Customer Reviews

Roadside Geology of Ohio (Roadside Geology Series) (Roadside Geology Series)

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While a fine addition to Roadside Geology collection, this part of the series becomes as much a roadside history of the mining, quarrying, ironworks and potteries of Ohio as it does on the underlying geology that allowed those industries to flourish.

Better maps and illustrations of the ebb and flow of early ocean that formed Ohio's bedrock, the extent of glaciation in the ice ages and how the ice created the Ohio River would have been appreciated.

Over the years, I've made a habit to advance buy either "Roadside Geology of xx" (great for following interstate and major roads) or "Geology Underfoot xx" (off the beaten path specific sites). The biz trip that takes me to a state that I have to traverse by interstate or significantly drive between cities can be turned into a university level road trip if you have some geology and science in your background and enjoy the really old story.

Motels, small towns, bad radio, crummy gas stations and rest areas are ubiquitously `Ground Hog Day' places from state to state. These two `roadside' geology primers are genuinely special for picking up on the phenomenal, visible history of the planet. Traveling across Ohio from Cincinnati airport to Columbus, to Toledo to Cleveland and south to catch I-70 to catch a flight out of Pittsburg (PA) is your typical, boring, weeklong rent-a-car road trip ... without Roadside Geology. Add Roadside Geology and a whole other world emerges.

The weathered Ohio valley, glacial moraines, and progressively hillier/deeper road cuts and countryside as you head east represents one of the more complex roadside geology lessons in an otherwise fairly boring road trip. There are not too many states that display such a peeled away variety of 250M years of geology in such a small area ... Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian and Permian.

I had a meeting reschedule outside of Toledo long enough to scout a public access Devonian quarry (Trilobites in gray shale!). I'd love to get a schedule opportunity to trek the Ohio River valley's Ordovician exposure in and around Cincinnati.

Not all states have a geology author motivated to put one of these together. I have no idea how well the franchise sells, but every edition that I've followed has been a consistent jewel.