story of the ancient landscapes and animals�massive meat-eating reptiles, foot�long clams, lumbering mammoths�that existed thousands to hundreds of millions of years ago. Fluctuating seas full of marine life, widespread floodplains and rivers choked with sediment, and mile-thick ice sheets from the north all shaped Ohio�s present landscape. But Ohio�s geologic tale has a human side, too. Native Americans fashioned razor-sharp flint spear points; oil, gas, and coal fueled several economic booms; and sandstone and limestone built communities and thriving economies.
The 25 road guides of Roadside Geology of Ohio, complete with 59 maps and figures and 172 photographs, lead you from one corner of the state to the other�from the flat till plains of the west to the hilly eastern Allegheny Plateau, and from the Ohio River valley to the Lake Erie shoreline. Mark Camp�s clear writing explains how caverns and disappearing streams form in karst; why mud cracks, ripple marks, and cross-bedding layers are entombed in sedimentary rock; and how grooves up to 10 feet deep were gouged into the limestone of Kelleys Island. From deserted boomtowns to Ohio�s big cities, Roadside Geology of Ohio thoroughly reveals the Buckeye State�s fascinating and dynamic geology.