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Urban Series

In urban areas geology is important to the design and engineering of both infrastructure and new buildings. As I've photographed urban places — New York City, Boston, Minneapolis / St. Paul and San Francisco — I've wondered if the geology below might also reflect in some way on the collective character of the populations that live there. While the rock below New York City is hard and durable, the layers of volcanic and sedimentary rock contained within Boston's granite basin record a different history of volcanic eruptions, mountain building and erosion. Shallow almost horizontal layers beneath Minneapolis/St. Paul reflect a former inland sea environment, while deeper layers cover a failed rift that could have split the continent in two. The steeply dipping layers below San Francisco represent a volatile event on the opposite shore of North America — the collision and subduction of the Pacific Plate.