Includes bibliographical references and index.

Text: Understanding earth : an introduction -- Minerals : the building blocks of rocks -- Igneous rocks and intrusive igneous activity -- Volcanism and volcanoes -- Weathering, soil, and sedimentary rocks -- Metamorphism and metamorphic rocks -- Earthquakes and earth's interior -- The seafloor -- Plate tectonics -- Deformation, mountain building and the continents -- Mass wasting -- Running water -- Ground water -- Glaciers and glaciation -- The work of wind and deserts -- Shorelines and shoreline processes -- Geologic time -- Evolution : the theory and its supporting evidence -- A history of the universe, solar system, and planets -- Precambrian earth and life history -- Paleozoic earth history -- Paleozoic life history -- Mesozoic earth and life history -- Cenozoic earth and life history.

CD-ROM, with title: Earth systems today : living text, contains simulations, animations, links to live data from the Web and learning assignments.