A textbook on Alpine and Glacial Geology


Bruce Railsback has generated a photocopy-and-bind textbook called Alpine and Glacial Geology.  Its immediate purpose is to meet the needs of a course called "Alpine and Glacial Geology" in the University of New Orleans-Innsbruck summer program.  That course is open to all students, with no prerequisites, but covers the advanced topics of alpine geology and glacial geology.  The book is therefore designed to cover sufficient fundamentals of geology to get students started and then to cover its two main topics in some detail.  The book has an emphasis on Tirol, the setting of the course, but not such an emphasis to preclude use of the book elsewhere.

      Here's the table of contents:

            Preface I: This book
            Preface II: Tirol

    Part I. Fundamentals of Geology
            1. Geologic Concepts
            2. Minerals
            3. Igneous Rocks
            4. Sedimentary Rocks
            5. Coarse-grained Sedimentary Rocks, and Breccias
            6. Metamorphic Rocks
            7. Weathering, Erosion, and Mass Wasting
            8. Geological Structures (a.k.a. Structural Geology)
            9. Plate Tectonics and Mantle Flow

    Part II. Mountains and Orogeny
            10. Orogenic Processes
            11. The Tirolean Alps
            12. The Inn Valley
            13. The Southern Appalachians
            14. The Himalayas
            15. Circum-Pacific Orogens
            16. Orogenic Generalizations

    Part III. Glaciers and Glaciation
            17. Fundamental Principles
            18. Alpine Glaciation
            19. Continental Glaciation
            20. Glaciation through Time

    Part IV. Summary & More
            21. Big Mountains and Big Glaciers
            22. Alpine Ecology

            Appendix A: A List of Noteworthy Mountain Peaks
            Appendix B: A Tirolean-American Earth Scientist's Glossary
            Appendix C: Possible Exam Questions
            Index

The book consists of 194 pages. Each relatively short chapter is followed by figures for that chapter.

The copyright page has the following statement:

Alpine and Glacial Geology - second edition (c) 2008 by L. Bruce Railsback.   All text and illustrations in this book have been produced by L. Bruce Railsback or are documents in the public domain under the copyright laws of the United States of America.  The author grants permission for reproduction of this book for instructional purposes and personal use, so long as copies are sold for no more than the cost of reproduction and binding.  Unbound originals for photocopying may be obtained at cost from the author.

      Interested persons wanting to buy a copy can send a check made out to "Department of Geology, University of Georgia" for US$15.00.  Send the check, and mailing address, to Bruce Railsback, Department of Geology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2501 USA.  Please indicate whether you want a single-sided copy (best for photocopying, even as one-sided-onto-two-sided), or a double-sided copy (better for personal use). Faculty members at educational institutions outside the United States are exempt from the requirement of payment.

 

 

For EES 2096 students, there's a pdf of the first few pages, without figures, that they can and should read before the first class meeting.

 

e-mail to Bruce Railsback (rlsbk@gly.uga.edu)
Railsback's main web page
UGA Geology Department web page
 

 

 

 

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