Earth Sciences Department Research Articles

1988 James B. Macelwane Medal to Kevin B. Quest

On behalf of my conominators, David Forslund and Dan Winske of the Los Alamos National Laboratory [LANL], I wish to congratulate Kevin Quest on his receipt of the Macelwane Medal. Kevin did his undergraduate work at Drexel University and received his Ph.D. from the Earth and Space Sciences Department at the University of California, Los Angeles [UCLA]. Somewhat prior to finishing his degree, Kevin joined the Theoretical Physics Division at Los Alamos. This coming July, Kevin will assume the duties of an Associate Professor at the University of California, San Diego in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.At UCLA, Kevin learned several lessons which are invaluable for a young theorist. Working amidst the experimental groups of Professors Coleman, Kivelson, McPherron, and Russell, Kevin came to appreciate the extreme difficulty of analyzing and interpreting satellite measurements of the complex space plasma phenomena. From Professor Ashour‐Abdalla, Kevin was trained to give clear scientific presentations that concentrated on the fundamental physics and to leave complicated mathematics to the dust bin otherwise known as the refereed literature. Finally, Kevin learned to ignore the well‐meaning, but too often errant, opinions of his thesis advisor. In fact, Kevin ignored his advisor to such an extent that 7 years later I am still waiting for a copy of his Ph.D. dissertation.

Triage of Earth Science Departments in Britain

Triage of Earth Science Departments in Britain

Triage of Earth Science Departments in Britain

Triage of Earth Science Departments in Britain

Editorial

Few British members of GCG can be unaware of the impending major reorganisation of university Earth Science departments. Stage 1 of this process involved the establishment by the University Grants Committee (UGC) of an Earth Sciences Review committee, under the chairmanship of Prof. Ronald Oxburgh FRS (Cambridge University), and culminated in May 1987 with the publication of this body^s conclusions, under the title Strengthening the Earth Sciences - better known as *The Oxburgh Report'. To his credit, Oxburgh made some pertinent comments on the implications for geology collections following any rationalisation of the thirty or so university departments involved, stressing the need to seek specialist advice and make additional resources available for any necessary relocation of material. Hailed...

Triage of Earth Science Departments in Britain

Triage of Earth Science Departments in Britain

The Geology of Plate Margins

Copies of this attractive chart will be hung in the halls of many earth science departments. Types of plate margins and intraplate features are presented in semicircular array in logical order from maximally divergent to maximally convergent: intraoceanic spreading (fast, moderate, slow); passive continental margins; intracontinental rifts and basins; transtensional, transform, and transpressional systems; convergent oceanic arcs (“migratory,” “detached,” “stationary”); convergent continental margins (“noncontracted,” “contracted”); and continent‐continent collision. Each type is illustrated by a cross‐sectional diagram, examples of the type are named, and its attributes are described briefly in wedged boxes narrowing toward the center of the semicircle: volcanism and plutonism, seismicity, metamorphism, structures, mineral deposits, and sedimentary basins and sediments.

Trends in the training and employment of geoscientists in Australia from 1967 to 1978

Abstract There are now 14 universities and 8 colleges of advanced education in Australia with geology or earth science departments, which comprised 278 professional staff, 2020 undergraduates, and 556 graduate students in 1978. Academic staff, engaged in a wide range of research, represent less than 10 percent of the total number of Australian geoscientists. Almost all non‐academic employers (98 percent of the sample) presently accept a graduate with a B.Sc. (Hons) degree, while 85 percent accept a B.Sc pass degree. About 65 percent of non‐academic geologists work for industry, and the remainder are employed by government surveys and research organisations. Mining and mineral exploration employ 76 percent of the geologists in industry, followed by petroleum exploration with 11 percent. Geologists make up 83 percent of geoscientists in non‐academic employment, the remainder being geophysicists 15 percent and geochemists 2 percent. Information on vacancies available in early 1979 suggests that all the recent graduates would be absorbed by government and industry, and pointed to a resurgence in demand for qualified geoscientists. There has been striking growth in the number of consulting/contracting geological firms, with 65 firms employing 242 geoscientists replying to the 1978 census.

Field Seminar Library for Earth Science Departments

Field Seminar Library for Earth Science Departments

Officers

This year's slate of officers of the American Crystallographic Association is headed by George A. Jeffrey of the University of Pittsburgh, who is serving as president for 1963. A native of Cardiff, Wales, Dr. Jeffrey received his PhD from the University of Birmingham in 1939. Since 1953, he has been on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh where he is currently professor in the Chemistry, Physics, and Earth and Planetary Science Departments and director of the University's Crystallography Laboratory.

Geologic Researches and Scientific Manpower: ABSTRACT

It is a truism, if all too lately recognized, that the more fruitful geological researches today (and tomorrow) depend to an increasing degree on the techniques of the sister sciences and mathematics. So much is this the case that a number of quasigeological and Space departments or divisions have been created and others are springing up not only at universities but also in private industrial and governmental research complexes, as well. The pendulum has now swung so far from the geologists per se that these organizations are being staffed to a large degree by non-geologists trained in one of the more fundamental, yet supporting, sciences. The advantages are obvious. The disadvantages, which may be equally great, are as yet only dimly perceived. Despite th paradoxical stigma now attached to the use of the time-honored and appropriately descriptive word the Earth Science Institutes and Departments are still chiefly engaged in geological researches. In such investigations it is just as shortsighted to expect first-rate results from a staff member who has little or no geological background, as to expect outstanding contributions to stem from the who does not have considerable mastery of at least one of the more basic scientific disciplines. As an additional adverse factor, we see fewer students entering undergraduate geological studies and, if the trend continues, fewer genuine geologists will be available for geological positions in teaching or in industry. In short, the situation feeds on itself. The possible over- ll effects on the science of geology, on the broadly ramifying profession of petroleum geologist and on the A.A.P.G. are considered. The serious, national problem of scientific and technical manpower inadequacies is also closely involved in the geological research dilemma, and is discussed in some detail. End_of_Article - Last_Page 354------------

Contamination of Water Supplies in Limestone Formation

Historical document outlining the first known dye traces conducted in Southeastern Minnesota in response to a typhoid outbreak suspected to be caused by infiltration of waste water into public and private drinking water supplies. S.P. Kingston was a public health engineer for the Minnesota Department of Health District No. 3. Also included is a outline summary of the article contents reported by Betty Wheeler of the University of Minnesota Earth Sciences Department. Four traces were conducted in three places in Fillmore County and one in Olmsted county. The Olmsted County trace is outlined in an additional file titled Report on Investigation of Water Supply and Sewage Disposal Systems also written by S.P. Kingston with additional appended information provided by the Minnesota Department of Health and Olmsted County Environmental Resources.