Fundamentals of Physical Geology

Physical Geology is a vast subject and it is not possible to cover all aspects in one book. This book does not invent the wheel but merely put together sets of updated but concise material on Physical Geology with lots of illustrations. All illustrations are created by hand and give a real classroom feel to the book. Students or readers can easily reproduce them by hand. This is a book, where a diagram says it all. The book is divided into four parts. The first part “The Solar System and Cosmic Bodies” deals with elements of our Solar System and the cosmic bodies around it (like meteorites, asteroids, etc.). The second part “The Earth Materials” deals with Earth and its internal structure. The third part “The Hydrologic System” is more exhaustive and deals with the hydrological system of the Earth including Weathering and Mass Wasting, Streams, Groundwater, Karst, Glaciers, Oceans and Aeolian Processes and Landforms. The fourth and the final part “The Tectonic System” deals with different aspects of Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes and Volcanoes.

Dr. Sreepat Jain has 12 years of teaching and over two decades of research experience. Dr. Jain has two doctorates - one from India (on Middle Jurassic Ammonites) and the other from United States (on Neogene Benthic Foraminifers). He completed his second Ph.D. from the Department of Earth Sciences, Florida International University, USA in 2006 where he was also awarded the ”TA Excellence in Teaching” for meritorious teaching. During 2007-2008, he joined Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA for his Postdoctoral Fellowship (top ranked among 84 global candidates). In 2013, he was awarded the “Prof. S. K. Singh Memorial Gold Medal” of The Paleontological Society of India for the best paper in PSI Journal for 2012. His areas of research include Micropaleontology - Jurassic Foraminifers and Nannofossils; Macropaleontology - Jurassic Ammonites; Paleoecology - Trace Fossils and Paleoenvironment. He has published more than 35 articles in International peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. Dr. Jain has also authored a book with Lap Lambert Academic Publishing Gmbh & Co. KG, Germany (Changes in Late Neogene Caribbean Benthic Foraminifers: Paleoproductivity, Diversity and Test Size). He is also a reviewer for several paleontology journals.