Middleton G.V. (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks
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SEDIMENTOLOCY: HISTORY
IN
JAPAN
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Description of the Various
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Cross-references
Carbonate Diagenesis
and
Microfacies
Facies Models
Physics
of
Sediment Transport:
The
Contributions
of
R.A. Bagnold
Sedimentary Geology
Sedimentology: History
in
Japan
Sedimentologists:
Ralph Alger Bagnold
Joseph, Barrell
Robin
G.C.
Bathurst,
Lucien Cayeux
Carl Wilhelm Correns
Robert Louis Folk
Grove Karl Gilbert
Amadeus William Grabau
Amanz Gressly
William Christian Krumbein
Paul Dmitri ICrynine
Philip Henry Kuenen
John Murray
and the
Challenger Expedition
Francis
J.
Pettijohn
Rudolf Riehter
and the
Senckenberg Laboratory
Henry Clifton Sorby
William
H.
Twenhofel
Johan August Udden
T.Wayland Vaughan
Johannes Walther
Sedimentology: History
in
Japan
SEDIMENTOLOGY: HISTORY
IN
JAPAN
The study
of
sediments
and
sedimentary rocks
in
Japan started
with
the
introduction
of
Geology
in the
1870s shortly after
the
Meiji Restoration
in
1867 which modernized Japanese society.
Since then,
the
study
of
sediments
and
sedimentary rocks
developed rapidly.
The
study
of
sedimentology
in
Japan
was
reviewed
by
Shoji (1966), Shoji etal. (1968)
and
Okada (1998,
2002).
The history
of the
development
of
sedimentology
in
Japan
can
be
divided into
six
stages.
Stage
1
(before
1930)
Immediately after
the
Restoration,
the
Japanese government
invited European
and
American scientists
to
establish modern
science
and
technology
in
Japan. Among them,
an
American
geologist Benjamin
S.
Lyman (1835-1920)
and a
German
specialist Edmund Naumann (1854-1927) became
the
foun-
ders
of
geology
in
Japan.
In 1873
Lyman conducted
a
geological survey
of
Hokkaido mainly
for
developing coal
resources
and
published
the
first geologic
map of
Hokkaido
in
1876.
Naumann was appointed
as the
first professor
of
geology
(1877-1879)
at the
University
of
Tokyo, founded
the
Geological Survey
of
Japan
in 1878, and
determined
the
tectonic
and
stratigraphic framework
of the
Japanese Islands.
The Geological Survey
of
Japan,
by
systematic mapping,
quickly developed
the
study
of
regional stratigraphy
and
sedimentary rocks over
the
whole country.
The
geology
department
of the
University
of
Tokyo, prepared
a
number
of able stratigraphers,
and
contributed
to the
establishment
of
many other geology departments
and
institutions
as
places
for
the study
of
stratigraphy
and
sedimentary rocks.
In 1893 the
Geological Society
of
Japan
was
founded
to
support
and
enhance
the
quality
of
geological science
in
Japan.
Stage
2
(1930-1950)
In
the
young stage
of
Japanese geology,
the
study
of
sedimentary rocks was called chlso-gaku (lithology
in
English),
under
the
influence
of
classic text-books with
the
same title
by
Hanjiro Imamura (1931)
and
Masao Minato (1953), meaning
the science
of all
aspects
of
sediments
and
sedimentary rocks.
In this period, Jun-ichi Takahashi
and
Tsugio Yagi made
significant contributions
to
petroleum geology
and the
study
of
authigenie minerals such
as
glauconite (Takahashi,
1935;
Takahashi
and
Yagi, 1929).
It is
worthy
of
special mention
that Yagi (1933) introduced
a new
term "taiseki-gaku"
(sedimentology
in
English)
in his
study
of
Miocene oil-bearing
sediments
in
Northeast Japan
as
early
as H.
Wadell's (1932)
proposal
of
sedimentoiogy.
The
word "sedimentology",
however,
had not
been commonly used before
1950.
Stage
3
(1950-1960)
The
new
discipline
of
sedimentology quickly became popular
and grew into
an
important field
of
geology
in
Japan. This
trend
in
Japan
was
much earlier than
in the
international
community,
in
which sedimentology seems
to
have become
established
in the
early 1960s,
and the
study
of
sedimentary
facies,
sedimentation
and
sedimentary environments became
prominent among stratigraphers
and
paleontologists.
In 1951,
636
SEDIMENTOLOCY: HISTORY
IN
JAPAN
the Sedimentology Subcommittee
was
established under
the
Science Council
of
Japan
in
order
to
promote sedimentological
studies
in
Japan.
It
continues
to the
present
and
liaises
with
the
International Association
of
Sedimentologists (IAS).
With
the
support
of the
Sedimentology Subcommittee,
systematic collaborative studies
of the
recent sediments
of
the Matsukawa-ura Estuary near Sendai
in
northeastern Japan
and
of
the bottom sediments
of
Tokyo Bay were carried
out in
1953
and 1955,
respectively.
On the
other hand,
the
Sedimentology Research Group founded
the
Association
of
Japanese Sedimentologists
in 1957 and
published
a
journal
called ''Sedimentology Research"
in
mimeograph. Sedimento-
logical studies, mainly
on the
petrology
of
sandstones
and
heavy mineral analysis, were active
at
Tokyo, Tohoku,
Nagoya, Kyoto,
and
Kyushu Universities.
Stage
4
(1960-1980)
In
1961, the
Science Council
of
Japan requested
the
Sedimentology Subcommittee
to
discuss
the
creation
of a
National Institute
of
Experimental Sedimentology
in
order
to
promote long term basic science
in
Japan.
A
proposal
for a
new institute comprising seven research sections (dynamics,
physical, mineralogical, chemical, biochemical, lithological,
and mathematical studies),
was
submitted
to the
government
in
1967
(Omori, 1968),
but
unfortunately
it was not
adopted.
Instead, however,
the
Ocean Research Institute
was
estab-
lished
in 1963 at the
University
of
Tokyo,
and the
Marine
Geology Department
of the
Geological Survey
of
Japan
started
in 1974,
both
of
which have contributed much
to
create
a
collaborative system
of
research
on
submarine
sediments
and
have greatly encouraged sedimentological
studies
in
Japan.
In
particular,
the
official participation
of
Japan
in the
International Phase
of
Ocean Drilling (IPOD)
in
1971 provided
a
large boost
to the
further development
of
Japanese sedimentology.
Additionally,
a
very successful symposium
on
"Some
Problems
in
Sedimentology" held
in
Nagoya University
in
1967 made
a
deep impact
on
many geologists
and
sedimentol-
ogists (Shoji elal., 1967).
In 1971 the
Sedimentology Research
Group reorganized
the
Association
of
Japanese Sedimentolo-
gists into
the
Sedimentological Society of Japan,
but
its
journal
remained unimproved.
Many sedimentologists
in
this period studied
the
flysch
and
turbidites
of the
so-called geosynclines
of
various ages from
Paleozoic
to
Tertiary, particularly
of the
Shimanto Belt
in
southwestern Japan. Though tjie
new
concept
of
plate
tectonics
or
new global tectonics was being applied
to
Japanese
geology
in the
1970s,
it
then
had not
been widely accepted.
