California Council of Geoscience Organizations

GENERAL GEOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES

Cvancara, Alan M. A Field Manual for the Amateur Geologist: Tools and Activities for Exploring Our Planet. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1995. ISBN 0-471-04430-X. - A good resource describing the science of geology and how to do geology in the field. It introduces key concepts in geology, tools, and techniques, as well as information to help identify landforms, minerals, rocks, and fossils.

Farndon, John and Neil Ardley. Dictionary of the Earth. DK Publishing, New York, 1995. ISBN 0789400499. - Explains over 2,000 key words in geography, geology, meteorology, oceanography, paleontology, and ecology. Fully indexed and cross-referenced. Full-color illustrations.

Kious, W. Jacquelyne and Robert I. Tilling. This Dynamic Earth: The Story of Plate Tectonics. U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1996?.   ISBN 0-16-048220-8. - A brief introduction to the concept of plate tectonics and a complement to the USGS map, This Dynamic Planet.   The book can be viewed online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/dynamic.html. The map can be viewed at http://pubs.usgs.gov/pdf/planet.html.

Pellant, Chris. DK Handbooks: Rocks & Minerals. DK Publishing, New York, 2000. ISBN 156458061X. - Color photos accompany descriptions, facts on formation, plus quick keys to group, composition, hardness, cleavage and fracture.

Walker, Cyril and David Ward. DK Handbooks: Fossils. DK Publishing, New York, 2000. ISBN 1564580717 - A look at fossils features discussions of more than five hundred specimens, each photographed in full color, and provides an at-a-glance information panel, maps, and diagrams.

ANNALS OF THE FORMER WORLD
John McPhee
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
New York, 2000
ISBN 0-374-10520-0
A collection of McPhee's writings including Basin and Range, 1981, which describes the geology traversed along Interstate 80 through Utah and Nevada; In Suspect Terrain, 1983, which provides a cross section of North America along the 40th parallel; Rising from the Plains, 1986, which focuses on the high-country geology of the Rocky Mountains.

GEOLOGIC STORY OF THE NATIONAL PARKS AND MONUMENTS
David V. Harris and Eugene P. Kiver
Fourth edition, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1985
ISBN 0-471-87224-5
Geological story of national parks and monuments in the U.S. Includes a section on geological principles that aid in understanding the geological environments of the various locations.

GEOLOGY AND AMERICA'S NATIONAL PARK AREAS
Brooks B. Ellwood
Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1996
ISBN :      0-023-32753-7
Annotation:       Describes many of the national parks and monuments in the U.S. "geologically." Organized into categories, including igneous rocks, earthquakes and plate tectonics, deserts, and glaciation. Includes an introduction to geology, and a section on dating Earth, glossary, index, and references.

GEOLOGY OF NATIONAL PARKS
Ann Harris, Esther Tuttle, and Sherwood D. Tuttle
Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 5th edition
Dubuque, IA, 1997
ISBN :   0-787-24563-1
Annotation:     An overview of the geology featured in many of the U.S. national parks and monuments. Divided into categories such as mountain building and uplift, igneous activity and volcanism, glaciers and glacial processes. Includes maps, photographs, and bibliographies.

LOCAL GEOLOGY

Howard, Arthur D. Geologic History of Middle California. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1979. ISBN 0-520-03874-6. - This California Natural History Guide from UC Press tells the story of how plate tectonics worked to create features such as the San Andreas Fault and the Coast Ranges of middle California.

Hyndman, Donald W. and David D. Alt. Roadside Geology of Northern and Central California. Mountain Press Publishing Company; Missoula, MT, 2000. ISBN: 0878424091. - This book is part of the "Roadside Geology" series and includes descriptions and explanations for the rocks and landforms you might see as you travel along the highways of northern and central California.

Konigsmark, Ted. Geologic Trips: San Francisco and the Bay Area. GeoPress, Gualala, CA, 1998. ISBN 0-9661316-4-9 - Includes seven geologic trips to Bay Area landmarks, including Alcatraz Island, Fort Point, the Cliff House, the Marin Headlands, Angel Island, Fort Funston, Crystal Springs Reservoir, and the Point Reyes Peninsula. On these trips you will learn about the geologic processes that have formed the rocks and landscape of the Coast Ranges of northern California.

