouse changes -- Only complete cessation of emission can solve the CO2 problem -- A thought about health effects -- 14. A comparison of human energy use with natural dissipations -- Almost all available energy is ultimately derived from the Sun -- The magnitude of the energy problem -- Geothermal energy -- Solar energy -- Wind power -- Tides -- River flow -- Waves -- A comment on the use of hydrogen -- Solar and wind energies are the only serious options -- 15. The cradle is rocking -- The Earth can sustain life for many millions of years -- Fossil fuel burning is irreversibly changing the environment -- The Earth is responding slowly to the rapidly changing human influence -- Modelling atmospheric changes -- Sea level rise will accelerate -- We are on a one way road -- 16. A summary of salient conclusions -- Numbers in parentheses indicate relevant chapters -- Notes -- Name index -- Subject index -- About the authors.