Stage
5
(1980-1990)
A remarkable feature
of
Japanese sedimentology
in
this stage
was
the
diversity
of
interests
of
young sedimentologists many
of whom came
to
occupy important positions
at
universities,
institutions
and the
councils
of the
Geological Society
of
Japan. Their activities included facies analysis, sedimentary
petrology, mathematical sedimentology, experimental sedi-
mentology, sequence stratigraphy,
and
chemical sedimentol-
ogy; many
of
them attaining international levels
in
quality.
Sedimentological studies
of
accretionary complexes were
improved remarkably
not
only because
the new
paradigm
of
plate tectonics became firmly established
in
Japanese geology,
but also because stratigraphical
and
chronological studies
of
these highly deformed strata were developed rapidly through
the successful application
of
radiolarian biostratigraphy.
Stage 6 (1990-)
The Sedimentological Society
of
Japan
was
reformed
in 1994
with
a
stimulating
and
high-quality biannual journal entitled
''Journal
of the
Sedimentological Society
of
Japan". Papers
from India, Korea, Russia
and USA
were also included
in
the journal.
The
Society
has
about
600
members
and
holds
scientific meetings twice
a
year. Another important activity
of
the Society
was the
bench-mark publication
oi
"TheEncyclo-
pedia of Sedimentology"
in 1998.
Special mentions should
be
made
of the
recent progress
in
the study
of
sequence stratigraphy
in
Japan (Saito etal.,
1995)
and
of the
provenance study
of
siliciclastic rocks mainly from
their chemical aspects (Kumon
et al,
2000),
in
which
an
effective provenance indicator, Basicity Index,
was
proposed.
In
the 21st
century,
it is
suggested that Japanese sedimen-
tology should contribute more
to
environmental sedimentol-
ogy,
and
achieve greater internationalization through links
with
the
International Association
of
Sedimentologists.
Hakuyu Okada
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F.,
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Takeuchi,
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H.,
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SEDIMENTOLOCY—ORGANIZATIONS, MEETINGS, PUBLICATIONS
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Yagi, T., 1933. Sedimentological study of oil-bearing lower formations
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Cross-reference
Sedimentology, History
SEDIMENTOLOGY—ORGANIZATIONS,
MEETINGS, PUBLICATIONS
Organizations
Scientific organizations, "societies", play a key role in the
intellectual vitality and growth of the discipline by providing
the means for scientists to communicate with each other, learn
new ideas, methods and skills, as well as attract new scientists
to the profession, particularly students. Societies act as locus of
activity in the form of published journals, special topic
volumes and memoirs; field trips and field conferences;
meetings featuring talks, posters, short courses, and work-
shops;
awards, i.e., recognition for outstanding scientific
accomplishments; research grants; and general social and
scientific networking through newsletters and the internet. In
addition, societies contribute to educational programs at all
levels (K-12, college, and continuing education) and provide
the important connection between the scientific community
and general public via outreach (e.g., public lectures). Societies
are also a valuable resource of scientific information for local
and national government personnel developing public policy.
Originally sedimentology and paleontology were included
within large broad-based geological societies, along with the
closely associated discipline of stratigraphy. But, during the
early part of the 20th century the scientific needs of the fossil
fuel industry raised the profiles of sedimentology and
paleontology as separate entities and spawned the formation
of the first scientific organization for them in 1926, the Society
of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists (SEPM), a
division of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists
(AAPG). SEPM became an independent society in 1986 and
has since changed its name to SEPM Society for Sedimentary
Geology. It is now the largest society in the world (4500
members) focused on sedimentary geology.
At the beginning of the 21st century the nature and practice
of the discipline of sedimentology is clearly different from what
it was a few decades ago. It is more broad based and diverse
with less focus strictly on sediments themselves, i.e., physical
and chemical processes and deposits. A sedimentologist now
may work with seismic data, study aquifer characteristics,
interpret paleoclimate from stable isotopes, or consider the
impact of biological processes on weathering or diagenesis.
Sedimentologists like other disciplines are becoming more
interdisciplinary; however, the need for organizations, meet-
ings,
and publications remains strong.
There are easily dozens of regional societies dedicated to
sedimentology and/or sedimentary rocks in various countries
around the world. No single listing of them exists, however,
and there is little communication among them. Activity in the
English-speaking realm is focused in a few large organizations:
SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology (4,500 members);
International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS), (~ 2,000
members); Sedimentary Geology Division (~ 1,500 members)
of the Geological Society of America (GSA); the British
Sedimentological Research Group, BSRG, (~500 members);
and Indian Association of Sedimentologists. The sedimento-
logical communities in Canada, South Africa, Hong Kong,
New Zealand and Australia meet as specialty groups or
Divisions within the larger geological societies. The Sedimen-
tological Society of Japan (550 members) publishes in Japanese
(with English abstracts); and societies in National Republic of
China communicate only in Chinese.
Meetings
Meetings bring scientists together, usually annually, to provide
a forum for exchanging ideas, presenting research results, and
educating in the form of field trips, short courses, and
workshops. Meetings also provide a means for helping
members with professional development, such as retooling
for a career change, or offering courses for students on writing
resumes, grant proposals, or applying for employment. Social
activities and networking contribute to the health of the
profession by establishing long term bonds and making new
connections.
Meetings also fulfill the growing need for utilizing inter-
disciplinary and multidisciplinary research to address scientific
questions that fall between the natural boundaries of existing
disciplines. Small societies find a logistical and economical
advantage to hold meetings with other societies. For examples,
the Mineralogical Society, Paleontological Society, Society of
Economic Geologists, and Geochemical Society all have
potential for interacting with sedimentologists and sparking
new ideas and new approaches to answering questions that
cannot be addressed by any group alone.
Publications
There are three major journals devoted to sedimentology. Two
are sponsored by scientific societies and are based on volunteer
efforts of the community. Journal of Sedimentary Research
(SEPM) and Seditnentoiogy (IAS), whereas Sedimentary
Geol-
ogy is published commercially by Elsevier Publishers. AJl three
have sedimentologists as Editor-in-Chiefs and Associate
Editors and they draw from the sedimentological community
for reviews of tJie manuscripts. Papers based substantially on
sedimentology may also be published in broad-based journals
such as Nature,
Sciertce,
and Geology and in specialty journals
such as Marine Geology, Journalof Coastal Research, Atnerican
Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Bulletin, Geoarch-
aeology. Quaternary Research, and Earth Surface Processes
and Landforms.
Specialty volumes are a published collection of papers on a
related topic often spawned from a symposium or conference.
SEPM and IAS regularly produce 2-5 topical volumes a year.
GSA and The Geological Society (of London) frequently
create "special publications" that focus on sedimentology and
are sold to geological community. As a group of papers
focused on a relatively narrow topic and placed between two
covers, these publications are valued resources and preferred
alternatives to widely decimated papers appearing in a number
of journals over several years.
638
SEDIMENTOLOCISTS
At the beginning of the new millennium, the publishing of
sedimentological journals, as all scientific journals, is in a stage
of gradual transition between paper and electronic format.
