Radiolabeled Monoclonal Antibodies for Imaging and Therapy (Nato Science Series: A:)

Book Description

Why did the dinosaurs and two-thirds of all living species vanish from the face of the Earth sixty-five million years ago? Throughout the history of life a small number of catastrophic events have caused mass extinction, and changed the path of evolution forever. Two main theories have emerged to account for these dramatic events: asteroid impact, and massive volcanic eruptions, both leading to nuclear-like winter. In recent years, the impact hypothesis has gained precedence, but Vincent Courtillot suggests that cataclysmic volcanic activity can be linked not only to the K-T mass extinction, but to most of the main mass extinction events in the history of the Earth. Courtillot's book debunks some of the myths surrounding one of the most controversial arguments in science. This story will fascinate everyone interested in the history of life and death on our planet.

Customer Reviews:

The Impact of Catastrophes on Evolution.......2007-02-27

Vincent Courtillot graduated from the Paris School of Mines, Stanford University, and the University of Paris where he is a Professor of Geophysics. Courtillot studied the earth's magnetic fields, plate tectonics, magnetic reversals, and flood basalts. He published 150 papers in professional journals, and held many official jobs (p.i). The dinosaurs and most living species became extinct about 65 million years ago. Catastrophic events have cause mass extinction and affected evolution. There are two theories for this: asteroid impact, or massive volcanic eruptions, to cause extremely cold weather from a lack of sunlight. Courtillot suggests volcanic eruption caused most mass extinctions. The `Preface' notes that most species are extinct, and there were times when this was rapid along with the appearance of new species. The fossil records gave the answer. Geochemists and geophysicists sampled and analyzed the surviving records of metals and minerals. "Deciphering past catastrophes may perhaps be the only way of predicting the future effects of human activity on this planet's climate" (p.ix).

Chapter 1 discusses mass extinction. There are a few "living fossils", but most species have a limited span of existence ranging from a few hundred thousand years to several million years (p.9). The Milankovic cycle cause variations in climate. Generally the larger or more specialized animals vanished, while the smaller or more generalized animals survived (p.16). Chapter 2 discusses an asteroid impact that led to a "nuclear winter" and the extinction of many species, such as dinosaurs (p.25). Magnetic anomalies in oceanic crusts suggest reversals in earth's magnetism over millions of years (p.54). The formation of the traps was about the same time when dinosaurs disappeared, hence the volcanist theory (p.56).

Chapter 4 explains the effects of volcanic eruptions, such as in 1783 Iceland. The destruction of vegetation and cattle led to the greatest famine; a quarter of the population died (p.61). The sulfur content determines the climactic impact (p.62). Volcanism may explain the levels of arsenic, antimony, and selenium (p.67). Volcanic gases can explain the extinction of species 65 million years ago (p.72). The greatest mass extinction occurred at the end of the Paleozoic Era (p.88). Chapter 8 tells about the Chicxulub crater that was created by a giant asteroid and discovered by oil exploration. Courtillot explains why this wouldn't cause magnetic reversal (p.130). Attempts at scientific research often tell about the researchers as much as about the object of inquiry (Chapter 9). The example is the explanation for the disappearance of the dinosaurs: asteroid or volcanoes. The story of an asteroid impact seems more believable than centuries of volcanic eruptions (p.139). Eruptions coincide with seven mass extinctions (p.141).

Chapter 10 says the gases of volcanism were sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen chloride. Human activity is now producing these same gases at the same or higher rates (p.144). Ancient catastrophes should be studied for their knowledge and to prevent another extinction. Most species have eventually died out (p.146). Only 11,000 years ago two-thirds of the large mammals in the Americas disappeared suddenly (p.147). Most species leave no fossils behind. Two catastrophe theories are popular today. An asteroid or comet hit the earth, or, there were colossal eruptions of volcanoes (p.149). Catastrophes wiped out species that had been the fittest to survive (p.154). Courtillot mentions the scientific revolution of plate tectonics (continental drift) which upset the earlier notions of an unchanging earth (p.155). What new secrets will be discovered (p.156)? [The average reader may find this hardcover book difficult.]

Controversial re-examination of geology's hottest topic.......2005-09-09

____________________________________________
We all know that a BIG meteor hit the Gulf of Mexico at the end of the
Cretaceous and wiped out the dinosaurs, right? So, big meteor-strikes
probably caused the other mass-extinctions too?

