Geology Book for Climbers

[AaronW]

I was wondering if anybody knows of any geology books that are relevant to climbing? Are there any specifically geared towards climbers? I have seen the "Hking XXX's Geology" which look interesting, but I want a more general geology-specific book (not a trail guide)

 

Thanks

 

Aaron

[marylou]

This one's pretty good:

 

N. Cascades Geology

 

And so is this one:

 

Routes and Rocks, Crowder and Tabor

 

 

The second one is high XC routes in the N Cascades and geography. Neither is specific to climbers, but I think you'll find them pretty close to what you are asking for. Pretty tough to find a copy of that second book. You'll pay real money for it.

[AaronW]

Thanks, I'll check those out.

 

Funny you should mention difficulty finding Routes and Rocks... A quick search for it confirmed that online sellers do not have it, and don't expect to, however I was able to find this link to a PDF version (to anybody interested): http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/pacnw/pdf/routes_rocks.pdf

 

Aaron

[johndavidjr]

John McPhee's 3-volumes-in-one book "Annals of the Former World" (F. Straus and Giroux, June 2000; 696 pages) is very accessible to the non-scientist. It's like reading about God, especially if you see "God" as some kind of metaphor. Its history of the science and various human interest stories are perhaps at least as interesting as its exhaustive, general topical overview, which emphasizes North America. It could easily bear re-reading a couple of times.

 

http://www.johnmcphee.com/annals.htm

 

"Geology of the North Cascades" is a lesser work, but quite wonderful, and of course more geographically specific, that many fans of the region will find of very keen interest.

 

I remember when the Tabor/Crowder guides were sold by REI in the early 1970s, and I found them at WWSU library basement some years ago. The link is an absolute GEM....

''''''''''''''''''

Edited November 4, 2007 by johndavidjr

[MarkMcJizzy]

"Annals of the Former World" is actually a four volume edition, with a additional newer section at the end. The conversations with David Love about the evolution of Wyoming from the Archean to present were especially good, as was the volume set in California with Eldridge Moores.

 

Rowland Tabor (along with Joe Vance, Ned Brown, and Scott Babcock) is the Dean of North Cascade Geology. As such, any work by him should be thought of as excellent. His latest work with Ralph Haugerud is a clear synopsis of the North Cascades.

 

Earlier "Freedom of the Hills" had good geology sections. My 1974 edition was written by Rowland Tabor, Bob Basset, and Mike Heath. I do not know if later "Freedoms" have continued this section.

 

The geology sections of all of Fred Beckey's guide books are clear, and full of information.

 

"Roadside Geology of Southern British Columbia" by Mathews and Monger is also excellent.

[jbjbj]

I was just going through some books at home, and happened to be placing McPhee's 'Basin and Range' back on the shelf... glad to see you folks talking him up. He does an excellent job placing geologic processes in the context of geologic time, and makes plate tectonics almost exiting. 'The Control of Nature' is also worth a look, although it has little to do with geologic features you might be out climbing.

 

Tabor was mentioned previously: his 'Guide to the Geology of Olympic National Park' has some pretty cool fold-out maps, and great pictures. It's out of print, but available for cheap online.

[builder206]

If you already know something about geology, here are two suggestions:

 

1. Orr and Orr, Geology of the Pacific Northwest. McGraw-Hill, 1996.

 

2. Go to the library and look for 'Geological Survey Professional Papers." These include topics that you would see & experience on a climb. Example: the 1st on I grabbed at random from my shelf is "Intrusion and eruption of Late Cenozoic magmas in the Glacier Peak area."

Edited November 5, 2007 by builder206

[builder206]

Rowland Tabor (along with Joe Vance, Ned Brown, and Scott Babcock) is the Dean of North Cascade Geology.

 

Scott Babcock used to offer a weekend field seminar through the North Cascades Institute but it is no longer listed. They dropped a lot of their courses when they got the "learning center."

 

The natural history staff at the Marblemount Ranger Station has Tabor's North Cascades rock collection. When you exit the ranger office after getting your climbing permit, look to your right. The back of the building you see is the research staff office and the big carts on the loading dock contain Tabor's collection.

 

http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/pacnw/ptabor.html

[dylan_taylor]

The chapter on Mountain Geology in recent editions of the FOTH is written by Scott Babcock, and may contain interesting and entertaining information for you Aaron.

 

I am yet another fan of McPhee's writing. His four-book series (annals) on I-80 geology and human interest is fascinating, and was one of the factors that drove me into the field of geology. His short essays are excellent too.

[mike1]

I am fortunate enough to have my own copies of Routes and Rock of both Challenger and Glacier Peak. To take it a step further I found a copy of Geology and Mineral Resources of the Northern Part of the NCNP, WA. (USGS bulletin 1359). It's all incredibly interesting and amazing, but I found David D. Alt and Donald W. Hyndman,s Roadside Geology of Washington to be the most informative and easy to read. Granted it's not focused on climbers, but it tells the story of how mountains formed in Washignton. The Cascades? It blew me away! And the Olympics? Who knew? The bottom line for me was that it all came together when I looked at the bigger picture of how Washington was formed. Then reading the more specific geological publications made much more sense.

 

Besides that book here are all the other geological publications I found useful including some already mentioned by others:

 

The North Cascades:

Geology of the North Cascades (Tabor & Haugherud)

Routes & Rocks in the Mt. Challenger Quadrangle (Tabor & Crowder)

Routes & Rocks, Hikers Guide to the North Cascades from Glacier Peak to Lake Chelan (Crowder & Tabor)

Geology and Mineral Resources of the Northern Part of the North Cascades National Park, USGS bulletin 1359 (Staatz, Tabor, Weis, and Robertson)

Geological Survey Professional Paper 604 on Batholiths and Volcanoes (Intrusion and eruption of late cenozoic magmas in the Glacier Peak area, North Cascades, Washignton. Tabor & Crowder)

 

The Olympics:

Geology of Olympic National Park (Rowland W. Tabor)

Geological Survey Professional Paper 1033, The structure of the Olympic Mountains, Washignton - Analysis of a subduction zone (Tabor & Cady)

Geologic maps of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington (Tabor & Cady)

 

The Cascade Volcanoes:

Fire and Ice, The Cascade Volcanoes (Stephen L. Harris)

 

...yeah, I am a total nerd.

[Bill_Simpkins]

I like "Roadside Geology of Washington". I want to add the the Beckey books have a lot of interesting geological comments in them too.