Natural Disasters

Natural Disasters, 8th edition, is marked by major changes in organization and expanded coverage of weather and climate. The discussion of natural disasters is based on 4 main energy flows: 1) Earth's internal energy flow underlies earthquakes and volcanoes, 2) the external energy flow from the Sun fuels weather and climate including tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, 3) gravity acts to pull down mass movements of earth and snow, and 4) impacts with asteroids and comets can have major effects on life. The book focuses on the Earth's natural processes and the disasters that occur when the Earth concentrates its energy and releases it to causing death and destruction. Throughout the book, certain themes are maintained: energy sources underlying disasters plate tectonics and climate change; earth processes operating in rock, water, and atmosphere; significance of geologic time; complexities of multiple variables operating simultaneously; detailed and readable case studies.