ABSTRACT
At first sight, pollution of the atmosphere does not seem to be geologically relevant. However, there are two ways in which geologists are now involved in this environmental issue. First, many air pollutants are derived from the use of geological resources, particularly from burning fossil fuels. Secondly, these pollutants disturb natural global systems that link the atmosphere with the hydrosphere and biosphere, and with the geological processes of the lithosphere. The extent to which geologists should be concerned by the downstream effects of the resources that they find is an ethical issue, discussed later (Part V). However, this aside, the contribution of Earth history to the prediction of future climate change is reason enough to review atmospheric pollution.
