A. S. (Alta Sharon) Walker

Born in 1942, Alta Sharon Walker, who also published as A. S. Walker, was an American geologist and science writer. She is associated with work for the U.S. Geological Survey and with research that connected Earth science, remote sensing, and planetary mapping.

Walker is especially known in book catalogs and public-domain listings for Deserts: Geology and Resources, a concise introduction to how deserts form, how they change, and why they matter. The book reflects her talent for explaining geology in a way that is practical, readable, and closely tied to real landscapes.

Available sources focus more on her scientific career than on her personal life, so some biographical details are limited. Still, the record that emerges is of an author who wrote from deep professional knowledge and helped make geology accessible to general readers.