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Oceans: A Very Short Introduction

Dorrik Stow

July 2017

ISBN: 9780199655076

216 pages
Paperback
174x111mm

In Stock

Very Short Introductions

Price: £8.99

Our oceans are hugely important, as a source of food and mineral wealth, as an environment for a vast variety of wildlife, for the role they play in climate regulation, and as part of the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and other elements critical to life. Dorrik Stow explores what we know about how oceans originate and are maintained.

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Description

Our oceans are hugely important, as a source of food and mineral wealth, as an environment for a vast variety of wildlife, for the role they play in climate regulation, and as part of the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and other elements critical to life. Dorrik Stow explores what we know about how oceans originate and are maintained.

  • Introduces the scientific understanding of oceans and their interaction with the human environment
  • Explains the links between oceans and climate regulation
  • Discusses the importance of the oceans to life on Earth, and the resources oceans provide, including food, energy, and minerals
  • Part of the Very Short Introductions series - over eight million copies sold worldwide

About the Author(s)

Dorrik Stow, Director, Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot Watt University

Professor Dorrik Stow, of Heriot-Watt University, is a sedimentologist and oceanographer. As well as publishing over 200 research papers, he has been active in science outreach, lecturing widely. His most recent books include Encyclopedia of the Oceans (OUP, 2004), Sedimentary Rocks in the Field: A Colour Guide (Manson Publishing, 2005), and Vanished Ocean (OUP, 2012).

Table of Contents

    1:Ocean frontier
    2:Ocean transience
    3:Mountains and valleys
    4:Chemical broth
    5:Dynamic ocean
    6:Ocean-climate nexus
    7:Marine web of life
    8:Ocean bounty
    9:Fragile environment
    References
    Further Reading
    Index

Reviews

"The text is clean and clear. Most of the precise, technical words that decorate geological literature have been replaced by simpler words or phrases. Importantly, this makes the book available to a far wider audience ... This book needs promoting and updating annually." - David Edwards, Geoscientist

"Dorrik Stow's book is a keenly observed narrative about the beauty and complexity of Earth's oceans. This slim volume with its elegant prose is a must read for anyone who wishes to understand why oceans are central to the flourishing of humans as well as the planet itself." - Professor Paul Pinet, Colgate University a

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