Earth as an Evolving Planetary System explores key topics and questions relating to the evolution of the Earth's crust and mantle over the last four billion years. This Second Edition features exciting new information on Earth and planetary evolution and examines how all subsystems in our planet-crust, mantle, core, atmosphere, oceans and life-have worked together and changed over time.Kent Condie synthesizes data from the fields of oceanography, geophysics, planetology, and geochemistry to address Earth's evolution. Slides of all figures in the book can be downloaded on ElsevierDirect.com: http://www.elsevierdirect.com/companion.jsp?ISBN=9780123852274 Kent Condie's corresponding interactive CD, Plate Tectonics and How the EarthWorks ,can be purchased from Tasa Graphic Arts here: http://www.tasagraphicarts.com/progptearth.html Two new chapters on the Supercontinent Cycle and on Great Events in Earth history New and updated sections on Earth's thermal history, planetary volcanism, planetary crusts, the onset of plate tectonics, changing composition of the oceans and atmosphere, and paleoclimatic regimes Also newin this Second Edition: the lower mantle and the role of the post-perovskite transition, the role of water in the mantle, new tomographic data tracking plume tails into the deep mantle, Euxinia in Proterozoic oceans, The Hadean, A crustal age gap at 2.4-2.2 Ga, and continental growth