Environmental Change in the Pacific Basin: Chronologies, Causes, Consequences [Hardcover]

Patrick D. Nunn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 22, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0471949450 | ISBN-13: 978-0471949459 | Edition: 1

Talk of the human-enhanced greenhouse effect and the ways in which it may affect our lives has made many people more aware of environmental change. We have come to realize that the environment is and has always bean in a state of continuous change, and that we and other organisms have had to adjust our lifestyles accordingly. This book focuses on the Pacific Basin, a vast region which can be considered a microcosm of the entire surface of the Earth and which has suffered from being marginalized in most accounts of Earth-surface processes and phenomena. In this book, the Pacific Basin includes the Pacific Ocean and Islands and also the Pacific Rim which is divided into the subregions of Antarctica, South America, Central America, North America, Beringia, East Asia and Australasia. Professor Nunn begins by outlining the distant origins of the modern Pacific Basin more than 1000 million years ago, then traces its development through the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic into the Cenozoic Era. For this time the last 66 million years - the history of environmental change becomes progressively better known. For the last 1.8 million years (the Quaternary period), the Earth s climate has oscillated between warm and cool, producing synchronous environmental changes throughout most of the Pacific Basin. The importance of volcanism and tectonics (land-level movements) for which the Pacific Basin is well known as causes of environmental change is explained in detail. The effects of human activities on most Pacific Basin environments began to be registered only during the Holocene the last 12 000 years culminating in the environmental crisis which currently afflicts many parts of this region. While the role of humans in altering Pacific Basin environments is discussed in detail, considerable attention is also given to the ways in which environmental change caused changes to human lifestyles which had far-reaching consequences.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a highly interesting read, introducing the singularity of environmental change in this vast region of the earth...." -- International Journal of Geosciences - Environmental Geology

From the Back Cover

Talk of the human-enhanced greenhouse effect and the ways in which it may affect our lives has made many people more aware of environmental change. We have come to realize that the environment is and has always bean in a state of continuous change, and that we and other organisms have had to adjust our lifestyles accordingly. This book focuses on the Pacific Basin, a vast region which can be considered a microcosm of the entire surface of the Earth and which has suffered from being marginalized in most accounts of Earth-surface processes and phenomena. In this book, the Pacific Basin includes the Pacific Ocean and Islands and also the Pacific Rim which is divided into the subregions of Antarctica, South America, Central America, North America, Beringia, East Asia and Australasia. Professor Nunn begins by outlining the distant origins of the modern Pacific Basin more than 1000 million years ago, then traces its development through the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic into the Cenozoic Era. For this time ? the last 66 million years - the history of environmental change becomes progressively better known. For the last 1.8 million years (the Quaternary period), the Earth?s climate has oscillated between warm and cool, producing synchronous environmental changes throughout most of the Pacific Basin. The importance of volcanism and tectonics (land-level movements) ? for which the Pacific Basin is well known ? as causes of environmental change is explained in detail. The effects of human activities on most Pacific Basin environments began to be registered only during the Holocene ? the last 12 000 years ? culminating in the environmental crisis which currently afflicts many parts of this region. While the role of humans in altering Pacific Basin environments is discussed in detail, considerable attention is also given to the ways in which environmental change caused changes to human lifestyles which had far-reaching consequences.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 372 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471949450
• ISBN-13: 978-0471949459
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,962,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patrick D. Nunn holds a Personal Chair in Oceanic Geoscience at the international University of the South Pacific, where he has taught and researched for more than a quarter of a century. He is currently Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University. Based in Fiji, his research interests include climate change and archaeology. He is one of the IPCC scientists who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. From 2003-2009, he directed seven phases of excavation at Bourewa, the earliest human settlement in Fiji. Patrick Nunn expects to join the University of New England (Australia) as a Head of School in September 2010

He is the author of more than 190 peer-reviewed publications as well as several books including Oceanic Islands (Blackwell, 1994), Environmental Change in the Pacific Basin (Wiley, 1999), Climate, Environment and Society in the Pacific during the Last Millennium (Elsevier, 2007), and the popular Vanished Islands and Hidden Continents of the Pacific (University of Hawai'i Press, 2009). In March 2003, he was awarded the Gregory Medal of the Pacific Science Association for "outstanding service to science in the Pacific". More at www.usp.ac.fj/nunn