Great Plains Geology is one of two books published so far in the Discover the Great Plains Series; the other isGreat Plains Indians by David J.Wishart. Robert Diffendal’s intended audience for the book is “anyone with a broad interest in geology and some general education in science, professional geologists and geographers wanting to become more familiar with the region, and students, farmers, ranchers, and K-12 educators who want to know about the Great Plains and its geological development.” While archaeologists are not listed among those for whom the book is targeted, Diffendal does provide some geological context for a few important Paleoindian sites in the Great Plains. Diffendal has divided his book into three main sections after the Introduction. His Introduction contains a full-color geological time scale with major Earth impacts by asteroids, times of large extinctions, and glaciations noted on the scale. The time scale is his background for discussing the evolution of the Great Plains in Chapter 2 and rock formations at 57 sites across the Great Plains from Alberta, Canada to southwestern Texas in Chapter 3. His introduction also includes a discussion of more than 50 geographic definitions of the Great Plains. In Chapter 1, “What is the Great Plains” (12 pages), Diffendal argues for his own boundaries of the Great Plains while generally following Charles B. Hunt’s (1974) definition of physiographic regions. Diffendal uses “uplift, earthquake faulting, bending and folding of rock layers, volcanism, or a combination of these processes” to define his 10 sections of the Great Plains. Two of his 10 sections are subdivided. One subdivision is based on glaciated versus unglaciated, and the other on abrupt, yet small in areal extent, uplift of hills (Cypress Hills of Alberta). Chapter 2, “Geologic History of the Great Plains” (20 pages), addresses tectonics, sea-level changes, glaciation, and accompanying drainage changes in the Great Plains. Chapter 2 is a succinct introduction to the geologic development of the Great Plains. Diffendal graphically outlines, at two times during the Upper Cretaceous Period, the area of the Western Interior Seaway that stretched from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. This provides a large part of his background for the sedimentary rocks found in the Great Plains. Chapter 3 ofGreat Plains Geology, “Visiting the Great Plains”, highlights 57 sites that illustrate the geology and development of the Great Plains. Some are national parks, more are national monuments, and some are state parks or recreation areas. Very few are on private land, so most are readily accessible by the public. Diffendal labels each of the 57 sites with one of more of the following features: geological, paleontological, archaeological, and ecotourism. Interestingly, the first and last sites of Diffendal’s survey of locations in the Great Plains are archaeological sites. He begins his discussion with the Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump site in Alberta, Canada, his most western site. He ends the chapter with a discussion of the Middle Archaic Fate Bell Shelter in Seminole Canyon State Park, southern Texas, along a tributary to the Rio Grande. Between these two sites you will enjoy reading about the geology of fourteen other archaeological and historical sites. While sixteen of the 57 sites listed by Diffendal in his book are classified as archaeological sites, four would be more accurately labeled as historical sites (Pompeii’s Pillar National plains anthropologist, Vol. 65 No. 255, August 2020, 274–279

中文翻译：

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大平原地质

大平原地质学是迄今为止出版的探索大平原系列的两本书之一；另一个是大卫·J·威沙特的《大平原印第安人》。罗伯特·迪芬达尔 (Robert Diffendal) 本书的目标读者是“对地质学和一些科学通识教育有广泛兴趣的任何人、想要更加熟悉该地区的专业地质学家和地理学家，以及想要了解该地区的学生、农民、牧场主和 K-12 教育工作者了解大平原及其地质发展。” 虽然考古学家没有被列为本书的目标对象，但 Diffendal 确实为大平原的一些重要古印度遗址提供了一些地质背景。在引言之后，Diffendal 将他的书分为三个主要部分。他的介绍包含一个全彩色的地质时间尺度，其中包含小行星对地球的主要影响、大灭绝的时间和在尺度上注明的冰川作用。时间尺度是他在第 2 章中讨论大平原演化的背景，在第 3 章中讨论了从加拿大艾伯塔到德克萨斯西南部的大平原的 57 个地点的岩层。他的介绍还包括对 50 多个地理定义的讨论大平原的。在第 1 章“什么是大平原”（12 页）中，Diffendal 为他自己的大平原边界辩护，同时大体上遵循 Charles B. Hunt (1974) 对自然地理区域的定义。Diffendal 使用“隆起、地震断层、岩层的弯曲和折叠、火山作用或这些过程的组合”来定义大平原的 10 个部分。他的 10 个部分中有两个被细分。一个细分是基于冰川化与未冰川化，另一个基于突然但面积较小的山丘（艾伯塔的赛普拉斯山）隆起。第 2 章，“大平原的地质历史”（20 页），讨论大平原的构造、海平面变化、冰川作用和伴随的排水系统变化。第二章是对大平原地质发展的简要介绍。Diffendal 在上白垩纪期间两次以图形方式勾勒出从北冰洋延伸到墨西哥湾的西部内陆海道区域。这为他在大平原发现的沉积岩提供了很大一部分背景资料。大平原地质学第 3 章，“参观大平原”，突出显示大平原地质和发展的 57 个站点。有些是国家公园，更多是国家纪念碑，有些是州立公园或休闲区。很少有人在私人土地上，所以大多数都很容易被公众访问。Diffendal 将 57 个地点中的每一个标记为以下特征之一：地质、古生物学、考古学和生态旅游。有趣的是，迪芬达尔在大平原地区调查的第一个和最后一个地点是考古遗址。他开始讨论位于加拿大艾伯塔省的 Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump 站点，这是他最西部的站点。他在本章结束时讨论了德克萨斯州南部塞米诺尔峡谷州立公园的中古命运钟庇护所，沿着格兰德河的一条支流。在这两个遗址之间，您将喜欢阅读其他十四个考古和历史遗址的地质。虽然 Diffendal 在他的书中列出的 57 个遗址中有 16 个被归类为考古遗址，但有四个更准确地标记为历史遗址（庞贝柱国家平原人类学家，第 65 卷第 255 卷，2020 年 8 月，274-279