DOCSLIB.ORG

Parting Shots

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Parting Shots PARTING SHOTS A RECORD BRIMFUL OF PROMISE Arthur Holmes is mentioned in several articles tifi c work at what we now call Imperial College, in this issue, by John Valley in his editorial, in London, and Cherry Lewis gives a detailed by Condon and Schmitz in their introductory account of his troubled work with the minerals article, and by Mattinson in his review of the industry in Mozambique and the petroleum U–Pb method. Google ‘Arthur Holmes’ and industry in Burma. His main academic career you will fi nd a lot of articles about his scien- began in 1924 when he was given the job of tifi c work, and there is a very readable biog- starting a department of geology at Durham raphy by Cherry Lewis which strikes a nice University, where 40 years later I obtained both balance between his scientifi c and personal my degrees. The student geological society in life. There is no question that he was a giant Durham is still called ‘The Arthur Holmes of 20th-century Earth science. The U–Pb age of Geological Society’. In 1943 he took up the 370 Ma that he obtained for accessory minerals Chair of Geology at Edinburgh where I’m Diagrammatic section across the “FIGURE 744: separated from a nepheline syenite from the writing now. I pass his picture every time I Andesite Line and a typical island arc Christiania region of Norway (Holmes 1911) is go up the main stairs in the Grant Institute (e.g. Japan or Kamchatka) to illustrate a speculative arrangement of convection currents which might a milestone not just for geology but for other (my fi rst picture). He remained there until he account for the origin of andesitic lavas and their sciences. Without an Earth of great antiq- retired in 1956. associates, and for the concentration of volcanoes over uity, biological evolution by natural selection the region of intermediate earthquakes.” is impossible. For astronomers, it gave some Holmes was a quiet, rather retiring person, but local ground truth to the sort of timescale on nevertheless had the power to inspire others Holmes’ second wife, Doris Reynolds, was a which the universe has existed. For physics it with the thrill of the geological chase. One of research fellow in Edinburgh from 1943 to provided insights into the character of radio- his earliest students in Durham was Kingsley 1962. Holmes installed her in a large and active decay, and it is fascinating that Holmes Dunham, who was professor there when I was comfortable offi ce, with lots of bookshelves discusses the possibility that the rate of decay an undergraduate in the late 1950s. Dunham and drawers for rock specimens. I occupied might depend on pressure and temperature. went on to become director of the British it for many years towards the end of my paid His paper and his 1913 booklet The Age of the Geological Survey. My close friend and long- career. Women were a rarity in geological cir- Earth are beautifully written and constructed. time collaborator, W. L. (Bill) Brown, who cles in the 1950s, and Doris was famously out- Geological relationships, petrology, miner- was older than me, obtained a fi rst-class hon- spoken. She was a believer in the ‘granitiza- alogy and the new geochemistry of isotopes ours degree in chemistry at Edinburgh, but he tion’ hypothesis, at a time when a magmatic all come magically together. And in 1911 he decided chemistry was dull, and went to some origin for granite was becoming the prevailing was only 21, for heaven’s sake! lectures by Holmes. Perhaps because Bill loved mountaineering, geology seemed a lot less view. I heard her contribute to discussions on I never met Holmes (he died in 1965, a couple dull, and Holmes arranged for him to take a a number of occasions, often rummaging in of years after I got my PhD), but I’ve always second degree, in geology, which Bill obtained her handbag for a lantern slide. Bill recalled felt his presence. He was born in Gateshead, in two years, again getting a fi rst. For some a talk when a nervous young lecturer was south of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in north-east weird reason, the university regulations did giving a conventional magmatic viewpoint. England, not far from where my wife grew up. not allow anyone to hold two honours degrees. ‘Bollocks!’ said Doris, loudly, from the dark- The Tyne was at the heart of the industrial Perhaps they thought an honours degree was ness. That was very progressive language for a revolution, and Holmes lived in a terrace house a whole brain-full of knowledge, and that lady in the 1950s! at 19 Primrose Hill, in one of those endless, allowing someone to hold two would debase Holmes made many contributions in addition unbroken rows of little brick shoebox homes their value. Disarmingly, Bill found crystallog- to his isotopic work, and was well ahead of built for the workers who helped turn Victorian raphy, which (rightly!) took up a lot of course his time on continental drift and mantle con- Britain into the world’s economic powerhouse. time in those days, very easy. Holmes spotted vection. His book Principles of Physical Geology, His father was a cabinet maker and worked as this and suggested he do a post-doc at the ETH fi rst published in 1944 and reprinted 18 times an assistant in an ironmonger’s shop. James in Zurich, where Fritz Laves was unravelling before a second edition was produced in 1965, Mattinson gives an account of his early scien- the structural relationships of the feldspars. infl uenced me and thousands of others. It was stimulating to read because he was prepared to speculate and put forward entirely new ideas, even though it was a book for students. My second picture is an illustration from the 1965 edition, along with the fi rst paragraph of Holmes’ original long caption; the diagram presents ideas that were, a few years later, to become an essential part of the ‘new global tectonics’. Ian Parsons University of Edinburgh Holmes A (1911) The association of lead with ura- nium in rock-minerals, and its application to the measurement of geological time. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A 85: 248-256 Holmes A (1965) Principles of Physical Geology. Ronald Press Co., 1288 pp Lewis C (2000) The Dating Game. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 253 pp, ISBN 0 The Grant Institute of Geology in the University of Edinburgh, where Holmes was Regius Professor 521 79051 from 1943 to 1956 ELEMENTS 79 FEBRUARY 2013 HMM #91500 In a joint effort to protect and provide mineral material Zircon Reference for present and future Material research, across laboratories PFA LABWARE and interdisciplinary sciences, the International Association of Geoanalysts Essential for is marketing the HMM # 91500 zircon ultra trace analysis in collaboration with the in geochemistry Harvard Mineralogical Museum. www.iageo.com OUR EXPERIENCE … YOUR PROFIT! www.ahf.de :: [email protected] PARTING QUOTE Time is an illusion ALBERT EINSTEIN 1 cm This material is from the same crystal described in Wiedenbeck et al. (1995, 2004). For ordering information go the the IAG’s MINERALOGIST/ECONOMIC GEOLOGIST marketing division at http://www.iago.com. FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES As part of this collaboration, all profi ts from the sale of this reference material will be used by the Harvard Mineralogical Museum Lakehead University, Thunder Bay Campus, invites to expand its research collection. applications for a tenure-track appointment in Geology at a rank commensurate with experience and qualifications. The appointment will commence on August 1, 2013. All candidates will have a completed (or nearly completed) Ph.D.in Geology or a closely related field. The candidate will have a demonstrated ability in ADVERTISERS IN THIS ISSUE teaching and a record of research in the general area of mineralogy or AHF Analysentechnik 80 economic geology, preferably with specialization in gold or Cr-Ni-Cu-PGE mineralization, though candidates with experience in other deposit types are Australian Scientifi c Instruments Inside back cover welcome. Beta Analytic 52 The successful candidate will contribute to Department offerings at both the Bruker 78 undergraduate and graduate levels. An ability and willingness to teach courses outside of the main area of interest will be considered an asset. The successful Bruker Nano 38 candidate will also be expected to supervise undergraduate and graduate Cambridge University Press 77 student thesis research as well as participate in our fourth-year undergraduate CAMECA Inside front cover field school. The successful candidate is expected to conduct an active research program and to seek external financial support for this research from Elsevier 14 both government agencies and the private sector. Instrumentation available ESI New Wave Research Division 14 includes new ICP-MS and high resolution FESEM-EDX systems, as well as XRD, ICP-AES, a fluid inclusion stage with IR, several spectroscopy systems, state of Excalibur Mineral Corporation 14 the art microscopes with digital imagers. GNS Science 51 Lakehead University is in the process of developing a Centre of Mineral IAGeo 80 Exploration and Sustainable Mining Development. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to this initiative. JEOL 51 For further information, please contact Dr. Philip Fralick, acting Chair of the McCrone Microscopes and Accessories 78 Department of Geology, at (807) 343-8288 or [email protected]. Rigaku 9 Review of applications will begin on April 15, 2013 and continue until filled. Savillex 18 Applicants should submit a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, evidence of teaching effectiveness (such as a statement of teaching philosophy, teaching SPECTRO 13 evaluations, course outlines), sample publications, and contact information The Geochemist’s Workbench Back cover for three referees to: Dr.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • PDF— Granite-Greenstone Belts Separated by Porcupine-Destor
    C G E S NT N A ER S e B EC w o TIO ok N Vol. 8, No. 10 October 1998 es st t or INSIDE Rel e • 1999 Section Meetings ea GSA TODAY Rocky Mountain, p. 25 ses North-Central, p. 27 A Publication of the Geological Society of America • Honorary Fellows, p. 8 Lithoprobe Leads to New Perspectives on 70˚ -140˚ 70˚ Continental Evolution -40˚ Ron M. Clowes, Lithoprobe, University -120˚ of British Columbia, 6339 Stores Road, -60˚ -100˚ -80˚ Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada, 60˚ Wopmay 60˚ [email protected] Slave SNORCLE Fred A. Cook, Department of Geology & Thelon Rae Geophysics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Nain Province AB T2N 1N4, Canada 50˚ ECSOOT John N. Ludden, Centre de Recherches Hearne Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, Taltson Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, Cedex, France AB Trans-Hudson Orogen SC THOT LE WS Superior Province ABSTRACT Cordillera AG Lithoprobe, Canada’s national earth KSZ o MRS 40 40 science research project, was established o Grenville Province in 1984 to develop a comprehensive Wyoming Penokean GL -60˚ understanding of the evolution of the -120˚ Yavapai Province Orogen Appalachians northern North American continent. With rocks representing 4 b.y. of Earth -100˚ -80˚ history, the Canadian landmass and off- Phanerozoic Proterozoic Archean shore margins provide an exceptional 200 Ma - present 1100 Ma 3200 - 2650 Ma opportunity to gain new perspectives on continental evolution. Lithoprobe’s 470 - 275 Ma 1300 - 1000 Ma 3400 - 2600 Ma 10 study areas span the country and 1800 - 1600 Ma 3800 - 2800 Ma geological time. A pan-Lithoprobe syn- 1900 - 1800 Ma 4000 - 2500 Ma thesis will bring the project to a formal conclusion in 2003.
    [Show full text]
  • When the Earth Moves Seafloor Spreading and Plate Tectonics
    This article was published in 1999 and has not been updated or revised. BEYONDBEYOND DISCOVERYDISCOVERYTM THE PATH FROM RESEARCH TO HUMAN BENEFIT WHEN THE EARTH MOVES SEAFLOOR SPREADING AND PLATE TECTONICS arly on the morning of Wednesday, April 18, the fault had moved, spanning nearly 300 miles, from 1906, people in a 700-mile stretch of the West San Juan Bautista in San Benito County to the south E Coast of the United States—from Coos Bay, of San Francisco to the Upper Mattole River in Oregon, to Los Angeles, California—were wakened by Humboldt County to the north, as well as westward the ground shaking. But in San Francisco the ground some distance out to sea. The scale of this movement did more than shake. A police officer on patrol in the was unheard of. The explanation would take some six city’s produce district heard a low rumble and saw the decades to emerge, coming only with the advent of the street undulate in front of him, “as if the waves of the theory of plate tectonics. ocean were coming toward me, billowing as they came.” One of the great achievements of modern science, Although the Richter Scale of magnitude was not plate tectonics describes the surface of Earth as being devised until 1935, scientists have since estimated that divided into huge plates whose slow movements carry the the 1906 San Francisco earthquake would have had a continents on a slow drift around the globe. Where the 7.8 Richter reading. Later that morning the disaster plates come in contact with one another, they may cause of crushed and crumbled buildings was compounded by catastrophic events, such as volcanic eruptions and earth- fires that broke out all over the shattered city.
