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A Forward, written by Dr. Ed Landing, State Paleontologist, places the 400 million years of geological time represented by the rocks of John Boyd Thacher Park into modern plate tectonic perspective. This includes repeated collisions of ancient subtropical eastern North America with continent-sized land masses and the final separation of Africa with the opening of the modern Atlantic Ocean. Winifred Goldring's careful review of the ancient marine rocks that form the Helderberg Mountains and her illustrations of their fossils remain a useful introduction to understanding the natural heritage that is preserved in the park. Only relatively minor editorial changes have been made for this 1997 reprint of this classic 1933 publication. Goldring's review includes the effects of the last glaciation on the region, the development of modern streams and caves, and a useful summary of the relationship of forest types to underlying bedrock.