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ELIOT BLACKWELDER
June 4, 1880-January 14, 1969
BY KONRAD B. KRAUSKOPF
IN 1936 ELIOT BLACKWELDER filled out a questionnaire sent to
him by the Eugenics Record Office of the Carnegie Institution
and by the Eugenics Society of America. The questionnaire was
a long one, requesting data about his family back to his grand-
parents, especially regarding occupations, diseases, longevity,
"special gifts or peculiarities of mind or body," and "character,
favorite studies, and amusements." The fact that he would fill
out such a form with scrupulous care betrays much about his
character—his attention to detail, his willingness to give time
and effort to a project that he thought might ultimately benefit
society, and his conviction that social problems needed the
application of science for their solution.
The document gives an intimate glimpse of a stalwart
American family. Eliot's paternal grandparents came from
North Carolina, but spent most of their lives on a farm in
central Illinois. His father, leaving the farm early in life to take
a position as county clerk, ultimately became a company execu-
tive in Chicago. His mother, daughter of a minister in upstate
New York, went west to Kansas as a university student. All the
family, according to the questionnaire, were people of sub-
stance—successful farmers, schoolteachers, ministers, business-
men, clubwomen. Most lived to a ripe o*Id age, had large fami-
lies, and suffered little from disease. They are described as
83
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
kindly, generous, optimistic, and strong in their sense of duty
and in the enforcement of discipline. They had lively intellec-
tual interests, many of them especially in history and biography,
and they took an active part in community affairs. Altogether
it is an enviable eugenic backgrouncl. When one finds that Eliot
has put down after his own name in the questionnaire, "studious
rather than sociable . . . interested in social and economic af-
fairs, especially history," the influence of his forebears is clear.
The one trait that does not seem to fit this heritage is his
fascination with science. He describes his father specifically as
"not scientific," and of his mother he says only that she had "an
early interest in natural history." Otherwise there is no mention
of science in the document. Yet somehow this city-born son of
a business executive and a prominent Chicago clubwoman
developer} at an early age what he described as "a liking for the
out-of-doors, tennis, hunting, and an interest in sciences." The
interest was so strong, even in boyhood, that he once assembled
a collection of more than 6000 specimens of beetles and butter-
flies. By the age of fifteen his accomplishments in ornithology
gained him membership in the American Ornithological Un-
ion. These interests in birds and insects remained strong
throughout his life.
When he attended the University of Chicago at the turn of
the century, however, the long-time family concern with history
reasserted itself. From many courses in Latin and Greek came a
great love of classical antiquity, and his first choice of a major
subject was in this field. The interest in ancient Greece and
Rome persisted in later life, giving him a reputation as an
amateur classicist and providing him with a wealth of apt quota-
tions from classical authors.
In his senior year at the university, he was wooed away from
the classics by the inspired teaching of R. D. Salisbury, and his
dedication to geology as a career was confirmed by two summer-
long expeditions with Professor Salisbury to the Rocky Moun-
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ELIOT BLACKWELDER
85
tains shortly after graduation in 1901. These trips introduced
him to the mountains and deserts of the American West, which
were to become the focus of most of his professional work.
After two years of teaching geology at the University of
Chicago, Blackwelder accepted an exciting invitation to ac-
company Bailey Willis on an expedition to China under the
auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Together
with a topographer, Harvey Sargent, he and Willis made their
way to the Orient via Europe and Russia. During the numerous
stopovers in Europe, including attendance at the International
Geological Congress in Vienna, the young man established per-
sonal contact with many noted geologists. These contacts, sev-
eral of which were to ripen into firm friendships, were the
beginning ot the wide circle ot acquaintances that he ma~n-
tained all over the world. After the sojourn in Europe, the
three-man expedition had a long and memorable ride to China
on the newly built Trans-Siberian Railroad. The route in
China went from Peking to Tsingtao, then west to the ancient
capital of Hsian in Shensi Province, south across the high
Tsinling Range to Ichang on the Yangtze River, and down the
Yangtze by boat to Shanghai. The expedition logged some 3000
miles by foot, pony, boat, and train. It made an indelible im-
pression on young Blackwelder's mind, providing him with a
rich background of personal and professional experience. Not
only the geology, but also the lives and social institutions of
the Chinese people, excited his sympathetic interest; and he
followed the later political developments in China with sorrow
· · -
anc ~ misgivings.
