Baja California’s Coastal Landscapes Revealed: Excursions in Geologic Time and Climate Change. By Markes E. Johnson

Abstract

Markes Johnson’s Baja California’s Coastal Landscapes Revealed chaperones readers through virtual rambles up, down, and around coastal Baja California and the Mar de Cortés. Accompanied by his geology students and an eye for reading the Earth archives, Johnson strolls along the deep histories of Baja’s land and coastal seascapes, revealing how extremes in weather and water have radically shaped and reshaped the peninsula. In short, Johnson teaches us the languages of landscapes and how to “read the rocks” (p. xiii). The third book in Johnson’s trilogy treats readers to a kaleidoscope of colors, textures, and sensations. Layering evidence from geology, stratigraphic paleobiology, and paleoclimatology, among other disciplines, Johnson traces the timelines of key locations, unearthing the geomorphologic and climatological changes recorded in the land. While Johnson’s writing is technical, it remains readable and experiential. His vivid, visceral, and immersive descriptions of Baja California invite readers to absorb the sun’s warmth, smell the breeze, taste the salt, or hear the screaming whistles of the caves of Isla San Esteban. One can almost imagine dozing on the beach of Ensenada San Basilio, dreaming of volcanoes and hurricanes past. It is in part that closeness to the landscape that makes this study so compelling. Johnson displays the effectiveness of local, grounded, close-up experiences in generating and circulating knowledge about the past.