Includes index.

Naked Earth offers an illuminating and thoroughly riveting account of the pioneering geophysicists of today. Around the globe, from the California desert to the Siberian tundra, the enthralling picture of inner earth emerges through their breakthrough investigations and heated debates. We learn of outdated theories that have been disproven by bold new scientific concepts, dazzling detective work, and immensely powerful technology, which have radically altered our insights into the deepest mysteries of our planet. We see how continents have formed and split, oceans expanded and shrunk, ice ages come and gone, compass points wildly swung, earthquakes erupted where none were thought possible - all because of tumultuous forces that, until recently, have been beyond our understanding. In a beautifully crafted work that is at once impeccably authoritative and wonderfully accessible, Shawna Vogel provides readers with new explanations to ancient mysteries and the latest geophysical hypotheses. Just as Jacques Cousteau made oceanography a romantic and swashbuckling enterprise, Vogel opens a window to the turbulent world beneath our feet.