On his return to America, Blackwelder married Jean Bower-
sock, daughter of a prominent Kansas family, whom he had
known from childhood. For several years he was on the faculty
of the University of Wisconsin, becoming a full professor at the
age of thirty, before obtaining his Ph.D. degree from Chicago
in 1914. From 1916 to 1919 he served as head of the geology
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
department at the University of Illinois. Then followed a brief
period of apparent indecision. He went to Stanford University
as a visiting professor, but left the same year to accept a position
with the Argus Oil Company in Denver. After less than two
years as a petroleum geologist, he returned to an academic post
at Harvard, then in 1922 accepted an invitation from Stanford
to succeed Bailey Willis as head of its geology department. This
position he held for twenty-three years, until his retirement in
1945.
The move to Stanford was an important turning point in his
career. Before that time he had spent most summers in field-
work with the U.S. Geological Survey in the western states and
Alaska, work that resulted in many descriptive papers on the
mountains of Wyoming and the glacial geology of the Alaskan
coast. From this long field experience, he also gained the back-
ground for more general papers on the geologic history of the
continent and for some memorable shorter papers on specific
geological topics. These latter papers, continually pointed out
to students as models of clear geologic reasoning and exposition,
include a variety of subjects: the geologic role of phosphorus;
the interpretation of unconformities, the breaks in a sedi-
mentary sequence that indicate times when the land was under-
going erosion; the origin of the Bighorn dolomite; and the
effect of climate on the characteristics of continental sediments.
In each article the author describes in simple, straightforward
language the status of current thinking about subjects that at
the time were highly controversial, carefully analyzes the
semantic confusion that so often obscured the actual argument,
marshals his observations from the field to support his preferred
hypothesis, and then points out candidly the places where his
ideas are weakest. The papers are not profound, but they repre-
sent a clarification of basic geologic thinking at a time when
such clarification was sorely needed.
Blackwelder's breadth of interest, as indicated by titles of
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ELIOT BLACKWELDER
87
papers from this early period, seems extraordinary in our mod-
ern age of specialization. Geomorphology and sedimentation,
then as later, were his major concerns, but he writes easily and
well about fossils, climate, structural geology, Precambrian
rocks, and phosphate deposits. In the early 1 920s, when he
evidently thought fleetingly of becoming a petroleum geologist,
he wrote a paper on oil domes and another on oil movement.
At the early age of thirty-one, he coauthored an elementary
textbook, which combined physical and historical aspects of
geology—a combination that is touted by publishers of some
modern texts as a radical innovation in geology teaching. From
a Boolean viewpoint the book seems curious, because it limits
the discussion of igneous rocks, metamorphic rocks, volcanoes,
and earthquakes to a few pages in the first chapter and concen-
trates on geomorphology and sedimentary rocks. The skewed
emphasis suggests the direction of Blackwelder's interests, and
the simple unadorned style with many carefully phrased defini-
tions is revealing of his ideas about pedagogy.
The new base at Stanford after 1922 provided an oppor-
tunity for research in two directions that over the years became
major lines of activity: the history of glaciation in the Sierra
Nevada and the development of desert landscapes. At first in
frequent brief abstracts, then in longer definitive papers, his
bibliography records the progress of his thinking on these
subjects.
In the Sierra Nevada, especially on its semiarid eastern side
where the evidence of glaciation is not obscured by forests, he
could distinguish the debris and erosional forms produced by
three major advances of ice tongues down the steep valleys and
the still older debris left on a few ridge crests from an earlier
advance. A similar periodic waxing and waning of glacial activ-
ity during the Pleistocene had been established for the ice cap
that once covered the central part of the continent, but Black-
welder faced the necessity of working out criteria for age assign-
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
meets that would! be applicable in the very different envi-
ronment of mountain glaciers. Once the criteria had been
developed and tested in the Sierra Nevada, he found them use-
ful for studying glaciation in other ranges of the Great Basin and
in the Rocky Mountains. Thus he could! correlate glacial events
over most of the West and, more tentatively, could suggest
correlations with the better-known chronology of the mid-
continent. The glacial story of the Sierra Nevada has been much
refined since Blackwelder's work, but the major divisions he
established remain the framework for more recent research.
