Earth Sciences Textbooks

Filters

The Essential Guide to Planet Earth

Contributor: Burger

Publisher: Benjamin Burger

License: CC BY

Every moment of your life will be from the perspective of a single planet—Planet Earth. You were born here and you will die here. This textbook is a guide to your home, to your place in the universe. By taking this course, you will learn about your home planet: how it works and how we know it works this way. This course is a user's manual for planet Earth, with direct recommendations for future generations, such as yourself, to maintain its health and natural wonders. As an astute student, you will be introduced to the theoretical principles of science and of how to defend yourself from the spread of ignorance. You will learn about Earth’s dimensions and motions, as well as how to navigate its surface. You will learn how energy originates from the closest star (the Sun), its Moon, and other sources of energy in the Earth’s active core and how this energy can be used and stored. You will learn basic scientific principles of matter, the makeup of substances that form the field of chemistry. You will examine the planet’s atmosphere, the air that you are breathing as you read this, and how that air is slowly changing. You will explore the vast abundance of Earth’s water, covering the planet in enormous oceans, abundant lakes, and rivers, as well as frozen water locked within snow and ice. You will learn how to predict wind and storms and how climates shift. You will lead your own exploration of the solid interior of the Earth, the composition of mountains, rocks, and dirt. You will learn about life, the most unique feature of the planet. You will explore theories of how life arose and how it has evolved and changed over time, learning that you are of Earth and the story of your own origin on this planet. You will undertake an examination of the great biomes of jungles, forests, and deserts and the life that exists within them. You will survey the important field of biology as you learn about life and its interactions with the planet. In the end, you will come to face the ominous future of your own planet, of the changes that are now occurring. Your planet is not the same as your ancestors, nor grandparents, nor your parents at your age—Earth today is quickly being altered, and you will need to adapt to this change. This course will teach you how to prepare for this change and how to protect the planet from further alteration to the point that it becomes lifeless. This class will be challenging, but with enough dedication and commitment, you will succeed in learning the material. You will cherish the knowledge presented in this class for the rest of your life.

No ratings

(0 reviews)

Introduction to Earth Science

Contributor: Neser

Publisher: Virginia Tech Publishing

License: CC BY-NC-SA

Introduction to Earth Science is a 530+ page open textbook designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to Earth Science that can be freely accessed online, read offline, printed, or purchased as a print-on-demand book. It is intended for a typical 1000-level university introductory course in the Geosciences, although its contents could be applied to many other related courses.

No ratings

(0 reviews)

Earth, Space, and Environmental Science Explorations with ArcGIS Pro - Second Edition

Contributor: Cheung

Publisher: Wing Cheung

License: CC BY

When I first started teaching Geographic Information Systems (GIS) over 15 years ago, there were only a handful of GIS tutorial books on the market. While a few of them focused on a particular theme, many of them were mainly technical publications with no unifying theme. These publications are perfect for teaching new users about basic GIS operations and continue to be invaluable to many users today. However, these publications consisted of tutorials focusing on vastly different real-world scenarios, and felt a little disjointed to integrate into a class that focuses on a specific field (e.g. Environmental Science, Geography, Urban Planning). Since then, I am happy to see that there has been a proliferation of publications that are not only focused on introducing the technology, but also provide an introduction to a specific field as well as GIS.

No ratings

(0 reviews)

Rangeland Ecosystems of the Western US - 1st Edition

Contributor: Gibson

Publisher: Oregon State University

License: CC BY

Rangeland Ecosystems of the Western US conveys fundamentals of autecology and synecology and general information about the primary ecosystems covered. Its structure will provide a framework that can be applied to understand and analyze any arid shrubland, desert, or woodland savanna.

No ratings

(0 reviews)

Properties and Behavior of Soil – Online Lab Manual

Contributors: Hossain, Islam, and Badhon

Publisher: Mavs Open Press

License: CC BY-NC

This project aims to provide a complete guide for the CE/AREN 3143 course (Properties and Behavior of Soil). Students will be benefitted from this online lab manual.

No ratings

(0 reviews)

Arcade Expression Crash Course with COVID-19 data

Contributor: Cheung

Publisher: Wing Cheung

License: CC BY

Written for ArcGIS Pro 2.5

No ratings

(0 reviews)

Geology Online Lab Activities: An Open Educational Resource for Community College Students and Instructors

Contributor: Davies

Publisher: CUNY Academic Works

License: CC BY-NC-SA

The online geology lab for community college students was developed by Dr. Rondi Davies, a faculty member at Queensborough Community College, City University New York, during two years of forced online synchronous learning brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. This open educational resource collects many of Dr. Davies’ favorite open-access materials and supplements them with her own work within a single, cohesive laboratory manual intended for two-year, non-major college students from the New York area.

(1 review)

The Story of Earth: An Observational Guide

Contributors: Hauptvogel and Sisson

Publisher: University of Houston

License: CC BY-NC-SA

Our goal in creating the material for this lab manual was to focus heavily on students making observations of geologic data, whether rocks, minerals, fossils, maps, graphs, and other things. We want students to look at things and wonder why, how, and when. The exercises and examples used in this book are scattered throughout the world. We wanted to make sure that one region of the world was not the sole focus of this work.

No ratings

(0 reviews)

Surveying and Mapping

Contributors: Tiberius, van der Marel, Reudink, and van Leijen

Publisher: TU Delft Open

License: CC BY-NC-SA

This book provides an introduction, at academic level, into the field of surveying and mapping. The book has been compiled based on hand-outs and readers written for the third-year course Surveying and Mapping, in the bachelor program Civil Engineering at Delft University of Technology. This book covers a wide range of measurement techniques, from land surveying, GPS/GNSS and remote sensing to the associated data processing, the underlying coordinate reference systems, as well as the analysis and visualization of the acquired geospatial information.

No ratings

(0 reviews)

Digging into Canadian Soils: An Introduction to Soil Science

Contributors: Krzic, Walley, and Diochon

Publisher: College of DuPage

License: CC BY-NC

Written entirely by members of the Canadian Society of Soil Science, "Digging into Canadian Soils: An Introduction to Soil Science" provides an introduction to the core disciplines of soil science, and introduces the concepts and vocabulary needed by students just beginning their soil science journey. The textbook provides supplementary materials that are specific to regions in Canada, or may be of specific interest beyond what might be considered introductory soil science material. Importantly, the textbook also is intended to introduce students to the Canadian System of Soil Classification by providing examples from across the length and breadth of the world’s second largest country, and to the Canadian Society of Soil Science, whose members share a common passion for soil science and are keen to share and instill this passion with students across Canada.

No ratings

(0 reviews)