The 10th edition of Earth through Time by Harold Levin is an excursion into the Earth’s geologic past that offers more in-depth information and resources about geological materials and processes.  The new edition provides many new updates and explanations, better illustrations and constructively expands on previous issues. The narrative is more lively and engaging to clearly convey the unique perspective and value of historical geology and improve its presentation. Furthermore, the 10th edition includes seventeen chapters organized under three major divisions: Discovering Time and Deciphering Earth’s Amazing History, Rocks and What They Tell Us About Earth, and History of Planet Earth and Its Inhabitants.

Table of Contents:
C H A P T E R 1 The Science of Historical Geology 1 Why Study Earth History? 2 Geology Lives in the Present and the Past 2 A Way to Solve Problems: The Scientific Method 3 E N R I C H M E N T Scientific Discoveries Must be Tested 5 Three Great Themes in Earth History 7 What Lies Ahead? 9 C H A P T E R 2 Early Geologists Tackle History’s Mysteries 13 The Intrigue of Fossils 14 An Early Scientist Discovers Some Basic Rules 15 European Researchers Unravel the Succession of Strata 17 Neptunists and Plutonists Clash 18 Uniformitarianism: James Hutton Recognizes that the Present is Key to the Past 18 The Principle of Fossil Succession 20 The Great Uniformitarianism–Catastrophism Controversy 21 The Principle of Cross-Cutting Relationships 21 Evolution: How Organisms Change Through Time 23 Earth History in America 24 C H A P T E R 3 Time and Geology 29 Finding the Age of Rocks: Relative Versus Actual Time 29 A Scale of Geologic Time 30 Actual Geologic Time: Clocks in the Rocks 34 Radioactivity Provides a Way to Date Rocks 36 What Occurs When Atoms Decay? 37 The Principal Radioactive Timekeepers 41 How Old is Earth? 45 C H A P T E R 4 Rocks and Minerals: Documents That Record Earth’s History 49 Minerals as Documents of Earth History 50 Minerals and Their Properties 50 Common Minerals that Form Rocks 52 Earth’s Three Great Rock Families and How They Formed 57 Igneous Rocks: “Fire-Formed” 58 Sedimentary Rocks: Layered Pages of History 67 Metamorphic Rocks: Changed without Melting 72 C H A P T E R 5 The Sedimentary Archives 81 Tectonic Setting is the Biggest Factor in Sediment Deposition 82 Environments Where Deposition Occurs 83 What Rock Color Tells Us 89 What Rock Texture Tells Us 91 E N R I C H M E N T You Are the Geologist 93 What Sedimentary Structures Tell Us 94 What Four Sandstone Types Reveal About Tectonic Setting 98 Limestones and How They Form 99 Organizing Strata to Solve Geologic Problems 103 Sea-Level Change Means Dramatic Environmental Change 106 Stratigraphy and the Correlating of Rock Bodies 107 Unconformities: Something is Missing 109 Depicting the Past 112 G E O L O G Y O F N A T I O N A L P A R K S A N D MO N UME N T S Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona 118 C H A P T E R 6 Life on Earth: What Do Fossils Reveal? 125 Fossils: Surviving Records of Past Life 126 E N R I C H M E N T Amber, the Golden Preservative 129 E N R I C H M E N T The Mazon Creek Lagerst€atte 131 Figuring Out How Life is Organized 132 Evolution: Continuous Changes in Life 133 The Case for Evolution 141 E N R I C H M E N T Earbones Through the Ages 142 Fossils and Stratigraphy 144 Fossils Indicate Past Environments 151 How Fossils Indicate Paleogeography 155 How Fossils Indicate Past Climates 158 An Overview of the History of Life 159 Life on Other Planets: Are We Alone? 163 C H A P T E R 7 Plate Tectonics Underlies All Earth History 169 Earthquake Waves Reveal Earth’s Mysterious Interior 170 Earth’s Internal Zones 172 Earth’s Two Types of Crust 175 Plate Tectonics Ties It All Together 177 Drifting Continents 178 Evidence for Continental Drift 179 Paleomagnetism: Ancient Magnetism Locked Into Rocks 182 Today’s Plate Tectonics 184 What Happens At Plate Margins? 189 What Drives Plate Tectonics? 194 Verifying Plate Tectonics Theory 195 E N R I C H M E N T Rates of Plate Movement 201 Thermal Plumes, Hotspots, and Hawaii 202 Exotic Terranes 202 Broken, Squeezed, or Stretched Rocks Produce Geologic Structures 205 G E O L O G Y O F N A T I O N A L P A R K S A N D M O N U M E N T S Hawaii Volcanoes National Park 210 C H A P T E R 8 The Earth’s Formative Stages and the Archean Eon 215 Earth in Context: A Little Astronomy 216 E N R I C H M E N T The Origin of the Universe 221 A Solar System Tour, From Center to Fringe 221 Following Accretion, Earth Differentiates 228 The Primitive Atmosphere— Virtually No Oxygen 229 The Primitive Ocean and the Hydrologic Cycle 232 Origin of Precambrian “Basement” Rocks 232 The Origin of Life 238 G E O L O G Y O F N A T I O N A L P A R K S A N D M O N U M E N T S Voyageurs National Park 246 In Retrospect 247 C H A P T E R 9 The Proterozoic: Dawn of a More Modern World 251 Highlights of the Paleoproterozoic (2.5 to 1.6 billion years ago) 253 E N R I C H M E N T The 18.2-Hour