Book excerpt: This is the most authoritative and wide-ranging dictionary of earth sciences available in a single volume. Compiled with the help of a team of specialist contributors, it has been substantially revised and updated for this new edition. It is essential reference for all students of the subject, especially those on interdisciplinary courses. Over 6,000 entries New material on planetary science, remote sensing, statistics, and sequence stratigraphy Substantial updating in mineralogy and geophysics Exceptionally broad coverage also includes climatology, economic geology, geochemistry, oceanography, palaeontology, petrology, and volcanology New section of appendices includes wind strength scales; material, temporal, and chronostratigraphic units; and geologic, lunar, and Martian time scales