Note: Preliminaries -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- List of illustrations -- Introduction -- What is global warming -- A brief history of the global warming hypothesis -- Your viewpoint determines the future -- What is the evidence for climate change -- How do you model the future -- What are the possible future impacts of global warming -- Surprises -- Politics -- What are the alternatives -- Conclusion -- Further reading -- Index.

Note: Intro -- Le changementclimatique -- Remerciements -- Préface de l'édition anglaise -- 1. Qu'est-ce que le changement climatique ? -- 2. Histoire du changement climatique -- 3. L'évidence d'un changement climatique -- 4. La modélisation des climats -- 5. Les impacts du changement climatique -- 6. Quand le climat nous surprend -- 7. La politique et le changement climatique -- 8. Des solutions -- 9. Changer notre futur -- Lectures complémentaires -- Index.

Note: Intro -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Contents -- List of contributors -- Preface -- 1: Hazardous responses of the solid Earth to a changing climate -- Summary -- Introduction -- Climate change as a driver of geological and geomorphological hazards at glacial-interglacial transitions -- Projected future climate changes and the potential for a geospheric response -- Climate forcing of hazards in the geosphere -- High latitude regions -- Ocean basins and margins -- Mountainous terrain -- Volcanic landscapes -- Conclusions -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 2: Projected future climate changes in the context of geological and geomorphological hazards -- Summary -- Introduction -- Climate change research: informing mitigation and adaptation -- Modelling the climate -- Emission scenarios -- Climate change projections -- Using climate projections to inform mitigation and adaptation -- Regional climate change -- Climate forcing of hazards in the geosphere -- Global oceans -- High-latitude regions -- Mountain regions -- Volcanic landscapes -- Conclusions -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 3: Climate change and collapsing volcanoes: evidence from Mount Etna, Sicily -- Summary -- Introduction -- Lateral collapse at Mount Etna -- Flank failure and watershed abandonment at Mount Etna -- Cosmogenic 3He exposure dating of channel abandonment at Mount Etna -- Results and interpretations -- Implications of exposure ages for the formation of the Valle del Bove -- Nature of the collapse mechanism -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 4: Melting ice and volcanic hazards in the twenty-first century -- Summary -- Introduction -- What are hazards for ice- and snow-covered volcanoes, and where are they found? -- Hazards for ice- and snow-covered volcanoes -- Pertubation of ice and snow by volcanic activity -- Explosive eruptions. , Edifice instability and collapse -- How is ice thickness on volcanoes currently changing? -- Ice thinning due to climate change -- Ice thinning due to volcanic and geothermal activity -- How has ice recession affected volcanic activity in the past? -- Evidence for accelerated volcanism triggered by deglaciation -- Edifice collapse triggered by ice recession -- How does the rate and extent of current ice melting compare with past changes? -- How might hazards be affected by melting of ice and snow? -- Ice unloading may encourage more explosive eruptions -- Ice unloading and increased melting may trigger edifice stability -- Melting of ice and snow may decrease the likelihood and magnitude of meltwater floods -- What are the likely effects of twenty-first century climate change on hazards at ice-covered volcanoes? -- Increased magma production and eruption in Iceland? -- Increased magma production and eruption globally? -- Potential effects on volcanic hazards -- Was the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull triggered by climate change? -- Gaps in our knowledge and targets for future research -- Future work required -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 5: Multiple effects of ice load changes and associated stress change on magmatic systems -- Summary -- Introduction -- Effects of glacial unloading on deep magma generation -- Influence on magma capture in the crust -- Influence on shallow magma chambers -- Discussion and conclusions -- References -- 6: Response of faults to climate-driven changes in ice and water volumes at the surface of the Earth -- Summary -- Introduction -- General model set-up and results -- Case studies -- Scandinavia -- Basin-and-Range Province -- Implications for other formerly glaciated mountain ranges and for regions currently experiencing ice-mass loss -- Conclusions -- Acknowledgements -- References. , 7: Does the El-Niño - Southern Oscillation influence earthquake activity in the eastern tropical Pacific? -- Summary -- Introduction -- ENSO and the seismicity of the East Pacific Rise -- Origins and distribution of seismic activity on the East Pacific Rise -- Three different sources of seismic activity on the EPR -- Pore fluids and permeability in mid-ocean ridge systems compared with continental crust: implications for possible mechanisms of linkage between ENSO and EPR earthquakes -- Sea levels, plate flexure and EPR seismicity -- Statistical modelling of sea level and ENSO influence on earthquakes -- Zero-inflated Poisson regression model -- ENSO results -- Sea-level results -- Evaluation of alternative hypotheses -- Discussion -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 8: Submarine mass failures as tsunami sources - their climate control -- Summary -- Introduction -- Submarine mass failures -- Landslide territories -- Open continental slope and eise -- Glaciated margins -- Glacially influenced margins -- Non-glaciated margins -- Other areas -- SMFs, tsunamis and climate control -- Temporal relationships between climate change and SMFs -- Does climate influence preconditioning of submarine sediment sequences to mass failure? -- Climate change as a trigger mechanism for SMFs -- Climate and sea-level change, and the preservation potential of tsunami sediments from SMFs -- Conclusions -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 9: High-mountain slope failures and recent and future warm extreme events -- Summary -- Introduction -- Case studies -- Central Southern Alps, New Zealand -- Alaskan case histories -- Monte Rosa, Alps -- Assessing changes in warm event frequencies based on RCM simulations -- Discussion and conclusions -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 10: Impacts of recent and future climate change on natural hazards in the European Alps. , Summary -- Introduction -- Aims and structure of this chapter -- Climate and environment of the European Alps -- Future climate patterns in the European Alps -- The 2003 heatwave and its impacts -- The 2005 flood event and its impacts -- Discussion -- Implication for natural hazard and risk management -- Conclusions and wider implications -- References -- 11: Assessing the past and future stability of global gas hydrate reservoirs -- Summary -- Introduction -- Gas hydrate structure -- Where are gas hydrates found? -- How much gas hydrate is there? -- Formation and break down of gas hydrates -- Hydrates and past climate changes -- Carbon isotope excursion at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary -- Paleocene/Eocene PETM -- A forcing role for methane in the Quaternary glacial to interglacial cycles -- Future global gas hydrate hazards -- Permafrost regions -- Marine risks -- Catastrophic submarine slope failures -- Conclusions -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 12: Methane hydrate instability: a view from the Palaeogene -- Summary -- Introduction -- The PETM and methane hydrates -- Sedimentological evidence for Palaeogene mass movements -- Magnitude of PETM carbon release -- PETM climate sensitivity -- Concluding remarks -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Index.