Problems of permanent archival have yet to be worked out,
but the continuous flow of paperbound journals into and
filling of libraries is definitely a thing of the past. Visions of
electronic publishing involving papers electronically linked to
maps,
references cited, and even animation will likely become
reality.
Gail M. Ashley
Cross-references
Sedimentary Geology
Sedimentology, History
Sedimentology: History in Japan
RALPH ALGER BAGNOLD (1896-1990)
Ralph Alger Bagnold was born on April 3rd, 1896 in
Davenport, England. He was commissioned as an officer in
the Royal Engineers in 1915 and served in France and
Flanders during World War I, subsequently taking leave from
the Army to earn an honors degree in engineering at the
University of Cambridge. Rejoining the army, official service
took Bagnold to Egypt, from where he began exploring the
Libyan Sand Sea with fellow bachelor officers, using Model T
Ford motor cars. Weekend trips evolved into serious
geographical exploration and mapping and Bagnold developed
specialized techniques for taking these simple automobiles
deep into the desert without getting completely stuck or lost.
Bagnold became fascinated by the movement of sand by
wind and wished to understand the physics of the processes
responsible for the formation of desert dunes. He retired from
the army in 1935 to devote all his time and energy to the study
of sand movement, but still found time to write Libyan Sands,
an exciting chronicle of his desert expeditions (Bagnold, 1935).
The results of his pre-war research were published in The
Physics
of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes (Bagnold, 1941).
Returning to Cairo in 1939 at the outbreak of World War
II,
he established and led the Long Range Desert Group
(LRDG). Operating deep behind enemy lines, the LRDG
scouted and reported troop movements, mapped enemy
positions, collected intelligence and created havoc through
lightening raids on forts, convoys and airfields. So important
were the achievements of the LRDG that Bagnold was
promoted to the rank of Brigadier and awarded the Order of
the British Empire (military). A good account of the exploits of
the LRDG may be found in Bagnold's autobiography
(Bagnold, 1990).
Bagnold again retired from the army in 1944 and, after a
short period as Director of Research for Shell, he decided to
pursue fundamental research full time. His primary goal
remained the elimination of the empiricism tliat had long
dominated study of the movement of granular materials by
flowing fluids. His approach rested on the application of
theory to identify key variables and formulate relationships
between them, supported by carefully conceived and executed
experiments to elucidate and quantify physical constants and
material properties. The conception and construction of
innovative experimental apparatus and instrumentation was
incidental to his work.
Bagnold's post-war work produced hallmark papers on the
morphology and sedimentology of near-shore zones, beaches,
submarine density currents, and meandering rivers. He also
introduced two of the most significant concepts underpinning
our understanding of the sediment transport process: "dis-
persive stress" and "stream power". A collection of his finest
papers was published by the American Society of Civil
Engineers in 1988 (Thorne etal., 1988).
Bagnold's achievements as an explorer won him the 1934
Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and his
contribution to the engineering profession earned him the
Telford Premium of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1940
(repeated in 1946). His calibre as a scientist was marked by his
election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1944. His post-war
work brought numerous awards, medals and honorary
degrees.
Recent advances in fluid mechanics, boundary layer theory
and the sophistication of instrumentation have supported new
findings that, to some extent, supersede Bagnold's work, which
were necessary based on incomplete knowledge of the nature
of turbulent flow structures. However, his contributions to
science and engineering form essential components of progress
in sedimentology and the study of sediment transport during
the twentieth century.
Brigadier Bagnold was married to Dorothy Alice Plank
(who died 1989) in 1946. They had two children, Stephen (born
in 1947) and Jane (born in 1948). He died peacefully following
a short illness on May 28th, 1990.
Colin R. Thorne
Bibliography
Bagnold, R.A., 1935. Libyan Sands:
Travel
in a Dead
World.
London:
Hodder and Stoughton, 288p. Republished with epilogue by
Michael Haag Ltd., P.O. Box 369, London, NW3 4ER, UK
(1987),
ISBN 0-902743600 (UK), 0-870523848 (US), 288pp.
Bagnold, R.A., 1941. The Physics of Blown Sands and Desert Dunes.
New York: William Morrow and Company, 265p. Republished
by Chapman and Hall, Methuen Inc, Halsted Press (1971), ISBN
X-76-050873-8, 265pp.
Bagnold, R.A., 1990.
Sand,
Wind and War: Memories of a Desert
Explorer. Tucson, Arizona, USA: University of Arizona Press,
ISBN 0-8165-121-6, 202pp.
Thorne, C.R., MacArthur, R.C., and Bradley, J.B., 1988. The
Physics of Sediment Transport: A Collection of Hallmark Papers by
R.A.
Bagnold. New York: American Society of Civil Engineers,
Book Number 665, 350pp.
JOSEPH BARRELL (1869-1919)
American geologist Joseph Barrell was a pioneer in integrating
tectonics, denudation, and climate for the understanding of
sedimentation. Barrell graduated from Lehigh University in
SEDIMENTOLOGISTS
639
1892 with high honors and promptly earned two advanced
degrees (EM, 1893; MS, 1897). Joseph then accepted an
instructorship at Lehigh for four more years to teach mining,
metallurgy, mechanical drawing, and mine surveying. Recog-
nizing Barren's exceptional potential, one of his professors
urged him to take more advanced work at Yale. While
studying at Yale, he worked during the summers for the US
Geological Survey in Montana mining districts. In 1900, he
received the PhD and returned to Lehigh as a professor of
geology and biology. In 1903, Barrell was called to Yale to be
the professor of dynamic and structural geology.
Joseph Barren's early publications dealt with mining and
regional geology. Next they emphasized erosion, sedimenta-
tion, ancient climate, and paleogeography. His later ones
treated the strength of the earth's crust, isostasy, the origin and
genesis of the earth, and radioactivity and geologic time. He
also wrote and spoke on epistemology and the transition from
a qualitative to a more quantitative geology. Barrell perfected
a talent for generalization from the work of others and in
constructing his syntheses, he was an ardent exponent of
multiple working hypotheses. In sedimentary geology, Barrell
early concerned himself with criteria for distinguishing ancient
non-marine from marine sediments by giving close attention to
sedimentary structures, and in doing so he refined criteria of
paleogeography and paleoclimate and destroyed the ruling
dogma that practically all of the ancient stratigraphic record
was marine. Barrell was a devotee of William Morris Da vis's
idealized evolution of landscapes through cycles of erosion, to
which he added the idea of complementary cycles of deposition
related to changing base level. He explicated his views in two
papers on ancient deltas (1912 and 1913-1914). As a river
passes through its cycle from youth to maturity to old age, its
sediments must change, too, with one part of the depositional
cycle being a delta stage. In 1916 he combined his knowledge
of the Devonian Catskill delta complex of the Appalachian
region with published work on the contemporaneous fluvial
Old Red Sandstone of Britain. From these Devonian
researches, Barrell later suggested that environmental factors,
especially climate, had influenced the evolution of the first air-
breathing animals; drying of climate stimulated the evolution
of amphibians from river fishes. Similarly, he suggested that
the vicissitudes of Pleistocene climate had contributed to the
appearance of the human species.
Barren's most important contribution to sedimentary
geology was a long article, "Rhythms and the measurements
of geologic time," published in 1917 two years before he died
unexpectedly from pneumonia and meningitis. His thesis was
that "Nature vibrates with rhythms, climatic and diastrophic."
