The White River Badlands
The White River Badlands

Author: Rachel C. Benton

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2015-05-25

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0253016088

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This guide to the South Dakota region that houses the world’s richest fossil beds does “an excellent job of presenting the current state of knowledge” (Choice). The forbidding Big Badlands in Western South Dakota contain the richest fossil beds in the world. Even today these rocks continue to yield new specimens brought to light by snowmelt and rain washing away soft rock deposited on a floodplain long ago. The quality and quantity of the fossils are superb: most of the species to be found there are known from hundreds of specimens. The fossils in the White River Group (and similar deposits in the American west) preserve the entire late Eocene through the middle Oligocene, roughly 35-30 million years ago and more than thirty million years after non-avian dinosaurs became extinct. The fossils provide a detailed record of a period of abrupt global cooling and what happened to creatures who lived through it. This book is a comprehensive reference to the sediments and fossils of the Big Badlands, and also touches on National Park Service management policies that help protect such significant fossils. Includes photos and illustrations “A worthy successor to the work of O’Harra.” —Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

Geology and Landscape Evolution
Geology and Landscape Evolution

Author: Joseph A. DiPietro

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2024-05-26

Total Pages: 678

ISBN-13: 0443158959

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Geology and Landscape Evolution: General Principles Applied to the United States, Third Edition is an accessible text that balances interdisciplinary theory and applications within the physical geography, geology, geomorphology and climatology of the United States. The vast diversity of terrain and landscape across the United States makes this an ideal tool for geoscientists worldwide who research the country's geological and landscape evolution. The book provides an explanation of how landscape forms and how it evolves. This edition is fully updated with 3 additional sections: Geologic and Tectonic Processes and Provinces; Surface Processes and Provinces; and Compressional Mountain Systems. Rather than limiting the coverage specifically to tectonics or to the origin and evolution of rocks with little regard for the actual landscape beyond general desert, river, and glacial features, this book concentrates specifically on the origin of the landscape itself, with specific and exhaustive references and examples from across the United States. The book goes on to apply those concepts to specific examples throughout the United States, making it a valuable resource for understanding theoretical geological concepts through a practical lens. - Presents the complexities of physical geography, geology, geomorphology and climatology of the United States through an interdisciplinary, highly accessible approach - Offers hundreds of figures, maps and photographs that capture the systematic interaction of land, rock, rivers, glaciers, global wind patterns and climate, including Google Earth images - Provides a thorough assessment of the logic, rationale, and tools required to understand how to interpret landscape and the geological history of the Earth - Features exercises that conclude each chapter, aiding in the retention of key concepts - Includes 3 new sections and 8 additional chapters, as well as major updates to chapters throughout