    [Show full text]
  • Th E Age of the Earth
    EDITORIAL TH E AGE OF THE EARTH PRINCIPAL EDITORS JAMES I. DREVER, University of Wyoming, USA ([email protected]) The “Age of the Earth” is of 200 students, “Have you had a discussion with GEORGES CALAS, IMPMC, France one of the most common someone who thinks the Earth is much younger ([email protected]) JOHN W. VALLEY, University of Wisconsin, USA titles in the geological than 4500 million years?”, and about 50% say ([email protected]) literature, and with good “yes.” I then have 50 minutes to talk about how PATRICIA M. DOVE, Virginia Tech ([email protected]) reason. The scientific rocks are dated and to compare 4500 Ma with ADVISORY BOARD 2012 and philosophical impli- earlier estimates. I explain that geochronology is JOHN BRODHOLT, University College London, UK cations are immense. based on observable data and that the hypotheses NORBERT CLAUER, CNRS/UdS, Université de Strasbourg, France This issue of Elements is are testable, and I encourage students to at least WILL P. GATES, SmecTech Research Consulting, devoted to measuring look through the windows of clean-labs to see Australia th GEORGE E. HARLOW, American Museum geologic time on the 100 people running mass spectrometers. The serious of Natural History, USA John Valley anniversary of a book students may read this issue of Elements and get JANUSZ JANECZEK, University of Silesia, Poland HANS KEPPLER, Bayerisches Geoinstitut, with this title (Holmes an appreciation for the depth and complexity of Germany 1913). The book is a good read—a clear historical determining age, but no fi rst-year student, and DAVID R.
    [Show full text]
  • I5 Wegener's Geological Evidence for Pangea < Holmes >
    WEGENER AND CONTINENTAL DRIFT 493 i5 Wegener’s geological evidence for Pangea < Holmes > The term Pangea (or Pangaea) comes from the Greek ‘pan’=all, entire + ‘gaea’=land, Earth. The name is frequently stated to have been coined by Alfred Wegener (1914) in Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane (The Origin of the Continents and Oceans), but it has not been found in the 1st edition of that book.—Georoots.1 The first use of the word [Pangea] comes in a 1924 translation of Wagener’s book, by the man named Skerl.—Winchester.2 And in fact the word is used in Wegener’s book but not as a proper noun (and so it cannot be found in the book’s index) in the sentence ‘Schon die Pangäa [the pangæa] der Karbonzeit hatte so einen Vorderrand (Amerika) ...’ once in the 1920 edition, p. 120, and again so once in the 1922 edition, p. 131. Pangea is first used as a proper noun by J. W. Evans in his introduction to the 1924 book.—HR. The geological evidence that Wegener marshaled to support his reconstruction of a primordial continent (Pangea) was vast in scope. A deduction would be that fossils of closely related land animals and plants should be now separated by wide oceans if Pangea had existed. Wegener, at first, was not able to give examples and this could be construed to negate the once existence of Pangea. But later, Wegener did find some examples and Arthur Holmes favorably observed: “Negative evidence may be destroyed at any moment by fresh discoveries, whereas genuine positive evidence can never be explained away.” 3 However, landbridges could be evoked to explain the fossil data.
