The IAFI Store has added the newest editions of the widely acclaimed and very popular Roadside Geology books for both Oregon and Washington. Author, photographer, and geologist Marli Miller has written completely new second editions of these books based on the most up-to-date geologic understanding. Spectacular photographs showcase the states’ splendors while also helping readers understand geologic processes at work. These 2nd edition Roadside Geology books are a must-have for every Pacific NW resident, student, and rockhound.
When the first edition of Roadside Geology of Oregon was published in 1978, it was revolutionary—the first book in a series designed to educate, inspire, and wow non-geologists. Back then, the implications of plate tectonic theory were only beginning to shape geologic research and discussion. Geologists hadn’t yet learned that Oregon’s Klamath and Blue Mountains were pieces of far-traveled island arcs and ocean basins that had been piled against the growing North American continent. Steaming volcanoes, ghost forests, recent landslides, and towns heated with geothermal energy attest to Oregon’s still-prominent position at the edge of an active tectonic plate.
Since the first edition of Roadside Geology of Washington appeared on shelves in 1984, several generations of geologists and non-geologists have studied the wild assortment of rocks in the Evergreen State, from 45-million- year-old sandstone exposed in sea cliffs at Cape Flattery to 1.4-billion- year-old sandstone near Spokane. In between are the rugged granitic and metamorphic peaks of the North Cascades, the volcanic flows of Mt. Rainier and the other active volcanoes of the Cascade magmatic arc, and the 2-mile- thick flood basalts of the Columbia Basin. With the help of this completely revised second edition by Pacific Northwest geologists, you can appreciate the many spectacular geologic features along more than forty of Washington’s highways.