On Solid Ground: Why the Earth Isn’t as Controversial as You May Think

201 Pages·2023·1.863 MB·English

by  David Goldsmith

On Solid Ground
Why the Earth Isn’t as
Controversial as You May Think
David Goldsmith
An imprint of Globe Pequot, the trade division of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com
Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK
Copyright © 2022 by David Goldsmith
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic
or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written
permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available
ISBN 978-1-63388-830-2 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 978-1-63388-831-9 (ebook)
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
For Melissa

Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
PART I: CONSTANTS
1 The Earth Is Knowable 3
2 The Earth Is Round 9
3 The Earth Goes around the Sun 27
4 The Earth Is Solid 45
5 The Earth Is Old 63
6 The Earth Has a History 81
PART II: CHANGE
7 Our Methods Change 99
8 Life Changes 105
9 The Map Changes 123
10 Climate Changes 141
11 Our Knowledge Changes 159
Notes 163
Index 179

v

Acknowledgments
Like the theory of plate tectonics, this book is a product of history and owes its
existence to many people. Thanks to all of my friends, family, and colleagues
for their support over the years and for their constant willingness to listen to
me while I’m geeking out over a rock or fossil. I would like to recognize a few
people individually for their particular roles in the origin of this book. Thanks
to Christy Seifert for answering a million questions about how a book gets pub-
lished and for starting almost every email with “That’s great!” Thanks to Stephen
Jay Gould for teaching me that the story behind the science is often as interesting
as the science itself, and for giving me a literal front-row seat to watch a scientist
explain their work in a manner that was both accessible and fascinating. Thanks
to Jonathan Kurtz and all of the editors at Prometheus for thinking this was a
good idea. And thanks, most of all, to Melissa Goldsmith for being the best re-
viewer, test audience, cheerleader, friend, and partner a person could ever hope
for. I especially couldn’t have done it without you.
vii

INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Only about 9 percent of Americans have ever taken an earth science class. This
number is particularly jarring considering that 100 percent of Americans live on
earth. The fact that so few people ever learn about how the earth works might
explain why so much of geology has become controversial. There used to be a
rule of thumb that the three topics never to be mentioned in polite conversation
were sex, religion, and politics. It might now be time to add geology to that list
because it has somehow become a fraught and volatile topic. Hardly anyone
argues with their family about atomic theory or general relativity. It’s easy, how-
ever, to start a fight at many Thanksgiving tables by bringing up climate change,
evolution, the age of the earth, and even whether or not the earth is round.
Each chapter in this book is based on a single geologic controversy (such as
“the earth is round”) and does two things: explains why geologists are so sure
about the right answer to that controversy and analyzes the arguments being
used by those still unwilling to accept geologic expertise. As it turns out, geolo-
gists have learned quite a bit about our planet over the years.
One of the first things scientists needed to realize about the earth before
there could even be a science of geology is that it is innately understandable.
Geologists can ask questions about it and develop reasonable answers to those
questions. Through those inquiries, they have learned that there are things about
the planet that have not changed for billions of years. Those constants are the
topic of the first half of this book. They include basics such as the earth being
round; revolving around the sun; and being solid, old, and a product of history.
That is to say, one of the constant things about the earth is that it is constantly
changing.
Aspects of the earth that change over time are addressed in the second half
of the book. Understanding our changing past requires different methods than
demonstrating the constant aspects of the planet, so the second half of the book
ix