Well -- the Chicxulub impact at the KT boundary, 65 my ago, is indeed
well-documented. What's less well-known is that the Deccan Traps,
an enormous outpouring of flood-basalts in what is now western
India -- over 2 million cubic km(!) of lava, along with billions of
tons of SO2, CO2, HCl, and other toxics -- were also in full eruption
then. In fact, the famous KT iridium-signature has recently been
identified in Deccan interflow sediments [note 1]. From recent
radiometric dating, it looks like all of the Deccan eruptions occurred
within a brief, 0.7 my time-span. The biggest and most violent
eruptions apparently occurred within a few thousand years of the KT
boundary; individual flows of several thousand cubic kilometers of
basalt were not uncommon.

Compare this to the largest historic 'flood'-basalt eruption: Laki in
Iceland produced 12 cu. km of lava in 1783-84. The SO2 and other gases
that Laki released, destroyed most of the island's crops and forage.
Then 50-80% of the island's livestock, and about 1/4 of the Icelandic
people, starved to death. Laki lowered global temperatures by about
1 deg. C (from fine-particle ash & sulfur aerosols).

Extrapolating to a 5,000 cu. km flood-basalt eruption, the average
global temperature might decrease by around 7 deg. C (13 deg. F). The
volcanic HCl emissions could destroy most of the ozone layer [note 2],
dramatically increasing UV at the surface, and injuring or killing
many organisms. The familiar volcanogenic "toxics" -- F, As, Sb, Hg, Se
etc. -- would poison nearby life. And the volcanic SO2 & HCl would
cause severe acid-rain damage as they were washed out of the
atmosphere. Then, repeat this disaster with the next big eruption, over
& over again, a dozen or more times in the next 10,000 years or so. The
total 'kill factor' would very likely be greater than that from the
Chicxulub impact, albeit spread out over tens or hundreds of
thousands of years. And a more gradual die-off is (usually) a better
fit to the known fossil record.

So it turns out that the volcanists and the meteor-strike proponents
were *both* right, at least for the KT mass-extinction. The
combination of the Chicxulub strike with the Deccan mega-eruption
turned an 'ordinary' mass-extinction into the second-worst ever.
And thoroughly muddied the scientific waters while this was being
worked out. Once again, reality trumps fiction -- Nemesis atop Shiva!

But, for the 10 or so "big" mass-extinctions known [note 3], *seven*
are of the same age as major flood-basalt eruptions, vs. one or two
with major same-age impacts. And those two meteor-strikes coincide
with massive flood-basalt eruptions -- *no* major mass-extinctions
appear to be solely impact-caused. So it's fair to say that flood-basalts
are more deadly to Earthly life than meteor-strikes. And a hazard not
amenable to any engineering solution that I know of -- except being
ready to move off the planet, when the next new hot-spot head nears
breakout. Which will come, sure as death [note 4]. An unpleasant
reminder of our fragility.

Mea culpa: I'd pretty much taken the "KT impact killed off the dinos"
theory as proven -- I didn't even bother to read the last volcanist
counter-argument I saw. As Courtillot notes, I'm hardly the only one
to do so. Hey, those guys are the old fuddy-duddies, right? The
'stamp-collectors', Luis Alvarez called them. Hence this review, a
'heads-up' to others, and an expiation for me.

_Evolutionary Catastrophes_ is clearly written and is (mostly)
accessible to the general reader [note 5]. This is the latest chapter in the
gradualist vs. catastrophist dialog that is as old as geologic science.
Writing with great good humor, skepticism, and a love for a scientific
tale well-told, Courtillot goes a long way towards redressing the
balance in the hottest earth-science argument at the turn of the 21st
century. Highly recommended.
_______________
Note 1) Courtillot relates a cute story of the serendipities of field work:
a paleontology student had worked for years in one of these basins,
with little sucess. A visiting paleontologist, answering nature's call,
washed out a fine freshwater ray tooth, of a species previously known
only from Niger, "under the very eyes of the unhappy student."

2) If the eruption is powerful enough to inject HCl into the
stratosphere. Historic basalt eruptions haven't done so, but we're
talking eruptions 500 times larger than any ever seen....

3) Various authors propose from 5 to about 20 "major" mass-
extinction events. There seems (to this non-specialist) to be a rough
consensus for the "Big 5": [see SF Site review for link]

4) Though, sadly, not so predictable. Hot-spot flareups appear to be a
deep-seated core-cooling mechanism, with an unknown, but random,
trigger. Average time between breakouts seems to be around 30 my,
but the events are far from regularly-spaced. We really don't know
very much about what goes on at the Earth's core.

5) Minor caveats: Courtillot goes a bit overboard at times in
arguing for vulcanism and against impact. Nor does he pay quite
enough attention to the probable multiple causes of major mass-
extinctions. Some of the citations are incomplete, there's no
bibliography, and the index is pretty sketchy.

