Biographical Memoirs Volume 89 (2007) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
AARON CLEMENT WATERS
AARON CLEMENT WATERS
Pages 368-391
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 368... ...
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Claifornia, Santa Barbara
|
From page 369... ...
Professor Waters, best known for his pioneering work on the Columbia River Basalt, led the way also in other studies of basaltic volcanism in the Pacific Northwest, the mechanics of basaltic lava flows, the development of lava-tube cave systems, and violently explosive basaltic volcanism recorded by maar-type volcanoes. This expertise led directly to his participation in studies of lunar geology as the U.S.
|
From page 370... ...
BEGINNINGS AND EARLY DIRECTIONS Aaron Waters was born in Waterville, Washington, on May 6, 1905, the son of pioneer parents and the youngest of seven children. His early years were spent on the family homestead and wheat ranch near Waterville, on the western edge of the Columbia River Plateau in the shadow of the Cascade Mountains.
|
From page 371... ...
. Waters's early research was not yet focused on volcanic rocks but reflected broad interests in Pacific Northwest regional geology, interests that spanned igneous and metamorphic petrology, geomorphology, and tectonics.
|
From page 372... ...
Aaron Waters's arrival at Stanford also ignited a new interest (cataclasites and mylonites) launched by his discovery of those distinctive rock types along the San Andreas Fault zone near Crystal Springs Lake.
|
From page 373... ...
Known now as the Okanogan gneiss dome and recognized as one of a semicontinuous belt of metamorphic core complexes that extend from southern Arizona to British Columbia, it records the penetrative deformation of midcrustal crystalline rocks and hypersolidus mushes, later brought to the surface during crustal extension. But the fundamental role of protoclastic deformation -- the penetrative crushing, granulation, and neorecrystallization of rock in the presence of an interstitial melt phase -- first established by Waters and Krauskopf, remains valid today.
|
From page 374... ...
A brief return to ore deposits research came with Waters's participation in the USGS's uranium exploration program on the Colorado Plateau (1951-1952) , where volcanogenic processes once again proved important (1953)
|
From page 375... ...
THE JOHNS HOPKINS YEARS, 1952-1963 A uniquely productive and happy period of Aaron Waters's career came with his appointment in 1952 as professor of geology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, a position he would hold for the next 11 years. His appointment was part of a profound resurgence of the university's geology department, engineered by its new chair, Ernst Cloos.
|
From page 376... ...
in nearby Washington, D C., whereby Hopkins graduate students undertook doctoral research projects in experimental petrology at the "Geewhiz Lab," was one of the fruits of Aaron Waters's progressive thinking and influence.
|
From page 377... ...
By the time of his formal retirement in 1972, the graduate and undergraduate programs in earth sciences at UCSC were flourishing. Professor Waters's expertise in volcanology opened the way for a new, exciting field of research and teaching during the Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz years: lunar geology and exploration of the Moon's surface.
|
From page 378... ...
involved department building and teaching, the guidance of graduate research, a heavy involvement in lunar programs and astronaut training, the research and publication of terrestrial maar-type volcanism, and the extensive revision and expansion of the Principles of Geology textbook, leading to its third edition in 1968. THE CONSUMMATE PROFESSOR Although Aaron's election to the National Academy of Sciences (in 1964)
|
From page 379... ...
Many gravitated to him for guidance, partly because of his specialty fields, partly because of his sterling reputation, and perhaps because of a mystique that drew students to him. One could expect his expert guidance of dissertation projects but with a loose rein that encouraged individual initiative and alternative interpretations, even those that ran counter to his own published work.
|
From page 380... ...
There were other considerations of course, but now, after 50 years of marriage to this same lady, I still recall and appreciate the sagacity of Elizabeth's advice and her approval. An endowed fund for graduate research at UCSC is fittingly called the Aaron and Elizabeth Waters Graduate Award.
|
From page 381... ...
There was also the time, still in the middle 1930s, when two of the giants of American geology -- Bailey Willis of Stanford and Andrew Lawson of the University of California, Berkeley -- were seminar guests at the Waters home. Both men, known for their strong convictions and fiery dispositions, were friends but also professional rivals, especially on siting the foundations for the Golden Gate Bridge, for which both were consultants.
|
From page 382... ...
One such time was a frigid November field trip along the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Virginia: a strong wind drove sleet horizontally over the ridge crest and long icicles decorated the roadcuts. The Johns Hopkins grad students dutifully emerged from the warmth of the vehicles at each stop but huddled silent and shivering around the outcrops as Waters attempted to get discussions going.
|
From page 383... ...
The park contains voluminous basaltic lava fields, cinder cones, and extensive lavatube canyons on the northern flank of the Medicine Lake Highlands shield volcano. Part of this rugged terrain encompassed Captain Jacks Stronghold (1981)
|
From page 384... ...
He then joined the Geologic Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory as a consultant in late 1979. He was brought to LANL initially to add expertise on basalt studies on the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository project, but also collaborated with Fraser Goff on a lengthy report written to muster scientific and financial support for drilling five magma-hydrothermal systems under the emerging Continental Scientific Drilling Program (1980)
|
From page 385... ...
An earlier memorial by Konrad Krauskopf, Robert Garrison, and George Thompson provides insightful glimpses of Aaron in his roles as professor and as research geologist, including the passage quoted in this account (Krauskopf et al., 1992)
|
From page 386... ...
386 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS REFERENCE Krauskopf, K
|
From page 387... ...
Mylonites from the San Andreas Fault zone.
|
From page 388... ...
258-A:350-366. 1961 Stratigraphic and lithologic variations in the Columbia River basalt.
|
From page 389... ...
Goff. Continental scientific drilling program thermal re gimes: Comparative site assessment.
|
From page 390... ...
Selected caves and lava-type systems in and near Lava Beds National Monument, California.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.