Washington Rocks!

Book excerpt: Active volcanoes, like Rainier and Baker, dominate Washington�s western half, and Columbia flood basalt covers much of the eastern half, but scattered here and there are other equally amazing rocks and features that make the Evergreen State one of the most geologically interesting places in the entire country. With this book as your guide, you can find limestone caves, billion-year-old gneiss, glacial moraines, petrified forests, fossilized palm leaves, upside-down sandstone beds, and ancient landslides. Or you can explore the mind-boggling canyons, waterfalls, and scabland carved by the torrential Missoula Floods, check out the glacially carved granite of the North Cascades, or watch sea stacks erode in the pounding surf of the Pacific Ocean. Washington Rocks! is part of the state-by-state Geology Rocks! series that introduces readers to some of the most compelling and accessible geologic sites in each state. The 57 sites in this book are scattered throughout the state, from Steptoe Butte in the southeast, the namesake of the steptoe geologic feature, to trilobite-bearing limestone in Box Canyon in the northeast, and from glacial gouges on Iceberg Point in the San Juan Islands to ghost forests in Willapa Bay, trees killed during the last great earthquake. Colorful photographs and instructive diagrams make this book a must-have for rockhounds, students, tourists, and residents alike.