The peculiarities of erosional and depositional processes in
`:leserts have long fascinated geomorphologists, but Blackweld-
er's special gifts of keen observation and critical analysis proved
particularly valuable for their study. Hardly an aspect of desert
topography escaped his attention, but he is best known for four
contributions: demonstrating the fallacy of the then-prevalent
notion that much desert weathering is accomplished by diurnal
temperature changes, clarifying the role of wind in shaping
desert features, noting the importance of mudflow deposits in
desert sediments, and emphasizing the distinction between
broad erosional surfaces (pediments) and depositional surfaces
(bajadas) as parts of desert plains.
Blackwelder's wide-ranging interests, although emphasizing
mountain glaciation and desert processes, touched many other
subjects during his years at Stanford. He pointed out the abun-
dant, but far from obvious, evidence for Pleistocene lakes in
many of the now-dry valleys of the Great Basin; demonstrated
the recency of formation of the valley that the Colorado River
has carved across Utah and Arizona; marshaled evidence for an
impact origin of Meteor Crater; and showed that certain pecu-
liar sedimentary rocks in many of the western mountains are
best explained as formed from debris left by glaciers far back
in geologic time. He wrote notes about earthquakes, landslides,
and finds of vertebrate fossils. Occasionally, too, he contributed
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ELIOT BLACKWELDER
89
short papers summarizing and clarifying specific topics: exfolia-
tion in rock weathering, the distinction between fault scarps
and fault-line scarps, the anatomy of desert plains, and the
insolation hypothesis of rock weathering. Like his earlier papers
of this type, these have become classics in geologic literature,
less for their originality or profundity than for the crystal clarity
with which they illuminate subjects that previously tract seemed
bogged down in controversy.
Involvement in scientific work never completely over-
shadowed Blackwelder's deep concern for the welfare of society.
During the 1930s, the long drawn-out depression and the in-
creasingly ominous events in Europe occupied more and more
of his thinking. When in 1940 he faced the problem of choosing
a subject for his presidential address to the Geological Society
of America, he abandoned geological topics for a subject that
would enable him to express some of his social concerns, "Sci-
ence and Human Prospects."
The address is an interesting document. One theme is a
forceful expression of the old idea that education is the only
"sure cure" for the ills of democracy. This is coupled with worry
about the quality of teachers produced by schools of education,
particularly about their meager training in science. The scien-
tific method, he points out, is difficult to learn, and an apprecia-
tion for it is woefully lacking among the general populace. A
prime goal of education should be to supply this lack. A wide-
spread knowledge of science, or at least an understanding of its
capabilities, is particularly important because science will in-
creasingly be called on to solve social and political problems.
Without the popular support for science that comes from recog-
nition of its accomplishments, further social progress will be
impossible. Many other species before Homo sapiens, he re-
minds his audience, have reached a limit in their development
and then declined toward extinction; perhaps mankind, without
an adequate understanding of science, has reached that sort of
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
turning point. It is only in the last paragraphs, with a suggestion
that humanity should take warning from the fate of~~its prede-
cessors, that a geological theme emerges.
One hesitates to criticize an effort of this sort. There are
many germs of truth in it, and much noble sentiment. If it
sounds in places naive and simplistic, in view of the disillusion-
ing experiences of the past thirty years, perhaps this is only the
inevitable reaction of any generation to an expression of ideals
and aspirations by the generation that came before. A scientist
seldom has the courage to express his thoughts on such subjects
to a large audience, and when he does he should be applauded
rather than exposed to the captious comments of those with the
great advantage of hindsight.
So disturbed was Dr. Blackwelder by the war and the un-
certainties of the postwar world that after retirement, in 1945,
he renounced geology in order to give his entire attention to
efforts toward establishing a durable peace. For many years he
played an active role in Atlantic Union, an organization whose
goal was a political union of the principal democracies. During
these years his only geologic activities were occasional atten-
dance at meetings, publication of a few abstracts based on earlier
work, and preparation of articles for guidebooks and symposium
volumes. Among the latter, the two papers he contributed to
the volume Geology of Southern California are notable as lucid
summaries of his ideas on geomorphic processes in the desert
and on Pleistocene lakes of southeastern California.
