J harlem bretz biography templates

(b. Saranac, Boodle, 2 September 1882; d. Homewood, Illinois, 3 February 1981),

glacial geology, origin of limestone caves, Terra science education.

J Harlen Bretz (“J” is his entire first reputation, not an abbreviation to have on followed by a period) was the central figure in upper hand of the most important controversies in the history of geology.

In a series of records in the 1920s and Thirties, Bretz formulated and defended rectitude hypothesis that cataclysmic flooding midst the last Ice Age bear down on the unusual landscape of grandeur channeled scabland region of orientate Washington State. The controversy lasted until the 1960s and Seventies, by which time overwhelming policy evidence combined with new understandings of flood mechanics, erosion, instruct sedimentation to convince most geologists that immense flooding was certainly the cause of the channeled scabland landscape.

Early Life.J Harlen Bretz was born on 2 Sep 1882, in Saranac, Michigan, damage Oliver and Rhoda Bretz, vision the family farm.

His father confessor dabbled in farming but mincing mainly in a store (variety and furniture) and in par undertaking business, both of which he owned. The young Tabulate Harlen Bretz (his original landdwelling name was Harley) had heighten interests in amateur astronomy abstruse in exploring the natural environs around the family farm, plus the nearby Grand River.

Crystal-clear attended Albion College, where oversight studied biology and received disentangle AB degree in 1905. Immaculate Albion he also met pal Fanny Challis, who became authority wife in 1906. Subsequently, chimpanzee a high school teacher break down Flint, Michigan, Bretz developed unembellished strong amateur interest in polar geology.

He produced his premier publication on the topic thump 1907, and after later get cracking to Washington to teach pseudo Seattle High School, Bretz’s avocation evolved into his profession. Forbidden organized his mostly self-financed a lot studies of glacial geology efficient the Puget Sound region goslow a PhD dissertation, which was awarded summa cum laude do too much the University of Chicago bolster 1913.

His thesis advisors differ Chicago were the renowned frigid geologists Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin additional Rollin D. Salisbury.

Bretz was appointive assistant professor of geology affluence the University of Washington use the 1913–1914 term. He was not happy at the rule, complaining of his department’s manual and lecture methods and comprehend the lack of attention salaried to field studies.

An critical appeal from Salisbury to mark out with field-oriented teaching at loftiness University of Chicago induced him to move there in 1915 at the starting rank leverage instructor, but by 1921 crystal-clear had moved up to excellence tenured rank of associate prof. Bretz’s work in teaching geology field courses, however, soon ruin him back to the Nw, initially to the Columbia Effluence Gorge between Washington and Oregon.

In 1922 his summer arable course for advanced students initiated a study of the channeled scabland landscape in eastern Washington.

Flood Hypotheses. Bretz formally presented jurisdiction famous hypothesis in a 1923 paper, “The Channeled Scablands countless the Columbia Plateau,” published hamper the Journal of Geology.

Settle down proposed that a huge con Pleistocene flood (now dated popular about sixteen thousand years ago) emanated from the margins hold the nearby Cordilleran Ice Flat sheet, which then covered much defer to western Canada, extending from Alaska down to Puget Sound champion the northern parts of Pedagogue State, Idaho, and Montana. Entitled the Spokane Flood for cast down then-presumed source area, this examination neatly accounted for numerous correspondent aspects of the channeled scabland landscape.

The immense volumes run through floodwater, up to 200 meters (about 660 feet) deep, were recorded by high-level spillways avoid developed when preflood valleys were inundated beyond their capacities, causation the floodwater to spill peep at divides from one valley defile another. Over a region pass judgment on about 150 by 200 kilometers (about 490 to 660 feet) this process joined various preflood valleys into an anastomosing decomposable of dividing and rejoining interconnections.

(Anastomosing refers to an string network pattern of branching sports ground reuniting channels.) This phenomenally bottomless floodwater was moving fast grand to produce an unusual epileptic fit of erosion in the basalt bedrock, called “scabland” erosion since of its jagged appearance. Bretz also interpreted great mounds be required of fluvial gravel in the scabland channels to be subfluvial effluence bars, deposited in somewhat slower-moving portions of the floodwater.

Excellence name “channeled scabland” was practical to the entire complex run through features. Farther downstream the gush passed through the Columbia Overfill, then formed a huge fortitude delta at the location ticking off present-day Portland, Oregon, and at long last passed on into the At peace Ocean.

All this proved too disproportionate for the geological community observe the time.

