Roadside Geology of Arizona, Second Edition (Paperback)

Nowhere in the country is the roadside geology better exposed than in the mountains and deserts of Arizona.

With this photo-filled book as your guide, you will experience the rocky scenery of Arizona with a new appreciation, as you learn about colorful badlands in the Painted Desert, past environments preserved in Sedona's red and white sandstone cliffs, fossilized logs at Petrified Forest National Park, and the copper mined at Bisbee, Morenci, Bagdad, and elsewhere.

Impressive gorges cut through the landscape, including those of the Little Colorado, Gila, and Salt Rivers, but the most spectacular gorge is the Grand Canyon, with its famous layered walls underlain by 1- to 2-billion-year-old rocks. Related ancient rocks are readily observed in parks on the outskirts of Phoenix, Tucson, and Prescott, and in the mountain ranges of central and southern Arizona.

From the Colorado River's earliest stream deposits near Yuma to ancient sand dunes preserved in the walls of Canyon de Chelly in the Four Corners region, and from volcanic tuffs near Kingman to silver veins at Tombstone, Roadside Geology of Arizona crisscrosses the state to cover all its fascinating geologic history.

Stephen J. Reynolds received an undergraduate geology degree from the University of Texas at El Paso, and MS and PhD degrees in structure/tectonics and regional geology from the University of Arizona. He then spent ten years directing the geologic framework and mapping program of the Arizona Geological Survey, where he completed the 1988 Geologic Map of Arizona. Steve is a President's Professor-Emeritus in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. He has authored or edited over 200 geologic maps, articles, and reports, including the 866-page Geologic Evolution of Arizona. He coauthored a widely used structural geology textbook, and he and Julia Johnson authored three introductory college textbooks for McGraw-Hill Education, including the award-winning Exploring Geology. His geologic research focuses on structure, tectonics, and mineral deposits of the Southwest. He leads geologic field trips in Arizona, including to Sedona, Monument Valley, mountains near Phoenix, and the Grand Canyon.

Julia K. Johnson is Teaching Professor-Emeritus in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, where she taught Introduction to Geology to more than 2,000 students per year in online and in-person classes. Her research involves structural geology, regional geology, stratigraphy of the Mogollon Escarpment, groundwater studies of copper deposits, and geoscience education. Her geologic map of the Phoenix Mountains is among the most downloaded publications at the Arizona Geological Survey, with over 30,000 downloads and counting. The main focus of her geoscience education research was on student- and instructor-generated sketches (concept sketches) for learning, teaching, and assessment in college geology classes. Julia gives talks and webinars to faculty members across the county about cognition and learning in geoscience courses and how to incorporate active learning to improve student performance. She has developed immersive field trips for sites near ASU and elsewhere in Arizona, including Oak Creek Canyon.