Geology Resources
Resources for:
These are just a few of the many resources available from our library.
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Resources for a General Audience
3D Digital Geological Models: From Terrestrial Outcrops to Planetary Surfaces
Andrea Bistacchi, Matteo Massironi, and Sophie Viseur, editors
Wiley, 2022, 216 pages
3D Digital Geological Models has two central objectives, to highlight the similarities that geological disciplines have in common when applied to entities in the solar system, and to encourage interdisciplinary communication and collaboration between different scientific communities. The book particularly focuses on analytical techniques on DOMs, DEMs and SMs that allow for quantitative characterization of outcrops and geomorphological features. It also highlights innovative 3D interpretation and modeling strategies that allow scientists to gain new and more advanced quantitative results on terrestrial and extraterrestrial structures. This book is a useful reference for the study of earth science, structural geology, geophysics, petroleum geology, remote sensing, and geostatistics.
Geopedia: A Brief Compendium of Geological Curiosities
Marcia Bjornerud
Princeton University Press, 2022, 184 pages
Geopedia is a trove of geologic wonders and the evocative terms that humans have devised to describe them. Featuring dozens of entries — from Acasta gneiss to Zircon — this illustrated compendium is brimming with lapidary and lexical insights that will delight rockhounds and word lovers alike. The author shows how the geology lexicon reflects not only the diversity of rocks and geologic processes but also the long history of human interactions with them. Its pocket-friendly size makes it the perfect travel companion no matter where you go. Geopedia is a mix of engaging and entertaining facts about how the earth works, how it has coevolved with life over billions of years, and how our understanding of the planet has deepened over time.
Geological Society of America Geologic Time Scale Poster, Version 6.0
J. D. Walker and J. W. Geissman, compilers
Geological Society of America, 2022
In 1982, an ad hoc Time Scale Advisory Committee was formed to create a compact, succinctly organized, and detailed compilation of our current knowledge of geologic time at that time. The geological community no longer views the time scale as static and supports the idea that it should evolve over time as new research is done. This poster is the sixth and latest version of the GSA time scale from 2022.
Structural Geology, Second Edition
Haakon Fossen
Cambridge University Press, 2016, 510 pages
This second edition of Structural Geology has been fully updated; it includes a new chapter on joints and veins, additional examples from around the world, stunning new field photos, and extended online resources with new animations and exercises. Carefully designed full-color illustrations work closely with the text to support student learning and are supplemented with high-quality photos from around the world.
Volcanism and Tectonism Across the Inner Solar System
T. Platz, M. Massironi, P. K. Byrne, and H. Hiesinger, editors
Geological Society of London, 2015, 448 pages
Volcanism and tectonism are the dominant endogenic means by which planetary surfaces change. This book encompasses the broad range in character of volcanism, tectonism, faulting, and associated interactions observed on planetary bodies across the inner solar system, including Mercury, Venus, Earth, the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. This book features 22 research articles about volcanic and tectonic processes manifest across the inner solar system.
Kenneth L. Tanaka, James A. Skinner Jr., James M. Dohm, Rossman P. Irwin III, Eric J. Kolb, Corey M. Fortezzo, Thomas Platz, Gregory G. Michael, and Trent M. Hare
United States Geological Survey, 2014, 1 sheet (map) + 43 pages (pamphlet)
This global geologic map of Mars, which records the distribution of geologic units and landforms on the planet’s surface through time, is based on unprecedented variety, quality, and quantity of remotely sensed data acquired since the Viking Orbiters. These data have provided morphologic, topographic, spectral, thermophysical, radar sounding, and other observations for integration, analysis, and interpretation in support of geologic mapping.
Rethinking the Fabric of Geology
Victor R. Baker, editor
Geological Society of America, 2013, 185 pages
The years since the publication of Fabric of Geology, edited by C. C. Albritton Jr., have seen immense changes in both geology and philosophy of science. Rethinking the Fabric of Geology explores philosophical issues in geology, ranging from its nature as a historical science to implications for geological education. This publication is GSA Special Papers Volume 502.
Introduction to Planetary Geomorphology
Ronald Greeley
Cambridge University Press, 2013, 238 pages
Featuring a wealth of images, this textbook explores the geological evolution of the planets and moons. Introductory chapters discuss how information gathered from spacecraft is used to unravel the geological complexities of our solar system, and subsequent chapters focus on current understandings of planetary systems. This book highlights the differences and similarities of the surfaces at a level that can be readily understood by non-specialists.
Earth Materials: Introduction to Mineralogy and Petrology
Cornelis Klein and Anthony R. Philpotts
Cambridge University Press, 2013, 533 pages
The fundamental concepts of mineralogy and petrology are explained in this highly illustrated, full-color textbook to create a concise overview for students studying Earth materials. The relationship between minerals and rocks and how they relate to the broader Earth, materials and environmental sciences is interwoven throughout. Beautiful photos of specimens and Crystal-Maker's 3-D illustrations allow students to easily visualize minerals, rocks, and crystal structures. The importance of Earth materials to human cultural development and the hazards they pose to humans are discussed in later chapters. This wide-ranging book is written by two world-renowned authors, each with over 40 years of teaching experience, who bring that experience to clearly convey the important topics.