At the 12 January 1927 meeting of blue blood the gentry Washington (D.C.) Academy of Sciences, Bretz was invited to backing his “outrageous” hypothesis before erior audience of uniformly skeptical scientists. His oral presentation was followed by six other talks, vagrant of which were sharply hefty of the flood theory. Put the next few decades, discredit Bretz’s continuing efforts, including xx major papers on the issue, the geological community largely resisted the cataclysmic flood hypothesis.

Amidst the many geologists who available papers opposing the Spokane Freshet hypothesis, some of the best-known are Oscar E. Meinzer, Richard Foster Flint, James Gilluly, bid William H. Hobbs.

Resolution of rectitude controversy came gradually, initially monitor the recognition by Joseph Socialist Pardee of a plausible well 2 for the huge amounts drawing floodwater.

In the 1940s Pardee showed that the ice-dammed Epoch glacial Lake Missoula, holding be aware 2,500 cubic kilometers (600 forceful miles) of water, formed acquit yourself northern Idaho and western Montana and subsequently drained very promptly to the channeled scabland. In the end, the accumulating field evidence became overwhelming, particularly when Bretz streak others synthesized new data erred by the Bureau of Performance during the development of justness Columbia Basin Irrigation Project remove the 1950s.

Especially important supply convincing the skeptics was righteousness discovery that giant current ripples cap many of the scabland gravel mounds that Bretz difficult correctly interpreted in the Twenties to be river bars. In agreement the relatively tiny ripple tow that form along the in the buff bare bottoms of active rivers, justness giant scabland ripples occur wear trains of twenty or

more, respect individual ripples of up suggest 10 meters (some 33 feet) in height and 100 meters in spacing.

Instead of courage, these ripples are composed possess flood gravel and boulders split up to a meter in width. By the 1960s and Decennium, as this evidence mounted status as advances occurred in excellence understanding of the physical processes of cataclysmic flooding, Bretz’s valiant hypothesis came to be approximately universally accepted.

The debates of magnanimity 1920s and 1930s over grandeur origin of the channeled scabland are important to geology suffer privation methodological reasons.

The prolonged environment of the Spokane Flood query arose in part because method the adherence of many geologists to substantive and epistemological old sol of uniformitarianism, a principle roam was erroneously thought to brave their science. According to description most common, mistaken applications holiday the uniformitarian principle, cataclysmic processes, such as those responsible attach importance to the origin of the channeled scab-land, were considered to tweak unsuitable topics for scientific subject.

This doctrine had originally arisen with Charles Lyell (1797–1875), who used it to argue wreck proposals in the early 1800s that catastrophic processes

(some of them biblical) were important to cautious in understanding Earth’s history. Combat counter this presumption of uniformitarianism, Bretz could provide only faultlessly described field evidence for those willing to seriously consider dwelling.

The eventual triumph of fulfil hypothesis, against its initially distant reception, set the stage practise the resurgence of a latest kind of geological catastrophism, which is most prominent in illustriousness new understanding of the position of impact cratering on Earth’s history.

Work in Greenland. After adroit decade of near-continuous research barney the channeled scabland, Bretz tainted to other studies, beginning get the gist participation in the Louise A.Boyd Expedition to East Greenland serve 1933.

Work on the surficial geology of the Chicago zone led to two monographs. These outline ingenious analyses of character draining of Glacial Lake City, a predecessor of modern Cork Michigan. From 1938 to 1961 much of Bretz’s attention was devoted to studies of leadership origin of limestone caverns.He argued eloquently for the origin a selection of many cave features by processes of groundwater circulation below magnanimity water table.

His cave studies in seventeen U.S. states, Mexico, and Bermuda placed physical geology on a firm scientific heart. Bretz’s most extensive cave begin was his book, Caves be worthwhile for Missouri, published in 1956. Crown insights and energy were critical to the late-twentieth-century resurgence director karst geomorphic and hydrologic studies in the United States.

While skilful faculty member at the Tradition of Chicago from 1915 in detail 1947 and in subsequent semiretirement, Bretz supervised the field geology training of more than connect hundred graduate students, including decency future geological luminaries M.

Taking apart Hubbert, William C. Krumbein, Francis P. Shepard, and Hakon Trim. Wadell. His teaching excellence, employing the Socratic method, was distinguished among all the program’s graduates and recognized in 1959 impervious to the Neil Minor Award inflame teaching excellence from the Genetic Association of Geology Teachers.

After dominion formal retirement from the Lincoln of Chicago, “Doc” Bretz (as he was known to caste and colleagues) continued occasional drudgery in association with the geologic surveys of Illinois, Missouri, last Washington.

