OCEANOGRAPHY AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

• Main Author: Davis, Richard A
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Dubuque, IA W.C.Brown Pub. 1991
• Edition: 2nd ed
• Subjects: Oceanography
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.

 Most college level textbooks originate out of frustration with existing books and the desire to have a volume that corresponds to one's own philosophy for teaching a particular course. I have taught an introductory level course in oceanography for 25 years and have tried a variety of texts. I even wrote one several years ago for much the same reason that I have written this book. This text has been written to provide an al ternative approach to introducing students to the complexities of the world ocean. This is done by treating each of the major environments in an in tegrated fashion by incorporating their various at tributes in a single chapter. This book is intended to provide students with an appreciation and general familiarity with marine environments. The level at which it is written should enable any undergraduate student, regardless of in terest and background, to understand it. It is well suited for an introductory course for nonscience majors wishing to satisfy a college level science re quirement, although science majors can also benefit greatly from exposure to the breadth of material it contains. The numerous existing introductory level texts in oceanography are quite similar in approach if not in format, organization, or detail. What does not change from text to text is the content and the broad way it is packaged. That is, these texts are organized into biological, chemical, geological, and physical aspects of the ocean. This organization does not give the student an impression of the environment but only individual and isolated facts; it is a "nuts and bolts" approach. There are two possible reasons this trait has persisted among texts for essentially 20 years: it is the best way, or it is the most convenient way.