Books about Earth Science My curiosity about the earth began in a tiny valley in northwestern New Jersey -- West Milford, my hometown. In the forests, purple rocks sparkled with white crystals, and I would split open little rocks atop my “table” of a glacially-deposited boulder in the backyard to look at the gleaming crystals inside. My hometown was an important center of iron mining in Colonial times, and just a valley to the west, in Franklin and Ogdensburg, zinc miners discovered dozens of unique species of fluorescent minerals, minerals that glow bright colors under ultraviolet light! When my family moved to Florida the rocks weren’t so cool, but sinkholes opened up under my high school and I figured I needed to know more about that phenomenon as well. While Sinkholes was the first book I started to research, Earth’s Hidden Treasures was my first book written, and I filled it with all of the neat little tricks that a beginning “rockhound” would want to know. It was the first in the five-volume Exploring Planet Earth series, which can be found in schools and libraries around the country, and can still be ordered through Amazon.com. Each of the books focuses on a single facet of earth science and within it, the relationship between human history and the earth. Four of the five volumes are my former name, Sandra Downs. Earth's Fiery Fury No, the earth doesn't spew fire. It doesn't burn. But magma seethes and bubbles deep within our planet, generating some pretty HOT STUFF!   Earth's Hidden Treasures From emeralds in Brazil to pegmatite in North Carolina, Earth’s Hidden Treasures shows how global forces on an enormous scale result in a dazzling, ever-changing array of gems and stones.   Earth's Wild Winds We can’t see the wind, and yet we can hear it, feel it, smell it, and see its effects. From gentle breezes to furious attacks, the Earth’s winds are with us every day. We have no control over their force, but we can learn to respect wind and understand it.   Erosion: Shaping the Earth Discover the how and why of erosive forces, and how human activity has contributed to a dangerous acceleration of erosion around the world.   Sinkholes A sinkhole is a hole in the ground, but a very special one, appearing anywhere where rock dissolves, allowing the ground above it to sink.   When the Earth Moves Earthquakes can be disastrous, but the earth moves in many other ways as well—landslides, rockslides, mudflows, avalanches—sometimes with terrible results. When the Earth Moves explains how the earth is ever in motion, from gradual, daily occurrences such as soil creep to great events, such as when the ancient city of Ubar disappeared in a sinkhole.