The use of accelerators as mass spectrometers puts the work horse of isotope dating on a new, more useful footing. (Author/BB)

Heat, like money, has its budgets. Income and outgo at the sea surface determines the balance. (Author/BB)

Through the study of ocean temperature anomalies, scientists are trying to determine whether the seas initiate climate change or follow the dictates of the atmosphere. (Author/BB)

Halfway through a five-year experimental program designed to test classical concepts of ocean/atmosphere climate dynamics, researchers are finding that the theories may conflict with new data on disturbances in the ocean thermal structure. (Author BB)

A great many atmospheric and oceanic events are involved in the growth of sea ice, an important but not completely understood influence on the climate system. (Author/BB)

Drilling during 1978 focused on three major geologic problems: the nature and origin of the oceanic crust, the nature and geologic history of the active continental margins, and the oceanic paleoenvironment. (Author/BB)

In 1978, this field was dominated by human needs projects such as rapid transportation, energy production, and waste disposal. (BB)

The growing interest in evaporite geology in 1978 is shown by the number of short courses, meetings, and symposiums that were held on various aspects of evaporites. (BB)

Important areas of geodynamics research for the future are the thermal structure and the volatile content of the crust and upper mantle. (BB)

Research efforts tended to focus on the ancestry of major groups in 1978, and in particular on Cambrian fossils. (Author/BB)

The area of geological mapping in the United States in 1978 increased greatly over that reported in 1977; state geological maps were added for California, Idaho, Nevada, and Alaska last year. (Author/BB)

The year 1978 saw the passage of the nation's energy bill, but this is offset by stalemates in other areas. (BB)

Developments in this field during 1978 included four major meetings, two treatises on copper, one on arsenic, an assessment of mercury, and a book on "Modern Methods of Trace Element Analysis." (BB)

Discusses the process of star formation. Infrared and radio astronomy, particularly microwave astronomy is used to provide information on different stages of stellar formation. The role of dust and gas which swirl through the interstellar regions of a galaxy and the collapse of a cloud in star formation are also presented. (HM)

The Numbered Interval System, a proposed geologic time scale based on 20 million-year intervals and radiometric dating, is presented. (MDR)