»	Landmarks in the History of Science » Geoscience » Climatic Accidents in Landscape-making, 1942 & Earth Beneath. An Introduction... 1945 [both inscribed and signed by author]

Earth Beneath, 1945, inscribed and signed by C. A. Cotton

Climatic Accidents in Landscape-making, 1942, inscribed and signed by C. A. Cotton

Lake Browne NZ (Climatic Accidents in Landscape-making)

Climatic Accidents in Landscape-making, 1942 & Earth Beneath. An Introduction... 1945 [both inscribed and signed by author]

Autor: C. A. Cotton

Cod: 8484
In stoc: Da

6000000.00Lei

Detalii produs ''With characteristic modesty Cotton states (pers. comm., 1966): 'Until I came to Wellington in 1909 my knowledge of geomorphology was absolutely nil. I had, however, discovered W. M. Davis, and from 1909 to 1914 I read every word (I could get hold of) that he had written... I learned my geomorphology from its written words, more than from any personal contacts.’ Isolated in a small country in the South Pacific, and working singlehanded, Cotton developed his geomorphological theories… Cotton has had little direct personal contact with world leaders in science. He has shown that it is possible, by painstaking effort sparked with a touch of genius, to do in this country work that is the equal of that done anywhere in the world; and he has made himself a world leader in his special field.''

B.W.C & Shiro Kaneko: Sir Charles Cotton, geologist and geomorphologist, New Zealand
Journal of Geology and Geophysics, Vol. 9, 1966, p.14

''Cotton had little enthusiasm for the movement towards the quantitative expression of geomorphic data, which became popular in the 1950s. He considered a preoccupation with numbers tended to stifle inspiration, and was sceptical of the so-called precision and objectivity of the new geomorphology.''

  G. R. Stevens. 'Cotton, Charles Andrew', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first
published in 1998. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

''The natural approach to the philosophy of geology is through field observation of rocks in their native setting rather than by way of speculations regarding the origin of the planet earth or unproved assertion of the immensity of geological time.''

  Charles Cotton, Preface to Earth Beneath

''The heaping together of many folds produces a thickening of the crustal strata which must bulge downward or upward or in both these directions. Welts so formed have become mountains ranges, as is shown by the fact that the rocks of mountainous regions are closely folded strata. Most such regions have undergone successive upheavals in ages long subsequent to the holding, however, and statements often made that mountains ranges owe their present-day relief to an upthrust experienced while the compression and folding of their strata were in progress are generally erroneous. In practically all cases more than sufficient time has elapsed since the folding to allow the mountains then formed to be destroyed - worn down to mere stumps - by erosion; but such tracts tend to rise again, and after some later upheaval, generally as a broad arch or dome, erosion cut deeply into the ancient folded structures and shapes a range of mountains.''

  Charles Cotton, Earth Beneath, p. 54

''As explained in this book [The Origin of Mountains], mountains are made by uplift of originally low-lying continental areas. If the uplifted area remains undissected it is a plateau; if it is deeply dissected it will be a typical mountain chain with isolated peaks rather than a continuous high surface. In this way theories of mountain building are really theories of plateau formation. Our overall conclusion, that mountains are made by erosion of uplifted plateaus, has many precursors...

It has long been recognized that there is little correspondence between the fold structures and the actual forms of mountains formed of folded rocks. Not many years ago all the great mountain ranges of the world which are built of folded rocks were believed to have originated as ‘fold mountains’ and to be now in process of reduction by erosion for the first time.

In many parts of the world evidence has come to light which proves that mountain ranges are really dissected plateaux, though composed of folded rocks; that is to say, they are two-cycle, or perhaps multi-cycle, mountains, the region having been worn down by erosion to small relief at least once, and possibly more than once, prior to a nearly even uplift, which was followed by deep dissection of the plateau so formed. Instead of even doming taking place to upheave a plateau that is later destroyed by erosion, the land surface is sometimes broken into blocks, some of which are uplifted.

In fact these words were written by Charles Cotton in 1918 [Mountains. New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology, 1, 280-285]. He seemed to think that the old ideas would soon be gone, but his optimism was not justified. Eighty [hundred today] years on we are still trying to get the simple message across, and we have no more reason to be optimistic than Cotton had. Indeed, the dead weight of orthodoxy and the preference for models over ground truth that prevails today suggests that we have less reason for optimism, not more.''

Cliff Ollier & Colin Pain, The Origin of Mountains, 2000, p. 335

Climatic Accidents in Landscape-making, 1st ed., Whitcombe & Tombs Limited, Christchurch, 1942, inscribed and signed on title page by C. A. Cotton, p. 354, figs. 149 and plts. LVIII, hardback, good condition.

Earth Beneath: An Introduction of Geology for Readers in New Zealand, 1st. ed., Whitecombe & Tombs, 1945, Christchurch; p. 128, figs. 28; soft covers; the spine is sunned; fine condition; inscribed and signed by C. A. Cotton on front end page.

Price: USD 1,200,000.00