AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF

The significance of geology is commonly overlooked by the general public and underrepresented in free-choice learning environments including national parks that exhibit spectacular examples of geological features and processes. Parks are a major contributor to public learning, and a key way to teach how geology influences many aspects of our lives. Shenandoah National Park represents a snapshot of over a billion years of Earth's history. Phases of continental rifting and collision that formed the Appalachian Mountains reflect multiple "Wilson Cycles " of opening and closing ocean basins. Shenandoah's spectacular landscape is a product of past and ongoing geological processes that strongly influence the park's flora, fauna, and cultural history. Interpreting this landscape presents opportunities to increase public science literacy and draw attention to national parks as natural geological classrooms. By developing a geology-based training manual for Shenandoah National Park rangers, this thesis aims to increase ranger knowledge of the geological history of the Appalachian Mountains and thereby increase their ability to educate visitors about stories of the past, present, and future that these mountains have to tell. This thesis is the precursor to a condensed geology training manual for the interpretive staff a