Brendan, J. M., and R. D. Nance. (April) 1992. "Mountain Belts and the Supercontinent Cycle," Scientific American 266, no. 4:84. A good discussion of the current status of plate tectonic theory.

Brimhall, G. (May) 1991. "The Genesis of Ores," Scientific American 264, no. 5:84. Explains how fluid transport builds up the ore bodies from which we obtain economic minerals.

Caudill, H. M. 1963. Night Comes to the Cumberlands. Boston: Atlantic-Little, Brown. An eloquent but anguished lament for what strip-mining has done to Appalachia.

Chiles, J. (Fall) 1986. "Standing Up to Earthquakes," Invention and Technology 2, no. 2:56. Discusses current efforts to build earthquake-proof buildings and cities.

Darlington, D. (July/August) 1992. "Copper Versus Grandeur," Audubon 94, no. 4:84. Describes now-postponed plans to mine British Columbia's Windy Craggy Mountain and threats to the adjacent Tatshenshini River.

Davidson, Keay. (May) 1994. "Predicting Earthquakes." Earth 3, (3):56. The 1994 San Fernando earthquake surprised seismologists who had been making progress in predicting when faults would give way. The earth and its movements are more complex than we thought.

Greer, J. (May/June) 1993. "The Price of Gold: Environmental Costs of the New Gold Rush," Ecologist 23, (3):91. A worldwide overview of the environmental effects of precious metal mining.

Johnson, A. C., and L. R. Kanter. (March) 1990. "Earthquakes in Stable Continental Crust," Scientific American 262 (3):68. A theory of how earthquakes can occur well away from the edges of tectonic plates.

McPhee, John. 1993. Assembling California. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The latest episode in a masterful series on geology by this popular writer.

Pendick, Daniel. (May) 1994. "Under the Volcano," Earth 3 (3):34. As the global population grows, more and more people are crowding near some of the world's deadliest volcanoes, increasing the risk of disaster.

Plotkin, S. (January/February) 1986. "From Surface Mine to Cropland," Environment 28, (1):16. The current state of mine reclamation efforts: hopeless or full of promise?

Postel, S., and C. Flavin. 1991. "Reshaping the Global Economy," in State of the World 1991. New York: W. W. Norton Co. Calls for aid for sustainable development, redirecting government incentives, and a change from growth to sustainable progress.

Van Gelder, L. (January/February) 1992."Saving the Homeplace," Audubon 94, (1)62. A group of Kentucky environmentalists are healing Appalachia's mining scars.

Vogel, Shawna (March) 1994. "The Big Flush." Earth 3 (2):39. Spectacular computer simulations of movements in the earth's mantle suggest that plumes and blobs of hot and cold magma rise and fall like the colored oil globules in a lava lamp.