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| Foreword | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Relative Age Dating | |
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| Absolute Age Dating | |
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| Plate Tectonics Theory | |
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| A Short History of the Earth | |
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| Hadean Eon: 4,600 to 4,000 Million Years Ago | |
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| Archean Eon: 4,000 to 2,500 Million Years Ago | |
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| Proterozoic Eon: 2,500 to 542 Million Years Ago | |
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| Cambrian Period: 542 to 488 Million Years Ago | |
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| Ordovician Period: 488 to 443 Million Years Ago | |
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| Silurian Period: 443 to 416 Million Years Ago | |
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| Devonian Period: 416 to 359 Million Years Ago | |
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| Carboniferous Period: 359 to 299 Million Years Ago | |
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| Permian Period: 299 to 251 Million Years Ago | |
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| Triassic Period: 251 to 199 Million Years Ago | |
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| Jurassic Period: 199 to 145 Million Years Ago | |
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| Cretaceous Period: 145 to 65 Million Years Ago | |
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| Paleogene Period: 65 to 23 Million Years Ago | |
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| Neogene Period: 23 to 2.6 Million Years Ago | |
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| Quaternary Period: 2.6 Million Years Ago to Today | |
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| Geo-Sites | |
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| Wetumpka Crater, Alabama | |
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| Exit Glacier, Alaska | |
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| Antelope Canyon, Arizona | |
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| Meteor Crater, Arizona | |
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| Monument Valley, Arizona | |
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| Prairie Creek Pipe, Arkansas | |
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| Wallace Creek, California | |
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| Racetrack Playa, California | |
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| Devils Postpile, California | |
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| Rancho La Brea, California | |
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| El Capitan, California | |
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| Boulder Flatirons, Colorado | |
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| Interstate 70 Roadcut, Colorado | |
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| Florissant Fossil Beds, Colorado | |
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| Dinosaur Trackway, Connecticut | |
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| Wilmington Blue Rocks, Delaware | |
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| Devil's Millhopper, Florida | |
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| Stone Mountain, Georgia | |
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| Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii | |
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| Borah Peak, Idaho | |
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| Menan Buttes, Idaho | |
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| Great Rift, Idaho | |
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| Valmeyer Anticline, Illinois | |
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| Hanging Rock Klint, Indiana | |
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| Fort Dodge Gypsum, Iowa | |
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| Monument Rocks, Kansas | |
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| Ohio Black Shale, Kentucky | |
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| Mammoth Cave, Kentucky | |
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| Four Corners Roadcut, Kentucky | |
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| Avery Island, Louisiana | |
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| Schoodic Point, Maine | |
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| Calvert Cliffs, Maryland | |
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| Purgatory Chasm, Massachusetts | |
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| Nonesuch Potholes, Michigan | |
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| Quincy Mine, Michigan | |
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| Grand River Ledges, Michigan | |
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| Sioux Quartzite, Minnesota | |
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| Thomson Dikes, Minnesota | |
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| Soudan Mine, Minnesota | |
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| Petrified Forest, Mississippi | |
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| Elephant Rocks, Missouri | |
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| Grassy Mountain Nonconformity, Missouri | |
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| Chief Mountain, Montana | |
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| Madison Slide, Montana | |
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| Butte Pluton, Montana | |
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| Quad Creek Quartzite, Montana | |
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| Ashfall Fossil Beds, Nebraska | |
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| Scotts Bluff, Nebraska | |
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| Crow Creek Marls tone, Nebraska | |
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| Sand Mountain, Nevada | |
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| Great Unconformity, Nevada | |
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| Flume Gorge, New Hampshire | |
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| Palisades Sill, New Jersey | |
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| White Sands, New Mexico | |
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| Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico | |
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| Ship Rock, New Mexico | |
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| State Line Outcrop, New Mexico | |
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| American Falls, New York | |
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| Taconic Unconformity, New York | |
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| Gilboa Forest, New York | |
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| Pilot Mountain, North Carolina | |
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| South Killdeer Mountain, North Dakota | |
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| Hueston Woods, Ohio | |
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| Big Rock, Ohio | |
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| Kelleys Island, Ohio | |
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| Interstate 35 Roadcut, Oklahoma | |
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| Mount Mazama, Oregon | |
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| Lava River Cave, Oregon | |
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| Drake's Folly, Pennsylvania | |
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| Hickory Run, Pennsylvania | |
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| Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania | |
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| Beavertail Point, Rhode Island | |
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| Crowburg Basin, South Carolina | |
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| Mount Rushmore, South Dakota | |
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| Mammoth Site, South Dakota | |
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| Pinnacles Overlook, South Dakota | |
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| Reelfoot Scarp, Tennessee | |
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| Enchanted Rock, Texas | |
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| Capitan Reef, Texas | |
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| Paluxy River Tracks, Texas | |
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| Upheaval Dome, Utah | |
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| Checkerboard Mesa, Utah | |
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| San Juan Goosenecks, Utah | |
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| Salina Canyon Unconformity, Utah | |
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| Bingham Stock, Utah | |
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| Whipstock Hill, Vermont | |
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| Great Falls, Virginia | |
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| Natural Bridge, Virginia | |
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| Millbrig Ashfall, Virginia | |
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| Catoctin Greenstone, Virginia | |
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| Mount St. Helens, Washington | |
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| Dry Falls, Washington | |
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| Seneca Rocks, West Virginia | |
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| Roche-A-Cri Mound, Wisconsin | |
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| Van Hise Rock, Wisconsin | |
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| Amnicon Falls, Wisconsin | |
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| Green River, Wyoming | |
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| Devils Tower, Wyoming | |
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| Fossil Butte, Wyoming | |
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| Steamboat Geyser, Wyoming | |
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| Specimen Ridge, Wyoming | |
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| Glossary | |
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| References | |
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| Index | |