John Grotzinger is a field geologist interested in the evolution of the Earths surface environments and biosphere. His research addresses the chemical development of the early oceans and atmosphere, the environmental context of early animal evolution, and the geologic factors that regulate sedimentary basins. He has contributed to developing the basic geologic framework of a number of sedimentary basins and orogenic belts in northwestern Canada, northern Siberia, southern Africa, and the western United States.

Thomas H. Jordan is director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, University Professor, and W. M. Keck Foundation Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California. He served as the head of MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences for the decade 1988-1998. In 2000, he moved from MIT to USC, and in 2004, he was appointed as a USC University Professor.

1 The Earth System

2 Plate Tectonics; The Unifying Theory

3 Earth Materials: Minerals and Rocks

4 Igneous Rocks: Solids from Melts

5 Volcanoes

6 Sedimentation: Rocks Formed by Surface Processes

7 Metamorphism: Alteration of Rocks by Temperature and Pressure

8 Deformation: Modification of Rocks by Folding and Fracturing

9 Clocksin Rocks; Timing the Geologic Record

10 Earthquakes

11 Exploring Earths Interior

12 The Climate System

13 Civilsation as a Global Geosystem

14 Anthropogenic Global Change

15 Glaciers: The Work of Ice

16 Earth Surface Processes and Landsape Development

17 The Hydrologic Cycle and Groundwater

18 Stream Transport: From Mountains to Oceans

19 Coastlines and Deserts

20 Early History of the terrestrial planets

21 History of the Continents

22 Geobiology: Life Interacts with Earth