If aliens came to Earth 100 millions years in the future, what traces would they find of long-extinct humanity's brief reign on the planet? This engaging and thought-provoking account looks at what our species will leave behind, buried deep in the rock strata, and provides us with a warning of our devastating environmental impact.

Prologue ; 1. Perspective ; 2. 100 Million Years AD ; 3. The Strata Machine ; 4. Tectonic Escalator ; 5. High Water, Low Water ; 6. Dynasties ; 7. Echoes ; 8. Traces ; 9. Body of Evidence ; 10. Meeting the People ; Further reading

`Review from previous edition The directing theme of humanity's ultimate mark on the Earth is handled imaginatively and carefully, and gives pause for thought. It works even better, I would say, as an entree to modern Earth sciences.' Michael Benton, Times Higher Education `A very serious, very informative book.' Geographical. `A fascinating and thought provoking read.' Adventure Travel `A wonderfully thought-provoking and fascinating look at the impression we're leaving on our planet. Zalasiewicz...does a fantastic job.' Chris Turney, www.Nature.com `'The Earth After Us' is a thoroughly inspirational book.' Chris Turney, www.nature.com `A fantastic introduction to the world around us taken from a highly original angle.' Chris Turney, www.Nature.com `Zalasiewicz presents an elegant and authoritative primer on the earth sciences....this book is beautifully written.' Times Higher Education Supplement. `This is a wonderful, elegant, short book.' Michael Benton, Times Higher Education Supplement `A delightful retelling of how Earth's geoscientists reconstructed its history.' Nature Geoscience. `I highly recommend this book for geoscientists in general.' William R Ruddiman. Nature Geoscience. `Elegantly written book, one of the best of recent geology popularisations.' New Scientist.

This book imagines the world 100 million years from now - a novel perspective of our reign on Earth, and looks at what future aliens may find as they piece together the history of the planet from the rocks Uses this approach to show the difficulties of interpreting the Earth's past history from the rocks, and explains the ingenious ways in which geologists and palaeontologists work Provides a novel way at looking at geological processes and mechanisms - from fossilization to plate tectonics Asks intriguing questions, such as what kind of fossils will humans leave behind? What will happen to cities, roads, cars, and plastic cups? How thick a layer would the nullhuman stratumnull be? And what clues might the rocks reveal about our demise as a species? Provides a unique perspective on environmental change - and argues that the geological legacy of Homo sapiens will provide the ultimate verdict on our species and on our relationship with the planet

Jan Zalasiewicz is a lecturer in Geology at the University of Leicester. A field geologist, palaeontologist and statigrapher, he teaches various aspects of geology and Earth history to undergraduate and postgraduate students. He has published over a hundred papers in scientific journals.

This book imagines the world 100 million years from now - a novel perspective of our reign on Earth, and looks at what future aliens may find as they piece together the history of the planet from the rocks Uses this approach to show the difficulties of interpreting the Earth's past history from the rocks, and explains the ingenious ways in which geologists and palaeontologists work Provides a novel way at looking at geological processes and mechanisms - from fossilization to plate tectonics Asks intriguing questions, such as what kind of fossils will humans leave behind? What will happen to cities, roads, cars, and plastic cups? How thick a layer would the nullhuman stratumnull be? And what clues might the rocks reveal about our demise as a species? Provides a unique perspective on environmental change - and argues that the geological legacy of Homo sapiens will provide the ultimate verdict on our species and on our relationship with the planet