"The topics covered in this book have been arranged so that students can build their knowledge of geology on a foundation of overarching principles. Thus, the book starts by considering how the Earth formed, and how it is structured, overall, from its surface to its center. With this basic background, students can delve into plate tectonics, the grand unifying theory of geology. Plate tectonics appears early in the book, so that students can use the theory as a foundation from which they can interpret and link ideas presented in subsequent chapters. Knowledge of plate tectonics, for example, helps students understand the suite of chapters on minerals, rocks, and the rock cycle. Knowledge of plate tectonics and rocks together, in turn, provides a basis for studying volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountains. And with this background, students are prepared to see how the map of the Earth has changed through the vast expanse of geologic time, and how energy and mineral resources have developed. The book's final chapters address processes and problems occurring at or near the Earth's surface, from the unstable slopes of hills, down the course of rivers, to the shores of the sea and beyond. This section concludes with a topic of growing concern in society--global change, particularly climate change"--Provided by publisher.