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River planet: rivers from deep time to the modern crisis/ Martin Gibling

By: Publication details: Edinburgh: Dunedin, 2021Description: xv, 222 pages, 26.5 cmISBN:
  • 9781780460994
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 23 551.483 G446
Contents:
Part 1 Rivers in Deep Time -- Rivers and Geological Time 1 -- The First Drop of Rain on the Nascent Earth 14 -- How Plants Bent and Split Rivers 22 -- Part 2 Our Modern Rivers -- Breaking Pangea: The Ancestral Rivers of Africa 35 -- Hot and Cold: The River Histories of Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica 49 -- Young and Restless: The Evolving Rivers of Asia 59 -- The Conflicted Rivers of Europe 72 -- The Reversing Rivers of South America 82 -- Canyons and Cataracts in North America 90 -- A Canadian Amazon 101 -- Part 3 How the Ice Age Changed Rivers -- Frozen Out: Northern Rivers Sculpted by Ice 107 -- Megafloods and Noah's Ark 113 -- Rivers Drowned by the Sea 121 -- Part 4 Humans and Rivers -- From Stone Age Streams to River Civilizations 133 -- The Lost Saraswati River of the Indian Subcontinent 145 -- Confucian Engineers on the Yellow River of China 150 -- Part 5 Engineered Rivers -- Dead and Wounded Rivers 161 -- Collapsing and Closing Dams 170 -- Between the Dams: An Elegy for the Saskatchewan River 177 -- Without Spoiling the Land: Rivers and Agriculture 183 -- London's Buried Rivers 188 -- Restored Rivers 193
Summary: River Planet introduces readers to the epic geological history of the world’s rivers, from the first drop of rain on the Earth to the modern environmental crisis. The river journey begins with the first evidence of flowing water four billion years ago and continues with enormous rivers on the first supercontinents, after which terrestrial vegetation engineered new river forms in the Devonian period. The dramatic breakup of Pangea some 200 million years ago led to our familiar modern rivers as continents drifted and collided, mountains rose, and plains tilted. Among many remarkable cases, the book explores the rapid carving of the Grand Canyon, the reversal of the Amazon, and the lost rivers of Antarctica. There are gigantic meltwater floods from the Ice Age, which may be linked to accounts of the Deluge, and river systems drowned by rising sea level as the ice melted. Early human civilizations sought to control rivers through agriculture and irrigation, leading in the nineteenth century to hydraulic mining, the rise of big dams, and the burial of rivers below cities such as London. Rivers are now endangered worldwide, and the book celebrates people who preserve rivers around the world, bringing hope to river ecosystems and communities. River Planet is designed to be accessible for a general audience ranging from advanced high-school students to mature readers. The book will also interest professional scientists and students of geology, geography, and environmental science.
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Includes bibliography and index

Part 1 Rivers in Deep Time --
Rivers and Geological Time 1 --
The First Drop of Rain on the Nascent Earth 14 --
How Plants Bent and Split Rivers 22 --
Part 2 Our Modern Rivers --
Breaking Pangea: The Ancestral Rivers of Africa 35 --
Hot and Cold: The River Histories of Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica 49 --
Young and Restless: The Evolving Rivers of Asia 59 --
The Conflicted Rivers of Europe 72 --
The Reversing Rivers of South America 82 --
Canyons and Cataracts in North America 90 --
A Canadian Amazon 101 --
Part 3 How the Ice Age Changed Rivers --
Frozen Out: Northern Rivers Sculpted by Ice 107 --
Megafloods and Noah's Ark 113 --
Rivers Drowned by the Sea 121 --
Part 4 Humans and Rivers --
From Stone Age Streams to River Civilizations 133 --
The Lost Saraswati River of the Indian Subcontinent 145 --
Confucian Engineers on the Yellow River of China 150 --
Part 5 Engineered Rivers --
Dead and Wounded Rivers 161 --
Collapsing and Closing Dams 170 --
Between the Dams: An Elegy for the Saskatchewan River 177 --
Without Spoiling the Land: Rivers and Agriculture 183 --
London's Buried Rivers 188 --
Restored Rivers 193

River Planet introduces readers to the epic geological history of the world’s rivers, from the first drop of rain on the Earth to the modern environmental crisis.

The river journey begins with the first evidence of flowing water four billion years ago and continues with enormous rivers on the first supercontinents, after which terrestrial vegetation engineered new river forms in the Devonian period. The dramatic breakup of Pangea some 200 million years ago led to our familiar modern rivers as continents drifted and collided, mountains rose, and plains tilted.

Among many remarkable cases, the book explores the rapid carving of the Grand Canyon, the reversal of the Amazon, and the lost rivers of Antarctica. There are gigantic meltwater floods from the Ice Age, which may be linked to accounts of the Deluge, and river systems drowned by rising sea level as the ice melted. Early human civilizations sought to control rivers through agriculture and irrigation, leading in the nineteenth century to hydraulic mining, the rise of big dams, and the burial of rivers below cities such as London. Rivers are now endangered worldwide, and the book celebrates people who preserve rivers around the world, bringing hope to river ecosystems and communities.

River Planet is designed to be accessible for a general audience ranging from advanced high-school students to mature readers. The book will also interest professional scientists and students of geology, geography, and environmental science.

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