Note: Cover -- The Cradle of Humanity: How the changing landscape of Africa made us so smart -- Copyright -- Dedication -- FOREWORD -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- CONTENTS -- LIST OF FIGURES -- 1: Introduction -- In the beginning -- Ten key steps in human evolution -- 1. Origin of life -- 2. Origin of complex life -- 3. Evolution of mammals -- 4. Extinction of the dinosaurs -- 5. Evolution of social primates -- 6. Evolution of hominins -- 7. Bipedalism -- 8. Brain expansion -- 9. Cumulative culture -- 10. Agriculture and industrial revolutions -- 2: Early Human Evolution -- Five stages of human evolution -- Stage 1: Earliest hominins -- Stage 2: Appearance of Australopithecus -- Stage 3: Homo and Paranthropus -- Stage 4: Homo erectus -- Stage 5: The journey towards Homo sapiens -- 3: Tectonics and Climate -- Horizontal tectonics -- Latitudinal continents -- Longitude continents -- Deep ocean circulation -- Monsoons -- Vertical tectonics -- Atmospheric barriers -- Volcanic eruptions -- Icehouse and greenhouse worlds -- 4: Cradle of Humanity -- Formation of the East Africa Rift System -- Rifting influence on climate and vegetation -- Changing landscapes and the origins of bipedalism -- 5: Global Climate Change -- Super-lush Earth -- Growth of ice sheets -- What caused the big freeze? -- The Great Salt Crisis -- Appearance of tropical grasses -- The Panama Paradox -- Why 2.5 million years ago? -- The tropics react to the ice ages -- Longer, deeper, more intense ice ages -- Unstable ice ages -- 6: Celestial Mechanics -- Orbital forcing -- Waxing and waning of the great ice ages -- Glacial-interglacial cycles -- Orbital forcing and the African climate -- East African Rift System lakes -- 7: African Climate Pulses -- Theories of evolution -- Theories of early human evolution -- Pulsed climate variability -- Human evolution within the new framework. , Hominin dispersals -- 8: The Social Brain -- What good is a large brain? -- Group size: the magic number 150 -- Our expensive brain -- Language -- Sexual behaviour and human evolution -- The Homo sapiens problem -- Self-domestication of humans -- Equality improves networking -- Dispersal of modern humans -- Neanderthals -- 9: The Future of Humanity -- Evidence for the Anthropocene -- Human drivers of evolution -- Anthropocene paradigm shift -- The future of human evolution -- Homo dominatus -- REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- Books -- Chapter 2: Early Human Evolution -- Books -- Journals and chapters -- Chapter 3: Tectonic s and Climate -- Books -- Journals -- Chapter 4: Cradle of Humanity -- Books -- Journals -- Chapter 5: Global Climate Change -- Books -- Journals and chapters -- Chapter 6: Celestial Mechanic s -- Books -- Journals and chapters -- Chapter 7: Afric an Climate Pulses -- Books -- Journals and chapters -- Chapter 8: The Soci al Brain -- Books -- Journals and chapters -- Chapter 9: The Future of Humanity -- Books -- Journals and chapters -- INDEX -- ORIGINS: The Scientific Story of Creation -- THE IMPROBABLE PRIMATE: How Water Shaped Human Evolution.

Note: Includes bibliographical references