Growing up the daughter of two Ph.D.s in geology, young LUCY CHRONIC was more likely to hear discussions of plate tectonics than the prospects of the local ball team's chance of winning the pennant. Throughout her life, she has pursued interests in natural history, biology, and archaeology, but the family pull toward geology eventually won out with her B.A. in geology from Carleton College and an M.S. in paleontology from the University of Wyoming.

Her professional life has remained eclectic, with writing and scientific interpretation being the threads that tie her various pursuits together. She has worked as an archeologist, educational writer, scientific writer, and interpreter in state and national parks.



She resides in the mountains of central Idaho with her husband and two daughters, enjoying the wonders of our natural world.


HALKA CHRONIC, a geologist living in Sedona, Arizona, began her career at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. She later taught at the University of Michigan summer field camp and at Haile Selassie University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She was for a time an editor-writer for the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and has consulted with the U.S. National Park Service in identifying and describing geologic landmarks in the Southern Rocky Mountain Region. She has also been a consultant for groundwater and petroleum research. Living in Colorado for more than 30 years, she raised four daughters, two of them now geologists and her coauthors.



Her academic degrees include a B.A. in zoology from the University of Arizona, an M.A. in biology from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in geology from Columbia University. Among her published books are Roadside Geology of Colorado, Roadside Geology of Arizona, Roadside Geology of Utah, and Roadside Geology of New Mexico.