Wednesday, October 09, 2019

Book Review: Roadside Geology Guidebooks


By Dwight Hunter

Ever wondered what type of rocks are cut through to build the road your traveling or what type of land form seen from your car window? That's where roadside geology guidebooks come in to give you that type of information!

For the past three years, I've been a member of the Best Geology Guidebooks Committee for the Geoscience Information Society. This committee reviews guidebook nominations each year and recent nominations were based in states in the western part of the United States. This year there were two nominations of guidebooks that were considered and in our part of the country. One was awarded the 2019 best guidebook -- Guide to the Geology and Natural History of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Also considered was Roadside Geology of Tennessee. This guidebook has some great information about traveling around Tennessee; plus, there’s a great section about the Chattanooga area that I think many people would find fascinating!

Both of these books are now in the KLIC collection! 

Guide to the Geology and Natural History of the Blue Ridge Mountains by Edgar W. Spencer
Call Number: QE174.B58 S64
As you travel along the Blue Ridge Parkway, hike the Appalachian Trail, or visit the national and state parks scattered throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains, you will encounter an incredible variety of natural landscapes and fascinating rock formations. The book includes a series of field guides to specific localities scattered along a 670-mile journey that begins at Catoctin Mountain in Maryland and concludes in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee.

Roadside Geology of Tennessee by Marcy B. Davis
Call Number: QE165 .D38
Tennessee, extending 500 diagonal miles between Bristol and Memphis, cuts across numerous rock types, from the Blue Ridge along the North Carolina border to the young sediments exposed in the Chickasaw Bluffs that rise 100 feet above the Mississippi River floodplain. With Roadside Geology of Tennessee as your guide, explore the geologic significance of many of the state's natural and historic sties such as Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, Harpeth River State Park, Dunbar Cave State Natural Area, and Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

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