Geology Underfoot in Death Valley and Eastern California: Second Edition

by Allen F. Glazner, Arthur Gibbs Sylvester, Robert P. Sharp

Overview

Eastern California—a geologically dramatic region with the ever-present risk of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, flash floods, and sand storms—boasts spectacular and easily viewed rocks and landforms. Authors Allen Glazner and Art Sylvester build on coauthor Bob Sharp's insights to produce this full-color illustrated guide to 33 amazing geologic sites in Death Valley and the surrounding region. Learn how stones slide across the Racetrack playa, find the rocks missing from Dantes View, and visit the rim of the Long Valley caldera, an enormous depression left by a supervolcano eruption far larger than any that has occurred since the dawn of civilization.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780878427079
Publisher:	Mountain Press
Publication date:	02/10/2022
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	326
Sales rank:	607,976
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Allen F. Glazner was born, raised, and educated in southern California. He earned a BA degree from Pomona College and a PhD degree in geology from UCLA. Allen was a sports reporter in high school, worked summer jobs with the USGS and Shell, and took a faculty position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill immediately after finishing his PhD, pursuits that were all too fun to be considered real jobs. He has conducted geological research in the Sierra Nevada and eastern California since his undergraduate days, and retired from teaching in 2019. He is coauthor of Geology Underfoot in Yosemite National Park and of both editions of Geology Underfoot in Southern California, the latter with Art and Bob Sharp.


Arthur Gibbs Sylvester was born, raised, and educated in southern California. He each earned a BA degree from Pomona College and a PhD degree in geology from UCLA. Art joined a team of Shell Development Company research geologists to study the tectonic history of the Pacific margin of the United States after earning his PhD, but UC Santa Barbara lured him away from Shell to teach courses in structural geology, field geology, and petrology. His research includes fieldwork in Norway, Italy, Grand Teton National Park, the Tahoe-Sierra, and the Salton Trough. He has led more than 300 field trips in southern California for student, industrial, and professional geologists. After retiring from active teaching in 2003, Art and Libby O'Black Gans coauthored Roadside Geology of Southern California.


Robert P. Sharp (1911-2004) originated the Geology Underfoot series. In 1993 he took on Allen, 43 years his junior, to cowrite the first book in the series, Geology Underfoot in Southern California. Bob taught generations of geology students at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), leading them on field trips across the West and Hawaii even into his 90s. A true polymath who could explain complex concepts to anyone, his specialty fields included sand dune physics, glaciology, and planetary sciences. He was among the first to interpret dune processes in orbital imagery from Mars and received the Penrose Medal from the Geological Society of America, its highest honor, in 1977. In further recognition of his contributions to diverse fields, a mountain and a glacier in Antartica, a Mars-crossing asteroid, and a mountain on Mars have been named in his honor.

Table of Contents

An Important Note to Readers vi

Preface vii

Acknowledgments viii

The Sublime Geology of Eastern California 1

Vignettes

Death Valley

1 Badwater 9

2 Devils Golf Course and the Badwater Salt Flats 16

3 Natural Bridge Canyon 21

4 Ventifact Ridge 26

5 Artists Drive 32

6 Zabriskie Point, Gower Gulch, and Golden Canyon 37

7 Dantes View 45

8 Lake Manly 57

9 Mesquite Dunes 65

10 Mosaic Canyon 73

11 Salt Creek 83

12 Titus Canyon 89

13 Ubehebe Crater 103

14 The Racetrack 111

15 Rainbow Canyon and Father Crowley Vista Point 121

Southern Approaches

16 The Mojave River 131

17 Trona Pinnacles of Searles Lake 139

18 Fossil Falls 147

19 Ancient Lake Tecopa 155

20 The Resting Spring Pass Tuff 162

Owens Valley, Bishop, and Lone Pine

21 Alabama Hills 169

22 Lone Pine Fault and the 1872 Earthquake 177

23 Big Pine Volcanic Field 187

24 Poleta Folds 195

25 Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest 205

26 Buttermilk Boulders 217

27 Owens River Gorge 229

Mammoth Lakes and Mono Craters

28 Hilton Creek Fault at McGee Canyon 239

29 Hot Creek Geological Site 246

30 Mammoth Mountain and Long Valley Caldera 253

31 Devils Postpile 263

32 Obsidian Dome, Inyo Craters, and the Earthquake Fault 271

33 Mono Craters from Punch Bowl to Panum 281

Glossary 290

List of Sources 299

Index 306

About the Authors 316

Geologic Checklist 318