Author: Grant Heiken
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691130388
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 262
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Book Description
From humble beginnings, Rome became perhaps the greatest intercontinental power in the world. Why did this historic city become so much more influential than its neighbor, nearby Latium, which was peopled by more or less the same stock? Over the years, historians, political analysts, and sociologists have discussed this question ad infinitum, without considering one underlying factor that led to the rise of Rome--the geology now hidden by the modern city. This book demonstrates the important link between the history of Rome and its geologic setting in a lively, fact-filled narrative sure to interest geology and history buffs and travelers alike. The authors point out that Rome possessed many geographic advantages over surrounding areas: proximity to a major river with access to the sea, plateaus for protection, nearby sources of building materials, and most significantly, clean drinking water from springs in the Apennines. Even the resiliency of Rome's architecture and the stability of life on its hills are underscored by the city's geologic framework. If carried along with a good city map, this book will expand the understanding of travelers who explore the eternal city's streets. Chapters are arranged geographically, based on each of the seven hills, the Tiber floodplain, ancient creeks that dissected the plateau, and ridges that rise above the right bank. As an added bonus, the last chapter consists of three field trips around the center of Rome, which can be enjoyed on foot or by using public transportation.
Author: Mauro Soldati
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319261940
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 538
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Book Description
The book deals with the most striking landscapes and landforms of Italy. Attention is given to landform diversity and landscape evolution through time which has been controlled by very diverse geological conditions and dramatic climate changes that have characterized the Italian peninsula and islands since the end of the last glaciation. In addition, various examples of human impact on the landscape are presented. Landscapes and Landforms of Italy contains more than thirty case studies of a multitude of Italian geographical landmarks. The topics and sites described in this book range from the Alpine glaciers to the Etna and Vesuvius volcanoes, taking into account the most representative fluvial, coastal, gravity-induced, karst and structural landscapes of the country. Chapters on the geomorphological landmarks of the cities of Rome and Venice are also included. The book provides the readers with the opportunity to explore the variety of Italian landscapes and landforms through informative texts illustrated with several color maps and photos. This book will be relevant to scientists, scholars and any readers interested in geology, physical geography, geomorphology, landscape tourism, geoheritage and environmental protection.
Author: Sean Cocco
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226923711
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 335
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Book Description
This work explores the question of Vesuvius as an object of study in the early modern science of volcanism from the investigations and opinions of humanists and naturalists in the late Renaissance to the early 18th-century philosophizing on volcanoes and the development of geology later in the century.
Author: Gian Battista Vai
Publisher: Geological Society of America
ISBN: 0813724112
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240
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Book Description
Author: Iain Stewart
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1448149428
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241
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Book Description
Man with hammer, rucksack and GSOH offers gritty adventure holidays. Looking for sun, sea, sand and - science. Scheduled to tie in with a major new BBC series, Hot Rocks explores the Mediterranean - the cradle of western civilisation - and discovers alongside its tranquil, sun-lapped shores, one of the most volatile places on an ever-changing earth. The Mediterranean we know today has been forged in a violent crucible of clashing continents, rising mountains, restless seas and a turbulent climate. Millions of Britons are drawn to the Mediterranean every year and whether they go for the beautiful scenery and relaxing beaches or the culture and architecture or food, none of it would be there were it not for geology. Forward-thinking geologist and television presenter Dr Iain Stewart, uncovers the hidden Mediterranean and brings a fresh and dramatic eye to geology to show just why it is that geology should be restored to its rightful place as the grandfather of sciences. From earthquakes and volcanoes to Roman architecture and cuisine, Iain discovers just how geology has shaped our lives and how we can expect it to affect us in years to come.
Author: Salvatore Milli
Publisher: Edizioni Nuova Cultura
ISBN: 8868129663
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240
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Book Description
CONTENTS SORAYA HADJZOBIR, UWE ALTENBERGER, CHRISTINA GÜNTER The Edough Massif garnetites: evidences for a metamorphosed paleo-garnet beach-sand placer (Cap de Garde, Annaba, Northeast Algeria) KHALID FATHI UBEID * AND KHALED AHMED RAMADAN Activity concentration and spatial distribution of radon in beach sands of Gaza Strip, Palestine SALVATORE MILLI , DANIELE E. GIRASOLI, DANIEL TENTORI, PAOLO TORTORA Sedimentology and coastal dynamics of carbonate pocket beaches: the Ionian-Sea Apulia coast between Torre Colimena and Porto Cesareo (Southern Italy) XIII GEOSED CONGRESS. Italian Association For Sedimentary Geology - A section of Italian Geological Society Abstracts XIII GEOSED CONGRESS. Italian Association For Sedimentary Geology - A section of Italian Geological Society Fieldtrip guide
Author: Roger N. Scoon
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783030546922
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 398
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Book Description
This book describes famous geosites and historical localities in national parks and conservation areas from North America, East Africa, and Europe. The geosites include iconic landforms associated with active volcanoes, canyons, glaciated landscapes, natural rock monoliths, and rifts. The potential for geotourism in historical localities such as the famous Greco-Roman antiquities of Greece, Italy, and Turkey, is emphasised. Some of the geosites and historical localities provide evidence that previous civilizations coped with active geology and major climatic cycles, whilst others reveal evidence of famous geological events recognized in history and ancient mythology that helped shape our current civilization. The book assists tour guides and visitors (both geologists and non-specialists) interested in geotourism by providing an understanding of geological processes in the national parks and historical locations with the assistance of photographs and simplified geological maps.
