Maryland has been called "America in miniature," because the state embodies a wide range of our nation's landscape features. From sandy beaches on the Atlantic Ocean, across flat fields of the Coastal Plain on the Eastern Shore, to the rolling hills and tumbling rivers of the state's central counties, and concluding with the mountainous terrain of Western Maryland, the Free State's diverse scenery is a result of eons of geological activity.

Martin F. Schmidt, Jr., a high school science teacher in Baltimore, holds a degree in science education, and was selected as Outstanding Earth Science Teacher for Maryland in 1989. He has traveled extensively-to Alaska, Hawaii, much of Western Europe, Peru, Kenya, India-to experience new places and to photograph the world of nature.

Invitation and Introduction	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
The Landforms of Maryland	p. 3
The Coastal Plain Province	p. 3
The Piedmont Province	p. 7
The Blue Ridge Province	p. 8
The Valley and Ridge Province	p. 10
The Appalachian Plateaus Province	p. 12
Geologic Processes That Shaped Maryland's Landscape	p. 16
Landform Development-The Big Picture	p. 16
Weathering: The Story of Strong and Weak Rocks	p. 17
Minerals	p. 17
Mechanical Weathering	p. 18
Chemical Weathering	p. 19
Results of Weathering	p. 21
Rock Structure: The Bends and Breaks in Rocks	p. 23
Introduction	p. 23
Horizontal Rock Layers	p. 25
Inclined Strata	p. 26
Folded Rocks	p. 28
Faults	p. 33
How the Landscape of Maryland Was Made	p. 38
Coastal Plain	p. 39
Allegheny Plateau	p. 43
Valley and Ridge	p. 48
Blue Ridge	p. 55
Piedmont	p. 58
Piedmont-Coastal Zone Boundary: The Fall Zone	p. 63
Determining Maryland's Geologic History	p. 66
Principles of Historical Geology	p. 66
Reading History from Rocks	p. 67
Relative Dating	p. 72
Geologic Time	p. 75
Sea Level Changes	p. 76
Plate Tectonics	p. 78
Plates and Their Boundaries	p. 79
A Sequence of Plate Tectonics Events	p. 85
The Geologic History of Maryland	p. 88
Maryland's Early Geologic History	p. 89
Taconic Orogeny and Erosion	p. 93
Acadian Orogeny and Erosion	p. 99
Alleghany Orogeny to the Present	p. 102
Maryland's Geological Resources and Hazards	p. 113
Maryland Soils	p. 113
Soils of the Provinces	p. 115
Water Supplies of Maryland	p. 116
Water in the Provinces	p. 120
Mineral Resources	p. 121
Coastal Plain Province	p. 121
Piedmont and Blue Ridge Provinces	p. 122
Valley and Ridge, and Allegheny Plateau Provinces	p. 123
Geologic Hazards and Limitations	p. 125
Appendices	p. 132
Summary of the Features of the Physiographic Provinces of Maryland	p. 133
Rock Types Found in Maryland	p. 134
Igneous Rocks	p. 134
Igneous Rock Types in Maryland	p. 134
Sedimentary Rocks	p. 135
Sedimentary Rock Types in Maryland	p. 135
Metamorphic Rocks	p. 136
Metamorphic Rock Types Found in Maryland	p. 136
Comparative Resistances of Major Rock Types in Maryland	p. 138
Geologic Time Scale	p. 140
Geologic Column and Summarized History for Maryland	p. 141
Rock and Sediment Types of Named Formations in Maryland	p. 148
Appalachian Plateau, Valley and Ridge, and Coastal Plain Formations	p. 148
Quaternary	p. 148
Tertiary	p. 148
Cretaceous	p. 149
Triassic	p. 149
Permian	p. 149
Pennsylvanian	p. 149
Mississippian	p. 150
Devonian	p. 150
Silurian	p. 150
Ordovician	p. 151
Cambrian	p. 151
Blue Ridge and Piedmont Formations	p. 151
Blue Ridge	p. 151
Western Piedmont	p. 151
Eastern Piedmont	p. 152
References and Sources of Geological Information	p. 153
Selected References	p. 153
Sources of More Information on Geology	p. 155
Index	p. 156
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.