The Earth

Title: The Earth – An Intimate History

Author: Richard Fortey

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2005 (First published 2004)

ISBN: 0-00-655137-8

Pages: 477

Geology is a science which enters the imagination of the society typically after an earthquake, tsunami or a similar catastrophe against which the vulnerability and helplessness of human technology is so painfully evident. When the forces that lay concealed among the deep earth shakes up from slumber there is not much we can do except evacuating people from the surface. Richard Fortey is a research scientist at the Natural History Museum and a Fellow of the Royal Society. The Earth is a timely and relevant initiative from the geologist to make the public aware of geology in general and the earth itself in particular. We read about the great upheavals on the surface of earth occasioned due to deep movements at the plate level underneath, which are always moving about on top of the mantle, albeit very slowly – at the pace of your finger nails grow, as the author says. The book is quite impressive to read and has attracted appreciative review from many, including Bill Bryson who praised it as ”dazzling and the author was without peer among science writers”. The second part of the comment is a bit audacious, but there is no arguing about the first.

Volcanoes are the objects of curious attention of people of all ages, and tinged with a shade of awe at the tremendous magnitude of forces at work. Fortey begins his travels and investigations from Naples, Italy where the most notorious volcano in history is located, Mount Vesuvius. Its eruption in 79 CE had obliterated Herculaneum and Pompeii whose remains are still visible near the city. But Vesuvius is now dormant and the spectators are denied the glory of subterranean forces. So the author takes us to Hawaii Islands where volcanoes coexist with paradise-like beaches. Here, we can witness molten lava falling to the sea, which makes a fearful sight to behold. The author has succeeded in painting a true picture in words without losing the majesty of the next wonder of geology – plate tectonics. Hawaii is an archipelago containing a chain of volcanic islands. However, the active volcano exists in only one island at a time. Gradually, the volcanic activity ceases in one island and moves on to another point in the chain which have just become visible over the waves. Thus new islands are formed and volcanoes shift their positions to them. The reason behind this transfer of volcanism is explained by plate tectonics. The mantle plume, which transfers molten lava from the earth’s interior to the crust is stationary, but when the plate moves over the plume, a volcano is formed. The movement of the plate is very slow, at a rate of 2.5 to 15 cm in a year. But when aggregated over geological time, the movement is considerable and the volcanism seems to shift to other islands.

The mandate of geology runs supreme in alpine peaks and the rugged terrain of Newfoundland. Fortey explains the concepts behind the formation of the great mountain chain of Alps with several plates to illustrate and his extensive explorations in those areas act as a beacon to guide the readers. We read about a supercontinent, Pangaea which broke up to create the continents we see today. This breakup and agglomeration is not unique in geological annals. Even before the continent of Pangaea was formed, there were still ancient oceans which separated distinct land masses. When those continents came together to become a single one, a mountain generally originated where the sea has been. Fortey identifies such a vanished ocean as Iapetus whose remains are still seen as a rocky outcrop rich in minerals that run through Central Europe. The Ural Mountain in Russia is also a remnant of such a sea disappeared long ago. But not all mountains are derived from a subduction zone created when the oceanic plate slides under the thick continental plate. This turns our attention again to plate tectonics, the single most revolutionary idea that catalyzed the pace of research in geology. Though the idea came in the 1920s through the works of Alfred Wegener, it was considered an obscure one by prominent geologists in the field. In the 1960s, the theory was resurrected with incontrovertible evidence in its favour. We now know for sure that the Himalayan mountain chain is the product of the buckling of the crust as a result of Indian plate pushing on to the Asian plate.

The author does not leave out any feature of the earth’s surface without pausing to reflect on it. His in-depth experience of rocks makes itself astonishing to the readers. Not content with what he sees on the crust, we are invited for a tour to the innards of our home planet. We encounter a solid metallic core deep inside, surrounded by molten metals and alloys under unimaginably high pressure, followed by a mantle and finally, a crust. The wonders hidden inside the earth never for a moment fail to amaze us.

A lot of colour plates illustrating the geological backbone of the ideas discussed in text is a great help for lay readers to visualize. We have no option to appreciate the wide ranging travels undertaken by the author as part of his academic career and in preparation of this book. However, the language become terse at many points in proportion to the complexity of processes and events under discussion. Some of us may fail to appreciate the finer distinctions between various kinds of rocks of which the author is very excited about. Though Fortey has tried his best to illuminate a portion of the highly technical field of geology, we are still left with a sense of lost opportunity. Even with all those illustrations and photographs, general readers still struggle to follow the author at many points. This is definitely not a drawback on the author’s style, but due to the nature of the subject.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star