He first discussed rhythms of denudation, arguing that
erosion is pulsatory; the Davis erosion cycle represents a
single rhythm, but small, partial cycles can be superimposed on
larger ones. Next he argued that sedimentation is also
discontinuous, resulting in a stratigraphic record riddled with
breaks of varying durations. Barrel coined the term diastem
for the lesser but numerous breaks in contrast with the longer
but rarer breaks known as disconformities. His figure 5 (p. 796)
so effectively illustrated this concept that it has been
reproduced many times; figure 6 (p. 800) and the accompany-
ing discussion illustrates that he already understood the
implications of climbing dune forms for time equivalences of
the cross laminae and diastems produced by migrating dunes,
thus anticipating important revelations in eolian sedimentol-
ogy during the 1970s-1980s. Finally, by invoking estimates of
rates of erosion and sedimentation along with the loss of
primeval earth heat, Barrell estimated geologic time spans and
then compared these with the measurement of geologic time by
radioactivity, which was still in its infancy. He concluded that
the two approaches converged upon the conclusion that
between 550 million years and 700 million years had elapsed
since the beginning of Cambrian time, a remarkably modern
figure!
Robert H, Dott, Jr.
Bibliography
Barrell, J., 1906. Relative geological importance of continental,
littoral, and marine sedimentation. Journal of
Geology,
14: 316-
356,
430-457, 524-568.
Barrell, J., 1908. Relations between elimate and terrestrial deposits.
Journal of Geology, 16: 159-190.
Barrell, J., 1912. Criteria for the recognition of ancient delta deposits.
Bulletin of the
Geologieal
Soeiety of Ameriea, 23: 377-446.
Barrell, J., 1913-1914. The Upper Devonian Delta of the Appalachian
geosyncline. American Journal of Science, Series 4, 36, 429-472; 37,
87-109,
225-253.
Barrell, J., 1917. Rhythms and the measurements of geologic time.
Bultetinof the
Geological
Society of America, 28: 745-904.
Kendall, M.B., 1981. Joseph Barrell. In Dictionary of Scientific Biogra-
phy. New York: Scribner, pp.
469-471.
Schuchert, C, 1919. Joseph Barrell (1869-1919). American Journal of
Science, Series 4, 48: 251-280.
ROBIN G.C. BATHURST (1920- )
Bathurst was born in Chelsea, London, on March 21, 1920.
His undergraduate studies in geology, begun at the Chelsea
Polytechnic in 1939, were interrupted by World War II and
continued at Imperial College, London where he earned his
B.Sc. in 1948. After this he spent three years at Cambridge
studying Wealden sands with Percy Allen. He was appointed
to teach sedimentology at University of Liverpool, retired
from teaching in 1982, but remained there as a Senior
Research Fellow until 1987.
His work at Liverpool shifted from siliciclastic sediments to
carbonate rocks, and particularly their diagenesis. In this field,
he was largely self-taught, though influenced by the work of
H.C. Sorby (</.v.), Maurice Black, and especially Bruno
Sander. Sander's work on Triassic carbonates, originally
published in German in 1936, was at that time largely
unknown in the English-speaking world (it was translated
into English in 1951). In 1958 and 1959 Bathurst published
three papers dealing with limestone diagenesis, all of which are
now classics that have had an immense influence on the study
of carbonate diagenesis. The earliest paper, published in the
Liverpool and Manchester
Geological
Journal, was the first (in
English) to develop criteria distinguishing carbonate cavity-
filling cements from calcite mosaics formed by recrystalliza-
tion. It was not only important scientifically but also had
significant applications to understanding the diagenetic evolu-
tion of limestones and their pore systems, which at that time
had become very important in the scientific community and the
petroleum industry. His interest in these topics persisted
640
SEDIMENTOLOCISTS
throughout his career (Bathurst, 1986, 1993). Later contribu-
tions include documenting the importance of interpenetration
of sediment grains ("fitted fabric"), dissolution-seams, and
stylolites in the development of rhythmic limestone bedding
(Bathurst, 1991).
In 1971, Bathurst published the first edition of his book
Carbonate Sediments and their Diagenesis (revised in 1975)
which remained the standard reference work for many years.
Bathurst travelled widely, working with many of the leading
carbonate petrologists in many other countries. In 1959 he
began a series of research seminars on carbonates at Liverpool,
which inspired a generation of sedimentologists in the United
Kingdom and professional colleagues in the international
community: out of this developed the meeting, held every four
years,
now known as the Bathurst Meeting of Carbonate
Sedimentologists. He received the Lyell Medal (1978) from the
Geological Society of London, the Twenhofel Medal (1983)
from SEPM, and the Sorby Medal (1986) from the Interna-
tional Association of Sedimentologists.
Gerard V. Middleton
Bibliography
Bathurst, R.G.C, 1958. Diagenetic fabrics in some British Dinantian
limestones. LiverpooiandMancimsterGeoiogicaiJournal, 2:
11-23.
Bathurst, R.G.C, 1971. Carhoncile Sediments and Tiieir Diagenesis.
Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2nd edn, 1975.
Bathurst, R.G.C, 1986. Carbonate diagenesis and reservoir develop-
ment: conservation, destruction and creation of pores. Coiorado
Sdiooi of Mines Qiiarteriy, 81 (4): 1-24.
Bathurst, R.G.C, 1991. Pressure-dissolution and limestone bedding:
the influence of stratified cementation. In Einsele, G., Ricken, W.,
and Seilacher, A. (eds.).
Cycles
and Events
in
Stralignipiiy. Springer-
Verlag, pp. 450-463.
Bathurst, R.G.C, 1993. Microfabrics in carbonate diagenesis: a critical
look at forty years in research. In Rezak, R., and Lavoie, D.L.
(eds.).
Carbonate Microfahries. Springer-Verlag, pp. 3-14.
Pray, L.C., 1984. Robin G.C. Bathurst, William H. Twenhofel
Medalist. Journal of Sedimentary
Petrology,
54: 1379-1380.
Reading, H.G., 1987. Citation for Sorby Medallist, Robin Gilbert
Charles Bathurst. Sedimentology, 34: 177-179.
Sander, B., 1951. Contributions to the Study of Depositionai Fabrics:
Rhytiiniicaliy Deposited Triassic Limestones and Dolomites. Tulsa:
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (translated from
the German edition of 1936).
LUCIEN CAYEUX (1864-1944)
Cayeux's long academic career culminated with his
appointment in 1912 to the chair of geology at the College
de France in Paris. He spent the next thirty years developing
the investigation and the teaching of sedimentary petrography,
a field in which he is considered one of its founders. In his
doctoral dissertation (1897) on the chalk and certain Mesozoic
and Cenozoic siliceous rocks of the Paris basin, Cayeux gave
the first outline of his outstanding analytical method of
investigation. For a given sedimentary rock, he first described
its detrital and authigenic components, the microfossils, and
finally the interstitial matrix or cement. The textural relation-
ships between all the constituents combined with chemical
analysis led to a synthesis attempting to establish the original
characters of the sediment, the provenance of the components,
and the post-depositional diagenetic modifications. Cayeux's
avant garde techniques of 1897 became increasingly sophisti-
cated with time and for him, the science of sedimentary rocks
was essentially the complete and comparative natural history
of ancient and recent sediments.
