An Introduction to Grand Canyon Fossils

by Thayer, Dave

• ISBN13: 9780938216957
• ISBN10: 0938216953
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-10-01
• Publisher: Grand Canyon Assn

Summary

The Grand Canyon is famous for its rock layers, multihued bands of limestones, shales, sandstones, granites, and schists that have made the canyon one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. But in many of those layers, the Grand Canyon contains a veritable sea of fossilized life, from ancient stromatolites in the Grand Canyon Supergroup layers to trilobites in the rimrock Kaibab Formation to ancient reptile trackways preserved in the Coconino Sandstone. An Introduction to Grand Canyon Fossils introduces readers to the vast evidence of ancient life in the canyon and to paleontology, the study of fossilized life. Written in an easy-to-read style and heavily illustrated with diagrams and photographs, the book offers readers access to worlds of ocean shallows, windswept sand dunes, and swampy forests that once covered the Grand Canyon region and have left evidence of their presence in fossils. An Introduction to Grand Canyon Fossils is the only book of its kind focusing on the fossils of the national park, and it will be a delight to readers young and old fascinated by evidence of life hardened in stone.

Table of Contents

Prologue: A Discovery	p. 6
Introduction to Fossils and Paleontology	p. 8
Precambrian Time in the Grand Canyon	p. 18
The Cambrian and Devonian Periods	p. 24
The Late Paleozoic Era	p. 34
The Seas Return	p. 44
The Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras	p. 52
Epilogue: The Condor Returns	p. 58
Glossary	p. 60
Suggested Reading	p. 62
Index	p. 63
About the Author	p. 64
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