Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Volume 5 (1977) — Geology, Moon, Mars & Paleoclimate

The original 1977 fifth volume of the Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, an interdisciplinary collection of major review articles written by leading researchers in geology, geophysics, geochemistry, paleoclimate, and planetary science.

Published only a few years after the Apollo program and immediately following the Viking landings on Mars, Volume 5 captures earth and planetary science during a particularly productive period. Plate tectonics had recently transformed geology, increasingly sophisticated isotope and geophysical techniques were revealing the history and internal structure of Earth, and spacecraft exploration was allowing scientists to compare terrestrial geological processes directly with those of the Moon and Mars.

Among its 19 substantial review articles are:

• “Composition of the Mantle and Core” — Don L. Anderson
• “The History of the Earth’s Surface Temperature During the Past 100 Million Years” — Samuel M. Savin
• “The Evolution of the Lunar Regolith” — Yves Langevin & James R. Arnold
• “Cratering and Obliteration History of Mars” — Clark R. Chapman & Kenneth L. Jones
• “Geochemistry of Atmospheric Radon and Radon Products” — Karl K. Turekian, Yoshiyuki Nozaki & Larry K. Benninger
• “Discrimination Between Earthquakes and Underground Explosions” — Robert Blandford
• “Aulacogens and Continental Breakup” — Kevin Burke
• “Understanding Inverse Theory” — Robert L. Parker
• Reviews of Cambrian biostratigraphy, Quaternary vegetation history, isotope fractionation, geochronology, sediment chemistry, laser-distance measurement, metamorphic rocks, and planetary equations of state.

Several of these subjects have acquired additional historical interest with time. The article on Earth’s surface temperature over the previous 100 million years belongs to the early development of quantitative paleoclimatology, while work on earthquake/explosion discrimination reflects the importance of seismology to Cold War nuclear-test monitoring. The lunar and Martian papers preserve the state of planetary geology at the end of the first great era of Solar System exploration.

The volume also illustrates the unusual role of the Annual Review format in scientific communication. Rather than presenting isolated new experiments, invited specialists synthesized entire fields of contemporary research, creating snapshots of what scientists understood—and what questions remained unresolved—at a particular moment in the history of science.

This copy has additional institutional provenance from the Cities Service Technology Center geological library in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with dated library and catalog stamps. Cities Service maintained scientific and engineering research operations in Tulsa, making the provenance particularly appropriate for a professional earth-science reference volume.

Editor: Fred A. Donath
Associate Editors: Francis G. Stehli and George W. Wetherill
Publisher: Annual Reviews Inc., Palo Alto, California
Year: 1977
Volume: 5
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 0-8243-2005-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-8243-2005-8

Condition: Vintage institutional-library hardcover in brown cloth with gilt lettering and black spine panel. Former Cities Service Technology Center geological-library copy with ownership, date, and catalog stamps and handwritten call number.