Flyover Country no more. Fossils, badlands, and caprocks are scattered through the prairie, all there to be found with Roadside Geology of Kansas as your guide. A billion years of geologic history left zinc and lead deposits, salt beds, and oil buried beneath layers of limestone and shale, deposited in the many seas that inundated the continent. Finally, glaciers reconfigured stream drainages, left enormous boulders scattered about, and provided the windblown silt for excellent cropland. Nineteenth-century paleontologists flocked to the chalk outcrops of western Kansas to collect fossils of dinosaurs, mosasaurs, giant turtles, and more. Settlers used the rock they found at the surface to build houses, bridges, water towers, and churches, as well as stone fence posts that wouldn't burn during prairie wildfires. Guides for sixteen roads, including all the state's scenic, historic, and national byways, point out prominent landmarks such as Mushroom Rock, Pawnee Rock, Coronado Heights, and Mount Mitchell, along with more hidden geologic delights, such as kimberlite pipes, Rock City, and the source for Kansas amber.
Author Biography:
James S. Aber was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, and Susan E. W. Aber is a native of Halstead, Kansas. Since meeting as students at the University of Kansas, they have resided most of their adult years in Emporia. Jim received a PhD in geology from the University of Kansas and is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Emporia State University. His specialties include glaciation, wetlands, tectonics, and remote sensing. Susie received her undergraduate degree in geology from the University of Kansas and a PhD in Library and Information Management from Emporia State University. She taught formerly at San Jose State University, North Carolina Central University, and Emporia State University. She has expertise in mineralogy, gemstones, maps, and GIS for librarians. Jim and Susie have wide-ranging international research experiences in North and South America, Europe, and southeastern Asia. They are partners for kite aerial photography, and have published many scientific articles and several books. James S. Aber was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, and Susan E. W. Aber is a native of Halstead, Kansas. Since meeting as students at the University of Kansas, they have resided most of their adult years in Emporia. Jim received a PhD in geology from the University of Kansas and is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Emporia State University. His specialties include glaciation, wetlands, tectonics, and remote sensing. Susie received her undergraduate degree in geology from the University of Kansas and a PhD in Library and Information Management from Emporia State University. She taught formerly at San Jose State University, North Carolina Central University, and Emporia State University. She has expertise in mineralogy, gemstones, maps, and GIS for librarians. Jim and Susie have wide-ranging international research experiences in North and South America, Europe, and southeastern Asia. They are partners for kite aerial photography, and have published many scientific articles and several books. Michael Everhart is an Adjunct Curator of Paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, Kansas. He specializes in the study of marine reptiles and other fossils from the Late Cretaceous in western Kansas and has written two books, Oceans of Kansas (Indiana University Press) and Sea Monsters (National Geographic). He is the author and coauthor of many scientific papers on Kansas fossils, including the naming of six new species. Bothe Everhart and Jim Aber are past presidents of the Kansas Academy of Science and past coeditors of the Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science.
