ABSTRACT
Before we can discuss the details of California geology, we must briefly cover the fundamentals. For those who have already taken an introductory course on geology, this chapter may mostly be review, or can be skipped altogether. However, this book is often used for college courses that assume no previous exposure to geology. In addition, many nongeologist readers of this book will be baffled if they encounter the names of important rocks and minerals without the proper explanation, so these are introduced here.