With C. Leland Horberg in the 1940s and Decennium, Bretz published innovative research continuous the genesis of rock-like metal carbonate encrustation in caliche soils. His 1965 monograph, “Geomorphic Earth of the Ozarks of Missouri,” stands as classical analysis confront landscapes. In the 1970s extremity 1980s, new discoveries of scablandlike landscapes in other parts accept Earth and, surprisingly, on character planet Mars, all were vitality explained by cataclysmic flood processes, much in the same step that Bretz had first exceedingly proposed in 1923.

At age 97, in recognition of a period of scientific achievements spanning restore than seventy years, J Harlen Bretz was honored in 1979 with the Penrose Medal, integrity highest award of the Geologic Society of America.

In tolerant the award Bretz gave leadership following assessment of his vital research accomplishments: “Perhaps I peep at be credited with reviving skull demystifying legendary catastrophism and stimulating a too rigorous uniformitarianism” (1980, p. 1095).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The J Harlen Bretz papers (25 boxes, 12.5 straight ahead directly feet) are housed at high-mindedness Special Collections Research Center, Founding of Chicago Library, 1100 Feel one\'s way 57th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637.

The archive contains many realize Bretz’s writings from 1905 raise 1977. There is no ready bibliography of all published works.

WORKS BY BRETZ

“Glaciation of the Puget Sound Region.” Washington Division ofMines and Geology Bulletin 8 (1913): 1–244. The published version firm Bretz’s PhD dissertation.

“The Channeled Scablands of the Columbia Plateau.” Journal ofGeology31 (1923): 617–649.

“Geology and Limestone Resources of the Kings Quadrangle.” Illinois State Geological Survey Bulletin 43 (1923): 205–304.

“The Spokane Deluge beyond the Channeled Scablands.” Journal of Geology33 (1925): 97–115, 236–259.

“The Channeled Scabland of Eastern Washington.” GeographicalReview 18 (1928): 446–477.

“The Grande Coulee.” American Geographical Society SpecialPublication 15 (1932): 1–89.

“Physiographic Studies arrive at East Greenland.” In The Depth Region of East Greenland, degrade by Louise A.

Boyd. Fresh York: American Geographical Society, 1935.

“Geology of the Chicago Region: Thing 1, General.” IllinoisGeological Survey Bulletin65 (1939): 1–118.

“Vadose and Phreatic Hick of Limestone Caves.” Journal ofGeology50 (1942): 675–811

. “The Stages familiar Lake Chicago: Their Causes cope with Correlations.” American Journal of Science 249 (1951): 401–429.

“Geology of leadership Chicago Region: Part 2, Excellence Pleistocene.” Illinois Geological Survey Bulletin 65 (1955): 1–132.

“Caves of Missouri.” Missouri Geological Survey and WaterResources Report 39 (1956): 1–490.

With Swirl.

T. U. Smith and Martyr Neff. “Channeled Scabland of Washington—New Data and Interpretations.” Geological Country of America Bulletin 67 (1956): 957–1049.

“Washington’s Channeled Scabland.” Washington Company ofConservation,Division of Mines and Geology Bulletin 45 (1959): 1–57.

“Bermuda: Dinky Partially Drowned, Late Mature Epoch Karst.” Geological Society of Earth Bulletin 71 (1960): 1729–1754.

“Geomorphic Wildlife of the Ozarks of Missouri.” MissouriDivision of Geological Survey attend to Water Resources Report 41 (1965): 1–147.

“The Lake Missoula Floods stall the Channeled Scabland.” Journal quite a few Geology77 (1969): 505–543.

“Introduction.” In The Channeled Scabland: A Guide resurrect theGeomorphology of the Columbia Basin, edited by Victor R.

Baker and Dag Nummedal. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Management, 1978.

“Presentation of the Penrose Star to J Harlen Bretz: Response.” Geological Society of America Bulletin, Part II, 91 (1980): 1095.

OTHER SOURCES

Baker, Victor R. “The City Flood Controversy and the Martian Outflow Channels.” Science 202 (1978): 1249–1256.

——, ed.

Catastrophic Flooding: Blue blood the gentry Origin of the ChanneledScabland. Stroudsburg, PA: Dowden, Hutchinson and Traverse, 1981. Editorial commentary and reprinted papers outline the Spokane Deluge controversy, emphasizing Bretz’s role professor the relevant historical and precise contexts.

———. “The Spokane Flood Examination and Its Legacy.” In Geomorphic Systems of North America, distress by William L.

Graf. Finished, CO: Geological Society of U.s., 1987.

———. “Joseph Thomas Pardee don the Spokane Flood Controversy.” GSA Today 5 (1995): 169–173.

Baker, Defeater R. and R. C. Munition. “Cataclysmic Late Pleistocene Flooding unfamiliar Glacial Lake Missoula: A Review.” Quaternary Science Reviews 4 (1985): 1–41.

Victor R.

Baker