This guidebook was written at the request of the Colorado Geological
Survey to fulfill a long-felt need for a popular account of the state’s
geology and its relationship to Man.
The authors wish to thank those of their colleagues who have assisted at
various times in the preparation of this book. John Rold, Colorado State
Geologist, and William Weber, of the University of Colorado Museum
staff, made many helpful suggestions concerning the manuscript. John
Schooland, vice president of the Colorado Historical Society, generously
provided several pictures of early mining activities in Colorado.
Permission to reproduce drawings and paintings of fossils and
reconstructions of past environments was granted by the American Museum
of Natural History and the University of Colorado Museum. Drawings,
maps, and diagrams are largely the work of Robert Maurer, who also
designed the cover and title page.
[Illustration: Tilted dark red sedimentary rocks of the
Pennsylvanian-Permian Maroon Formation are well exposed in the cliffs of
Maroon Bells, southwest of Aspen. (Photo courtesy Hydraulic Unlimited
Mfg. Co.)]