The last years of his life were made difficult by Parkinson's
disease, a debilitating illness that slowly sapped his physical
strength, while his mind remained alert and active. To the
very end he retained an interest in national and international
politics, in affairs of the university, in geologic organizations,
and in the many kinds of birds that came to the feeder outside
his bedroom window. For one so active in earlier life, it must
have been galling in the extreme to lie helpless in bed while
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ELIOT BLACKWELDER
91
the months stretched into years. But there was never a word of
complaint—only now and then a touch of rueful humor about
his progressive incapacities. The Stoic philosophers, whose
writings he had once admired, would have found him an apt
disciple.
Dr. Blackwelder regarded himself as primarily a field geol-
ogist, and it was indeed by long and careful observation in the
field that he made his great contributions to science. His special
talents were those of a disciplined observer—the ability to see
at once, almost intuitively, the essentials of a situation, to sort
out the important from the unimportant, to relate one observa-
tion to another, to sense what additional observations would
be needed in the field or laboratory. Beyond this was his capac-
ity for clear, direct thinking and for expressing complex ideas
in simple words. His genius was not to generate spectacular or
revolutionary concepts, but patiently, unobtrusively, always
with a keen eye for his own inadequacies, to bring order and
good sense into disputed areas of science. Many of his discoveries
seemed so difficult to make—then so simple and obvious once
they were pointed out—the sort of discoveries that are taken up
at once into the body of a science and quickly become textbook
dogma, with their discoverer all but forgotten.
In teaching as well as research, Blackwelder's emphasis was
always on accurate observation. Students fortunate enough to
have worked with him will Tong remember his gentle insistence
and their frustration at being told to examine a specimen re-
peatedly, even after they were sure they had seen all there was
to see. And especially, they will remember the glow of satisfac-
tion that came when they had finally spotted the missing detail
and the dawning realization that they were being trained to
see as they had never seen before.
To casual acquaintances Dr. Blackwelder often seemed re-
served and a little austere, but at heart he was a kindly person,
patient and helpful to students and attentive to the needs and
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
wishes of colleagues. He was a man of principle, well disciplined
himself and unhappy but not critical when those around him
showed lack of discipline. Like his forebears, he believed firmly
in the virtues of hard work and of striving to make the world
a better place.
He was an active member of many societies and served as an
officer in three: President (1921) of the Geology and Geography
Section of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science; Vice-President (1934 and 1939) and President (1940)
of the Geological Society of America; and Vice-President (1945-
1946) and President (1947_1949) of the Seismological Society.
He was a member of the American Association of Geographers,
the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Wash-
ington Academy of Science, and the California Academy of
~ -
~clence.
Honors came to him in abundance. He was a member of the
National Academy of Sciences (elected in 1936) and an hon-
orary member of the American Philosophical Society, the Geo-
logical Society of London, the Geological Society of Belgium,
the German Geological Association, and the Geological Society
of China.
Dr. Blackwelder survived his wife by nearly three years.
The couple hack celebrates! their sixtieth wedding anniversary in
1964. Surviving Dr. Blackwelder at the time of his death were
his brother Paul, of St. Louis, Missouri; seven children; sixteen
grandchildren; and thirteen great-grandchildren. The children
are: Dr. Richard Blackwelder, Professor of Zoology at Southern
Illinois University; Justin Blackwelder of Washington, D.C.;
Mrs. Margery Alden, Mrs. Trude Ball, Mrs. Lois Fuller, and
Mrs. Ruth Lanz, all of Palo Alto, California; and Mrs. Martha
Merk of Portola Valley, California.
Eliot Blackwelder will be remembered by all who knew him
as a dedicated scientist and as a true "gentleman of the old
school"—dignified, courteous, generous, always considerate of
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ELIOT BLACKWELDER
93
the views of others, never losing his basic humility despite the
recognition and honors that came to him during a long and
distinguished career.
IN COMPILING this memoir I have had the assistance of Mrs. Martha
Merk and my colleagues Arthur D. Howard and Ben M. Page.
