本书是中国地质大学(北京)自1989年在国内开展地质学领域的专业英语教学以来，地质专业和大学英语教师通力合作的成果。这本教材改变了传统的专业英语教材的做法，具有新颖的形式和内容。它以基础地质为内容重点，涉及古气候学、古海洋学、古地理学、大地构造演化、地质灾害、地球环境和地质思维方法等方面。教材具有较强的实用性和前瞻性，能够基本满足教与学双方的最新期望，符合英语语言和地质学专业的认知特点和规律，适合高等院校地质学及相关专业高年级本科生使用。

Unit 1

Text A Cosmic Beginnings

Text B Depositional Environment

Unit 2

Text A Superposition: A Fundamental Law of Geology

Text B Plate Tectonics

Unit 3

Text A Fossils to Date Rocks

Text B The Most Famous Cambrian Fossils in the World

Unit 4

Text A Paleomagnetics: A Most Significant Synthesis of Earth Sciences

Text B Volcanism

Unit 5

Text A Plutonism and Metamorphism

Text B Deformation of the Earth's Crust: Folding

Unit 6

Text A Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism

Text B Rocks and Rock Cycle

Unit 7

Text A Geologic Maps

Text B Mesozoic Sea-level Changes: An Argument with Exxon Curve

Unit 8

Text A Humans, the Earth and Geologists

Text B Highlights of Fossil Plant Research in Dinosaur Provincial Park

Appendix

References