Planetary Geology: An Introduction

Planetary Geology provides the student reader and enthusiastic amateur with comprehensive coverage of the solar system viewed through the eyes of Earth scientists. Recent planetary missions by NASA, the European Space Agency and other national agencies have reaffirmed that those geological processes which are familiar from our studies of the Earth operate on many solid planets and satellites. Common threads link the internal structure, thermal evolution and surface character of both rocky and icy worlds; volcanoes, impact craters, ice caps, dunes, rift valleys, rivers and oceans are features of extra-terrestrial worlds as diverse as Mercury and Titan. The new data reveal that many of the supposedly inert planetary bodies were recently subject to earthquakes, landslides and climate change and that some of them display active volcanism. Moreover, our understanding of the very origins of the Solar System depends heavily on the composition of meteorites from Mars reaching the Earth and of rock fragments found on the Moon. Combining extensive use of imagery, the results of laboratory experiments and theoretical modelling, this comprehensively updated second edition of Planetary Geology presents fresh evidence that, to quote the first edition, planetary geology now embraces conventional geology and vice versa.