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
KEY TO ABBREVIA TIONS
Am. I. Sci. = American Journal of Science
Bull. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. = Bulletin of the American Association of
Petroleum Geologists
Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. = Bulletin of the Geological Society of America
Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. = Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
Bull. Utah Geol. Mineral. Surv. = Bulletin of the Utah Geological and
Mineralogical Survey
Econ. Geol. = Economic Geology
Int. GeoI. Conga. = International Geological Congress
I. Geol. = journal of Geology
T. Wash. Acad. Sci. = Journal of the Washington Academy of Science
Pan-Am. Geol. = Pan-American Geologist
Proc. Geol. Soc. Am. = Proceedings of the Geological Society of America
U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull. = U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin
1903
With R. D. Salisbury. Glaciation in the Bighorn Mountains, Wyo-
ming. J. Geol., 11:216-23.
1907
On the probable glacial origin of certain folded slates in southern
Alaska.~.Geol.,15:11-14.
Reconnaissance on the Pacific coast from Yakutat to Alsek River.
U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull., 314: 82-88.
Glacial features of the Alaskan coast between Yakutat Bay and the
Alsek River. l. Geol., 15:415-33.
1908
Pre-Cambrian rocks in southeastern Wyoming. Science, new ser.,
27:787-88.
1909
The valuation of unconformities. l. Geol., 17:289-99.
Cenozoic history of the Laramie region, Wyoming. J. Geol., 17:429-
44.
The Yakutat coastal plain of Alaska; a combined terrestrial and
marine formation. Am. J. Sci., 27:459-66.
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ELIOT BLACKWELDER
95
1910
Phosphate deposits east of Ogden, Utah. U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull., 430:
536-51.
New light on the geology of the Wasatch Mountains, Utah. Bull.
Geol. Soc. Am., 21:517-42; also in Science, new ser., 32:188 (A).
With N. H. Darton. Description of the Laramie and Sherman quad-
rangles, Wyoming. United States Geological Survey Atlas, folio
173.
1911
A reconnaissance of the phosphate deposits in western Wyoming.
U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull., 470:452-81; map.
With H. H. Barrows. Elements of Geology. New York: American
Book Co. 475 pp.
1912
United States of America. Handbuch der regionalen Geologie. Hei-
delberg: C. Winter, C. E. Stecher and Co. Also issued under the
title: Regional Geology of the United States of North America.
New York: Stechert. [1913?~.
The old erosion surface in Idaho; a criticism. J. Geol., 20:410-14.
The Gros Ventre slide, an active earth flow. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am.,
23:487-92. (A)
1913
New or little known Paleozoic faunas from Wyoming and Idaho.
Am.J.Sci.,36:174-79.
Field and once methods in the preparation of geologic reports; a
modification of the Walcott method of measuring stratigraphic
sections. Econ. Geol., 8:489-92.
Coralline algae in an Ordovician dolomite. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am.,
24:115. (A)
Origin of the Bighorn dolomite of Wyoming. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am.,
24:607-24.
1914
A summary of the erogenic epochs in the geologic history of North
America. T. Geol., 22: 633-54.
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Post-Cretaceous history of the mountains of central western Wyo-
ming. J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 4:445~6. (A)
Origin of the Rocky Mountain phosphate deposits. Mining and
Scientific Press, 109:987. (A)
Post-Cretaceous history of the mountains of central western Wyo-
ming. l. Geol., 23:97-117, 193-217, 307-40; maps.
A fully exposed reef of calcareous algae (?) in the middle Cambrian
of the Teton Mountains (Wyoming). Am. J. Sci., 39:646-50.
Origin and development of the Rocky Mountains in the United
States. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 5:
137. (A)
Origin of the Rocky Mountain phosphate deposits. Bull. Geol. Soc.
Am., 26:100-101. (A)
1916
The geologic role of phosphorus. Am. l. Sci., 42:285-98.
Geological transformations of phosphorus. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am.,
27:47. (A)
1917
Physiographic conditions and copper enrichment (discussion) (Age
of peneplains in Rocky Mountains). Econ. Geol., 12:541~5.
Characteristics of continental elastics and chemical deposits. Bull.
Geol. Soc. Am., 28:917-24.
1918
The climatic history of Alaska from a new viewpoint. Transactions
of the Illinois Academy of Science, 10: 275-80.