Author: Christian Koeberl
Publisher: Geological Society of America
ISBN: 0813725429
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 554
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Book Description
"The Umbria-Marche Apennines are entirely made of marine sedimentary rocks, representing a continuous record of the geotectonic evolution of an epeiric sea from the Early Triassic to the Pleistocene. The book includes reviews and original research works accomplished with the support of the Geological Observatory of Coldigioco"--
Author: Walter Alvarez
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 039307093X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 332
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Book Description
One of the world's leading geologists takes readers into Italy's Apennine Mountain Range—the Mountains of Saint Francis—on a journey to discover the fascinating secrets of the Earth's deep history. Modern geologists, Walter Alvarez among them, showed in the last decades of the twentieth century that the history of our planet has witnessed events profoundly more dramatic than even the most spectacular chapters in human history. More violent than wars, more life altering than revolutions—understanding the geologic events that have shaped the Earth's surface is the quest and the passion of geologists. In the knowledgeable and graceful prose of Alvarez, general readers are led to explore the many mysteries that our planet guards. The author has chosen Italy as a microcosm in which to explore this amazing past for several reasons. First, it is the land where the earliest geologists learned how to read the history of the Earth, written in nature’s rock archives. Second, it is where Alvarez and his Italian geological friends have continued to decipher the rock record, uncovering more historical episodes from the Earth’s past. And third, the lovely land of Italy is unusually rich in geological treasures and offers examples of the key processes that have created the landscapes of the entire world. The Mountains of Saint Francis begins in Rome. We discover that the landscape of Rome was built by violent volcanic eruptions in the very recent past, almost certainly witnessed by our human ancestors. Next we travel to Siena and come face to face with a fundamental discovery of the geologists—that much of the dry land that we currently inhabit was once underwater, beneath ancient seas or oceans. Then we stop in the small medieval city of Gubbio and contemplate the amazing secret that the limestone rocks kept hidden for 65 million years—that a huge asteroid smashed into the Earth, disrupting the environment so severely that the dinosaurs, and perhaps half of the other forms of life inhabiting the Earth at the time, disappeared forever, opening the way for the rise of the mammals and eventually of humans. The impact theory that came from those Italian limestones at Gubbio was one of the great geological discoveries of the twentieth century. Just as important to the field of geology was the theory of plate tectonics—the understanding that the outer layer of the Earth is divided into crustal plates that move around, sometimes carrying continents into collisions with one another, like the great collision between Italy and Europe that built the Alps. And yet, to explain the Mountains of Saint Francis requires something more than a collision between continents. These are mountains that are still jealously guarding the secret of their past, and in this book we go along with the geological detectives as they try to uncover that secret. It is a journey that has seen the land of Italy lifted out of the sea, squashed and folded, torn apart, left high and dry when the Mediterranean Sea evaporated away, and then flooded when the Atlantic waters poured back in. The story of the Earth's history is fascinating in its own right, but with Alvarez as the tour guide, the journey takes on a human dimension, full of stories about the landscape and history of Italy and about the great geologists who uncovered the deep past of this land. It is a journey recounted in warm tones and subtle colors, reflecting the transcendent beauty of Italy itself.
Author: David B. Williams
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295746475
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 273
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Book Description
Most people do not think to observe geology from the sidewalks of a major city, but all David B. Williams has to do is look at building stone in any urban center to find a range of rocks equal to any assembled by plate tectonics. In Stories in Stone, he takes you on explorations to find 3.5-billion-year-old rock that looks like swirled pink-and-black taffy, a gas station made of petrified wood, and a Florida fort that has withstood three hundred years of attacks and hurricanes, despite being made of a stone that has the consistency of a granola bar. Williams also weaves in the cultural history of stone, explaining why a white fossil-rich limestone from Indiana became the only building stone used in all fifty states; how in 1825, the construction of the Bunker Hill Monument led to America’s first commercial railroad; and why when the same kind of marble used by Michelangelo clad a Chicago skyscraper it warped so much after nineteen years that all 44,000 panels of it had to be replaced. This love letter to building stone brings to life the geology you can see in the structures of every city.
