Ancient Landscapes Of The Colorado Plateau Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
Imagine seeing the varied landscapes of the earth as they used to look throughout hundreds of millions of years of earth history. Tropical seas lap on the shores of an Arizona beach. Immense sand dunes shift and swirl in Sahara-like deserts in Utah and New Mexico. Ancient rivers spill from a mountain range in Colorado that was a precursor to the modern Rockies. Such flights of geologic fancy are now tangible through the thought-provoking and beautiful paleogeographic maps, reminiscent of the maps in world atlases we all paged through as children, of Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau. Ron Blakey of Northern Arizona University is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the geologic history of the Colorado Plateau. For more than fifteen years, he has meticulously created maps that show how numerous past landscapes gave rise to the region’s stunning geologic formations. Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau is the first book to showcase Blakey’s remarkable work. His maps are accompanied by text by Wayne Ranney, geologist and award-winning author of Carving Grand Canyon. Ranney takes readers on a fascinating tour of the many landscapes depicted in the maps, and Blakey and Ranney’s fruitful collaboration brings the past alive like never before.Features: More than 70 state-of-the-art paleogeographic maps of the region and of the world, developed over many years of geologic research Detailed yet accessible text that covers the geology of the plateau in a way nongeologists can appreciate More than 100 full-color photographs, diagrams, and illustrations A detailed guide of where to go to see the spectacular rocks of the region
Paperback: 156 pages
Publisher: Grand Canyon Association; 1st edition (October 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1934656038
ISBN-13: 978-1934656037
Product Dimensions: 9 x 0.6 x 12 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #525,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #91 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Mountains #252 in Books > History > Historical Study & Educational Resources > Historical Geography #812 in Books > Travel > United States > West > Mountain
Full disclosure: I know both authors well. The amount of work that went into the images of the ancient geographies here [by Ron Blakey] is measured in man-years. Ron is a gifted geologist AND a gifted artist [primarily landscapes in oils] AND a gifted user of the latest imaging software. The results are one-of-a-kind spectacular. No one else on earth could have put these images together with SO much geologic knowledge [a lifetime as a professional geologist studying the sedimentary rocks of the Colorado Plateau] and could join with a former student ">Read more
I have been searching for over 2 years for illustrations of when seas were present in the Southwest United States, particularly New Mexico as my family lived in the mountains there and found many sea shell fossils. This book is a gold mine of information and exactly what I've been looking for and so much more. The illustrations are beautiful and the text is very informative. I highly recommend it!
Millions of people know the landscapes of the Colorado Plateau very well--or at least they think they do. They've hiked over that land for years and enjoyed its contours and colors and felt its reality in their tired muscles, felt it as hard rock under their sleeping bags. But it turns out that maybe we haven't known that landscape so well after all. You can't fully know it until you can see into its past, into all of the geological action it contains. This book will come as a revelation to many who thought they knew these landscapes. Perhaps we knew abstractly that 100 million years ago there was something else going on in a particular spot. But this book brings those ages to life. Its illustrations are like being given x-ray vision into time. Whether your favorite spot is the Sedona red rocks or Bryce or Moab, you'll now be able to relate it to larger patterns both in space and time. The illustrations are backed up by a text that explains events more fully.
Blakely and Ranney's book brings the whole geology of the Southwest into perspective. I have for years tried to visualize what was going on with continents and super-continents and oceans and inland seas (and on and on) while hiking in the Grand Canyon, Zion, Escallante, Arches, and the rest of the Southwest. Then, this last year I was at the Arches NP visitor's center and here are these remarkable paintings showing the area around Arches as it was in various stages throughout the eons. Turns out they were out of this book which I immediately bought.What you get are unbelievably beautiful colored geography maps of the Southwest as it was in various times throughout geological history. You can see the continents move around, the seas come in and recede again, and the inland lakes and seas form. The outlines of the states are roughly shown to allow you to see what is where. I was finally able to visualize the whole thing.From Arches we drove down to the Grand Canyon and I truly saw it in a different light. The layers made much more sense and Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau definitely presented the geological history better than Grand Canyon NP does.It takes a while to digest this book just because there is so much there. I can not image how long it took the two authors to produce this but it is worth far more than they are charging. In the world of geology and the Southwest, this is truly Art!!! By the book a few weeks before you head to the Southwest. Set yourself aside an evening to read it then a second evening to just page through it and finally understand the whole geological story. Then go to the Southwest and find out you truly can be more in awe than you were the first time.
Having lived most of my life on or near the Colorado Plateau, I have been fascinated for decades with the colorful and clearly defined geologic strata and history of the Plateau. This wonderful book is a masterpiece, not just about the Plateau itself but how it's development influenced other nearby regions such as the Basin and Range. I love the beautifully rendered landscape depictions and the text itself is excellently written and easy to understand, technical enough for the amateur geologist (such as myself) to learn from but not so much as to get lost in the verbiage. I originally checked it out from the library and was so impressed I went out and bought a copy of my own. Clearly, the authors are professional geologists and deserve great credit for a very readable trip through Time. If you have spent any time in the Four Corners region and wondered about how the abundant layers and colors and fantastic erosional features got there, this book is for you!
This is top-of-the-line stuff for someone wanting to dive into the geological past and ponder what things might have been like over the past billion-plus years. It's historical geology at its best: great landscapes, outstanding rock exposures, and all presented in excellent readable and visual formats. Major thanks to the authors for this marvelous work.
This is a beautiful book, with clear text describing the change in the environment through time. Not something to read cover-to-cover in one sitting, but a book to savor one time period at a time. It will also be an excellent reference. It really pulls together a lot of detail into the big picture, and the Grand Canyon and the Colorado Plateau are definitely a "big picture" !I would recommend this for both professional geologists visiting the area, and for those rock hounds that just love to understand the scenery they see as they travel.
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