    [Show full text]
  • The Historical Background
    01 orestes part 1 10/24/01 3:40 PM Page 1 Part I The Historical Background The idea that continents move was first seriously considered in the early 20th century, but it took scientists 40 years to decide that it was true. Part I describes the historical background to this question: how scientists first pondered the question of crustal mobility, why they rejected the idea the first time around, and how they ultimately came back to it with new evidence, new ideas, and a global model of how it works. 01 orestes part 1 10/24/01 3:40 PM Page 2 01 orestes part 1 10/24/01 3:40 PM Page 3 Chapter 1 From Continental Drift to Plate Tectonics Naomi Oreskes Since the 16th century, cartographers have noticed the jigsaw-puzzle fit of the continental edges.1 Since the 19th century, geol- ogists have known that some fossil plants and animals are extraordinar- ily similar across the globe, and some sequences of rock formations in distant continents are also strikingly alike. At the turn of the 20th cen- tury, Austrian geologist Eduard Suess proposed the theory of Gond- wanaland to account for these similarities: that a giant supercontinent had once covered much or all of Earth’s surface before breaking apart to form continents and ocean basins. A few years later, German meteo- rologist Alfred Wegener suggested an alternative explanation: conti- nental drift. The paleontological patterns and jigsaw-puzzle fit could be explained if the continents had migrated across the earth’s surface, sometimes joining together, sometimes breaking apart.
    [Show full text]
  • GSA TODAY North-Central, P
    Vol. 9, No. 10 October 1999 INSIDE • 1999 Honorary Fellows, p. 16 • Awards Nominations, p. 18, 20 • 2000 Section Meetings GSA TODAY North-Central, p. 27 A Publication of the Geological Society of America Rocky Mountain, p. 28 Cordilleran, p. 30 Refining Rodinia: Geologic Evidence for the Australia–Western U.S. connection in the Proterozoic Karl E. Karlstrom, [email protected], Stephen S. Harlan*, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 Michael L. Williams, Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 01003-5820, [email protected] James McLelland, Department of Geology, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY 13346, [email protected] John W. Geissman, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, [email protected] Karl-Inge Åhäll, Earth Sciences Centre, Göteborg University, Box 460, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden, [email protected] ABSTRACT BALTICA Prior to the Grenvillian continent- continent collision at about 1.0 Ga, the southern margin of Laurentia was a long-lived convergent margin that SWEAT TRANSSCANDINAVIAN extended from Greenland to southern W. GOTHIAM California. The truncation of these 1.8–1.0 Ga orogenic belts in southwest- ern and northeastern Laurentia suggests KETILIDEAN that they once extended farther. We propose that Australia contains the con- tinuation of these belts to the southwest LABRADORIAN and that Baltica was the continuation to the northeast. The combined orogenic LAURENTIA system was comparable in
    [Show full text]
  • Arthur Holmes with Maggie, Born
    RROCKOCK STARS STARS great synthesis, The Face of the Earth, had recently been trans- lated into English. Holmes later remarked how the inspirational Mr. McIntosh and these two works were largely responsible for the direction his life took, for it was at school that his interests in physics and geology were Arthur Holmes with Maggie, born. At 17, he won a scholar- his first wife, and Geoffrey, his ship to study physics at the Royal second son, in Durham, ca. 1930. College of Science (later Imperial College) in London where, in his second year, he took a course in geology. Against the advice of his physics tutors, he decided to become a geologist. Radioactivity had been discovered in 1896 and was causing much excitement. By 1904, Ernest Rutherford had determined the first radiometric date, utilizing the discovery that helium was gen- erated in the decay process. Unfortunately, owing to the problem of helium leakage, these early dates were only minimum values, so Holmes decided to combine his interest in physics and geol- ogy in the search for an alternative technique. Building on Bertram Boltwood’s work, which indicated that lead might be the Arthur Holmes as a young man in his early 20s. This photo was final decay product of uranium, Holmes performed the very first probably taken in 1912 when Holmes joined the Geological Society uranium-lead analysis specifically determined for age-dating pur- of London. poses. It yielded 370 Ma for a Devonian rock. Aged only 21, he had embarked on his lifetime’s quest “to graduate the geological column with an ever-increasingly accurate time scale.” In April Arthur Holmes: 1911, the paper was read to members of the Royal Society while An Ingenious Geoscientist Holmes was in Mozambique.
