14 field entries
Volcanic Fields
Rift valleys & lava plateaus
Our interactive maps let you peel back the crust to trace how stones, fossils, and deep time combine to shape the ground beneath your feet.
01 — The idea
4.6B
years of record
1,240
mapped field sites
38
illustrated guides
12k+
active readers
“The present is the key to the past.”
02 — Geology
Hover each band to descend through half a billion years. Every layer is a page; depth is just chronology.
The living skin of the planet — roots, burrows, and everything history has not yet buried.
Compressed seafloor: shells, corals, and plankton pressed into pale stone by a vanished ocean.
Fossilized dunes and riverbeds — you can still read the direction of ancient winds in its bands.
Mud settled in still, oxygen-poor water. Split it along a seam and it opens like paper.
The old fire beneath everything — cooled lava flows that anchor the entire column above.
03 — Field guides
14 field entries
Rift valleys & lava plateaus
11 field entries
Moss forests over basalt
9 field entries
Fault lines & thermal seams
04 — The course
62 lessons filmed on location — from surface soils down to the bedrock, in order, the way the planet wrote them.
05 — Plans
Freeforever
For the curious walker who keeps picking things up.
$12per month
The full course, the maps, and every guide in your pocket.
$39per month
For clubs, classrooms, and serious survey work.
06 — In short
How it works
1
Work through the five modules — from Reading the Landscape to Field Craft & Mapping — at your own pace.
2
Download a field guide, drive to a mapped site (or your nearest roadside cutting), and match what you see.
3
Log your finds, compare strata across sites, and build your personal record of deep time.
Common questions
Lithos is an illustrated geology learning hub: a five-module field course, 38 illustrated field guides, and 1,240 mapped sites that teach you to read landscapes as an archive of deep time.
No. The course starts from zero — the first module, Reading the Landscape, assumes only curiosity. Technical terms are introduced with illustrations as you go.
Five illustrated modules: Reading the Landscape, Minerals & Crystal Forms, Strata & Deep Time, Fossils — Life in Stone, and Field Craft & Mapping, plus access to all 38 field guides.
Yes. Every field guide is designed for offline use — download it before you head out, and the illustrated identification keys work from any roadside cutting.
Join 12,000 readers learning to see half a billion years in a roadside cutting.