The first scientists investigating the geology of the Marin Headlands were
fascinated and awed by what they saw, and were unable to explain the
fantastic rock formations revealed in the wave-cut cliffs along the shore of
the straight.
To explore the rocks in the Marin Headlands is to peer into eons of the
Earth's history and see the results of some of the planetary processes that
shaped the seas and continents. The reddish rock in which fossils appear is
radiolarian chert. Chert originally formed in level layers on the floor of
the Pacific, one to five inches thick, but later contorted so they now
resemble not so much crumpled pages in a book (as some of the early
scientists noted) as intricate sculpturings by some artists in abstract
designs-arches, domes, chevrons, and parabolas in innumerable variations of
form and texture.
For more information on the geology of the Marin Headlands, visit these
sites.
http://courses.ma.org/Geo/GeoWalk.html
http://virtual.yosemite.cc.ca.us/ghayes/Marin%20Headlands.htm
http://www.nps.gov/archive/prsf/geology/mhland.htm
http://www.marin.cc.ca.us/~jim/ring/rchert.html
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