GEO 421  Petrology

A Short History of Petrology

 

Baron Gotfried Wilhelm Von Leibnitz: (1646-1716)

          German mathematician and philosopher (co-inventor of CALCULUS).

          He stated that the earth was originally molten (he was probably right!).

 

James Hutton:  (1726-1797)

          English physician and country squire; founder of the science of geology.

          He was a PLUTONIST, and with Nicolas Demarest (Fr.: 1725-1805), he proposed the volcanic origin of basalt.  Hutton and Demarest were opposed by the NEPTUNISTS led by Abraham Werner (Ger.: 1749-1817), who advocated a sedimentary origin for all rocks (deposited during the Biblical “Great Flood”).  Although the Plutonists won that battle, Werner’s classification schemes advanced the science.

 

Charles Darwin:  (1809-1882)

          British naturalist famous for the theory of EVOLUTION.  He first described the process of gravity settling as an igneous differentiation process (in 1844).

 

G. K. Gilbert:  (1843-1918)

          Great American geologist.  He discovered the origin of laccoliths (by studying the Henry Mtns., Utah).

 

Johannsen, Leith, Shand

          Petrologists of the late 19th and early 20th century whose main interests were in classification of rocks.  Their classifications, however, were very complicated and contained many confusing names (some of which – but not all – we still use today).

 

Tom Barth:

          Great American theoritician and experimental petrologist.

 

Penti Escola:

          Pioneer Finnish field and theoretical METAMORPHIC petrologist.

 

Norman L. Bowen:  (1887-1956)

          This most famous of all petrologists headed the Geophysical Lab in Washington, D.C.  In his book The Evolution of the Igneous Rocks he laid down the principles of fractional crystallization.  It was here that the famous “reaction series” was introduced.

Along with his colleague, O.F. Tuttle, he battled the GRANITIZATIONISTS (led by H.H. Reed) who said that all granite is metamorphic.  Bowen and Tuttle argued for an igneous origin.

 

F. J. Pettijohn:

          One of the greatest modern sedimentary petrologists.  Wrote Sedimentary Rocks, for years the touchstone text in the field.

 

P. D. Krynine:

          Another great American sedimentary petrologist.  He published his best work in the 1940’s and 1950’s.

 

W. C. Krumbein:

          American sedimentary petrologist.  Wrote many successful and highly referenced texts.

 

Reference: Yoder, Hattan S. (1993) Timetable of Petrology: Jour. of Geological Ed., vol. 41 p. 447-489.