Following his investigation of the chalk in which he
demonstrated that, in spite of apparent similarities with the
recent deep-sea Globigerina ooze, it was a shallow-water
deposit, Cayeux undertook a series of comprehensive and well-
illustrated monographs on the sedimentary rocks of France
and its colonies. He successively investigated the Tertiary
sandstones of the Paris basin (1906); Paleozoic and Mesozoic
oolitic iron ores (1909, 1922); banded and nodular siliceous
rocks (1929); carbonate rocks: limestones and dolomites
(1935),
and phosphates (1939, 1941a, 1950 [posthumous]).
Although Cayeux's interpretation of the oolitic iron ores
remained controversial, his synthetic views on the deposition
and diagenesis of siliceous rocks, phosphates and carbonates
show an unusually modern character. Particularly in carbonate
rocks,
he anticipated many modern trends concerning early
diagenetic processes such as cementation, recrystallization, and
dolomitization.
During his years of teaching at the College de France,
Cayeux realized the need for an introductory book to the field
of sedimentary petrography through the use of high-quality
extensive illustrations of mineral constituents, microstructures
of skeletal remains, and depositional-diagenetic textures. The
result was his Introduction a I'elude petrographique des roches
sklimentaires, in 2 volumes, a precursor of the numerous
atlases of microfacies published half-a-century later to meet
the needs of an expanding oil exploration. It was published in
1916,
out of print in 1927, and reprinted in 1931.
Cayeux's philosophical approach to geology developed from
his studies on iron ores, siliceous rocks, phosphates, and
mostly carbonates. He concluded that many fundamental
features of these deposits had been generated contempora-
neously or penecontemporaneously with deposition by ex-
tensive submarine processes of reworking, cementation,
recrystallization, and replacement. He felt that most of these
processes, so clearly displayed in ancient sediments, were
inactive or incipiently active in present-day marine environ-
ments. This led to his last book (1941b) Causes Anciennes et
Causes Actuellesen
Geologie
in which he concluded that serious
consideration should be given to the dual concept of past and
present causes in geology. This controversial challenge to
uniformitarianism has not yet been fully answered.
Albert V. Carozzi
Bibliography
Cayeux, L., 1897. Contribution a i'etude micrographique des terrains
sedimentaires. I. Etude de
quelcjues
depots siliceux, secondaireset ter-
tiaires du bassin de Paris. II. Craie du bassin de Paris. Memoires
Societe Geologic/uedu
Nord,
4: No. 2.
Cayeux, L., 1906. Structure et Origine des GresduTertiaire Parisien. In
the series Etudes des gites mineraux de la France. Paris: Imprimerie
Nationale.
Cayeux, L., 1909. Les Minerais de
Fer
Oolitiiiquede
Franee.
Fascicule
I:
Mineraisde
Fer
Primaires. In the series Etudes desgitesmineruuxde
la
France.
Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.
Cayeux, L., 1916. Introduetion a i'Etude Petrograpiiique des Rociies
Sedimentaires. In the series Memoires explicatifs de ia carte
SEDIMENTOLOCISTS
641
giologiquecleUtilleedela
France.
Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 2 vols,
(reprinted 1931).
Cayeux, L., 1922. Les Mineraisde
Fer
Oolilhiquecle
France.
Fascicule
II:
Mineraislie
Fer
Secondaires. In the series Eludes desgttes
ininerau.x
de
la
France.
Service
carle
geologique de
la
France.
Paris: Imprimerie
Nationale.
Cayeux, L., 1929. Les Roches Sedimentaires de France. Roches Sili-
ccuses. In the series Memoires cxpticatifs de la carte geologique
detailleede
la
France.
Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.
Cayeux, L., 1935. Les Roches Sedimenlaires de France. Roches
Carbonatees (Catcaires el Dolomies). Paris: Masson. Annotated
English translation by Albert V. Carozzi, 1970, Darien: Hafner
Publishing Company.
Cayeux, L., 1939. Les Phosphates de Chaux Sedimenlaires de France
(France Melropolitaine et d'Oulre-Mer) I. In the series Etudes des
gites mineraux de la France, Service carte geologique de la France.
Paris:
Imprimerie Nationale.
Cayeux, L., 1941a. Les Phosphates de Chaux Sedimentaires de France
(France
Metropolitaineeld'Outre Mer) II. Egypte,
Tunisie,
Algerie. In
the series Eludes des gites mineraux de la France. Service carte
geologique de
la
France.
Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.
Cayeux, L., 1941b. Causes Anciennes et Causes Actuelles en Geologie.
Paris:
Masson. Annotated English translation by Albert V.
Carozzi, 1971, New York: Hafner Publishing Company.
Cayeux, L., 1950. [posthumous]. Les Phosphates de Chaux
Sedimentaires de France (France Metropolitaine et d'Outre Mer) III.
Marocel Conclusions Generates. In the series Eludes des
gJles
min-
eraux de la France. Service carte geologique de la France. Paris:
Imprimerie Nationale.
CARL WILHELM CORRENS (1893-1980)
C.W. Correns was born on May 19, 1893 at Tuebingen
(Germany), the son of the botanist, Carl Correns, who
rediscovered Mendel's laws of heredity. After World War I,
Correns started as a field geologist mapping several areas of
the Rheno-Hercynian belt in the Variscan orogen in Germany.
Shales are a major constituent of this belt and were the only
abundant rock type of which the mineral composition was
unknown in those days. This fact was not accepted by Correns'
supervisors in the Prussian Geological Survey. They claimed
that clay minerals are the fraction of fine grained sediments,
soluble in sulfuric and hydrochloric acid. Correns' statement
about the unknown nature of clay minerals was confirmed by
chemists investigating colloidal systems at the Kaiser Wilhelm
Institute of Physical Chemistry in Berlin. They offered him a
part-time position to study the adsorption of certain metals
on kaolinite. He became increasingly interested in the
composition of Recent sediments and was invited to join the
scientific party in one of the first extended oceanographic
expeditions. From July 1926 to June 1927 he participated in
two traverses through the equatorial Atlantic Ocean by the
German research vessel "Meteor." On this cruise a primitive
piston corer was used to sample the upper few decimeters of
sediments at more than 100 stations between South America
and Africa.
On returning from this introduction to practical oceano-
graphy, Correns was appointed to the chair of geology at the
University of Rostock, close to the shore of the Baltic Sea. He
arrived with his valuable collection of "red clay," "blue mud"
and "globigerina ooze" from the bottom of the equatorial
Atlantic. Correns anticipated that X-ray investigation of the
clays was required to recognize their distinctive minerals.
Simple X-ray cameras and high-voltage equipment were
available 15 years after M. von Laue's discovery of X-ray
diffraction by crystal lattices. Correns and his coworkers then
systematically investigated a selection of Atlantic pelagic clays,
as well as shales of Pleistocene to Jurassic age from northeast
Germany, using the microscope. X-ray diffraction and
chemical analysis. By studying separate grain-size fractions,
they discovered that even the smallest consists of crystalline
rather than amorphous substances. The latter result was earlier
claimed by many scientists. Correns and coworkers observed
that the grain size distributions were comparable in both
Recent pelagic clays and ancient shales. Mica was the most
abundant mineral of these pelites.
