USGS

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View of the planet Earth from the Apollo spacecraft. The Red Sea, which separates Saudi Arabia
from the continent of Africa, is clearly visible at the top. (Photograph courtesy of NASA.)

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Contents

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Preface
Historical perspective
Developing the theory
Understanding plate motions
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"Hotspots": Mantle
thermal plumes
Some unanswered questions
Plate tectonics and people
Endnotes


This book was originally published in paper form in February 1996 (design and coordination by Martha Kiger; illustrations and production by Jane Russell). It is for sale for $7 from:

U.S. Government Printing Office
Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop SSOP
Washington, DC 20402-9328


or it can be ordered directly from the U.S. Geological Survey:

Call toll-free 1-888-ASK-USGS

Or write to
USGS Information Services
Box 25286, Building 810
Denver Federal Center
Denver, CO 80225
303-202-4700; Fax 303-202-4693


ISBN 0-16-048220-8

Version 1.10
The online edition contains all text from the original book in its entirety.
Some figures have been modified to enhance legibility at screen resolutions.

Many of the images in this book are available in high resolution from the USGS Media for Science page.

You can download a Portable Document Format version of This Dynamic Earth [3.73 MB]. Get the free Acrobat Reader. The USGS gratefully acknowledges Peter Lindeberg of Malmo, Sweden, for making this available.

See also This Dynamic Planet, the map showing the Earth's physiographic features, current plate movements, and locations of volcanoes, earthquakes, and impact craters.


USGS Home Page

U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/dynamic.html
Maintained by Eastern Publications Group
Last modified: 15:47:44 Mon 29 Sep 2003
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