    [Show full text]
  • Burlington House Fire Safety Information
    Arthur Holmes Meeting 2016 Contents Page 2 Sponsors Acknowledgement Page 3 Oral Presentation Programme Page 8 Oral Presentation Abstracts Page 124 Posters Page 127 Poster Presentation Abstracts Page 153 Burlington House Fire Safety Information Page 154 Ground Floor Plan of The Geological Society Burlington House Page 155 2016 Geological Society Conferences 23-25 May 2016 Page 1 #ahwilson16 Arthur Holmes Meeting 2016 We gratefully acknowledge the support of the sponsors for making this meeting possible. 23-25 May 2016 Page 2 #ahwilson16 Arthur Holmes Meeting 2016 Oral Presentation Programme Monday 23 May 2016 08.30 Registration & tea & coffee (Main foyer and Lower Library) 09.00 Introduction The Wilson & Supercontinent Cycles 09.10 KEYNOTE: The Wilson Cycle Of the Opening and the Closing of the Ocean Basins Kevin Burke (University of Houston, Texas, USA) 09.40 Geo-Constraints on and confirmation of the operation of the Wilson Cycle since the Neoarchaean Brian Windley (University of Leicester, UK) 10.00 Mesoproterozoic terrane collision in the Namaqua belt of south-western Africa - Time for revision of deeply entrenched views? Steffen Büttner (Rhodes University, South Africa) 10.20 The Classic Wilson Cycle Revisited Ian W.D Dalziel (The University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA) 10.40 Tea, coffee, refreshments and posters (Lower Library) Record of the Wilson Cycle 11.00 KEYNOTE: Dyke Swarms of the Canadian Shield: Initial Stages of Precambrian Wilson Cycles? Henry C. Halls (University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada) 11.30 A revised 300 Ma geodynamic history for the Iapetian Wilson cycle, based on Hf isotope arrays. Bill Collins (The University of Newcastle, Australia) 11.50 Sea level reconstruction from Strontium isotopes; a record of the Wilson Cycle back to the Neoproterozoic Douwe van der Meer 12.10 Natural Resource Evaluation within a Global Tectonic Framework: The Past is the Key to the Future G.R.
    [Show full text]
  • Plate Tectonics
    Plate Tectonics Plate tectonics is responsible for: .Volcanoes .Earthquakes .Mountain belts (e.g., Rockies) .Normal faults .Reverse/thrust faults .Transform (strike-slip) faults .Age of the ocean crust .Sediment in Deltas .Etc., etc., etc., etc…. Time Alfred Wegener Breakup of Pangaea. 1 Evidence of continental drift — 1: Glacial deposits. Striations Glaciated areas Reconstructed ice sheet on Pangaea. Distribution of glacial deposits today. Evidence of continental drift — 1: Climate belts Rock types indicative of specific climates align in belts, at appropriate latitudes, on Pangaea. coal salt ice sheet subtropical sand dune reef tropical 2 Evidence of continental drift — 3: Distribution fossils Mesosaurus Lystrosaurus Cynognathus Glossopteris Fossils of the same land organisms occur on all continents. Evidence of continental drift — 3: Similarity of rocks across the Atlantic Archean crust Proterozoic mountain belts Mountain belt Archean crustal blocks. Late Paleozoic mountain belts. 3 Today, geologists can measure plate velocities in real time. This information is critical for earthquake hazard prediction. 4 plate velocities and plate motion The Key Features of Plate Tectonics (1) The Earth’s crust is continually created and destroyed (recycled). (2) Ocean crust, formed at divergent margins, is mafic and dense. (3) As ocean crust ages and cools, it sinks beneath continents at convergent subduction zones. (4) Because Earth is a spherical body, there are also transform (strike-slip) boundaries that accommodate motion parallel to the current overall motion of the plates. 5 Divergent Convergent Transform The three types are defined by the relative motion of plates. 6 Basic Plate Boundaries Geologists define three types of plate boundary, based simply on the relative motions of the plates on either side of the boundary.
