Literature on the Geology of the Serpentine Barrens of Pennsylvania,
Delaware and Maryland

List compiled July, 2013 by Ron Notvest and Mike Bertram

Barton, A.M. and Wallenstein, M.D., 1997.  Effects of invasion of Pinus virginiana on soil properties in serpentine barrens in southeastern Pennsylvania. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 124: 297-305. ON FILE

Brooks, R.R., 1987. Serpentine and Its Vegetation; A Multidisciplinary Approach, Diocorides Press, Portland, Oregon.

Clark, J.S. and Royall, P.D. 1996.  Local and regional sediment charcoal evidence for fire regimes in presettlement north-eastern North America. Journal of Ecology, 84:365-382.

Custer, B.H. 1983. Soil survey of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service, Washington, D.C. 152 pp. + 124 maps.

Faill R.T., 1997. A geological history of the north-central Appalachians, Part 1. Orogenesis from the Mesaproterozoic to the Taconic orogeny. American Journal of Science, v. 297, p. 551 - 619.

Faill R. T., and Sevon, W.D., 1994, Various Aspects of Piedmont Geology in Lancaster and Chester Counties, Pennsylvania, Guidebook for the 59th Annual Field Conference of Pennsylvania Geologists. ON FILE

Faill R. T., and Smith, R.C., 2010, The Peach Bottom area in the Pennsylvania - Maryland Piedmont, in Fleeger, G.M., and Whitmeyer, S.J. eds., The Mid-Atlantic Shore to the Appalachians: Geological Society of America Field Guide 16. ON FILE

Ganis, G. R. and Wise, D. U. 2008.  Taconic events in Pennsylvania: Datable phases of a ∼ 20 m.y. orogeny American Journal of Science vol. 308 no. 2 167-183 (February 2008) 

Harrison, S. P. and Kruckeberg, A. R. 2008.  Garden on the Rocks.  Natural History (May): 40-44. ON FILE

Hilgartner, William B. , Mark Nejako and Ryan Casey, 2009. A 200-Year Paleoecological Record of Pinus virginiana, Trace Metals, Sedimentation, and Mining Disturbance in a Maryland Serpentine Barren, Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society Vol. 136, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 2009), pp. 257-271. 

Jones, J.L., Scharnberger, C.K., Schlegel, M.A., and Robinson, D.C., 2006, A tour of the Peach Bottom Slate—Once the best building slate in the world, in Pazzaglia, F.J., ed., Excursions in Geology and History: Field Trips in the Middle Atlantic States: Geological Society of America Field Guide 8. ON FILE

Kellman, M. 1979. Soil enrichment by neotropical savanna trees. Journal of Ecology 67:565-577.

Lookingbill, T.R., Engelhardt, K.A.M., Florkowski, L.N., Churchill, J.B. and Ashley, L.J. 2007. Evaluation of the Nottingham Park Serpentine Barrens, Chester County, Pennsylvania, University of Maryland, Center for Environmental Science (for its merit in meeting National Significance Criteria as a National Natural Landmark in Representing Serpentine Barrens as a Natural Feature in the Mid-Atlantic Piedmont Region). ON FILE

Mansberg, L. and Wentworth, T.R. 1984.  Vegetation and soils of a serpentine barren in western North Carolina, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, 111:273-286.

Pearre, N.C. and Heyl A.V. 1960.  Chromite and other mineral deposits in serpentine rocks of the piedmont upland, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.  U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull. 1082-K:707-833.

Proctor, J. and Woodell, S.R.J., 1975. The ecology of serpentine soils. Advances in Ecological Research 9:255-366.

Proctor, J. and Nagy L. 1992.  Ultramafic rocks and their vegetation: an overview.  Pp 469-494 in Baker, A.J. Proctor, J. and  Reeves, R.D. (eds), The Vegetation of Ultramafic (Serpentine) Soils: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Serpentine Ecology. Intercept Ltd., Andover, N.H.

Rabenhorst, M.C., Foss, J.E. and Fanning, D.S. 1982. Genesis of Maryland soils formed from serpentine.  Soil Science Society of America Journal 46:607-616.

Rajakaruna, N., Harris, T.B. and Alexander, E.B. 2009.  Serpentine geoecology of eastern North America: A review, Rhodora 111:21-108.  ON FILE

Robertson, A.I. 1992. The relation of nickel toxicity to certain physiological aspects of serpentine ecology: some facts and a new hypothesis. Pp 331-336 in Baker, A.J. Proctor, J. and Reeves, R.D. (eds), The Vegetation of Ultramafic (Serpentine) Soils: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Serpentine Ecology. Intercept Ltd., Andover, N.H.

Shaw H.F., and Wasserburg G.J., 1984. Isotopic Constraints on the Origin of the Appalachian Mafic Complexes. American Journal of Science, Vol. 284, (April/May, 1984), pp. 319-349.

Sinha A.K., Hanan B.B., and Wayne D.M., 1997. Igneous and Metamorphic U-Pb ages from the Baltimoe Mafic Complex, Maryland Piedmont. In Sinha A.K., Whalen J.B., and Hogan J.P. eds., The Nature of Magmatism in the Appalachian Orogeny, Geological Society of America Memoir 191, p. 279 - 286.

Sloto, Ronald A., 2009.  The Mines and Minerals of Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Smith R.C. and Barnes, J.H. 1998.  Geology of Nottingham County Park. Open File Report 98-12, Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Download - large file (10.0Mb).

Smith R.C. and Barnes, J.H. 2008.  Geology of the goat hill serpentine barrens, Baltimore mafic complex, Pennsylvania. Journal of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science 82(1): 19-30.

Smith R.C. and Barnes, J.H. 2008.  Bedrock composition of the Goat Hill serpentine barrens and a proposed serpentine factor for predicting floral response.  Journal of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science 82(1): 31-47.

Stone, R.W. and Hughes, H.H., 1931.  Feldspar in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Geologic Survey, 4th Series, Bulletin M13 Download - large file (11.3Mb).

Streng, D.R. and Harcombe, P.A., 1982.  Why don’t East Texas savannas grow up to forest? American Midland Naturalist, 108:278-294.

Tibbetts, R.A. and Smith, J.A.C., 1992. Vacuolar accumulation of calcium and its interaction with magnesium availability. Pp 367-373. In Baker, A.J.M., Proctor, J. and Reeves, R.D. (eds), The Vegetation of Ultramafic (Serpentine) Soils: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Serpentine Ecology, Intercept Ltd., Andover, NH.

Wallenstein, M.D. 1995. Soil amelioration by Pinus virginiana during forest conversion on the New Texas serpentine barrens of Pennsylvania.  Undergraduate thesis, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA

Worthley, E.G., Sr., 1984. A nature walk for Soldiers’ Delight, Baltimore County, Maryland.  Soldiers Delight Conservation Inc., Unpub Rep.