Crystallographic studies revealed that mica as well as the
other clay minerals are sheet silicates. In the 1930s Correns
(1937) compiled the results of the Rostock laboratory on the
grain size, and mineral and (partial) chemical composition of
the pelagic clays and foraminiferal oozes from the "Meteor"
expedition in the Atlantic. At about the same time he revised
the old-fashioned textbooks on sediment formation and
composition. Correns (1939) presented the state of the art on
sedimentary petrology ("Die Sedimentgesteine") condensed to
146 pages in a unique international book on the origin of
rocks.
His coauthors were Tom Barth (magmatic rocks) and
Pentti Escola (metamorphic rocks).
At the beginning of World War II, most of the copies of this
book were lost during the bombing of Leipzig. This event, and
the fact that the book was written in German, precluded a wide
international readership, so it is worth quoting the main
headings of the part on sedimentary rocks: mechanical
weathering, chemical weathering, transport and deposition of
clastic sediments, fabrics and constituents of clastic sediments,
chemical and biogenic sediments, and diagenesis.
Because of gaps in knowledge revealed by his second book,
Correns turned his attention to the experimental investigation
of the solubility, as a function of pH, of simple compounds
such as quartz and aluminum oxide. Next came experimental
weathering of feldspar, mica and other minerals, as well as
glass,
in open systems. In 1939 Correns was appointed to the
chair of sedimentary petrology, and later to that of miner-
alogy, at the University of Goettingen. By the time the book
"Die Enstehung der Gesteine" was reprinted (1960), Correns
had already turned his interest toward geochemistry, investi-
gating the crustal distribution of the halogens and titanium.
He became cofounder of Geochimicaei Cosnwchimica Ada and
of Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology.
Correns died on August 29, 1980, and is known as one of the
pioneers of sedimentary petrology, based on generalizations
from carefully observed details.
Karl Hans Wedepohl
Bibliography
Correns, C.W., 1937. Die Sedimenle des aquatorialen Allanlischen
Ozeans. Wissenschaftliche Ergehnisse der Deutschen Atlanlischen
Expedition auf dem Forschungs- und Vermessungs-schiff "Meteor"
1925—1927, Volume 3, Part 3. Berlin: Leipzig: de Gruyter.
Correns, C.W., 1939. Die Sedimentgesteine. In Barth, T.F.W., Correns,
C.W., and Eskola, P. (eds.), Die Entstehung der Gesteine. Berlin:
Springer-Verlag, pp. 116-262.
642 SEDIMENTOLOGISTS
Cross-references
Illite Group Clay Minerals
Mudrocks
Oceanic Sediments
Sedimentology, History
ROBERT LOUIS FOLK (1925-
)
Robert Louis ("Luigi") Folk
has an
unusual
and
exceptional
record
as a
geologic educator, researcher,
and
author
of
articles
on
sedimentary rocks.
His
teaching
and
published
contributions
on
sandstone, limestone, dolomite, shale,
and
chert during
a
50-year career have earned
him
numerous
accolades, including
the two
highest honors
for
research
in
sedimentary geology:
the W. H.
Twenhofel Gold Medal from
the SEPM (Society
for
Sedimentary Geology)
in
1979
and the
H.C. Sorby Medal from
the
International Association
of
Sedimentologists
in
1990.
He
also received
the
Penrose Medal,
the premier medal
for
research, from
the
Geological Society
of
America
in
2000.
Bob
was
born
in
September 1925
in
Shaker Heights, Ohio.
He earned
all his
degreee—BS,
MS, and PhD, the PhD in
1952—from Pennsylvania State College.
His
mentor
at
Penn
State was Paul
D.
Krynine, legendary
at the
time
as a
leader
in
the emerging field
of
sedimentary rocks. Bob
did not own a car
when
he was a
graduate student,
so
topics
for his
Master's
thesis
and PhD
dissertation were determined
by the
rocks that
he could reach
by bus
from
his
apartment
in
State College,
prefacing later expeditions
by
train
and bus to
localities
in
Italy.
His
dissertation
was on
Cambro-Ordovician carbonate
rocks
in the
vicinity
of
Penn State. Unraveling
the
primary
and
diagenetic textures
of
these beds
led to the
first comprehensive
carbonate classification scheme
in
English. Publication
of the
classification
in the
Bulletin
of the
American Association
of
Petroleum Geologists
led to the
best paper
of
the year award;
it
was
a
preview
of
Bob's subsequent outstanding research.
Bob worked
two
years
for the
Gulf
Oil
Company before
joining
the
University
of
Texas
at
Austin
in 1952,
retiring
in
1988. At the
University
of
Texas-Austin
he
supervised
26 Master's
and 14 PhD
students.
His
teaching style would
now
be
considered unusual—use
of an
Aboriginal wadi stick
as
a
pointer,
lab
exercises dominated
by
rocks, extensive
reviews
of the
literature, random-walk field trips,
and so on.
He repeatedly earned local
and
national awards, including
the
Neil Miner Award
of the
National Association
of
Geology
Teachers (1989)
and the
Distinguished Educator Award
of
the
AAPG (1998).
He
also
has
served
as a
visiting professor
at the
Australian National University, University
of
Milano,
and
Tongji University (PRC).
At the
University
of
Texas
at
Austin
he served
as the J.
Nalle Gregory Professor
in
Sedimentary
Geology from 1977-1982;
and
from
1982
until retirement
in
1988
as the
Dave
P.
Carleton Professor.
He
presently holds
the
title
of
Carleton Professor Emeritus.
Most
of
Bob's major contributions
are
based
on
observa-
tions
at the
hand-specimen
or
thin-section scale, although
in
the last 10 years
the
scanning electron microscope
has
become
a research instrument
of
choice. Repeatedly
he has
seen
textures
in
rocks that other people overlooked
or
paid
no
attention
to, in the
process arriving
at new and
novel
interpretations
of
features.
Bob has
made fundamental
contributions
on the
classification
of
sandstone, limestone,
and mudrock
and
codified such common parameters
as
textural maturity, grain-size statistics, rock color, grain
roundness, grain shape, identifying
and
naming architectural
components
of
sandstone, limestone, dolomite, mudrock,
and
chert.
His
Petrology of Sedimentary Rocks,
a
soft-bound locally
published semi-text, which first appeared
in 1957, and was
revised periodically until
1980;
sold
for
little more than
production costs.
The 1980
version
is
available
"on
line";
it
remains
a
fundamental resource
of
sedimentary petrologists.
His curiosity-generated projects outside mainstream sedimen-
tary geology have
led to
pubhcations
on the
petrology
of
avian
urine,
the
petrography
of
roofing tiles, enhanced stereo vision
using
two
hands, black phytokarst from Hell, shape develop-
ment
on
Tahiti,
a
unit
of
scuffle abrasion
on
stone steps,
vitrified
rat
feces
of
aragonite,
and a
challenge
to the
concept
that
the
pyramids
of
Egypt
are
made
of
epoxy-cemented
crushed stone.