The study of the sediments as an aid to the earth historian. Proceed-
ings of the National Academy of Sciences, 4: 163-67; also in Bull.
Geol. Soc. Am., 29:84-85 (A>.
New geological formations in western Wyoming. J. Wash. Acad. Sci.,
8:417-26.
With H. F. Crooks. Pre-Cambrian rocks in the Medicine Bow Moun-
tains of Wyoming. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 29:97-98. (A)
1920
The U.S. Geological Survey. Science, 51: 34~48.
The origin of the central Kansas oil domes. Bull. Am. Assoc. Pet.
Geol., 1:89-94.
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ELIOT BLACKWELDER
1922
97
The trend of earth history. Science, 55:83-90, 114-19.
Moving underground water in the accumulation of oil and gas.
Econ. Geol., 17:217.
1924
Supposed glacial formations in the pre-Cambrian terranes of the
Rocky Mountains. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 35:70-71 (A); also in
Pan-Am. Geol., 41:139 (A).
Suggestions for the improvement of our geologic terminology. Bull.
Geol. Soc. Am., 35:151 (A); also in Pan-Am. Geol., 41:151 (A).
Report of the committee on sedimentation. (W. H. Twenhofel,
Chm.) Issued in mimeograph form by the National Research
Council, Washington, D.C. 65 pp. Other mimeograph reports
on annual status of research in sedimentation for years 1924,
1925-1926, and 1926-1927.
1925
Wasatch Mountains revisited. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 36:132-33 (A);
also in Pan-Am. Geol., 43:74-75 (A).
With Elmer R. Baddley. Relations between batholiths and schistos-
ity. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 36:208-9. (A)
Exfoliation as a phase of rock weathering. .T- Geol., 33:793-806.
Phosphate deposits of the Pacific (discussion). Econ. Geol., 20:698-
99.
lg26
Photography for the field geologist. J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 16:93-97.
Earthquakes in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am.,
16:196.
Pre-Cambrian geology of the Medicine Bow Mountains. Bull. Geol.
Soc. Am., 37:615-58.
1927
Fire as an agent in rock weathering. l. Geol., 35:134~0; also in
Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 37: 142-43 (A); and Pan-Am. Geol., 45:91
(A).
Desert weathering. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 38: 127-28 (A); also in Pan-
Am. Geol., 47:74 (A).
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Scarp at the mouth of Kern River Canyon (California). Bull. Geol.
Soc. Am., 38:207. (A)
Mudflow as a geologic agent in semi-arid mountains (with discussion
by Joseph T. Singewald, Jr.) Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 39:206.
1928
Origin of the desert basins of southwest United States. Bull. Geol.
Soc. Am., 39:262-63. (A)
Evidence of a third glacial epoch in the Sierra Nevada. Bull. Geol.
Soc. Am., 39:268. (A)
The recognition of fault scarps. J. Geol., 36: 289-311.
Wind abrasion in arid Southwest. Pan-Am. Geol., 49:303. (A)
Origin of Piedmont Plains of the Great Basin. Pan-Am. Geol., 49:
307 (A); also in Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 40: 168-69, 1929 (A).
Moraines of Convict Lake glaciers (California). Pan-Am. Geol., 49:
311. (A)
Notes on sedimentary deposits in the desert. National Research
Council, reprint and circular ser. no. 85, pp. 78-80. Report of
the Committee on Sedimentation. Washington: National Re-
search Council.
1929
A mastodon skeleton near San Francisco Bay. .T- Wash. Acad. Sci.
19:29-30.
A recent earthquake in the Sierra Nevada. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am.,
19:52-53.
Glacial history of the east side of the Sierra Nevada. Bull. Geol.
Soc. Am., 40: 127 (A); also in Pan-Am. Geol., 51: 152 (A).
Wind abrasion in the arid Southwest. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 40:163.
(A)
Moraines of Convict Lake glaciers. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 40:171. (A)
Cavernous weathering in arid regions. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 40:173.
(A)
Sand-blast action in relation to the glaciers of the Sierra Nevada.
J. Geol., 37:256-60.
Cavernous rock surfaces of the desert. Am. J. Sci., 5th ser., 17:393-99.