Peter D. Tillman
Consulting Geologist, Tucson & Santa Fe (USA)
Review first appeared in the Arizona Geological Society newsletter, and reprinted at SF Site, April 2000. G00gle there for links.

important information about geology and exciting.......2000-09-04

This kind of analysis and extrapolation adds a great deal of information for the layman who is willing to follow the discus- sion about geology and has background such as the Mcphee books, seismic theories of interior earth movements and plate tectonics. Because it is written by a French Scientist I feel it may not be given the attention it might if written by an American. It is slow going in the beginning because he explains the Alvarez discoveries and theories in more detail than I had previously had. When he gets to the discussion of the great volcanic events that created the huge lava plateaus such as the one in the Grand Coullee in Washington State, it gets very exciting because he gives a great deal of information that is new to me. This infor- mation brings a whole new dimension to plate techtonics, hot spots and possible extinctions. A great adventure in time.

Evolutionary Catastrophies........2000-04-11

Probably no single mass extinction of the five known to have occurred has captured popular notice so thoroughly as has the KT event. Ideas about what might have caused this disaster, which may have brought about the end of the dinosaurs, abound and range from change in the oxygen content of the atmosphere to astroid impacts. Mr. Courtillot, a French investigator of the Deccan Traps in India and China, has been the leading proponent of the volcanic-climatic disaster motif. In this book he defends his hypothesis, primarily against its leading opponent the Alvarez' astroidal impact theory, and believes that the evidence from the field more completely supports his theory of the cause of extinctions, not only at the KT boundary but through most of life's history. The volume is somewhat less readable than the Alvarez book (see T. Rex and the Crater of Doom or the review of it under my name), because it contains more technical information. The author defines many of his terms for the lay reader, but the discussion is definitely more understandable for the reader with some knowledge of geology in his/her background.

Book Description

This marvelously evocative book by Stephen Johnson, Gerald Haslam, and Robert Dawson--all natives of the Great Central Valley of California--is the first to explore in detail the rich natural and social history of the state's agricultural heartland.
Gerald Haslam's text celebrates the tenacious people of the Valley, where hard work and ingenuity are the means to both survival and success. This is land that gives little but yields, under pressure, to creative experiments with unusual crops. Stephen Johnson's and Robert Dawson's stunning photographs reveal the immense beauty of the region as well as the delicate relationship between the land and the people who work it.
The Central Valley is California's economic hub as well as its physical center. A plain some 430 miles long and up to 75 miles wide, surrounded by mountains and covering nearly fifteen million acres--about the size of England--this valley has become the richest farming region in the world. More than 25 percent of the table food produced in the U.S. is grown here. Its southernmost county, Kern, produces more oil than some OPEC countries.
The Valley is as rich in people as it is in resources. Tagalog, Hmong, Spanish, English, Cantonese, Russian, Italian--all are spoken here. The population of farm laborers, small family farms, powerful agribusinesses, and, increasingly, urban professionals make the region's economic disparities as palpable as its cultural diversity.
The Valley has also produced a wealth of writers--Maxine Hong Kingston from Stockton, Richard Rodriguez and Joan Didion from Sacramento, Gary Soto from Fresno, among others--as well as the award-winning El Teatro Campesino (The Farmworkers' Theater).
But the Valley is imperiled. The past 150 years of massive agricultural expansion and population growth have systematically destroyed much of the area's original wildlife, and the "plain of majestic oaks" seen by early travelers has vanished. The region is also plagued by a host of critical issues: chemical pollution, soil erosion, water politics, the treatment of minorities, economic inequities, farm foreclosures. Johnson's and Dawson's photographs--which are complemented by engravings by Thomas Moran, paintings by Albert Bierstadt and William Hahn, and photographs by Carleton Watkins, Dorothea Lange, and Russell Lee, among others--bring home to us, as only visual images can, that it is up to us to safeguard the future of this endangered valley, to conserve its extraordinary human and natural wealth, and to try to reclaim some of its lost grandeur.

Customer Reviews:

Historical, not contemporary, material.......2003-04-19

The book contains mostly historical material -- photos and text. I was looking for a book about contemporary Central Valley. A one-page graph shows dollar-value of products and the percentage of U.S. production. One photo, of the planting of asparagus in a dust-storm, shows mostly dust.

Gorgeous and informitive.......2000-03-29

I bought the book mainly to see the work of photographer Stephen Johnson, and his work truly delivered. These pictures are a must study for landscape photographers. His photographs capture a simple beauty and are a heartfelt display of the region. Also, I was pleasantly surprised by the work of photographer Robert Dawson, and by the amount of information contained within the pages of "The Great Central Valley". If you enjoy photography or are interested in California history, you will highly enjoy this book.

