Strata

The stories of our 4.54-billion-year-old planet are written in strata–ages-old remnants of ancient seafloors, desert dunes and riverbeds. These layers of rock help geologists unearth how our planet became the place we know and what it will become. In Strata, Laura Poppick deciphers these primeval plotlines. Digging into four moments of transformation that shaped Earth and made our lives possible—from the first accumulations of oxygen in the atmosphere to the deep freeze of “Snowball Earth”, the rise of mud on land and the dinosaurs’ reign on a hothouse planet—we see how the arc of geologic time bends toward stability. Beautifully grounding and laced with awe, Strata unveils the wisdom and hope these rocks can hold.