Dinosaurs weren't the only "players" on the earth during the Triassic and Jurassic geologic periods, a fact quickly proven with 415 impressive color photos of fossilized plant, animal, and avian life from that distant past Presented along with dinosaur fossils large and small, are collectible ammonites, belemnites, crustaceans, and insects, also an impressive representation of Triassic and Jurassic fossil plants, including Araucarian conifers, cycads, and crinoids. Dinosaur tracks, "stomach stones," and coprolites are also presented. The detailed text provides a wonderful overview of the...

Over 500 photos and engaging text reveal the fossils of the Cretaceous Period, the last period of the Mesozoic Era, the Age of Reptiles, dating from 120 to 67 million years ago. Included are typical Mesozoic fossils, such as the ammonites, belemnites, and other collectible fossil mollusks characteristic of the Cretaceous, a variety of plants, well-preserved arthropods such as crabs and insects, turtles, crocodiles, and dinosaurs. Fossils recovered range from the Early Cretaceous to the Upper Cretaceous III, ending at the KT boundary representing the events that swept dinosaurs off the face of...

Explore the rich fossil record of the Paleozoic Era, from the Cambrian (545 million years ago) through the Permian (almost 300 million years ago) with 650 high quality color photos and detailed, highly readable text. Following his successful work on the earliest fossils, the author now starts at that time in earths history when life blossomed into a variety of body plans (phyla), and explores the successive periods of the Paleozoic Era. These include the Cambrian; the early, mid-, and late Ordovician; the Silurian and Devonian with their numerous marine fossils and some of the earths first...

Open this book and take an excursion through the fossil world of the first half of the Cenozoic Era--the Age of Mammals. Over 370 color photos detail the fossil record of this bygone age from small sea creatures to the lumbering rhinoceros, Subhyracodon occidentalis, and rare fossilized bats. The engaging text outlines this fascinating period of geologic time and famous sites including Florissant, Colorado, and Grube Messel, Germany. Collectors will recognize specimens from the Green River Formation and the Oligocene White River Group, and intriguing fossils from lesser-known Early Cenozoic...

560 color photos and engaging text take readers on a journey back to a world first of tropical climates and then plunging into an Ice Age. It covers the Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene Epochs, and includes a dazzling array of fossils, including plants, mollusks, sharks, insects, mammoths, and mastodons. This is the age when familiar plants and animals arise and where humans first appear on the Earth. Human intelligence grows and early tools are also included in this sweeping review of recent geological history. The tools include hand axes, Paleolithic scrapers, and an easily...

Over 650 vivid color photos reveal the geo-collectible fossils and minerals associated with the first two billion years of earth's history. The engaging text explores the geology of shield areas and their associated rocks and minerals. Also examined are pegmatites and their associated minerals, including attractive minerals and crystals like emerald and aquamarine. Early minerals and rocks associated with the formation of the earth's atmosphere are also revealed-the geologic strata known as BIF (Banded Iron Formation). Some of the earth's oldest fossils are included, displayed in outcrops...

In this second book on Paleozoic fossils, over 840 all new specimens from this period are provided, organized by biologic taxonomic position. It is a real eye candy feast for fossil enthusiasts. Come and explore the fossil evidence for a world that was ancient and long gone when the dinosaurs ruled the earth. Discover the sponges, archaeocyathids reef builders, cnidaria, worms, brachiopods, bryozoans, mollusks, arthropods, echinoderms, and chordates that populated the oceans and inhabited the land from 535 to 235 million years ago. Much of the fossil record for this era reveals marine...

Over 670 color photos reveal the Paleozoic plants that covered the earth from 500 to 260 million years ago, well before the dinosaurs roamed the world. These plants provide some of the earliest records to the greening of planet earth. They also make fascinating, very attractive fossils, which can be considered as "nature's artwork." The fossil record provides a window into the first "forests" of the Devonian Period, followed by the peculiar plants of the Lower Carboniferous. These plants, in turn, were followed by those of the Upper Carboniferous, abundant vegetation that is responsible for...

The Ozarks highland region of the Midwest, located in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, contains beautiful mineral specimens for those with sharp eyes and a keen interest to discover minerals. Over 500 images represent the collectible minerals of the western Ozarks tristate district and Missouri's Viburnum Trend. Barite and fluorite as well as a variety of colorful copper, cobalt, nickel, and iron minerals grace the pages of this book, as do various forms of calcite and quartz, the latter of which can be a rock hound's delight. The fascinating and approachable text discusses these...

A colorful look at 3.5 billion years of stromatolites, peculiar structures produced by primitive life forms that lived over vast spans of geologic time. At once diverse, attractive, and sometimes puzzling, fossilized stromatolites are found worldwide in sedimentary rocks--often presenting striking patterns--where they grew in ancient bodies of water that covered parts of the earth billions of years before the dinosaurs. This reference presents a basic, nontechnical account, along with 636 beautiful images of these most ancient of Earthly collectibles. Stromatolites, and the cyanobacteria that...