Book Description

"To discover geologic novelties in the Land of Enchantment, all that is required is a good map, a sense of adventure, and New Mexico Rocks, a guide to 60 of the most compelling geologic sites in the state. More than every other state except Hawaii, New Mexico was shaped by volcanic eruptions, from supervolcano calderas to young basalt flows and cinder cones. Ancient Puebloans likely witnessed the most recent eruptions as they carved their homes into volcanic tuff, used pumice as a water-retaining mulch, and traded obsidian and turquoise far and wide. Legends of New Mexico's fiery origins are surpassed only by magical twists on the state's geologic gee-whiz sites. Nearly every western state has a premier pile of dunes, but New Mexico's White Sands are made from gypsum, not quartz. Carlsbad seems like just another limestone cavern until you learn the rock was dissolved with sulfuric acid, not the normal carbonic acid of rainwater. Silver wasn't just pried out of veins in hard rock, it was found coating the entire surface of a cave-named the Bridal Chamber by Lake Valley miners. Dinosaurs-including the Bisti Beast and Coelophysis, the state fossil-inhabited New Mexico and left tracks on the Dinosaur Freeway, but the footprints at Prehistoric Trackways National Monument were left by Dimetrodon, which is not a dinosaur. With its beautiful photographs and informative figures and maps, this guidebook will get you up to speed on every aspect of New Mexico's diverse geology"--