Not That Flat: Physical Geography of Rugged Sedimentary Landscapes of the Great Plains

If you think that the Great Plains are flat and uninspiring, this book will change that percept. Geographer Anthony Dzik presents some of the most awe-inspiring sedimentary landscapes of mid-continent North America. Here are the "canyonlands" of northwest Kansas, the rain pillars of Nebraska, the chalk pillars of the Cretaceous Sea, the Swiss cheese-like lumps of Montana's Medicine Rocks, the sparkling Gloss Mountains of Oklahoma, the "Grand Canyon of Texas", the badlands where Teddy Roosevelt rode the range, Hell's Half-Acre, and many other spectacular deviations from "flatness".In terminology familiar to professional natural scientists (but easily understood by laypersons), Dzik deftly describes the geologic, climatic, and biogeographic processes that fashioned the horizontal sedimentary strata into weird and wondrous landscapes. Over 150 full-color pictures, maps, and charts are part of the package.While not really a guidebook, driving directions and suggested hikes and scenic drives are provided for most locations discussed in the book.

Anthony Dzik holds the Ph.D. in Geography from Northwestern University (1986). Currently, he is Professor of Geography at Shawnee State University where he teaches Physical Geography, Regional Geography of the American Great Plains, Regional Geography of the U.S. and Canada, Medical Geography, and Fundamentals of Meteorology. Dzik is author of the book PILLARS OF KEDVALE AVENUE: A GEOGRAPHY OF A CHICAGO WEST SIDE NEIGHBORHOOD IN THE 1960s. He is a co-author of THE INTERPRETATION OF OUR PHYSICAL LANDSCAPE: A WORKBOOK and of BADLANDS OF THE AMERICAN WEST: A PRIMER. He has published articles and reviews in the journals North Dakota Quarterly, Virginia Geographer, Geographia Medica, South Dakota Journal of Medicine, Bulletin of the Illinois Geographical Society, Professional Geographer, Public Health (Journal of Community Medicine), Transactons of the Illinois Academy of Science, Ohio Medicine, Ohio Journal of Science, and West Virginia Medical Journal.