Dear Bruce and others,
I am in the geology "business" for about 17 years, since I started as an
undergrad. Regarding the loss of information, I have seen both sides of the
coin. It is a major problem, for the sake of posterity, that the "art" of
taking field notes is not really appreciated and being taught thoroughy.
(We had a discussion on this already).
Frequently I have come across interesting data, but it was not of much use
to me because I was not able to put into the local geological context.
Maybe it was not the purpose of that particular study, since everyone is
taught nowadays to think on global schemes. However, a little more care in
taking notes would have expanded the life time and the purpose of that
data. Sometimes one has to think though that the researcher has no interest
that his/her data is of further data.
The problem of lack of storage. After I finished my Ph.D. and went back to
look for my rocks samples of my Master's Thesis, I had to find out that
they were dumped after the storage moved into another building.
On the other hand, I have come across numerous samples in drawers and
buckets, taking up plenty of space, without any proper labeling, expect for
the geologist's original cryptic labels. Nobody knows which grad student
they belonged to, nor if that person finished or not. Well, I needed my own
space, so I had to throw them away. I am sure that some funding was
necessary to obtain the samples. But in these cases neither the researchers
nor the supervisors gave any thought of taking care of the samples.
I guess what I want to say is that we should also look at ourselves and
teach the value of taking care of our samples and notes. After all, if we
don't do it, we should not blame the government agencies or universities if
they don't. Of course that does not release them from their duty, and also
as Bruce pointed out, their financial responsibility.
All the best,
Jochen
At 21:43 01/06/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>Dr. Gibson's interesting request for an
>'historical artifact', a template once
>used by the Canadian Geological Survey,
>has me wondering about the fate of such
>documents. (This one would seem of value
>to those who examine the maps & reports
>made using them.)
>
>Please excuse this long letter, which
>just asks the fate of the field books
>from geological surveys.
>
>In the US, the National Research Council
>has written a preliminary draft of a
>report warning of the frightening rate
>of destruction of primary geological
>data:
>
> > Geoscience Collections and Data: National Resources in Peril
>http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10348.html?send
>
>Rocks, cores, field books, &c, collected
>often at great expense, are being
>discarded for lack of storage space.
>(This bodes poorly for those rich in
>theory but poor in grants, who
>re-interpret these data collected by
>others.)
>
>It was announced in GEO-METAMORPHISM
>that The British Columbia Ministry of
>Energy and Mines is soon to eliminate
>their regional mapping for lack of
>funds. (It was on this mailing list that
>I asked the fate of older microscopes
>with Nicol prisms, and no one really
>knew.) What will happen to the
>specimens, field notes, & maps?
>
>The literature on techniques of mapping
>is sparse. When an undergraduate in
>Nevada, I made a pilgrimage to Colorado
>to study the field notebooks of
>geologists retired from the US
>Geological Survey, kept in Denver. Many
>of the finest field geologists worked
>for government surveys. Americans
>remember, from individual State Surveys,
>the work of Hitchcock in New Hampshire,
>Chamberlain in Wisconsin, and we
>Californians remember the work of
>geologists from Clarence King to Thomas
>Dibblee.
>
>Geology is a young science. Has the loss
>of primary geological data included
>field books and original maps of surveys
>by university & government geologists?
>Some of the field notes of Adam Sedgwick
>I once saw at Cambridge University. Have
>other universities and surveys preserved
>field books & field maps from their
>employees' mapping projects?
>
>Respectfully,
>
>
>Bruce Bathurst
***************************************************************************
Dr. Jochen Mezger
Postdoctoral Fellow
Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz Tel.: 49-(0)6131-3924767
Institut fuer Geowissenschaften Fax.: 49-(0)6131-3923863
Tectonophysics Group
Becherweg 21
55099 Mainz Email: [log in to unmask]
GERMANY http://www.uni-mainz.de/~mezger/
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"We're all recycled history machines,
cavemen in faded blue jeans." Jimmy Buffett
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