History 138:  Science in the U.S.

Class 8 (9/11)
Geology and mining
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Outline Geologists and exploration

What is this good for
  Mining, agriculture, rivers
  Private consulting
  State geological surveys
  Excursus:  staffing the surveys

Theoretical geology
  Two sets of debates
  Stratigraphy
    Exposing and identifying
    Tracking across territory
  Mountain-building
  The carboniferous unit
Names and Terms
Primary Secondary
Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864)
uniformitarianism vs. catastrophism
neptunism vs. plutonism
stratigraphy
lithology
paleontology
Association of American Geologists and Naturalists		 Basin and Range (plateau between Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains)
American Association of Petroleum Geologists
American Journal of Science and Arts (fd. 1818)
New York System (Paleozoic)
Mississippian, Pennsylvanian
Appalachian Mountains
bituminous coal
anthracite coal
Assignment John L. LeConte, Petition for a Geological Survey of California (1850), manuscript courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, MSS C-Y 283.

 What did LeConte want done?
 Whom was he addressing himself to, and whom not? Why?
 What do you think was the real motivation behind his proposal?
 [Please don't protest that the document is unreadable because handwritten. Part of doing history is dealing with sources in their original state.]
Copyright © Cathryn Carson 2002