University of Texas at Austin Department of Geological Sciences Newsletter, Number 39, September 1989 Page: 2
112 p. : ill.View a full description of this periodical.
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A
VIEW
OF THE
FUTURE
by
Mark Cloos
Last year, Sam
Ellison highlighted
the Department's
achievements during
its first century. In
this note, I review
some of the key
developments
during the last 50
years that give us
a basis for fore-
casting a few aspects
of what the future
holds in the
geoscience
profession and
Department.
U.AF or 100 years, the mission of the Department of Geological Sciences at the
University of Texas at Austin has been to be the premier earth science
teaching and research institution in the state. Our success in this mission
has benefited not only Texas, but the entire United States and many foreign
countries as well. The teaching and research programs of the Department have
historically emphasized soft-rock geology (specifically stratigraphy, depositional
systems and basin analysis, vertebrate and invertebrate paleontology, petrology,
and sedimentary geochemistry). The overall program is aimed at making sure
UT geoscience students have the varied and practical skills required to unravel
the stratigraphy of a region, interpret cross-cutting structural relationships, and
make geologic maps. Since the 1920s, most of our 7000+ graduates have gone on
to work in the oil and gas industry and many have had spectacularly successful and
exciting careers.
Lift-offi The Last 50 Years
In 1888, Robert T. Hill, the School of Geology's first faculty member taught
UT students the same fundamentals we teach today, but he could hardly have
envisioned the specialization of the profession and the importance of technology.
Before World War II, the equipment needs of geologists were modest: plane
tables and compasses for mapping, microscopes and simple chemistry equipment
for lab studies. The technological revolution in the sciences began in earnest
during World War II. Of particular importance for the geosciences was the de-
velopment of sonar and sensitive magnetometers to detect submarines. Follow-
ing World War II, the new technologies were employed in systematic studies of
the ocean floor. By the mid-1950s, the enormous ocean ridges and deep ocean
trenches were shown on bathymetric maps and the enigmatic magnetic "stripes"
were discovered embedded in the ocean crust. By 1960 it became apparent that
the geology of the oceans was fundamentally different than that of the continents.
Another key technological development in the 1950s came from the need to
detect nuclear explosions. Sensitive seismographs were deployed in a worldwide
network and by the mid-1960s it became clear that nearly all earthquakes occur
in localized belts that parallel the ocean ridges and trenches. It was the develop-
ment of these instruments that led to the modern subdiscipline of geophysics.
Geochemistry received its boost from the Apollo space program, which
resulted in the return of several hundred pounds of rock samples from the moon.
Microanalytical techniques had to be developed to measure the atomic and
isotopic compositions of incredibly small pieces of the precious lunar rock. The
cost of the needed instruments and of constructing clean-room laboratories was
enormous by geoscience standards, but small by the standards of the total Apollo
budget. Geochemistry laboratories were created at many universities with direct
funding in the form of research grants from the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration and the National Science Foundation. While waiting for the
return of lunar materials, new technologies were tested by application on samples
from the continents. This and other new knowledge about the continents coupled
with the ever increasing geophysical probing of the oceans, led to the develop-
ment of the theory of plate tectonics-a true scientific revolution in the late 1960s.
This theory explained many geological and geophysical observations and led to
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University of Texas at Austin. Department of Geological Sciences. University of Texas at Austin Department of Geological Sciences Newsletter, Number 39, September 1989, periodical, September 1989; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1032531/m1/4/: accessed July 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.