His
citation index
is off the
chart when
compared with most other academicians; this refiects
the
fundamental importance
of his
contributions over
the
years.
His research
has
been accomplished with almost
no
external
funding.
Not
all of
Bob's contributions have been widely accepted.
His ideas
on
sediment transport,
as he
says, sank like
a
stone.
His suggestion that ultra-small bacteria (<0. l^m), called
nannobacteria,
are
directly
or
indirectly responsible
for the
precipitation
of
many carbonate, silicate, oxide, sulfide,
and
possibly other minerals
has
been rejected
by
most microbiol-
ogists
and
questioned
by
many geologists. However, there
is
also strong support
for his
hypothesis. The verdict
on
this issue
has
not
been rendered,
but the
research illustrates once again
how Bob recognized textural elements
in SEM
images
of
rocks
that
had
been ignored
or
overlooked
by
other workers.
In 1972, when Bob was
a
visiting professor
at the
University
of Milano,
he
fell
in
love with Italy. This
led to his
admiring
most things Italian
and
Italian rocks became
a
major research
focus.
His
nickname
now is
Luigi rather than
Bob.
Earle
F.
McBride
GROVE KARL GILBERT (1843-1918)
One
of the
greatest American geologists
of the
nineteenth
century—a
man who
should
be
ranked with Lyell, Agassiz,
and Smith—is Grove Karl Gilbert, born
May 6, 1843 in
Rochester,
NY, and
who died
May 1,
1918 while preparing
for
another field season
in
Utah.
His
intellectual contributions
were theoretical
and
institutional, ranging from
the
concept
of
dynamic equilibrium
of
landscapes
to
founding member
and
Chief Geologist
of the
United States Geological Survey.
He
was
one of the
premier scientific explorers
of the
American
West
and it is not
coincidental that
his
lifetime
is
called
the
heroic
age of
American geology.
Born
the son of a
self-taught portrait painter, Gilbert
was
the youngest
of
three children.
He
received
a
classical
education studying
at
home
and
from
the
University
of
Rochester where
he
emphasized Greek
and
Latin;
he
took
but
SEDIMENTOLOCISTS
643
one geology course. After a failed attempt at teaching school
on the Michigan frontier, he landed a job at Cosmos Hall, the
famous distributor of natural history artifacts run by Henry A.
Ward. This in turn led to a position with the Ohio Geological
Survey as a volunteer, where he came under the tutelege of
John Strong Newberry. Two years later Newberry recom-
mended him for the position of geologist on the US Army's
Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian. He
remained an employee of the US Government for the rest of
his life, joining the Powell Survey in 1875, and the fledging
United State Geological Survey in 1879.
Gilbert's principal contributions to sedimentology are
contained in his four great monographs: Report on the Geoiogy
of
the
Henry Mountains in 1877; Lake Bonneviiie, 1890; The
Transportation of Debris by Running Water, 1914; and Hydrau-
lic-Mining Debris in the Sierra Nevada, 1917. In the third and
final part of the Henry Mountains report he erected the
foundations of modern geomorphology. Conceiving of a
stream as an engine which performs work and applying the
laws of conservation of energy and least action, he codified
three laws of land sculpture and invented the fruitful concept
of dynamic equilibrium of landscapes and its derivitive, the
graded stream. He also presented the concept of bed-load as a
corrasion tool in bedrock streams and articulated for the first
time the conditions under which streams will form lateral
planation surfaces.
In his Lake Bonneville studies the objective was twofold:
"the discovery of the local Pleistocene history and the
discovery of the processes by which the changes constituting
that history were wrought." Here is the first description of the
origin of coastal features such as spits, bars, and wave-cut
terraces as a product of the balance between wave energy and
sediment supply as it affects littoral drift and the first
sedimentologic description of the delta type which still bears
his name. Its everlasting contribution however, was primarily
methodological. In this one quarto volume Gilbert showed
how sedimentary processes could be deduced from geomorphic
forms using the proper application of mechanical laws.
Gilbert's monograph on bed-load transport (with E. C.
Murphy) is a seminal document in experimental sedimentol-
ogy. It is the first systematic attempt to formulate the
functional relationships between bed-load flux and flow
energetics, the only exception possibly being the work of C.
Lechalas in 1871. The experiments were conducted in four
flumes of varying sizes. In each, the capacity of the flow was
measured as a function of seven variables: discharge, slope,
fineness of debris, depth, width, and to a lesser extent, mean
velocity and channel curvature. Although Gilbert was never
able to reduce the data to a rational theory of bed-load
transport, he succeeded in formulating the basic questions and
concepts. Besides providing practical formulae relating capa-
city to discharge, slope, and width/depth ratio, he described the
particle dynamics of the moving bedlayer, the threshold of
motion as a function of grain diameter, and the role played by
fines in increasing the capacity of the coarse fraction in
bimodal mixtures. While others, especially French engineers,
had conducted fiume experiments before Gilbert, his metho-
dology, mathematical formulations, and physical explanations
were unrivaled. The experimental design was so well conceived
and the observations so meticulously taken, the data are still
used today.
In his last monograph Gilbert applied these fiume results to
address the natural and man-made problems arising from
excess sediment supply to the Sacarmento River system. Using
his idea of a graded stream, he predicted the effectiveness of
various engineering structures to control flooding along its
course. And in a final rhetorical fiourish he predicted that the
tidal bar at the mouth of the Golden Gate would move inland
as a consequence of reduction in tidal prism as the bay was
filled by mining debris and agricultural sediment
runoff.
The
power of this work was not in the social change it effected, but
in the template it provided for subsequent conservation
literature.
In separate contributions he published on the origin of
bedforms, in particular ripples marks, ripple drift lamination,
and "giant wave" ripples, from which he attempted to deduce
ancient water wave heights.
Rudy Slingerland
Bibliography
Pyne, Stephen, J., 1980.
Grove
Karl
Giihert.
A Great Engine of Researdt.
University of Texas Press.
Chamberlin, T.C., 1918. Grove Karl Gilbert. Journal of Geology, 26
(4):
375-376.
AMADEUS WILLIAM GRABAU (1870-1946)
Born of German heritage in Cedarburgh, Wisconsin, January
9, 1870, the young Grabau was raised in a bilingual family. His
fiuency in German proved later to be an asset in his drive to
bring advanced concepts in sedimentology and stratigraphy to
American classrooms. In particular, Grabau was strongly
influenced by the German geologist Johannes Walther (^. v.),
to whom in 1913 he dedicated his textbook.
Principles
of Stra-
tigraphy. A correspondence course in mineralogy from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology started Grabau's
formal education in geology. He graduated from that
institution with a BS degree in 1896. Grabau earned his MS
and DSc degrees from Harvard University in 1896 and 1900,
respectively. His subsequent career may be divided into an
American phase from 1900-1919, when he was associated
principally with Columbia University, and a Chinese phase
from 1920-1946, when he held joint appointments at the
National University of Peking (now Beijing University) and
the Geological Survey of China. Grabau remained in China
during the Second World War and died in Peking, March 20,
1946.
His gravesite and memorial is located on the campus of
Beijing University.
