Reviews of this book
For those who really like to dig on the past, here's a scientific but accessible guide to the fossils that are so easy to find in beach cliffs and road cuts. Moore, a paleontologist who worked for the U.S. Geological Survey and does research at Oregon State University, explains that Western Oregon has "one of the world's richest and most continuous sequences of fossil clams and snails" because of an ancient seafloor rift that occurred when a good chunk of the area we now know as Oregon moved north. Over the next 60 million years or so, sediments filled the hole; then the rising Coast Range brought the fossil rich sediments up where we can get at 'em. With this illustrated and annotated guide, we can take an educated stab at identifying what we find. The book includes suggestions for eight excursions you can take to get a better handle on Oregon coastal geology. (Review by Paul Denison, Eugene Register Guard, 6/25/00.)
Somewhere around 57 million years ago, a plate shift created a new tabula rasa for fossils in Western Oregon. The continuous creation of fossils since that time has resulted in one of the world's richest sequences of fossil clams and snails. Ellen J. Moore, a native Oregonian with extensive education and years of experience, now lives in Corvallis and continues her study of the Oregon fossil fields with this detailed, useful and often quite delightful book for the general reader. A basic history of the area is followed by top-rate fossil identification pages, complete with photos of each item. If you are going to Oregon's present or past coastline, take this book with you! (Review by Dan Hays, Salem Statesman Journal, 7/23/00.)
Ellen Moore has done an outstanding job on her new book, Fossil Shells from Western Oregon. It is a book necessary for anyone who beachcombs or has any curiosity about shells.
A nice, easy-to-understand style, along with lucid descriptions, make Moore's book especially good for nonprofessional paleontologists.
The book is reoughly divided into four parts. Introductory chapters on geologic time, fossils, geologic processes, and history conclude with glances at fossils occurring elsewhere in Oregon, those older than Tertiary in the western part of the state, and fossils other than shells from western Oregon. The second portion of the book has sections arranged by location, northwest, west-central, and southwest. These areas are in turn subdivided by geologic formations arranged from oldest to youngest. The third portion of the book is organized by age, beginning with Eocene and ending with Pleistocene, while the final part is "Geologic Excursions" (field trips) to specific regions of the coast such as Cape Kiwanda or Depoe Bay.
At the core of the book are excellent descriptions and illustrations of diagnostic as well as common invertebrate marine species from the Coast Range and Willamette Valley. For this, the author draws on her own considerable knowledge, having authored many of the significant publications on Oregon Tertiary invertebrates. Abundant photographs and diagrams throughout contribute to the ease of understanding.
Expanded from her earlier work, Fossil Mollusks of Coastal Oregon, the glove-compartment-size book is an indispensable tool for professional and nonprofessional paleontologists in Oregon. At the price, it is a definite bargain. Fossil Shells from Western Oregon can be ordered from Moore at Chintimini Press, 3425 Chintimini Avenue, Corvallis, Oregon 97333, for $12, which includes postage. (Review by Elizabeth L. and William N. Orr, University of Oregon, Oregon Geology, v. 62, p. 83, July 2000.)
This guidebook to Cenozoic fossil mollusks of western Oregon is the successor to two earlier, out-of-print guides by the same author. More than a simple guide to fossil shells, the first 43 pages include a brief history of paleontology in Oregon, an overview of geology in the state, how geology has formed the landscape, and instructions on how to recognize, collect, and identify fossils. Nineteen more pages are devoted to self-guided geological field excursions in western Oregon. The introductory geology sections and field trip guides are well illustrated.
The core of the book begins with a useful guide to the morphology and tereminology of mollusk shells. Fossil shells are then grouped by age from Eocene to Pleistocene, and are illustrated by photographs that accompany the species write-ups on each page. This is a useful device that avoids the pitfalls of all too many guidebooks, where the photos are grouped onto plates that need to be bookmarked with a thumb while you read the text. The quality of the fossil photos is very high, which mostly eliminates the need for morphological descriptions that are often the bane of guidebooks. Instead, the text accompanying each species' photo gives sidelights into the usefulness of the species as a guide fossil for age, glimpses into its natural history or comments on how it was preserved. An extensive list of more technical literature for interested readers is included, as is a very complete index. In all, the thoroughness and clear presentation that make this guide book a stand-out reflect the author's long residence in the front ranks of West Coast research paleontologists.
This is an excellent book for the interested amateur, beginning student, or budding paleontologist who has advanced beyond the Barney stage. (Review by Louie Marincovich, Jr., The Veliger, v. 43, p. 377, October 2000.)
Ellen Moore's compact guide to the identification of fossil shells from western Oregon succeeds and updates her two previous (out of print) guidebooks intended for use in the field by the nonprofessional paleontologist and amateur natural historian. The identification section of the book provides high-quality photogaphic illustrations of the most distinctive and abundant Cenozoic mollusk species alongside informative brief descriptions.
The educational value of the book is enhanced by introductory sections that include the nature of fossils, geologic time, the shaping of the Oregon landscape, the structural and plate tectonic underpinnings of the Pacific Northwest, geologic history, and descriptive terminology for mollusk shells. A 21-page section characterizing and illustrating the fossiliferous formations of western Oregon contains citations of primatry literature that will be useful to the more serious student.
The concluding section contains a useful set of field excursions that are less about acquiring fossils than about reading and appreciating the geology and history of the landscape. The book fits readily into a daypack, and my pulse quickens every time I look at the cover photograph of a slab of fossiliferous Pittsburg Bluff Formation full of naticids, Acila valves, the siphonal canal of a Bruclarkia, and the projecting spire of a little turrid I would love to look at more closely. (Review by Carole S. Hickman, American Paleontologist, v. 9, no. 1, p. 12, February 2001.)
$12.00 (shipping included)
Chintimini Press
3324 SW Chintimini Avenue
Corvallis, Oregon 97333-1529
telephone: 541-758-0314
email: chintimp@cmug.com
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