This book presents and discusses research in the field of earth science, with a focus on the dynamics of continental deformation with regard to rifting and plate tectonics; archaeological charcoal signals from Upper Paleolithic sites; olivine and its role in chemical evolution and in the origin of life; Great Lakes ecology, conservation and management; volcanic ash soils in Taiwan; finite half-space models of the oceanic lithosphere and manifestations of upwelling mantle flow on the Earth's surface.