Rocks and Their Origins

The study of rocks is the study of deep time, of forces that reshape continents and sculpt mountains over millions of years. In this 1922 volume, Grenville A. J. Cole, Professor of Geology at the Royal College of Science for Ireland, offers a window into a world beneath our feet. He distinguishes the three fundamental rock families: sedimentary, born of eroded particles compressed into stone; igneous, forged in volcanic fire; and metamorphic, transformed by heat and pressure deep within the Earth. Beyond classification, Cole examines how these materials shape the landscapes we inhabit, and he turns a practiced eye to the stones we build with, comparing limestone, granite, and marble as they appear in cathedrals and common walls. Written with the clarity of a teacher who loved his subject, this book captures geology at a moment when scientists were still mapping the bones of the Earth. It appeals to anyone who has ever picked up a strange stone and wondered about its story.