Bandon Public Library

The geologic panorama of Texas is as wide as the state is big, sweeping from volcanic mesas and thrusting mountains in the west to red canyons of the Panhandle, along tropical sand barriers of the Gulf Coast, and across central limestone plateaus onto hard granite terrain in the center of the state.

The biggest US state is full of superlatives. Denali, the highest peak in North America at 20,320 feet, is still rising, pushed upward as a tectonic plate collides from the south. The collision has also created huge mountains along Alaska's Gulf Coast, where humid coastal air has produced the largest subpolar icefield in North America. The exceptional heights of Alaska's mountains are mirrored below sea level by the 22,377-foot-deep trench of the...

A collection of 19 road guides that explore the region's broad and deep geologic story.