Surf, sand, and stone : how waves, earthquakes, and other forces shape the Southern California coast

Title:

Author:

Meldahl, Keith Heyer, author.

ISBN:

9780520280045

Personal Author:

Meldahl, Keith Heyer, author.

Publication Information:

Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2015]

Physical Description:

xiii, 222 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm

Contents:

Time, faults, and moving plates : a recipe for Southern California -- Tsunamis -- Earthquakes -- Disassembling Southern California -- Waves and surfing -- Beaches and coastal bluffs -- Sea level changes and the ice ages.

Abstract:

"Meldahl tells the scientific story of the Southern California coast by blending research from geology and oceanography with a compelling narrative and clear illustrations that take readers out in the field with the author to learn about the processes that have generated the coast as it exists today and how the region will change in the future. The author's geographic scope spans from San Diego to Point Conception, taking in coastal portions of San Diego, Orange, Ventura, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara counties"--Provided by publisher.

Subject Term:

Coast changes -- California, Southern.

Geomorphology -- California, Southern.

Document ID:

SD_ILS:2238410

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Library	Collection	Collection	Call Number	Status
Searching... Auberry Branch Library (Fresno Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Non-fiction Area	551.45709 MEL	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Woodward Park Library (Fresno Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Non-fiction Area	551.45709 MEL	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Southern California is sandwiched between two tectonic plates with an ever-shifting boundary. Over the last several million years, movements of these plates have dramatically reshuffled the Earth's crust to create rugged landscapes and seascapes riven with active faults. Movement along these faults triggers earthquakes and tsunamis, pushes up mountains, and lifts sections of coastline. Over geologic time, beaches come and go, coastal bluffs retreat, and the sea rises and falls. Nothing about Southern California's coast is stable.

Surf, Sand, and Stone tells the scientific story of the Southern California coast: its mountains, islands, beaches, bluffs, surfing waves, earthquakes, and related phenomena. It takes readers from San Diego to Santa Barbara, revealing the evidence for how the coast's features came to be and how they are continually changing. With a compelling narrative and clear illustrations, Surf, Sand, and Stone outlines how the coast will be altered in the future and how we can best prepare for it.

Author Notes

Keith Heyer Meldahl is Professor of Geology and Oceanography at Mira Costa College and the author of two popular books, Hard Road West and Rough-Hewn Land (UC Press, 2011).

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

For anyone interested in understanding the geologic and oceanographic complexity of Southern California, Meldahl's writing about these intricate topics in a book worth reading and rereading is deep though accessible, demanding though engaging, and serious though humorous. Making the complexity of this unstable landscape accessible to the layperson without compromising the intellectual rigor of scientific discovery and synthesis is a rare achievement. Attentive readers will learn how plate tectonics, faults, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, sea-level rise, waves, erosion, deposition, beaches, bluffs, and surfers are intertwined at different spatial and temporal scales. Moreover, the many figures, mostly in color and beautifully rendered throughout the seven chapters, are by themselves a reason for owning this book. The figures and the text segue into one another, allowing readers insight into the deep time of Southern California's bedrock geology and its oceans. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. --Paul R. Pinet, Colgate University

Author Note	p. xiii
1 Time, Faults, and Moving Plates: A Recipe for Southern California	p. 1
2 Tsunamis	p. 25
3 Earthquakes	p. 43
4 Disassembling Southern California	p. 61
5 Waves and Surfing	p. 89
6 Beaches and Coastal Bluffs	p. 119
7 Sea-Level Changes and the Ice Ages	p. 143
Afterword	p. 171
Acknowledgments	p. 177
Appendix: Seeing for Yourself	p. 179
Glossary	p. 195
Notes on Sources	p. 203
Bibliography	p. 209
Index	p. 217

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Table of Contents