Proterozoic Day 255 Highlights of the Mesoproterozoic (1.6 to 1.0 billion years ago) 257 E N R I C H M E N T BIF: Civilization’s Indispensable Treasure 258 Highlights of the Neoproterozoic (1.0 to 542 million years ago) 259 Proterozoic Rocks South of the Canadian Shield 260 E N R I C H M E N T Heliotropic Stromatolites 262 Proterozoic Life 263 C H A P T E R 1 0 Early Paleozoic Events 275 Dance of the Continents 277 Some Regions Tranquil, Others Active 277 Identifying the Base of the Cambrian 281 Early Paleozoic Events 281 Cratonic Sequences: The Seas Come in, the Seas Go Out 282 The Sauk and Tippecanoe Sequences 284 Way Out West: Events in the Cordillera 287 Deposition in the Far North 288 Dynamic Events in the East 289 G E O L O G Y O F N A T I O N A L P A R K S Jasper National Park 290 E N R I C H M E N T A Colossal Ordovician Ash Fall: Was it a Killer? 292 The Caledonian Orogenic Belt 296 E N R I C H M E N T The Big Freeze in North Africa 297 Aspects of Early Paleozoic Climate 298 C H A P T E R 1 1 Late Paleozoic Events 303 The Seas Come in, the Seas Go Out 306 Unrest Along the Western Margin of the Craton 309 E N R I C H M E N T The Wealth of Reefs 312 To the East, A Clash of Continents 315 Sedimentation and Orogeny in the West 323 Europe During the Late Paleozoic 326 Gondwana During the Late Paleozoic 327 Climates of the Late Paleozoic 327 Mineral Products of the Late Paleozoic 328 G E O L O G Y O F N A T I O N A L P A R K S A N D MO N U M E N T S Acadia National Park 329 C H A P T E R 1 2 Life of the Paleozoic 335 Animals with Shells Proliferate—and So Does Preservation 337 The Cambrian Explosion of Life: Amazing Fossil Sites in Canada and China 338 The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event 343 A Variety of Living Strategies 343 Protistans: Creatures of a Single Cell 343 Marine Invertebrates Populate the Seas 344 E N R I C H M E N T The Eyes of Trilobites 360 Advent of the Vertebrates 363 The Rise of Fishes 364 Conodonts: Valuable But Enigmatic Fossils 370 Advent of Tetrapods 370 Plants of the Paleozoic 374 E N R I C H M E N T A Walk Through an Ancient Rainforest 377 Mass Extinctions 377 C H A P T E R 1 3 Mesozoic Events 385 The Breakup of Pangea 386 The Mesozoic in Eastern North America 387 The Mesozoic in Western North America 390 G E O L O G Y O F N A T I O N A L P A R K S A N D MO N U M E N T S Zion National Park 394 E N R I C H M E N T Did Seafloor Spreading Cause Cretaceous Epicontinental Seas? 401 The Tethys Sea in Europe 406 G E O L O G Y O F N A T I O N A L P A R K S A N D MO N U M E N T S Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument 407 Gondwana Events 410 E N R I C H M E N T Chunneling Through the Cretaceous 411 C H A P T E R 1 4 Life of the Mesozoic 417 Climate Controls It All 418 Mesozoic Invertebrates 421 Mesozoic Vertebrates 426 Dinosaurs: “Terrifying Lizards” 429 G E O L O G Y O F N A T I O N A L P A R K S A N D MO N U M E N T S Dinosaur National Monument 430 Dinosaurs: Cold-blooded, Warm-blooded, or Both? 444 Dinosaur Parenting 445 E N R I C H M E N T Can We Bring Back the Dinosaurs? 445 Flying Reptiles 446 Dragons of the Seas 448 The Rise of Modern Birds 449 E N R I C H M E N T The Archaeopteryx Controversy 450 The Mammalian Vanguard 451 Sea Plants and Phytoplankton 455 Land Plants 457 Late Cretaceous Catastrophe 459 E N R I C H M E N T Bolides and Modern Day Catastrophism 463 C H A P T E R 1 5 Cenozoic Events 469 The Tectonics–Climate Connection 470 Stability and Erosion Along the North American Eastern Margin 472 Gulf Coast: Transgressing and Regressing Sea 473 The Mighty Cordillera 473 E N R I C H M E N T Oil Shale 477 Creating the Basin and Range Province 478 G E O L O G Y O F N A T I O N A L P A R K S A N D MO N UME N T S Badlands National Park, South Dakota 479 E N R I C H M E N T Hellish Conditions in the Basin and Range Province 482 Colorado Plateau Uplift 482 Columbia Plateau and Cascades Volcanism 482 Sierra Nevada and California 485 The New West Coast Tectonics 487 Meanwhile, Drama Overseas  488 Big Freeze: The Pleistocene Ice Age 491 What Caused the Ice Age? 497 Cenozoic Climates: Global Warming Then Cooling 501 C H A P T E R 1 6 Life of the Cenozoic 505 Grasslands Expand, Mammals Respond 507 Plankton 508 Marine Invertebrates 509 Vertebrates 512 Mammals 517 Monotremes 519 Marsupials 519 Placental Mammals 520 E N R I C H M E N T How the Elephant Got Its Trunk 536 Demise of the Pleistocene Giants 539 C H A P T E R 1 7 Human Origins 543 Primates 544 Modern Primates 546 Primate Beginnings 547 The Early Anthropoids 550 The Australopithecine Stage and the Emergence of Hominins 552 A Species in Transition: Australopithecus Sediba 554 The Homo Erectus Stage 556 Final Stages of Human Evolution 557 E N R I C H M E N T Being Upright: Good News, Bad News 558 E N R I C H M E N T Neandertal or Neanderthal? 559 E N R I C H M E N T Neandertal Ritual 560 Humans Arrive in the Americas 563 Human Population: 7 Billion and Growing 565 What Lies Ahead? 566 I n d e x 000