Average customer rating:

Great blue collar humor
I felt like I was a part of this book.

The Great Tejon Club Jubilee: Stories
Gerald W. Haslam
Manufacturer: Devil Mountain Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Satire, General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

In the tradition of Mark Twain and Will Rogers, Gerald Haslam's redoubtable Tejon-Club Gang returns the tall-tale and the bumpkin-humor traditions to their proper places in American letters .. wherever that is!

The gang manages to poke holes in social trends and elistist assumptions -- and in their own prejudices -- while bumbling from one beer-fueled misadventure to the next.

Thirteen short stories -- plus a disclaimer by the narrator--introduce readers to these Good Ol' Boys who live and work in California's Great Central Valley.

Customer Reviews:

Great blue collar humor.......1998-03-19

Humor based on another time and another place, the California Central Vally 50 years ago, and loaded with insights of the working class there.

I felt like I was a part of this book........1997-12-26

Everyone interested in Calif. Oklahoma and Texas must read this book to understand how the Great Central Valley was conquered by these three states.

The Other California: The Great Central Valley in Life and Letters (Western Literature Series)

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The Other California: The Great Central Valley in Life and Letters (Western Literature Series)
Gerald W. Haslam
Manufacturer: University of Nevada Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 087417225X

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Kern, CA: observational reporting most local
Anticipation

Haslam's Valley
Gerald Haslam
Manufacturer: Heyday Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 159714018X

Book Description

Gerald Haslam picks up where Mark Twain left off in this career-spanning collection of stories and essays brimming with life—only here is Kern County instead of Calaveras, Oildale instead of Nevada City, a great alligator hunt instead of a celebrated jumping frog.

Here too is a darker side of California's heartland, where a Japanese family bids goodbye to an America they thought they knew as they are trucked to a detention camp in the desert; where an Indian boy fights American bluecoat "savages"; and where "Okies," like the nation's black population, are shunned as second-class citizens.

And while Haslam's stories entertain, his essays, too, gesture at the sweeping diversity of the Central Valley, the innumerable cultures—both native and immigrant—and the richness of community found there. Haslam looks at problems of racism and a new social class he calls the "downwardly mobile," and he tackles environmental issues that plague the Valley—namely, desertification and water scarcity.

With an ear for local dialect and his feet firmly planted in his native soil, Haslam delivers wry stories and biting satire that secure him a place in the pantheon of great American writers and earn Oildale a spot on the literary map.

Customer Reviews:

Kern, CA: observational reporting most local.......2006-04-13

Stories and essays blend observations of California history and culture with humor as his focus on Kern County, California reveals some of folklore, history and experiences from Haslam's eye. From issues of racism and environmental problems to accounts of fights and encounters with darker community forces, HASLAM'S VALLEY provides first-person observational reporting at its local best.

Anticipation.......2005-12-12

I took a class from Gerald Haslam on John Steinbeck's books at Osher Lifelong Learning at Sonoma State Univ. He was an excellent teacher and used his Central Valley background to great advantage when discussing "Grapes of Wrath" and other comparaable books.
I have just ordered this book since I know it will be great reading. He writes about subjects he knows best and will encompass his vast knowledge of Western literature.

California Heartland: Writing from the Great Central Valley

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California Heartland: Writing from the Great Central Valley
James D. Houston , and Gerald W. Haslam
Manufacturer: Capra Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0884960838

Condor Dreams & Other Fictions (Western Literature)

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Condor Dreams & Other Fictions (Western Literature)
Gerald W. Haslam
Manufacturer: University of Nevada Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0874172322

Picturing California's Other Landscape: The Great Central Valley.(Review): An article from: California History

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Picturing California's Other Landscape: The Great Central Valley.(Review): An article from: California History
Gerald Haslam
Manufacturer: California Historical Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from California History, published by California Historical Society on December 22, 2000. The length of the article is 1077 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Picturing California's Other Landscape: The Great Central Valley.(Review)
Author: Gerald Haslam
Publication: California History (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 2000
Publisher: California Historical Society
Volume: 79 Issue: 4 Page: 223

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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America's most beautiful valley
Sydney Storm
Manufacturer: American Forestry Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Central Valley mythology: The works of Gerald W. Haslam

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Central Valley mythology: The works of Gerald W. Haslam
Mary Grace Maloney
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

The Great Central Valley : California'S Heartland

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The Great Central Valley : California'S Heartland
Gerald (Text): Photographic Project By Stephen Johnson & Robert Dawson Haslam
Manufacturer: University of California
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WCP9J8

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