Chronography of geology and mining

Page last modified 26 January 2023

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1976, Tanzanite, a rare blue-purple gemstone, was first discovered near Mount Kilamanjaro, Tanzania.

 

Mining and oil extraction. See also Companies for mining and oil industry specific corporate events

See also Railways � social effects (1825) for effects of railways on coal prices.

 

7 August 2004, Red Adair, specialist in fighting oil well fires, died.

 

North Sea Oil Development

For Brent Spar ep[isode see Environment

6 July 1988. 173 men died in an explosion on the Piper Alpha oilrig in the North Sea. Many more were injured as a series of explosions wrecked the rig whilst they slept. The 12-year-old rig was 120 miles off the Aberdeen coast. Flames shot 400 feet into the air and only 62 survived, many by jumping over 100 feet into the sea. The heat could be felt one mile away, and hampered rescue efforts. 165 oil workers and 2 rescue workers were killed.

27 March 1980, The Alexander Keilland oil platform in the North Sea, 250 miles offScotland, capsized in a storm, killing 123 out of its crew of 212 men.

1978, The Sullom Voe oil terminal opened in Scotland. Sullom Voe means �sunny place�.

27 June 1978, The UK was expected to be self-sufficient in oil in two year�s time.

27 April 1976, Britain began exporting North Sea Oil.

18 June 1975. The first North Sea Oil, from the Argyll field, came ashore from a Liberian tanker.

1967, Mining of the Athabasca Tar Sands in northern Alberta began, but exploitation was slow and expesnsive,

7 March 1967, The first North Sea Gas was brought ashore in Britain.

2 June 1966. Philips petroleum found a large gas field off the Humber estuary.

5 April 1966, Shell announced the discovery of oil off Great Yarmouth.

27 December 1965. The North Sea oilrig Sea Gem collapsed into the sea, killing 13 people.

1964, Britian granted the first licences to drill for oil in the North Sea.

 

7 January 1975, OPEC agreed to raise crude oil prices by 10%.

23 December 1973. OPEC quadrupled the price of crude oil.

1 November 1972, The Standard Oil Company was reorganised as the Exxon Corporation.

1 June 1972. Iraq nationalised the Iraq Petroleum Company.

1968, Oil was discovered on the North Slope, Alaska.

1/9/1967, At a meeting in Khartoum, the Arabs decided to lift the oil embargo that had been imposed on the West since the Six Day War.

1964, Oil reserves were discovered in Oman; extraction began in 1967.

1962, Oil production began in Abu Dhabi.

1959, Major oil discoveries in the UAE.

17 December 1954, British Petroleum Company (BP) was formed.

23 April 1952, The oil pipeline between Kirkuk and Banias was completed.

14/9/1951, Fawley Oil Refinery, near Southampton, opened.

1948, The huge Al-Ghawar oilfield in Saudi Arabia was discovered.

1938, The first oil was found in Saudi Arabia, in commercial quaitities, a mile underground at Dhahran.

23 February 1938, Oil was discovered in Kuwait. This was the large Burgan oilfield. However exploitation was delayed until after World War Two. Then, oil rapidly displaced pearling and fishing as Kuwait�s main source of income.

1937, Shell-BP began prospecting for oil inNigeria. Oil was discovered during World War Two, and commercial exploitation began in 1946.

14 January 1935, The Iraq � Mediterranean (Kirkuk to Haifa)oil pipeline was inaugurated.

14 July 1934, The oil pipeline from Mosul, Iraq, to Tripoli, Lebanon, opened.

1931, First major oilfield found in Bahrain. Oil extraction began in 1932.

3 October 1930, A large new oilfield was discovered at Rusk County, Texas. World oil prices fell.

15 October 1927. Iraq made its first oil strike, at Kirkuk.

28 March 1924, Total was founded as the Compagnie Fran�aise des P�troles (CFP), the "French Petroleum Company". Petroleum was seen as vital in the case of a new war with Germany.

1922, Oil was discovered under Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela.

1922, Exploration for oil began in Saudi Arabia.

15 October 1918, Britain�s first oil well was sunk, at Hardstoft in Derbyshire.

18 June 1915, Red Adair, specialist oil well firefighter, was born.

1913, Global crude oil production reached 407.5 million barrels, up from 5.7 million barrels in 1870. The USA now accounted for two thirds of this production, with California producing around 40% of the US total.

