More than 500 million years of geologic discord along the western margin of the North American tectonic plate has built the land that is British Columbia. Today, the turmoil continues as the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate inches beneath Vancouver Island, triggering earthquakes and generating the magma that feeds the volcanoes of the Cascades.

Roadside Geology of Southern British Columbia explains the province?s geologic history in simple terms, covering southern British Columbia from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to the Alberta border east of Golden. Introductory sections describe the geology of four regions: Vancouver Island, the Coast, the Interior Plateaus, and the Columbia and Rocky Mountains. Thirty-one road guides, complete with maps, photographs, and diagrams, locate and interpret the rocks and landforms visible from the province?s highways and ferry routes.

Discover a lava flow that chilled beneath ice, learn how Ripple Rock claimed twenty-four large ships before engineers finally blew it up, and drive across a slow-moving earthflow that has played havoc with roads since the gold rush days.