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How the Earth Works takes you on an astonishing journey through time and space. In 48 half-hour lectures, you will look at what went into making our planet—from the big bang, to the formation of the solar system, to the subsequent evolution of Earth. You will travel to the center of our planet and out again, charting the geologic forces that churn beneath our feet to push the continents and seafloor around like so much froth on the surface of a pot of soup.

Table of contents

1.	Geology's Impact on History
2.	Geologic History—Dating the Earth
3.	Earth's Structure—Journey to Earth's Center
4.	Earth's Heat—Conduction and Convection
5.	The Basics of Plate Tectonics
6.	Making Matter—The Big Bang and Big Bangs
7.	Creating Earth—Recipe for a Planet
8.	The Rock Cycle—Matter in Motion
9.	Minerals—The Building Blocks of Rocks
10.	Magma—The Building Mush of Rocks
11.	Crystallization—The Rock Cycle Starts
12.	Volcanoes—Lava and Ash
13.	Folding—Bending Blocks, Flowing Rocks
14.	Earthquakes—Examining Earth's Faults
15.	Plate Tectonics—Why Continents Move
16.	The Ocean Seafloor—Unseen Lands
17.	Rifts and Ridges—The Creation of Plates
18.	Transform Faults—Tears of a Crust
19.	Subduction Zones—Recycling Oceans
20.	Continents Collide and Mountains Are Made
21.	Intraplate Volcanoes—Finding the Hot Spots
22.	Destruction from Volcanoes and Earthquakes
23.	Predicting Natural Disasters
24.	Anatomy of a Volcano—Mount St. Helens
25.	Anatomy of an Earthquake—Sumatra
26.	History of Plate Motions—Where and Why
27.	Assembling North America
28.	The Sun-Driven Hydrologic Cycle
29.	Water on Earth—The Blue Planet
30.	Earth's Atmosphere—Air and Weather
31.	Erosion—Weathering and Land Removal
32.	Jungles and Deserts—Feast or Famine
33.	Mass Wasting—Rocks Fall Downhill
34.	Streams—Shaping the Land
35.	Groundwater—The Invisible Reservoir
36.	Shorelines—Factories of Sedimentary Rocks
37.	Glaciers—The Power of Ice
38.	Planetary Wobbles and the Last Ice Age
39.	Long-Term Climate Change
40.	Short-Term Climate Change
41.	Climate Change and Human History
42.	Plate Tectonics and Natural Resources
43.	Nonrenewable Energy Sources
44.	Renewable Energy Sources
45.	Humans—Dominating Geologic Change
46.	History of Life—Complexity and Diversity
47.	The Solar System—Earth's Neighborhood
48.	The Lonely Planet—Fermi's Paradox