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7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Welcomed addition to this excellent series Nov 28, 2010
By W. Walker
Finally, after years of hopeful waiting, a book in this generally excellent series for this geographically small area, with rather minimal economically important mineral resources, but with quite an active complex geological past, in common with other Atlantic seaboard states. The primary author and illustrators clearly put much effort into producing a very readable, well illustrated work. I notice that Mr. Means is also a former English teacher, which probabaly served him well in organizing and writing this work. As with other new additions in this series within the past few years, this contribution includes many mostly color photos, maps and illustrations, along with a detailed text of the basic geology, as well as human interest aspects. I think Mr. Means would agree that the eastern and western Piedmont and Blue Ridge regions hold the most interest to the casual geology dabbler, with their very complex mix of mostly metamorphosed igneous and sedimentary rocks. I happen to live in the central Piedmont of Carroll County, which Mr, Means doesn't spend a great deal of space on. In my area of Westminster, there are several very narrow tongues of Sam's Creek metabasalt alternating with several varieties of mostly micaceous schists. Here, as well as in the marble and metabasalt area to the southwest, the metabasalt tends to underlie the high grounds. In the Maryland Blue Ridge region, in contrast, the metabasalt and rhyolite mostly occupy the Middletown Valley, while the more resistant quartzite rules the ridges(as the author points out). A number of splended boulders of foliose metabasalt are on display at the driveway entrance to a nondescript building on the road behind the Westminster Walmart. Also,several excellent boulders of typical schist that dominates the surface of much of Carroll County is seen at the corner of Mall Ring Road and Center Street,on the other side of a valley through which Rt 27 and the railroad runs.
This book will probably largely supersede the older, more limited, 'Maryland's Geology'(of which I've long had a copy)as the standard companion for the casual enthusiast. We still lack a book in this series for NJ and WVA, not to mention most of the Southeastern states.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
The best of all the Roadside Geology series -- so far Nov 20, 2010
By B. Campbell
"argomd"
Exhaustively thorough, but what a profitable exhaustion! The authors must love their subject; it's a very readable text for the educated layperson. Photos (including those with the "young geologist" for scale), maps, geological cross sections, et al., appeared just where and just how I would have asked for them. If I have a bias, it's because I live in one of the least geologically interesting parts of Maryland -- and even my area merited a few pages. Enough detail for the anal-retentive among us, but a masterful presentation of the many regional and temporal perspectives. Fortunately, there are great directions (including info about private land) to all the sites I never knew existed -- but which will now be added to my "bucket list." Skillful use of color, great editing. A reminder, to at least one who needed it, that the East Coast's greenery doesn't hide everything, after all.
Now if the publishers will only do the same for New Mexico's 2nd edition....
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Maryland rocks! Apr 09, 2011
By Daniel Lufkin
This book represents an enormous amount of hands-on research by an author who truly loves his subject. The geology of Maryland is complex and is closely associated with local life to an unusual degree. From the west with its coal mines and gas fields to the Chesapeake Bay which drains five states, Maryland's topography and geology present thousands of interesting details. The strength of this book is its organization. After a broad (but by no means superficial)survey, the author takes us on a guided tour, literally mile-by-mile, through highway cuts, quarries, exposed rocks, rivers and streams, waterfalls, and dozens more easy-to-find geological treats. Every page is illustrated with recent photos, geological cross-sections and maps. The illustrators, Matthew and Suzannah Moran, have earned their billing.
The book is new and I haven't yet had time to explore the Delaware and D.C. sections but the book seems to maintain the same level of detail right out to the coast.
If you're interested in what's under the landscape, this book belongs in your glove compartment and by your bedside. It's a great addition to the excellent Roadside Geology series from Mountain Press publishers.
Excellent overall, but where are the White Rocks? May 16, 2012
By James Brewster
"geminijim"
Overall this is an excellent guide to the long and complex geological history of this little sliver of East Coast real estate. But the section on the Coastal Plain is a little misleading when it states that there is no solid rock in the Coastal sediments. In fact there are small but significant beds of lithified sandstone at least in the late Cretaceous Magothy Formation, including the White Rocks, an important navigation mark in the tidal Patapsco, and the Wishing Rocks in the sandy plains near Pasadena. It took googling through some 100-year old publications of the MD Geological Survey to get a sense of how these structures fit into the overall picture. They represent an otherwise missing arc of the rock cycle in the region: forming and recently formed sedimentary rocks. I hope they will be addressed in revisions or addenda to this great book!
Great new addition to the series Nov 18, 2011
By Andy
I've been a fan of the Roadside Geology series for a while now, and this new one is, for my money, the best yet. Great pictures, and lots of details. I'm an amateur, but can still glean a lot from this. There is enough detailed and technical information that I would highly recommended this to both novices and pros.
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