Regarded overall as a stratigrapher and paleontologist,
Grabau's impact on sedimentology came during his early
career through various attempts to devise a comprehensive
classification scheme for sedimentary rocks. The most detailed
treatment occurs in Principles of Stratigraphy in a single 30-
page chapter out of a total text of 1,185 pages in 32 chapters.
Grabau divided all rocks into two groups: exogenetic as
opposed to endogenetic. He defined exogenetic rocks as those
formed by agents acting from the outside to break down pre-
existing materials. Endogenetic rocks were classified as those
formed by agents acting from within, for example precipitation
of minerals from solutions. Essentially, his dichotomy
644
SEDIMENTOLOCISTS
corresponds
to
clastic
and
nonclastic rocks.
In an
earlier
1911
paper, Grabau stressed that after
the
question
of
origin,
texture was
the
next most important consideration.
He
applied
the terms rudaceous, arenaceous,
and
lutaceous
to
clastic
particles that range
in
size from boulders
to
clay. Other terms
coined
by
Grabau, such
as
calcirudytes, calcarenytes,
and
calcilutytes still
are
used
for
various grades
of
bioliths,
or
limestones. Derivation
of
new terms from classical roots was
a
proclivity
of
Grabau's.
In a
state
of
mild exasperation, Joseph
Barrell (^.
v.)
offered
a
written response
to an
abstract
by
Grabau
on the
classification
of
marine deposits, suggesting
that English terms "perfectly clear
and
quite
as
sharp" might
be used
in
place
of
those derived from Greek.
As an
example,
Barrell preferred "shallow-sea deposits"
for the
"Thalassigen-
ous deposits" proclaimed
by
Grabau (1913).
Graljau's lasting influence
was as a
compiler with
an
encyclopedic mastery
of
materials
and
concepts.
To
regard
his massive Principles
of
Stratigraphy
as a
textbook devoted
strictly
to the
study
of
layered rocks would
be a
gross under
estimation.
His
command
of the
topic
was
expansive,
as
indicated
by the
array
of
contents
in
separate sections
on the
atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, pyrosphere
(on
volcan-
ism),
and
centrosphere
(on
internal earth dynamics). Grabau's
outlook
was
entirely holistic
and
careful examination
of the
contents
of
Principles of Stratigraphy reveals that well over half
the book
is
devoted
to
topics closely allied with sedimentology.
Individual chapters,
for
example, deal with evaporites, eolian
deposits, fluvial deposits, swamp deposits, reef
and
algal
deposits,
and
deep-sea deposits.
His
handling
of
stratigraphy
in
the
broadest sense,
was
thus prescient
of
contemporary texts
that combine
the
studies
of
sedimentary environments
and
stratigraphy. Grabau (1917)
may
have shown
his
ultimate
passion, however, with
the
prediction that
"In
future,
the
study
of
lithogenesis must
go
hand
in
hand with
the
study
of
paleogeography."
Markes
E.
Johnson
Bibliography
Grabau, A.W., 1911.
On the
classification
of
sand grains. Science,
33:
1005-1007.
Grabau,
A.W., 1913.
Principles
of
Stratigraphy.
New
York:
A.G. Seiler.
Grabau,
A.W.,
1913.
A
classification
of
marine deposits. Geological
Societyof America Bulletin,
24:
711-714.
Grabau,
A.W., 1917.
Problems
of the
interpretation
of
sedimentary
rocks.
Geological
Society of America Bulletin,
28:
735-744.
Johnson,
M.E.,
1985.
A.W.
Grabau
and the
fruition
of a new
life
in
C\\\ndi.
Journal of
Geological
Education,
33:
106-111.
Shimer,
H.W., 1947.
Memorial
to
Amadeus William Grabau.
Pro-
ceedings
Volume
of the
Geological
Society of America Annual Report
for
1946,
pp.
155-166.
Cross-reference
Sedimentology, History
AMANZ GRESSLY (1814-1865)
Gressly
was
born
in
Switzerland,
and
became interested
in
geology while
a
medical student
in
Strasbourg.
In 1838, he
published
in
French "Geological observations
on the
Soleurois
Jura." This work
was
carried
out
under
the
direction
of
Jules
Thurmann,
and
contains
the
analysis
of
facies that
is
generally
considered
to be
Gressly's main contribution
to
geology.
The
paper,
and his
extensive collections
of
fossils,
led to his
appointment
as an
assistant
to
Louis Agassiz: when Agassiz
left
for
America
in
1846
he
took many
of
Gressly's fossils with
him,
but
left Gressly
and his
other assistants (Eduard Desor
and Carl Vogt) behind. Gressly
was
then employed
in
engineering studies
for
railroads
in
Switzerland,
but
found
time
to
explore ecological zones
on the
Mediterranean coast
(Schneer, 1972).
The parts
of
Gressly's
1838
paper related
to
facies have
been reprinted, with
a
critical commentary
by
Wegmann
(1963)
and
discussed
by
many other authors, most recently
by
Cross
and
Homewood (1997). Gressly explained
how he was
led
to
develop
the
concept
of
facies:
"In
the
regions that
1
have studied, perhaps more than
anywhere else, very variable modifications, both petrographic
and paleontologic, everywhere interrupt
the
universal
uniformity that,
up
until
now, has
been maintained
for
different stratigraphic units ("terrains"
in the
original French)
in different countries. They even reappear successively
in
many
stratigraphic units
and
astonish
the
geologist
who
wishes
to
study
the
nature
of our
Jurassic ranges..."
"inhere
are two
principal points that always characterize
the group
of
modifications that
I
C?L\\
facies
or
aspectsof strati-
graphic
units:
one is
that
a
similar petrographic aspect of any unit
necessarily implies, wherever
it
is
found,
the same paleontological
assetnblage;
the
other,
that
a
similar paleontological assetnblage
rigorously excludes
the
general
and
species of fossils frequent
in
other facies." (Gressly,
1838, pp.
10-11,
translated from
the
French:
the
emphasis
is
Gressly's
own.)
Gerard
V.
Middleton
Bibliography
Cross,
T.A., and
Homewood,
P.W., 1997.
Amanz Gressly's role
in
founding modern stratigraphy.
Geological
Society of America Bulle-
tin,
109: 1617-1630.
Schneer,
C.J., 1972.
Gressly, Amanz.
In
Gillespie,
C.C.
(ed.),
Dictionaryof Scientific Biography. Volume
5, pp.
533-534.
Wegmann.
E., 1963.
L'expose original
de la
notion
de
facies
par A.
Gressly (1814-1865). SciencedeiaTerre,
IX:
83-119.
WILLIAM CHRISTIAN KRUMBEIN (1902-1979)
William Christian Krumbein, father
of
computer geology,
pioneer
in
application
of
statistical techniques
to
sediments
and sedimentary rocks,
and
innovator
of
sediment analyzes,
was born
in
Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania
on
January
28, 1902
and died
of a
heart attack
in Los
Angeles, California
on
August
18, 1979. His
specialties were
the
study
of
physical
properties
of
sediments, application
of
statistics
to
sedimentol-
ogy, dynamics
of
sedimentary processes,
and
regional sedi-
mentary analysis.
His
degrees included
a PhB in
business
administration (1926),
and a MS in
geology (1930)
and PhD
(1932) both from
the
University
of
Chicago,
and a DSc