Understanding Our Planet Through Chemistry

This online publication shows how chemists and geologists used analytical chemistry to determine the age of the Earth and to show that an extraterrestrial body collided with the Earth at the end of the Cretaceous period (K-T boundary). There are also chapters on the application of geochemistry to geologic processes (volcanoes, ore deposits, and others), its use in tracking environmental changes in the geologic past, and its use in studying pollution (acid rain, mine drainage, and coal combustion emissions). There are also chapters on surface geochemistry, as used in assessment of public lands and for public health and safety. Other materials include information on the National Geochemistry Data Base, which contains chemical analyses of stream sediments from hundreds of thousands of drainage basins throughout the United States, and information on determining the quality of chemical analyses. Educational levels: Graduate or professional, Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division