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    Books about American geology

      		 Serpentine Geoecology of Western North America: Geology, Soils, and Vegetation
      Geoecology is a fruitful interdisciplinary field, relating rocks to soils to plant and animal communities and studying the interactions between them. Modern geoecology especially concentrates on showing how geology and soils affect the structure, composition, and distribution of plant communities in a certain research area. This book applies the principles of geoecology to Western North America, and to a specific kind of rock, the fascinating serpentine belts that run along the continental margins of the West Coast from Alaska to Baja. The authors come from different disciplines: Alexander is a soil scientist, Coleman a geologist, Harrison a biological researcher, and Keeler-Wolfe a vegetation ecologist. It begins with an overview of the geology of this rock and this region, covering mineralogy, petrology, and stratigraphy of West Coast serpentine. It will continue with serpentine soils and their development and distribution, and serpentine effects on plants and vegetation and animals. The serpentine geoecology of the different regions of Western North America, concentrating on California, will conclude the study. So, this academic book should appeal to plant ecologists, soil scientists, researchers in geoecology, and students in advanced courses in soil science.
      		Central America: Geology, Resources and Hazards
      An integrated treatment of the principal fields of classical and applied geosciences of Central America, this authoritative two-volume monograph treats the region as a whole, exploring geology, earth resources and geo-hazards across political boundaries. It reviews the published literature, and supplements it with an abundance of information from ongoing investigations and internal reports.The compendium is a result of four years' collaborative work by the editors and more than ninety experts from eighteen countries. It is aimed at professionals, academics and students in the fields of geology, geography, biology, and engineering at the local, regional and international level. In a region which is rich in geological resources and where natural disasters are frequent, the monograph is a solid base for local and international institutions concerned with land-use, infrastructure, water and energy resources, and mining, as well as with hazard reduction and disaster prevention.
      		Fossil Ecosystems of North America: A Guide to the Sites and Their Extraordinary Biotas
      The fossil record affords a fascinating glimpse at past environments and the kinds of plants and animals that inhabited them. Some sites, for instance, contain nearly complete preserved records of ancient life. Fourteen of these remarkable fossil depositories are found in North America, including Mistaken Point in Newfoundland, Mazon Creek in Illinois, and Rancho La Brea in Los Angeles. Fossil Ecosystems of North America describes these and eleven other sites that range across the continent.
      		The Origin and Evolution of the Caribbean Plate
      This book discusses the current state of research on the geology of the area between North and South America, with a focus on the origin of the Caribbean Plate. Prevailing understanding is that the Caribbean Plate formed in the Pacific and migrated between the Americas. According to this model, the plate comprises oceanic and volcanic arc rocks. An alternative interpretation considers that the plate formed in place and includes extended continental crust. Hybrids of these ideas also exist.The papers in this volume provide regional overviews, discussions of the origins of the Caribbean Plate, and consider aspects of local geology arranged in a circum-Caribbean tour and ending in the plate interior.They address tectonics, igneous and metamorphic geology, stratigraphy and palaeontology. The objective of this wide variety of topics is to facilitate debate.