Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-283) and index.

1 Changing Face of the Carolinas over Geologic Time 1 -- 2 How to Read Rocks 6 -- 3 Adding to the Body of Geologic Knowledge 18 -- 4 Geologic Time 27 -- 5 Geologic History of the Carolinas 31 -- Field Trips: Map of the field-trip locations 46 -- The Blue Ridge -- 6 Chimney Rock Park: Stretched, Folded, Cracked, and Faulted 49 -- 7 DuPont State Forest: Waterfalls Galore 56 -- 8 Whiteside Mountain: A Geologic Puzzle 62 -- 9 Grandfather Mountain: From Valley to Peak in 750 Million Years 68 -- 10 Linville Falls: Falls, Faults, and Geologic Windows 75 -- 11 Mount Mitchell State Park: Which Peak Is the Tallest and Why 81 -- 12 Stone Mountain State Park: A Beautiful Bare Mountain 90 -- 13 Woodall Shoals: Beautiful Rocks That Have Been Through a Lot 97 -- 14 Caesars Head and Table Rock State Parks: The View from the Blue Ridge Escarpment 102 -- Piedmont -- 15 South Mountains State Park: Stuck between a Continent and a Hard Place 113 -- 16 Crowders Mountain State Park: A Mountain of Quartz and Blue Daggers 121 -- 17 Reed Gold Mine: The Glory Days of Gold 127 -- 18 Pilot Mountain State Park: Beach Sands in a Mountain 135 -- 19 Morrow Mountain State Park: A Beautiful Quarry 143 -- 20 Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area: A Mine with a View 151 -- 21 Museum of Life and Science and Penny's Bend: Diabase Sills in the Durham Triassic Basin 156 -- 22 Landsford Canal State Park: Transportation and Geology 164 -- 23 North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences: Gems and Meteorites 170 -- 24 Raven Rock State Park: Everything's Happening at the Fall Zone 178 -- 25 Medoc Mountain State Park: Granite and Grapes 185 -- 26 Forty Acre Rock: The Battle between Rock and the Forces of Erosion 190 -- Coastal Plain -- 27 Roanoke River: From the Mountains to the Sea 199 -- 28 Sugarloaf Mountain in Sand Hills State Forest: Sand and Longleaf 208 -- 29 Cliffs of the Neuse State Park: Under the Sea 215 -- 30 Santee State Park: Mule-Eating Sinkholes 220 -- 31 Jones Lake State Park: The Mystery of the Carolina Bays 224 -- 32 Flanner Beach: The Rise and Fall of Sea Level 232 -- 33 Jockey's Ridge State Park: A Mountain of Sand 238 -- 34 Oregon Inlet: The Fickle Nature of Barrier Islands and Inlets 247 -- 35 Carolina Beach State Park: Sugarloaf, Shells, and Sinkholes 254 -- 36 Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site: The Charleston Earthquake of 1886 260.