257
shore because of the remnants they left behind: the cross-bedded waves of sediment,
the spreads of fine silt, the wave-cut terraces, the evaporites left behind, and the fossils. The biota, now fossilized, not only inhabited the water environment but was
also touched by the climate and responded in a quantifiable way. Digging deep,
knowing that nature always follows the same laws of physics and chemistry to lay
out biology and geology, the processes of the past, present and future are the same,
leaving the same clues and hinting at future results. Nature – indeed the universe –
has operated on the same rules forever.
The geologists have tracked the sum totals of the sea, and now, with the measurements they’ve recorded, it is up to us to anticipate the places they’ll go, the things
that they’ll see, the challenges of sea level and climate that all of us will face.
15 The Water, the Coast, the Future
shore because of the remnants they left behind: the cross-bedded waves of sediment,
the spreads of fine silt, the wave-cut terraces, the evaporites left behind, and the fossils. The biota, now fossilized, not only inhabited the water environment but was
also touched by the climate and responded in a quantifiable way. Digging deep,
knowing that nature always follows the same laws of physics and chemistry to lay
out biology and geology, the processes of the past, present and future are the same,
leaving the same clues and hinting at future results. Nature – indeed the universe –
has operated on the same rules forever.
The geologists have tracked the sum totals of the sea, and now, with the measurements they’ve recorded, it is up to us to anticipate the places they’ll go, the things
that they’ll see, the challenges of sea level and climate that all of us will face.
15 The Water, the Coast, the Future