The Appalachian Mountain chain to which the Appalachian Trail is anchored are America's classic mountains, featuring pieces of almost every major geological event in Earth's history. This amateur geologist (a chemical engineer by occupation) walked the entire trail over a period of more than 10 years, looking at the manifestations today of events millions of years ago-through a hiker's eyes. This book, reviewed before publication by three top academics in the field, provides background on the development of the rocks beneath the hiker's feet, with layperson-friendly maps and photographs.

This guidebook features field trips at the joint meeting of GSA's Northeastern and Southeastern Sections in Baltimore, Maryland, in March 2010. Chapters in this guide range from the lowlands of eastern Pennsylvania to the highlands of northeastern West Virginia. Four physiographic provinces are covered: Piedmont (Piedmont Upland and Gettysburg-Newark Lowland Sections), Blue Ridge, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau. The geologic foci are likewise variable, ranging from Precambrian basement rocks to Pleistocene sediments.

"This volume contains field guides to the 2015 GSA Southeastern Section Meeting's field trips. The guides explore geologic history and visit four regional geologic provinces--the Nashville dome, Blue Ridge, Valley and Ridge, and Cumberland Plateau"--

Allow yourself to be taken back into deep geologic time when strange creatures roamed the Earth and Western North America looked completely unlike the modern landscape. Volcanic islands stretched from Mexico to Alaska, most of the Pacific Rim didn’t exist yet, at least not as widespread dry land; terranes drifted from across the Pacific to dock on Western Americas’ shores creating mountains and more volcanic activity. Landscapes were transposed north or south by thousands of kilometers along huge fault systems. Follow these events through paleogeographic maps that look like satellite views of ancient Earth. Accompanying text takes the reader into the science behind these maps and the geologic history that they portray. The maps and text unfold the complex geologic history of the region as never seen before. Winner of the 2021 John D. Haun Landmark Publication Award, AAPG-Rocky Mountain Section