I can see in-between the layers of rock
fish that are trapped in stone.
I wonder what happened to them.
All of the mysteries hidden in this Earth.
Let's go to solve them all.

1. Story
Flip the cover over, and you will meet the main Story contents
filled with beautiful watercolor paintings.

A child runs into a fish fossil.
Like it will swim out of the rock!
"Why has the fish turn into a stone?"
Curious as to what happened to the fish,
the child gets on a journy to find out the Story
that is hidden under the Earth.

The kid visits deep into the oceans
through the passage of time dimensions, he visits the original Earth that was peaceful and beautiful.

And there he witnesses remarkable events
that happened to the Earth's landmasses--
where the large landmasses cracked up, burst open, and broke apart!
where the entire Earth drowned,
shaken, and split, and moved.

The scientific information in the Story.
1. Each scene of the Story contains simple scientific lessons as Tips.
2. Every scene of the Story is linked to Helpful Words that helps the reader find out more scientific contents.


2. Let’s find out! (Helpful words)
The Tips and Helpful Words explain the scientific details easily while reading the Story.


Enlarge it

Let’s find out! (Helpful words)
Long ago, people used to think that the Earth was flat and plain-shaped everywhere. But someone asked “Is that really so?”, and more discovery led to the realization that the Earth is round like a ball. It is important that we ask questions about what we take for granted and how we tend to think. What kind of questions, then, did scientists ask lately? And what did they find out?

Table of Helpful words
● Do other planets have land and sea?
● What does the sea floor look like?
● Why does hot water come out of the ocean floor?
● Did land and sea look the same as they do today?
● What is the evidence that all continents used to be one landmass?
● Did the ground split slowly or quickly?
● What would happen when the ocean floor splits quickly?
● How much water is there inside the Earth?
● How did layered sedimentary rocks form?
● How did fossils form?
● What would happen to people and animals?
● What happened when the volcano Mt.St. Helens erupted?
● How could a piece of land sink beneath another?
● How fast did the grounds move?
● Where did the water that used to cover the Earth go?
● Couldn’t all the fish die if the lava heated the ocean waters?
● How did the Ice Age come about?
● When did the dinosaurs live?
● What do the land masses that sunk look like today?


3. The age group this book is written for
〈The Secret under the Earth〉 is a picture book.
Just looking at the pictures will give you glimpses of the contents.
The words were written at a simple level
so that they can be read as easily as looking at the pictures.
However, reading the words, the pictures, and the helpful words
together carefully will help you understand
catastrophic plate tectonics more deeply.

This book was written to be understood by
little children, grade school students,
middle and high school students, and even adults.
Anyone can read it!


Makers

When Alfred Wegener claimed that the land masses of Earth had
been connected together as a supercontinent, many scientists of
the time laughed at the idea and ridiculed him.
They did so because most scientists back then thought that the
land (the crust) could never move, the fitting shapes of coastlines
of the continents on the opposite sides across the ocean were just
a coincidence, and the appearance of the same fossils between
the continents that are disconnected today, thinking that there
would have been bridges in the seas for the migrations of animals.
However, countless evidences such as that the oceanic crust is
expanding and the traces of paleomagnetism at the mid-ocean
ridges testify that the land (the crust) is moving.
So now the fact that the landmasses move is accepted, and this is
called the theory of plate tectonics. Furthermore, recently, some
geologists have argued that the plate tectonic movements took
place much faster in the past than today.
The mantle convection simulations by Dr. John Baumgardner, a
master of computer simulations, received much attention as the
results demonstrated rapid cataclysmic movements of the plates.
This book introduces the cataclysmic aspects of the plate
tectonic movement. I recommend that you pick up this book to
learn about the new plate tectonics.
- Dong-Kweon Lee (Ph. D. Geophysics, Seoul National University)