1930
Specific evidence of deflation in deserts. Pan-Am. Geol., 51:365-66
(A); also in Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 41:145 (A).
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ELIOT BLACKWELDER
99
Geology of Death Valley. Pan-Am. Geol., 51:369 (A); also in Bull.
Geol.Soc.Am.,41:150 (A).
Geologic age of existing topographic features. Pan-Am. Geol., 51:
372 (A); also in Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 41:155-56 (A).
Striated boulders as evidence of glacial actions. Pan-Am. Geol., 51:
374-75 (A); also in Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 41:154 (A).
Lake deposits in the Basin and Range province. National Research
Council reprint and circular ser. no. 92, pp. 74-75. Report of the
Committee on Sedimentation. Washington: National Research
Council.
Memorial of John Flesher Newsom. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 41:30-33.
Correlation of glacial epochs in western United States. Pan-Am.
Geol., 53:133-34 (A); also in Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 41:91-92 (A).
1931
Landslide family and its relations. Pan-Am. Geol., 54:73 (A); also in
Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 42:296 (A).
Ice as a rock. Pan-Am. Geol., 54:152 (A); also in Bull. Geol. Soc.
Am., 42:307-8 (A).
Pleistocene lakes of Basin and Range province. Pan-Am. Geol., 54:
156-57 (A); also in Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 42:313 (A).
The lowering of playas lay deflation. Am. l. Sci., 5th ser., 21:140-44.
Hint for better geological photographs. Science, 73:241.
Desert plains. l. Geol., 39:133~0.
Pleistocene glaciation in the Sierra Nevada and Basin ranges. Bull.
Geol. Soc. Am., 42:865-922.
Physiographic history of the Colorado River. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am.,
43:229 (A); also in Pan-Am. Geol., 55:364-66 (A).
1 932
An ancient glacial formation in Utah. J. Geol., 40:289-304.
Grooving of rock surfaces by sand-laden currents. Pan-Am. Geol.,
58:78 (A); also in Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 44 (pt. 1~:167 (A>.
Paleozoic glaciation in Alaska. Science, 76:212-14.
Sedimentation studies at Stanford University. National Research
Council Bulletin no. 89, pp. 99-100. Report of Committee on
Sedimentation, 1930-1932. Washington, D.C.: National Research
Council.
OCR for page 100
100
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
The Age of Meteor Crater. Science, 76:557-60; also in Pan-Am.
Geol., 58:69-70 (A); and Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 44(pt. 1~: 156 (A).
Glacial and associated stream deposits of the Sierra Nevada. Mining
in California, 28~3 and 4~:303-10.
1933
Middle California and Western Nevada, ed. by O. P. Jenkins. 16th
Int. Geol. Congr., United States, 1933, Guidebook 16, Excursion
C-1. 116pp.
Yellowstone' Beartooth-Big Horn region, ed. by R. M. Field. 16th
Int. Geol. Congr., United States, 1933, Guidebook 24, Excursion
C-2.64 pp.
Lake Manly, an extinct lake of Death Valley. Geographical Reviews,
23:464-71.
The insolation hypothesis of rock weathering. Am. I. Sci., 5th ser.,
26:97-113; also in Pan-Am. Geol., 60:319 (A); with discussion,
16th Int. Geol. Congr. 1933 Rep., 2:780-81 (A).
1934
Talus slopes in Basin and Range province. Pan-Am. Geol., 61:313
(A); also in Proc. Geol. Soc. Am., 1934:317 (A).
Supplementary notes on Pleistocene glaciation in the Great Basin.
J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 24:217-22.
Terraces along the lower course of the Colorado River. Proc. Geol.
Soc. Am., 1933:66-67. (A)
Yardangs. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 45:159-66; also in Proc. Geol. Soc.
Am., 1933:305 (A); and Pan-Am. Geol., 59~4~:309 (A).
Origin of the Colorado River. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 45:551-66.
1935
Summary of the pre-Cambrian rocks of Utah and Wyoming. Pro-
ceedings of the Utah Academy of Science, 12: 153-57.
Pleistocene terraces of the upper Colorado River. Pan-Am. Geol.,
63:310-11 (A); also in Proc. Geol. Soc. Am., 1935:334 (A).
