Traces the development of the study of geology and geological education in the United States during the 1700's. Addresses the influences of world travel, agriculture, and medicine on the inclusion of earth science into college curricula and self-instruction "civility books." (TW)

Discusses two "golden" ages in geological investigations/inquiry. The first, extending from the late eighteenth century through the early nineteenth century, established geology as a science based on naturalistic principles. The second, beginning after World War II, is characterized by advances in geological specialities and explanations…

Describes how fast and in what stages earth science grew in America, using the 14,000 entries in "Bibliography of American-Published Geology: 1699-1850" as a database. Bibliometrics, a method to characterize and quantify scientific activity by analyzing published/unpublished materials as measurement of growth, of science was used.…

Discusses a number of significant persons and ideas in the European development of notions relating to faunal succession. Major focus is on the 17th through the 19th centuries, from the onset of rational investigations of the earth to definition of the stratigraphic zone. (JN)

Discusses the presence and dynamics of continental glaciers in the domination of the physical processes of erosion and deposition in the mid-latitudes during the Pleistocene period. Describes the use of a sedimentary facies model as a guide to recognizing ancient temperate continental glacial deposits. (TW)

Reviews changing concepts of the origins, properties, and classification of minerals. Emphasis is placed on developments of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, during which time the interwoven advances of chemistry, physics, crystallography, and high-temperature, high-pressure studies transformed mineralogy from a qualitative to a…

Provides information on early written accounts of fossils and contrasts historical phases regarding their organic or inorganic origin. Topic areas discussed include the deluge as a stimulant to geological investigation, stratigraphic sequences and earth history, extinction, faunal succession and organic evolution, and fossil evidence of…

Presents lecture outline comparing uniformitarianism with other philosophic approaches to earth study. Comparison is valuable since: (1) it provides insight into the character of geology and the meaning of the scientific method; and (2) it reveals the necessarily biased nature of all information. (Author/JN)

Discusses the historical development of the concept of geologic time. Develops the topic by using the major discoveries of geologists, beginning with Steno and following through to the discovery and use of radiometric dating. An extensive reference list is provided. (JM)

Describes the establishment of geology in the curricula of Tennessee colleges during the years from 1826 to 1850. The growth of a museum, the growth of learned societies, and the appearance of college courses in geology seem to be closely related. (Author/WB)

Discusses some parallels that seem to exist between mass extinction recognizable in the geologic record and the impending extinction of a significant proportion of the earth's species due largely to tropical deforestation. Describes some recent theories of causal factors and periodicities in mass extinction. (Author/TW)

Traces the early history of geological education in California universities, with emphasis upon programs at Berkeley and Stanford. Among the pioneers in the field were Joseph LeConte, Andrew C. Lawson, and John C. Branner. (WB)

Describes an exercise which provides a small data set consisting of the localities where various genera of a fictitious group of fossil "Archaeomorphs" have been found on various continental blocks. The activity can be used to develop hypotheses regarding plate tectonic processes and the present arrangement of fossil localities. (TW)

Discusses the use of a strip log as a diagrammatic representation of the information available in a sequence of sedimentary rocks. Describes the design of the strip log (both symbolically and by visual/spatial patterns) and some of the possible interpretations that can be made using them. (TW)

Describes some of the contributions made by the field of paleontology to theories in geology and biology. Suggests that the two best examples of modern evolutionary paleontology relate to the theory of punctuated equilibria, and the possibility that mass extinctions may be cyclic. (TW)