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Analyzing North Carolina's natural history: In Two worlds: Educator's guide, page 1.4; These two short activities will allow students to examine the changes that occurred as the earth formed and assess their impact on what is now North Carolina.; Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Science and Social Studies); By Pauline S. Johnson.

Bedding planes: In Lonely mountains: The monadnocks of the inner Piedmont, page 8; The quartzite layers that make up the pinnacle of Pilot Mountain also comprise the erosion-resistant cap rocks of Hanging Rock and the two ridges that separate these pinnacles. This uniformity suggests a common origin of this material, and geologists theorize...; By Dirk Frankenberg.

A boulder of Roan Mountain gneiss: In Roan Mountain Highlands, page 7; Figure 5 shows a boulder of Roan Mountain gneiss quarried out of the mountainside and doing duty now as a persuasive "No Entry" signal to those thinking of using an off-limits Forest Service road. The bands of quartz show up nicely in this recently exposed...; By Jennifer Godwin-Wyer and Dirk Frankenberg.

Composition of Pilot Mountain: In Lonely mountains: The monadnocks of the inner Piedmont, page 6; When viewed up close, the pinnacle of Pilot Mountain is seen to be made of almost horizontal layers of rock. This rock is quartzite, and the horizontal lines between the layers are bedding planes that mark the tops of the individual quartzite beds....; By Dirk Frankenberg.

Elisha Mitchell and his mountain: In North Carolina in the New Nation, page 7.4; Elisha Mitchell, a professor at the University of North Carolina, demonstrated that the mountain in the Black Mountain range that now bears his name was the tallest in eastern North America. Thomas Clingman disagreed, and the two men waged a battle in newspapers. After Mitchell's death, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed his discovery.; Format: article

Elisha Mitchell explores the mountains: In North Carolina in the New Nation, page 7.5; Letter from Elisha Mitchell to his wife while doing a geologic survey in northwestern North Carolina, 1828. Mitchell discusses his work, the places he stayed, and the people he met. Includes historical commentary as well as a contemporary map and a Google map with relevant locations marked.; Format: letter; Commentary and sidebar notes by David Walbert and L. Maren Wood.

Gneiss and gabbro: In Roan Mountain Highlands, page 9; Figure 7 shows a close-up of the contact between the gneiss and the intruded gabbro. The gneiss is at the top. It is light colored and its surface is pocked by erosion. The gabbro is on the bottom, is darker and has a much smoother surface. The knife (shown...; By Jennifer Godwin-Wyer and Dirk Frankenberg.

Gorges Creek: In Lonely mountains: The monadnocks of the inner Piedmont, page 9; Further evidence that supports the folding theory can be found at the base of Hanging Rock, where the conveniently located Gorges Creek creates a series of waterfalls that expose the rock surfaces.; By Dirk Frankenberg.

How is coastal sand formed into barrier islands?: In Small sand volume barrier islands: Environmental processes and development risks, page 2; Coastal sand is organized into barrier islands when three conditions are met: There is a supply of sand sufficient to form islands; sea level is rising; and there are winds and waves with sufficient energy to move the sand around....; By Dirk Frankenberg.

More folding: In Lonely mountains: The monadnocks of the inner Piedmont, page 10; Close examination of the rock surfaces above Gorges Creek shows small-scale folds of exactly the type you would expect to find where flexible layers of rock were being dragged over one another during development of a large scale fold in the overlying layers,...; By Dirk Frankenberg.

Natural diversity: In Prehistory, contact, and the Lost Colony, page 1.1; North Carolina has within its borders the highest mountains east of the Mississippi River, a broad, low-lying coastal area, and all the land in between. That variety of landforms, elevations, and climates has produced as diverse a range of ecosystems as any state in the United States. It has also influenced the way people have lived in North Carolina for thousands of years.; Format: article; By David Walbert.

The natural history of North Carolina: In Prehistory, contact, and the Lost Colony, page 1.2; If the five billion years of the earth's history were condensed into a single day, humans would have arrived in North Carolina just two tenths of a second before midnight! This article summarizes the major biological and geological events in North Carolina's history and explains how the land and environment of today came to be.; Format: article; By David Walbert.

The oldest rock in North Carolina: In Roan Mountain Highlands, page 6; Figure 4 is a close-up of the oldest rock in North Carolina. This gneiss is definitely older than all other rocks that have been analyzed in the state, and its age has been dated in one test at 1.8 billion years. Single tests are rarely considered the final...; By Jennifer Godwin-Wyer and Dirk Frankenberg.

Piedmont sands and clays: In Clays of the Piedmont: Origins, recovery, and use, page 1; North Carolina's landmass has twice been subjected to major bouts of mountain building followed by erosion. The mountain building events have been described in another field trip in this series, the Roan Mountain Highlands. The remnants of the erosion of these...; By Dirk Frankenberg.

Plutonic gabbro: In Roan Mountain Highlands, page 8; Figure 6 shows the other major rock type at the crest of Roan Mountain. The dark rock in the foreground is the Bakersville gabbro described in the Introduction. It formed as a molten intrusion into the gneiss about 750 million years ago, and was carried upward...; By Jennifer Godwin-Wyer and Dirk Frankenberg.

The regions of North Carolina: In Two worlds: Educator's guide, page 1.2; In this lesson, students analyze the differences between North Carolina's geographical regions: the Mountains, the Piedmont, and the Inner and Outer Coastal Plain.; Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies); By Pauline S. Johnson.

Shifting coastlines: In Intrigue of the Past, page 4.3; In their study of North Carolina's changing coastline during the Paleoindian and Archaic periods, students will determine the positions of the coastline at different times and decide what types of archaeological information has been lost due to rising sea levels.; Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 8 Science and Social Studies)

Stone Mountain: In Lonely mountains: The monadnocks of the inner Piedmont, page 12; Quartzite is not the only erosion-resistant rock that has formed monadnocks on North Carolina's Piedmont. Another major rock type — granite — has also been responsible for monadnock formation. Granite is a granular rock made primarily of feldspar...; By Dirk Frankenberg.

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