For centuries, people have dreamed of lost continents. Today, the author of this fascinating book shows, geologists can detect evidence of a continuing cycle of formation, breakup and re-formation of one giant landmass—a supercontinent—over billions of years. Nield, editor of Geoscientist
magazine, imagines what these supercontinents might have looked like and tells the stories of the scientists who have discovered and studied them: Alfred Wegener, a German geophysicist who proposed in 1912 that these giant landmasses are formed by continents drifting together; John Joly, who showed in 1924 that supercontinents break apart due to radiogenic heat; and Roy Livermore, who currently uses computer-modeling to demonstrate how the plates of the earth's crust move. The first recognizable supercontinent existed three billion years ago, and the next supercontinent will have formed in about 250 million years. Seen in this context, humans, who evolved a mere six million years ago, are of little consequence. Nield deplores the hubris of those who believe in creation myths rather than science. If scientific knowledge had been properly deployed, he shows, many lives could have been saved in the 2004 tsunami, triggered by an earthquake as continents moved together. Making highly technical material understandable, Nield explains why “the Earth's Supercontinent Cycle matters to everyone, everywhere.” (Nov.)