26 May 1908. Significant oil fields were found in Persia (Iran), the first oil strike in the Middle East.

 

Baku oilfields

1901, The Baku oilfields still accounted for over half the world�s annual crude oil production. The oilfields there had been developed by Ludwig Nobel, brother of Alfred Nobel.

1873, Oil production at Baku increased with investment by Alfred Nobel.

 

Texas oilfields

11 March 1901, The tanker ship Atlas departed from Port Arthur, Texas, with 3,000 barrels of crude oil from the Spindletop oil fields, bound for the Standard Oil refineries in Philadelphia, marking the first shipments of Texas oil.

10 January 1901, Major oil discovery in Texas, USA. The salt dome of Spindletop had been suspected of containing oil since 1865; this day oil was struck; a gush of oil 6 inches wide rose over 200 feet, and was visible for over 10 miles. The population of nearby Beaumont rapidly rose from 10,000 to over 50,000, as oil production at Spindletop reached 100,000 barrels per day. Oil production in the area lasted until 1950.

1894, Oil was discovered in Texas, at Corsicana.as a well being drilled for water suddenly produced oil.

 

Pennsylvania oilfields

1869, Pennsylvania oil wells were now producing 4.8 million barrels per annum of crude oil.

27 August 1859. The world�s first oil well was drilled at Titusville, Pennsylvania, by Edwin Drake of Seneca Oil. Oil had been known in this area for 300 years. It used to seep from the ground and was used for curing many ailments from blindness to rheumatism, colds, coughs, sprains, and baldness. It was also skimmed from creeks and used for lighting, although it gave off a foul smell when burned. Chemists turned the oil into a better lighting fuel. Drake drilled down 69 feet and got a steady flow of 25 barrels a day from his well. By the end of the year the well once called �Drake�s Folly� had produced 2,000 barrels, and other prospectors joined in the search for more oil.

 

1854, The first fractional distillation of crude oil was performed, by Yale chemistry professor Benjamin Silliman Junior, aged 38. He had been asked by George Henry Bissell, aged 33, to analyse a sample of Pennsylvania �rock oil�, which burnt better than coal oil obtained from asphalt.

29 March 1819, Edward Laurentine Drake was born in Greenville, New York, USA. On 28 August 1859 he drilled the world�s first oil well.

 

UK

 

For UK Miner�s Strikes see Great Britain

 

16 December 2015, The UK�s last deep coal mine, Kellingley Colliery, near Wakefield, Yorkshire, closed. It once employed 3,000 workers.

1995, British Coal was privatised.

13 October 1992. British Coal announced 31 pit closures and the loss of 31,000 jobs.

20 December 1990. The last coal mine in the Rhondda closed. Once 40,000 men worked at 56 pits here, and over 100 died in the mines. This day Maerdy Colliery closed, 300 were made redundant. Only 17 miners stayed in the industry, moving to other pits.

30 December 1986, The use of canaries in UK coal mines was discontinued.

31 March 1985, In Britain, the National Coal Board announced a record loss of �2,225 million.

13 March 1974, Britain�s newly-elected Labour Government wrote off the National Coal Board�s �105 million debt.

1966, The Lancashire coalfield now had eleven collieries, down from 363 in 1854. The South Wales coalfield had 63 collieries employing 48,000 men, down from 500 collieries and 250,000 men at its peak in 1913.

18 November 1965, The UK�s National Coal Board announced that 150 pits were to close over the next thre years, with some 120,000 job losses.

1 July 1965, The UK Government decided to write off $450 million of the National Coal Board�s capital debt and to start a programme to close uneconomic pits.

6 May 1965, The new modern mechanised colliery officially opened at Kellingly, Yorkshire, UK. It was already producing 3,000 tons of coal a week.

14 November 1950, Britain�s National Coal Board published the Plan For Coal. Demand was assumed to rise over the next 10-15 years and production would be expanded by 20%; some 250 of Britain�s 900 collieries would be comprehensively modernised. By the 1960s some 20 new super-collieries would be opened, and some 350-400 smaller ones closed, mainly in central Scotland, west Durham, Lancashire, Cannock Chase and the Forest of Dean.

