The Earth Through Time

Harold ("Hal") Levin began his career as a petroleum geologist in 1956 after receiving bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Missouri and a doctorate from Washington University. His fondness for teaching brought him back to Washington University in 1962, where he is currently professor of geology and paleontology in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. His writing efforts include authorship of seven edition of The Earth Through Time, four editions of Contemporary Physical Geology; Essentials of Earth Science and co-authorship of Earth: Past and Present, as well as eight editions of Laboratory Studies in Historical Geology; Life Through Time, and more recently, Ancient Invertebrates and Their Living Relatives. For his courses in physical geology, historical geology, paleontology, sedimentology, and stratigraphy, Hal has received several awards for excellence in teaching. The accompanying photograph was taken during a lecture on life of the Cenozoic Era. The horse skull serves to illustrate changes in the teeth and jaws of grazing animals in response to the spread of prairies and savannahs during the Miocene and subsequent epochs.

Chapter 1. Introduction to Earth History.Chapter 2. Earth Materials: A Physical Geology Refresher.Chapter 3. The Sedimentary Archives.Chapter 4. The Fossil Record.Chapter 5. Earth Structure and Plate Tectonics.Chapter 6. The Primordial Earth: Hadean and Archean Eons.Chapter 7. The Proterozoic Eon.Chapter 8. Early Paleozoic Events.Chapter 9. Late Paleozoic Events.Chapter 10. Life of the Paleozoic.Chapter 11. The Mesozoic Era.Chapter 12. Life of the Mesozoic.Chapter 13. The Cenozoic Era.Chapter 14. Life of the Cenozoic.Chapter 15. Human Origins.Appendix A. Classification of Living Things.Appendix B. Formation Correlation Charts for Representative Sections.Appendix C 1. Physiographic Provinces of the United States.Appendix C 2. World Political Map.Appendix D. Periodic Table and Symbols for Chemical Elements.Appendix E. Convenient Conversion Factors.Appendix F. Exponential or Scientific Notation.Appendix G 1. Rock Symbols.Appendix G 2. Bedrock Geology of North America.Appendix G 3. Common Rock-Forming Silicate Minerals.Glossary.Index.