Grand Canyon Geology: Two Billion Years of Earth’s History
J. Michael Timmons and Karl E. Karlstrom, editors
Geological Society of America, 2012, 156 pages
Carved in the last six million years by the Colorado River and its tributaries, the Grand Canyon is one of the premier geologic landscapes in the world. Illustrated with numerous color photographs and accompanied by the most detailed geologic map of eastern Grand Canyon to date, this volume provides an easy-to-understand summary of the geologic stories encoded by rocks and landscapes of Grand Canyon. This publication is GSA Special Papers Volume 489.
Project Earth Science: Geology, Second Edition
Paul D. Fullagar and Nancy W. West
National Science Teachers Association, 2011, 248 pages
This book presents activities that focus on how plate tectonics explain characteristics and features of Earth. Fifteen hands-on, teacher-tested, classroom activities that use readily available materials provide straightforward and up-to-date explanations of geologic processes and cycles. Background materials for students and teachers, detailed and illustrated procedures for doing activities, and supplemental resources provide tools to investigate and understand Earth’s major geologic phenomena.
Rock Fractures in Geological Processes
Agust Gudmundsson
Cambridge University Press, 2011, 578 pages
Rock fractures control many of Earth’s dynamic processes, including plate-boundary development, tectonic earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and fluid transport in the crust. An understanding of rock fractures is also essential for effective exploitation of natural resources such as ground water, geothermal water, and petroleum. This book combines results from fracture mechanics, materials science, rock mechanics, structural geology, hydrogeology, and fluid mechanics to explore and explain fracture processes and fluid transport in the crust.
Essentials of Geology, Tenth Edition
Frederick K. Lutgens and Edward J. Tarbuck
Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009, 509 pages
This textbook provides an introduction to physical geology. A new way of reading physical geology, this tenth edition employs a superior new graphic design to make a trusted text that is already number one with professors become number one with students.
Pioneer Productions for The History Channel, 2008, one DVD (94 minutes)
Purchase on AmazonFrom a once-seething, hellish mass of molten rock to the world that inhabits life today, this DVD presents a rollercoaster ride through the entire history of Planet Earth. It’s a 4.5-billion-year epic, a story of unimaginable timescales, Earth-shattering forces, incredible life forms, radical climates, and mass extinctions. Explore historical geology and Earth’s natural history and discover how the continents were formed, how the canyons were carved, and why the world’s animals live where they do.
Living Rock: An Introduction to Earth’s Geology
Alpha DVD, 2002, 60 minutes
Purchase on AmazonEver wonder why earthquakes happen, or how a volcano works? Find the answers to these and many other questions in this fun and educational DVD jointly produced by the U.S. Geological Survey and Alpha DVD. This program presents an introduction to Earth’s geology, covering concepts such as geologic time, continental crust, plate tectonics, volcanic activity, earthquakes, subduction zones, erosion, and glaciers.
Resources for Kids
Ann O. Squire
Children’s Press, 2013, 48 pages
From huge, craggy boulders and tiny, smooth pebbles to the stones used to construct buildings, rocks are almost everywhere we look. Young readers will learn how rocks are formed, why some are so different from others, and how people have used them throughout history.
Natalie Hyde
Crabtree Publishing, 2011, 32 pages
What is the Rock Cycle? describes the natural transformation of one type of rock into others. Beginning with igneous rocks made in volcanic eruptions, rock is weathered and eroded gradually to form a sediment. This sediment is then deposited and pressed into layers making sedimentary rocks. These in turn are transformed by heat and pressure into metamorphic rocks. Heat makes these melt into magma, which, together with molten rock from the core of the Earth, makes new igneous rocks.
Susan H. Gray
Children’s Press, 2008, 48 pages
Discover how geologists study rocks to learn more about Earth, from how it was formed to how it has grown and changed over millions of years. This book is part of A True Book: Earth Science series that presents fascinating facts and fun activities that will engage the budding Earth scientist, while exploring the field of geology. Young readers will learn about the causes of earthquakes, volcanoes, and other Earth-shaking disasters.
Space Rocks: The Story of Planetary Geologist Adriana Ocampo
Lorraine Jean Hopping
Franklin Watts, 2005, 118 pages
How did an imaginative young girl with a dream of space exploration become a planetary geologist? Adriana Ocampo grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, dreaming about exploring planets. How did she land a job with NASA while she was still in her teens? How did a robot parked on Mars make her fall in love with rocks and instantly decide to become a planetary geologist? Her imagination and can-do attitude led her to a life of science adventures. She helped find the missing Crater of Doom, a hole blasted out of Earth by a killer space rock 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs died out. Between rock digs, she explores other planets through the electronic eyes of NASA’s robotic spacecraft. This book highlights the woman and her science and is fascinating for readers of all ages.
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