Pleistocene Lake Tecopa. Pan-Am. Geol., 63:311 (A); also in Proc.
Geol. Soc. Am., 1935:333 (A).
Rate of fault movement in the Great Basin province. Proc. Geol.
Soc. Am., 1934:67. (A)
OCR for page 101
ELIOT BLACKWELDER
101
Sedimentation studies at Stanford University. National Research
Council Bulletin no. 98, p. 81. Report of the Committee on
Sedimentation, 1932-1934. Washington, D.C.: National Research
Council.
1936
With Elmer William Ellsworth. Pleistocene lakes of the Afton Basin,
California. Am. T. Sci., 5th ser., 31:453-63.
1939
Ancient glacial formation in Utah. Pan-Am. Geol., 71:47. (A)
Pleistocene mammoths in Utah and vicinity. Am. i. Sci., 237:890-94.
Contribution to the history of glaciation in the Yosemite region.
Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 50(pt. 2~: 1947. (A)
Rubble stripes on the flanks of semi-arid mountains. Bull. Geol.
Soc. Am.. 50(pt. 2~: 1947. (A)
1940
The hardness of ice. Am. I. Sci., 238:61-62.
An ancient glacial formation in Utah. 17th Int. Geol. Congr., Mos-
cow, USSR, 1937 Rep., 6:256. (A)
Desert floods in action. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 51 (pt. 2~:1955. (A)
Crystallization of salt as a factor in rock weathering. Bull. Geol. Soc.
Am., 51 (pt. 2~:1956. (A)
1941
Science and human prospects. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 52:295-311.
Lakes of two ages in Searles Basin, California. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am.,
52(pt. 2~: 1 943-1 944. (A)
Significance of rain prints. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 52(pt. 2~: 1944. (A)
1946
Meteor Crater, Arizona. Science, 104: 38-39.
Origin of the Arizona meteorite crater. Popular Astronomy, 54:427-
28; also in Contributions of the Society for Research on Mete-
orites, 3: 28~85.
Evolution of desert playas. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 57(pt. 2~: 1179. (A)
OCR for page 102
102
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
1947
Diagenesis and weathering. Bull. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., 31:500.
Recessional moraines in mountain valleys (Nev.) Bull. Geol. Soc.
Am., 58 (pt. 2~: 1248. (A)
Geomorphic record of earthquakes in western United States. Bull.
Geol. Soc. Am., 58(pt. 2~: 1264. (A)
Geology of Hat Island, Great Salt Lake, Utah. I. Wash. Acad. Sci.,
37: 159-60.
1948
The Great Basin, with emphasis on glacial and postglacial times.
(1) The geological background. Utah University Bulletin, 38:
3-16.
Historical significance of desert lacquer. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., 59
(pt. 2~: 1367. (A)
1949
Pre-Cambrian rocks of Utah. In: The Oil and Gas Possibilities of
Utah. Bull. Utah Geol. Mineral. Surv., 36:25-30.
1950
Pleistocene geology, the Green River Basin, Wyoming. In: Wyoming
Geological Association Guidebook, pp. 81-85. 5th Annual Field
Conference, August 1950.
Bailey Willis (1857-1949~. Geological Society of London Quarterly
Journal, 105 (pt. 3~: lvi-lviii.
lg54
Geomorphic processes in the desert. In: Geology of Southern Cali-
fornia, ed. by R. H. Jahns, pt. 2, chap. 5, pp. 11-20. California
Department of Natural Resources, Bulletin of the Division of
Mines 170.
Pleistocene lakes and drainage in the Mojave region, southern Cali-
fornia. In: Geology of Southern California, ed. by R. H. Jahns,
pt. 2, chap. 5, pp. 35~0. California Department of Natural Re-
sources, Bulletin of the Division of Mines 170.
OCR for page 103
ELIOT BLACKWELDER
1961
103
Bailey Willis (1857-1949~. National Academy of Sciences Biograph-
ical Memoirs, 35: 333-50.
1963
With Arthur Granger and Robert E. Cohenour. Precambrian rocks
of Utah. In: The Oil and Gas Possibilities of Utah, Re-evaluated.
Bull. Utah Geol. Mineral. Surv., 54:39~4.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
biographical memoirs
