Details

ISBN-10: 0520275772
ISBN-13: 9780520275775
Publisher: University of California Press
Publish Date: 05/01/2013
Dimensions: 10.10" L, 7.30" W, 0.80" H

Rough-Hewn Land: A Geologic Journey from California to the Rocky Mountains

Paperback

Price: $29.95

Overview

“Unfold a map of North America,” Keith Heyer Meldahl writes, “and the first thing to grab your eye is the bold shift between the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains.” In this absorbing book, Meldahl takes readers on a 1000-mile-long field trip back through more than 100 million years of deep time to explore America’s most spectacular and scientifically intriguing landscapes. He places us on the outcrops, rock hammer in hand, to examine the evidence for how these rough-hewn lands came to be. We see California and its gold assembled from pieces of old ocean floor and the relentless movements of the Earth’s tectonic plates. We witness the birth of the Rockies. And we investigate the violent earthquakes that continue to shape the region today. Into the West’s geologic story, Meldahl also weaves its human history. As we follow the adventures of John C. Frémont, Mark Twain, the Donner party, and other historic characters, we learn how geologic forces have shaped human experience in the past and how they direct the fate of the West today.

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Reviews
"The writing is so conversational that it's hard to believe this is science. . . . Meldahl has captured the wonder, as well as the facts that produced it [the geologic world of the American West] in this vaguely unsettling (so much activity in what we depend on to be still and solid) and enlightening book."– "The Atlantic" (3/1/2012 12:00:00 AM)
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Details

ISBN-10: 0520275772
ISBN-13: 9780520275775
Publisher: University of California Press
Publish Date: 05/01/2013
Dimensions: 10.10" L, 7.30" W, 0.80" H
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