Interpreting Geologic Sections Geological sections and maps are pictures of what rocks do.
Geologic maps show the pattern of rocks on the surface of the earth.
Geologic sections show the patterns of rocks as they might be exposed on the side of a road cut or on the wall of a trench. One of the things that geologic sections show very well is the geological history of an area. The heart of field geology is going up to rocks and getting them to tell you their stories. Interpreting the order of events in a geological section is reading the history of that section, and is the basic tool of all field geology. Look at the sections below and try to read their histories.