Discovering the Geology of Baja California: Six Hikes on the Southern Gulf Coast [Paperback]

Markes E. Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2002

Baja California: wild, desolate, and a treasure-house of geological wonders. Along its ancient shorelines, careful observers can learn much about how the Gulf of California came into existence and what the future of the Baja California peninsula might be. For those who wish to unlock the mysteries of Baja California, geologist Markes Johnson offers the key. He has taken a body of technical research on the geology and paleontology of the region and made it accessible in plain language for anyone who visits the peninsula, whether for study or recreation. His book teaches general concepts in coastal geomorphology and tectonics, as well as the basic geological and natural history of the Gulf of California, in a conversive, intellectually stimulating fashion. Johnson's guide takes the form of six day-long hikes in the area of Punta Chivato on the east coast of the southern Baja California peninsula. Punta Chivato is presented as a microcosm of the entire region; it can enable visitors to better understand major themes in the natural history of the Gulf of California and its geological past. All of the hikes begin at the southeast corner of the Punta Chivato promontory and loop out in different directions. Each circuit is designed to minimize overlap with adjacent hikes and to maximize the visitor's exposure to instructive variations in the landscape. Each chapter features additional reflections on a geologist of another time and place who has advanced the field in a way that elucidates the material covered in that chapter. Through these asides, readers will learn the basic lessons about how geologists read the secrets hidden in landscapes. Discovering the Geology of Baja California invites visitors to these shores to explore not only rocks and fossils but also the continuum of past ecosystems with the ecology of the present. It offers both an unparalleled guide to a remote area and a new understanding of life caught in an endless cycle of change.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A fascinating, detailed and absorbing view of Baja's coastline geology . . . This book is like a nice walk with a good friend who has a talent for telling great stories. . . . Anyone with just the slightest appreciation for the natural world will want to lace up their hiking boots, pick up their camera and rock hammer and take off after the 'pied piper of Punta Chivato' in search of Baja's past." —The Mexico File

From the Back Cover

Baja California: wild, desolate, and a treasure-house of geological wonders. Along its ancient shorelines, careful observers can learn much about how the Gulf of California came into existence and what the future of the Baja California peninsula might be. For those who wish to unlock the mysteries of Baja California, geologist Markes Johnson offers the key. He has taken a body of technical research on the geology and paleontology of the region and made it accessible in plain language for anyone who visits the peninsula, whether for study or recreation. His book teaches general concepts in coastal geomorphology and tectonics, as well as the basic geological and natural history of the Gulf of California, in a conversive, intellectually stimulating fashion. Johnson's guide takes the form of six day-long hikes in the area of Punta Chivato on the east coast of the southern Baja California peninsula. Punta Chivato is presented as a microcosm of the entire region; it can enable visitors to better understand major themes in the natural history of the Gulf of California and its geological past. All of the hikes begin at the southeast corner of the Punta Chivato promontory and loop out in different directions. Each circuit is designed to minimize overlap with adjacent hikes and to maximize the visitor's exposure to instructive variations in the landscape. Each chapter features additional reflections on a geologist of another time and place who has advanced the field in a way that elucidates the material covered in that chapter. Through these asides, readers will learn the basic lessons about how geologists read the secrets hidden in landscapes. Discovering the Geology of Baja California invites visitors to these shores to explore not only rocks and fossils but also the continuum of past ecosystems with the ecology of the present. It offers both an unparalleled guide to a remote area and a new understanding of life caught in an endless cycle of change.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press (July 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816522294
• ISBN-13: 978-0816522293
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,549,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful walk through Baja's geologic past., October 16, 2002

By 

Ruth Bennett (Novato, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Discovering the Geology of Baja California: Six Hikes on the Southern Gulf Coast (Paperback)

This book is like a nice walk with a good friend who has a talent for telling great stories. You go along for the pleasantness of the walk, and find yourself transported right into the middle of the story. Here you are, some forty feet above the current level of the sea, standing on a shelf of land that contains the perfectly preserved remains of a coral reef. In another area, some 260 feet above sea level you come across a fossilized seabed jammed with the shells of thousands of oysters. Ancient shark teeth litter the ground on top of a 130-foot high mesa. Your friend walks on a few yards and, with infectious enthusiasm, reads the next chapter of the story to you.

Six hikes around the Punta Chivato area on Baja's Gulf coast introduce you to the fascinating story of Baja's geologic history. If you love Baja, love geology, or just love a nice hike, you'll LOVE this book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not what we expected, December 7, 2009

By 

Carolyn Shearlock "TheBoatGalley" (Now living in Illinois, formerly on a boat in the Sea of Cortez) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Discovering the Geology of Baja California: Six Hikes on the Southern Gulf Coast (Paperback)

We had great expectations for this book. After all, we were living on a cruising sailboat in the Sea of Cortez and we kept seeing all these great rock formations along the coast and wanted to learn more about them and how they had been formed. Unfortunately, this book didn't give us much insight. However, we couldn't find any other books that did any better, so I'm giving it 3 stars.

The book does NOT cover all Baja, but rather just the Punta Chivato area, between Santa Rosalia and Mulege on the east side of the peninsula. The hikes are virtually impossible to do, as a result of housing and other development right on the land described -- most of the landmarks have been obliterated and many of the geologic features have been destroyed (NOTE: we found this true when we were there in the summer of 2007, and there has been more development since then). However, it still is semi-interesting reading.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take the trip, ........... lots of headroom in this time machine!, June 1, 2007

By 

Donna Dickson (Loreto, Baja California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Discovering the Geology of Baja California: Six Hikes on the Southern Gulf Coast (Paperback)

Interesting, informative, .............a delight. Yes, "Discovering the Geology of Baja California" is a pleasure and the guided tours that Markes takes one through, will in the end leave the reader with a renewed sense of wonder and appreciation for our planet. In my own case, even before I had gotten to making the actual pilgrimage to Punta Chivato, my eyes had been newly sensitized enough through the reading alone, that I was able to offer up a discovery of my own, which I more or less stumbled upon well south of Professor Johnson's "Living Museum"of Punta Chivato. I can't tell you what a thrill it has been for a novice like myself to help shed even a tiny bit more light on the solution of the geological puzzle of this fascinating penninsula! Since then, between pondering "my site" and actually walking through time at the awesomely beautiful Chivato, I realize that my life has, through exposure to this book, been fundamentally changed for the better. I wasn't looking for a new hobby but it will indeed be hard to shake this one. I therefore highly recommend this book to anyone who might be interested in the geology of Baja California and the associated birth of the Gulf of California. May it broaden your horizons as well.