McPhee, John. Assembling California. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1993. ISBN 0374523932. - A general account of California's geologic history written after McPhee accompanied geologist Eldridge Moores on many field trips across California. The result of their treks is a cross-section of the state in both human and geologic time, from the Sierra Nevadas to the Great Central Valley, from wine country to the fault lines

Geology and Natural History of the San Francisco Bay Area: A Field-Trip Guidebook - Edited by Philip W. Stoffer and Leslie C. Gordon. US Geological Survey Bulletin 2188, 2001. http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/bulletin/b2188/ - This report consists of six field trip guides and five articles touching on many aspects of the geology and natural hazards of the Bay area, especially urban problems associated with living on an active tectonic plate margin: earthquake faults, coastal erosion, landslides, and the utilization of land and natural resources. Each guide and article can be downloaded separately here or the entire field guide can be downloaded as one document.

Wagner, David L. and Stephan A. Graham, editors. Geologic Field Trips in Northern California: Centennial Meeting of the Cordilleran Section of the Geological Society of America. Special Publication 119. California Division of Mines and Geology, Sacramento, CA, 1999. [Order from CDMG at http://www.consrv.ca.gov/dmg/pubs/pub_idx/gbooks.htm or call 916-445-5716. - This guide book provides more information about field trips, including:
o The Hayward Fault-Source of the Next Big Quake?
o Earthquakes on the Calaveras Fault: Fact or fiction? The
o Geology, Seismology and Paleoseismicity of the Calaveras Fault
o The San Andreas Fault Zone Near Point Reyes
o Geology and Natural History of the Central Coast Ranges

Wahrhaftig, Clyde (coordinator). Geology of San Francisco and Vicinity: Field Trip Guidebook T105. 28th International Geological Congress, San Francisco Bay Region, California, July -1-7, 1989. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 1989. ISBN 0-87590-663-X, AGU CODE IG105663X. [This book can be ordered directly from the AGU (1-800-966-2481) via the web at http://earth.agu.org/cgi-bin/agubookstore. Do a search for T105 under Field Trip Guides in the pulldown menu.] This guidebook includes field trip guides to a variety of Bay Area locations, including the Berkeley Hills, Hayward Fault, Angel Island, and the Napa Valley plus background information about the rocks and geological setting.

Wahrhaftig, Clyde. A Streetcar to Subduction and Other Plate Tectonics Trips by Public Transport in San Francisco. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC., 1984. ISBN 0-87590-234-0. ASIN: 0875902340. [This book can be ordered directly from the AGU (1-800-966-2481) via the web at http://earth.agu.org/cgi-bin/agubookstore. Do a search for "Wahrhaftig."]
This guidebook describes the rocky outcrops seen in the City, many of which can be reached by public transport. Also included are trips to Marin Headlands, Angel Island, and the Hayward fault. To help the nonspecialist understand the history and context of the different rock types, an introductory section provides background on the theory of plate tectonics.

WEBSITES

Access USGS (San Francisco Bay Area with Real-time Earthquake Information)
http://sfbay.wr.usgs.gov/

Athena Project/Direction for Teachers (Earth)
http://www.athena.ivv.nasa.gov/project/teacher/dft/dftea.html

Bay Area Earth Science Institute
http://www.baesi.org/Bay.htm

California Division of Mines and Geology
http://www.consrv.ca.gov/dmg/

Earth from Space
http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/

Hayward Fault Tour
http://www.mcs.csuhayward.edu/~shirschf/index.html

Learning Web at USGS
http://www.usgs.gov/education/

Life along the Faultline
http://www.exploratorium.edu/faultline/index.html
(Webcasts, actual news footage, personal accounts, images, and other stories and
resources about California earthquakes compiled by The Exploratorium.)

MapFinder
http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/Webglis/glisbin/finder_main.pl?dataset_name=MAPS_LARGE

Mount Diablo Interpretive Association (MDIA)
http://www.mdia.org

National Earth Science Teachers Association
http://science.coe.uwf.edu/NESTA/NESTA.html

National Park Service
http://www.nps.gov

Our Changing Earth Curricular Companion
http://www.keystone.fi.edu/cc_oce/index.shtml

PhotoFinder (aerial photographs)
http://edc.usgs.gov/Webglis/glisbin/finder_main.pl?dataset_name=NAPP

Portfolio of images of landscape, seascape and faults of the San Francisco Bay area
http://www.sfbayquakes.org/

USGS TerraWeb for Kids
http://TerraWeb.wr.usgs.gov/TRS/kids/VRML.html

U.S. Geological Survey
http://www.usgs.gov

Virtual and On-line Geologic Field Trip Guides: United States and Canada
The Walter Geology Library, The University of Texas at Austin
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/geo/onlineguides.html

Volcano World
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/