Roadside Geology of New Mexico (Roadside Geology Series) [Paperback]

Halka Chronic (Author)

Book Description

Series: Roadside Geology | Publication Date: October 1, 1987

The "Land of Enchantment," New Mexico is as varied in its scenery as its nickname suggests. With desert lowlands in the south and high, hoary peaks in the north, with rugged volcanic uplands and colorful plateaus, with high plains along its eastern border, and with a great rift valley that quite literally slashes the state in two, New Mexico's landscape tells a dramatic story that spans more than one billion years.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"With desert lowlands in the south and high peaks to the north, New Mexico presents many faces to its residents and visitors . . . faces that in part can be attributed to the sate's varied geology." --California Geology

About the Author

Halka Chronic received a doctorate in geology from Columbia University in 1949. Her career has taken her all over the globe--from teaching at Haile Selassie University in Ethiopia to identifying geologic landmarks for the United States Park Service in the southern Rockies. She now lives in Sedona, Arizona.

Product Details

• Paperback: 255 pages
• Publisher: Mountain Press Publishing Company; 1st edition (October 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878422099
• ISBN-13: 978-0878422098
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Answers to all your questions, November 19, 2000

By 

Pam Hanna "wind star" (Thoreau, New Mexico United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Roadside Geology of New Mexico (Roadside Geology Series) (Paperback)

Over the years, I have been saving up pictures and memories of geologic curiosities in New Mexico. I had meant to ask a geologist and/or look up books on the subject, but never quite got around to it. When we lived in Taos, I wanted to know more about the geological ages evidenced in the rock layers at the Rio Grande Gorge bridge. When we lived in Los Alamos, I was fascinated by the sculptured sandstone pinnacles in the canyon lands that look man made (but are not). When we lived in Santa Fe and environs, I wanted to know how climate and human interaction had altered the land and what the countryside must have looked like to ancient Indian peoples in that place. And now that we're living between Grants and Gallup, I'm most interested in the lava flow of the Malpais region. This author says that "The youngest flow is less than 1,000 years old and may figure in Indian legends as 'fire rock' that buried the fields of Indian ancestors." To the East is Mt. Taylor, an "eroded composite volcano."

So it's all here - the answers to all my questions and more - with photographs and diagrams and history. It covers all of New Mexico and into the states it touches - Arizona, Colorado and Texas (as well as the four corners region going into Utah). From Precambrian to Quarternary ages, from ancient flood plains and the Rio Grande rift to mountain rock glaciers and the Palisades, it's all here in this little gem of a book.

A perfect resource to accompany you when you're touring New Mexico either on the main highways or off the beaten track, you can go as deeply into the geology of the area you're seeing as you want or simply check out what type of rock you're looking at. *Roadside Geology of New Mexico* by Halka Chronic is exactly what I was looking for in one compact volume, and I'm most please to have discovered it.

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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected- Very interesting, great resource, September 18, 2001

By 

apoem "apoem" (Bosque Farms, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Roadside Geology of New Mexico (Roadside Geology Series) (Paperback)

I expected a pretty dry book regarding a pretty dry subject. I was wrong.

This has stimulated my interest in geology. Each time we travel now, we take this book and the Roadside History of NM book with us. It makes our trips through New Mexico much more interesting. We stop and look at the places these books mention and read about the events that occured there and what the rocks are telling us. Sometimes we even take side trips to see things that are mentioned in one of these two books.

I particularly like how this book has diagrams and pictures to help clarify what it is exactly I'm looking at. There are answers to questions I wouldn't have thought to ask in this book.

If you drive through NM quite a bit, this is a good book to have with you as you travel. Even if you don't think you are interested in geology, this book is a good book to have.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of tourist geology, February 27, 2006

By 

Deanna L. Crask Stone "reading maverick" (Gallup, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Roadside Geology of New Mexico (Roadside Geology Series) (Paperback)

I have persused through several Roadside Geology book, so I was pretty sure of what I was ordering. This book is wonderful to read before road trips, while on road trips and after road trips. My family and I have a much better understanding of and appreciation for what we are seeing on our trips. I highly recommend this series for anyone the least bit interested in geology.