The Great Basin Seafloor: Exploring the Ancient Oceans of the Desert West - Paperback
by Frank Decourten (Author)
Many people appreciate the stunning vistas of the Great Basin desert; understanding the region's geological past can provide a deeper way to know and admire this landscape. In The Great Basin Seafloor, Frank DeCourten immerses readers in a time when the Basin was covered by a vast ocean in which volcanoes exploded and sea life flourished.
Written for a nontechnical audience, this book interprets the rock record left by more than 500 million years of oceanic activity, when mud and sand accumulated and solidified to produce today's Great Basin across parts of modern Utah, Nevada, and California. DeCourten deciphers clues within exposed slopes and canyons to reconstruct the vanished seafloor and its volcanic events and examines fossils to reveal once-thriving ancient marine communities. Supplemental material is available online to serve as a field guide for readers wishing to explore this ancient ocean themselves as they travel through the region.Frank DeCourten is a field geologist and researcher who has designed and led geological excursions and symposia for numerous scientific and natural history organizations, including the National Park Service and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. Prior to his retirement in 2018, he was professor of earth science at Sierra College in California and previously served as museum curator and assistant director of the Utah Museum of Natural History. His books include Dinosaurs of Utah, The Broken Land, and The Roadside Geology of Nevada.
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