Geology of the Sierra Nevada (California Natural History Guides) | 
|  | | | Title: | Geology of the Sierra Nevada (California Natural History Guides) | | Author: | Mary Hill | | Publisher: | University of California Press | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 15 May, 2006 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0520236963 / 9780520236967 | | List Price: | $19.95 | | You Save: | $6.38 | | Amazon Price: | $13.57 | |
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Product Description
Writing with verve and clarity, Mary Hill tells the story of the magnificent Sierra Nevada--the longest, highest, and most spectacular mountain range in the contiguous United States. Hill takes us from the time before the land which would be California even existed, through the days of roaring volcanoes, violent earthquakes, and chilling ice sheets, to the more recent history of the Sierra's early explorers and the generations of adventuresome souls who followed.
The author introduces the rocks of the Sierra Nevada, which tell the mountains' tale, and explains how nature's forces, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, faulting, erosion, and glaciation formed the range's world-renowned scenery and mineral wealth, including gold.
For thirty years, the first edition of Geology of the Sierra Nevada has been the definitive guide to the Sierra Nevada's geological history for nature lovers, travelers, hikers, campers, and armchair explorers. This new edition offers new chapters and sidebars and incorporates the concept of plate tectonics throughout the text.
* Written in easy-to-understand language for a wide audience.
* Gives detailed information on where to view outstanding Sierra Nevada geology in some of the world's most beloved natural treasures and national parks, including Yosemite.
* Provides specific information on places to see glaciers and glacial deposits, caves, and exhibits of gold mines and mining equipment, many from Gold Rush times.
* Superbly illustrated with 117 new color illustrations, 16 halftones, 39 line illustrations, and 12 maps, and also features an easy-to-use, interactive key for identifying rocks and a glossary of geological terms.
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Customer Reviews:
• Geology Of The Sierra Nevada 07 January, 2009
This is an excellent review of the complicated and interesting geology of California's Sierra Nevada.
I particularly liked the section at the beginning of the book, a step-by-step process to identify different rocks. The steps are easy to understand and execute, even for a layman.
Another useful feature of the book is the set of maps showing locations where one can find each different rock type.
The book outlines geological processes (such as volcanism and plate tectonics) and features (e.g., fault lines), and explaines how the present Sierra Nevada was formed.
One particularly useful feature of the volume is that its size and weight allows that a hiker or a climber or a backpacker can carry it with him or her.
- Reviewed by customer ID: ANXKH6SYK1UYH
• Entertaining But Lacking In 'geology' 27 June, 2007
However titillating, this book never quite addressed what I'd hoped to find. I was disappointed that there wasn't much 'geology' in the book other than nice descriptions of how gold wound up where it did and how Half Dome, El Cap, etc. were shaped. On the other hand, it's great for the history of geological exploration and mining in the area (including political intrique between John Muir and 'official' geologists.) Other virtues include lists of noteworthy geological features and great maps and photos.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1PEANVWGP2RL3
• Excellent Read, Very Good Field Guide 06 January, 2009
Geology of the Sierra Nevada (California Natural History Guides)
I enjoy science books that take a historical approach, explaining when and how the facts were determined. This approach brings science to life. Besides the historical information, this book is a comprehensive reference that I will carry with me on hikes in the Sierras.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AVQFDMSFTN1Q9
• They're Not Just Rocks, They're History 22 June, 2006
Three decades ago geologist Mary Hill wrote a handbook to the Sierra Nevada's geologic history and it became the standard guide. The aptly named author has now extensively revised her book. It's an armchair traveler's delight and remains an authoritative guide that will well serve a new generation of hikers, campers, and explorers.
"Geology of the Sierra Nevada: Revised Edition" ($19.95 in full-color paperback from University of California Press) contains almost 200 illustrations, including photographs of rock forms and maps showing where to find them. Hill thanks Bill Guyton, professor emeritus of geosciences at Chico State University, "for his careful reading" of the new manuscript and draws on the research he published in "Glaciers of California" (1998). Guyton distinguished between glaciers and smaller "glacierets" and counted 99 glaciers in the Sierra Nevada and 398 glacierets. Hill notes that "the Sierra Nevada has a lot of glaciers, all of them small. If you are looking for the giants of the Great Ice Age, you will have to be content with their spoor."
The book is divided into two sections. The first offers a "do-it-yourself rock identification key." A series of maps divides the Sierra Nevada into regions and shows where to find prominent rock formations in each area. The first map, mostly of eastern Butte County, locates "conglomerate" ("rock ... made up of grains 2 mm or more in diameter, together with coarser fragments") along Big Chico Creek. You can see shale in the Dry Creek area and lava flow and basalt on Table Mountain.
The second part is the narrative, which takes new research into account. In the last few years, she writes, "the Sierra has been put through the plate tectonics intellectual filter, which has told us how the mountains might have been created, and why they are where they are."
The book also expands its coverage of "human exploration of the Sierra Nevada, not just by geologists" but by others as well.
Here you'll find the story of "the first overland party of settlers to attempt to cross the Sierra. ... The group came to be known as the Bartleson-Bidwell party, as it included two men of leadership mold, John Bartleson and John Bidwell, destined to become eminent in what was to be the 31st U.S. state." Here also is the story of "Snowshoe" Thompson, a Norwegian who for two decades, "beginning in 1856, ... carried the mail across the Sierra Nevada from Placerville, California, to Genoa, Nevada (then called Mormon Station), using long skis (then called 'snowshoes') of his own making."
But Hill's great love is the land itself, the "nervous" Sierra, and her account of the devastating Owens Valley earthquake in 1872 tells not only of human destruction but notes that "the Sierra Nevada itself was severely wracked." She quotes John Muir's eyewitness account: "Shortly after sunrise a low, blunt, muffled rumbling, like a distant thunder, was followed by another series of shocks, which ... made the cliffs and domes tremble like jelly, and the big pines and oaks thrill and swish and wave their branches with startling effect."
At the end of the book, a "coda" reflects on geologic time and human time. "Time is all we have," she writes, "and it behooves us to spend it wisely. Some say that the time spent in the mountains is not subtracted from our allotted three-score-and-ten. So cherish the Sierra, and it will generously reward you."
Copyright 2006 Chico Enterprise-Record. Used by permission.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3AFQN9MNUFAK
• Teachers Reference 17 October, 2007
This is a nice reference source for general geologic information on Sierra Nevada. A definite improvement over the last edition, worth the replacement cost. Too bulky for a field guide unless you like spending your outing buried in a book, but is a great size for student use in class. The breadth of topics is excellent, and material is up to date (not all books available are). For anyone who needs exposure to Sierra Nevada geology, this is a good supplement to the Harden Book
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2SJLS8TK5DHWR
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