    [Show full text]
  • Arthur Holmes' Paper of 1929 on Convection Currents Within the Earth
    41 Classic papers 41 by David Oldroyd Arthur Holmes’ paper of 1929 on convection currents within the Earth as a cause of continental drift School of History and Philosophy, The University of New South Wales, NSW 2052, Australia. E-mail: [email protected] Arthur Holmes (1890–1965) masses plough through the Earth’s crust like ships at sea? Wegener’s suggestions, such as the idea of ‘pole-flight’ due to the Holmes is widely regarded as one of the finest geologists of the Earth’s rotation, were obviously insufficient to account for the ‘drift’ twentieth century and probably the greatest British geologist of his of continents. On the other hand, seismic evidence (e.g. Oldham, day. He was professor first at the Durham University and then at 1906) suggested that some—in fact much—of the Earth’s interior Edinburgh, where he is still revered. He did substantial work in Africa was fluid. and Burma and made contributions in petrology, geomorphology, At the time of Holmes’s Glasgow paper the tide of opinion was geophysics, structural geology and geochronology. His knowledge definitely running against Wegener’s theory, as shown most clearly of the geological literature and world geology was comprehensive. in the proceedings of a conference organised by the American Holmes was also the author of an extremely successful geology Association of Petroleum Geologists in New York in 1926 (van textbook (Holmes, 1944 and 1964). But perhaps his most important Waterschoot van der Gracht, 1928), where the majority of participants work involved the study of radioactive materials as a pioneering means spoke against the drift hypothesis.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dating Game One Man’S Search for the Age of the Earth Cherry Lewis
    The Dating Game One Man’s Search for the Age of the Earth cherry lewis Ff It is perhaps a little indelicate to ask of our Mother Earth her age, but Science acknowledges no shame. published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011–4211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, VIC 3166, Australia Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org Cherry Lewis 2000 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2000 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface Quadraat System QuarkXPress®[w21] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Lewis, Cherry, 1947– The dating game : searching for the age of the Earth / by Cherry Lewis. p. cm. “It is perhaps a little indelicate to ask of our Mother Earth her age, but science acknowledges no shame.” Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0 521 79051 4 1. Earth – Age. 2. Geological time. 3. Holmes, Arthur, 1890–1965. I. Title. QE508 .L48 2000 551.7′01–dc21 00–023615 ISBN 0 521 79051 4 hardback Contents Ff List of Illustrations viii Prelude to the
    [Show full text]
  • GSA TODAY • 1998 Section Meetings a Publication of the Geological Society of America Southeastern, P
    Vol. 7, No. 10 October 1997 INSIDE • New Honorary Fellows, p. 15 • Call for Award Nominations, p. 16, 22, 24, 26 GSA TODAY • 1998 Section Meetings A Publication of the Geological Society of America Southeastern, p. 27 Cordilleran, p. 29 Postglacial Ponds and Alluvial Fans: Recorders of Holocene Landscape History Paul Bierman,* Andrea Lini, Paul Zehfuss, Amy Church, Department of Geology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405 P. Thompson Davis, Department of Natural Sciences, Bentley College, Waltham, MA 02154 John Southon, Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550 Lyn Baldwin, Field Naturalist Program, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405 ABSTRACT northern Vermont as an example, alluvial fan sediments reveal that we demonstrate that the sedimentary the highest rates of hillslope erosion Little is known about rates and record preserved in humid-region occurred as a consequence of European patterns of Holocene hillslope erosion ponds and alluvial fans can be dated, settlement. The geologic record of colo- in areas once covered by Pleistocene ice deciphered isotopically and stratigraph- nial deforestation is clear, revealing sheets and now heavily populated. Yet, ically, and used to understand the his- significant human impact and suggest- understanding past landscape behavior tory of hillslope erosion. Our data sug- ing that past landscape response is a is prerequisite to predicting and mitigat- gest that erosion rates were higher in meaningful basis for guiding future ing future impacts of human-induced the early and late Holocene than in the land management practices. disturbance and climate change. Using mid-Holocene, perhaps the result of changing climate and the frequency INTRODUCTION *E-mail address: [email protected].
    [Show full text]