30 June 1950, It was announced that the National Coal Board made a profit of �9.5 million in 1949.

13 July 1948, It was announced that the UK coal industry lost �13 million in its first year of nationalisation.

7 May 1947, Explosion at a coal mine in Barnsley, Yorkshire, UK, killed 9 miners.

1 January 1947. Britain�s coal industry was nationalised under the Coal industry Nationalisation Act, 1946. The National Coal Board (NCB) was set up, to control 1,647 mines, 100,000 miners homes and over a million acres of land. The NCB was chaired by Lord Hyndley.

3 June 1942, The UK Government announced plans to nationalise the coal mines.

30 June 1925. The British mining industry faced a crisis. During 1923 and 1924 German coal exports had been halved because of French occupation of the Ruhr following a reparations dispute between France and Germany. Settlement of this, and a return to the Gold Standard by Britain at a rate which effectively raised UK export prices by 10% meant that in the first 6 months of 1925 the UK coal industry made a loss of �2.1 million. On 30 June 1925 the mine workers were given a month�s notice of the cancellation of a pay award made in 1924 and the option of returning to an 8 hour day or further wage cuts ranging from 13% to 38%. Even after the 1924 pay rise, miners� wages were very low, in real terms lower than they had been in 1914. The Miners Union rejected the pay cut and the longer hours. See 25 July 1925.

30 December 1913, Colliery explosion in South Wales, UK, killed 439 miners.

11 May 1910, An explosion at a coal mine in Whitehaven cut off 132 men underground. They had to be abandoned; in fact none of them probably survived the explosion anyway.

1906, The UK Coal Mines Regulation Act limited coal miners working day to 8 hoiurs.

11 July 1905, 124 miners died in a pit disaster in Glamorgan, south Wales.

19 May 1902, A coal mine explosion killed 216 miners at the Coal Creek Company, Fraterville, Tennessee.

24 May 1901, 78 miners died ina pit disaster in Caerphilly, Wales.

1887, In Britain the Mines Act regulated blasting procedures and stipulated the provision of first aid and ambulance facilities for mines.

1882, Coal was proving hazardous to carry by ship; some 100 British ships with coal cargoes were being lost each year, up from around 70 in 1776. Some coal, especially from south Wales, gave off methane which could be ignited by ships lanterns. All coal, if loaded wet, could absorb moisture and oxygen and form unstable peroxides, which then broke down in exothermic reactions to cause spontaneous ignition.

1872, In Britain the Coal Mines Regulation Act made compulsory the use of fan ventilators, stronger timbering, wire ropes, improved winding machinery and better safety lamps.

1862, Mining legislation in Britain stipulated that every mine must have at least two shafts, to increase the chances of escape in an accident.

1851, In Britain the Royal School of Mines opened. By the 1860s it was also training mine inspectors and raising safety standards in the mining industry.

1850, In Britain, the Coal Mines Inspection Act provided for increased inspectors to report on safety and work conditions in mines. The Mines Regulation and Inspection Act 1860 increased further the number of inspectors and forbade children aged under 12 from working underground. See Child Welfare for more legislation curbing childrens� work in mines and factories.

 

UK annual coal output 1640-1994

Year

Million tons

(of which open cast)

Employed

(all), 1,000s

No of

NCB pits

World Output

Million tons

1994

59.2(16.4)

17

17

 

1993

76.8(15.0)

44

50

 

1992

87.7((16.7)

58

50

 

1991

89.3(17.0)

74

65

 

1986

102.5(14.1)

180

133

 

1980

124.6(15.3)

205

211

 

1975

126.1(9.2)

246

246

 

1970

 

300

 

 

1969

162.0(6.4)

336

317

 

1957

224.6(13.8)

704

822

 

1952

225.0

774

 

 

1951

222.0

698

 

 

1950

216.3

697

 

1,495

1949

 

 

 

1,396*

1948

 

 

 

1,486

1947

197.0 (10.4)

718

959

1,440

1945

192.6

 

 

 

1944

207.7

 

 

 

1943

217.9

 

 

 

1942

228.1

 

 

 

1941

231.0

 

 

 

1940

251.2

 

 

 

1939

259.1

 

 

 

1938

226

 

 

 

1920

 

1,250 (peak)

 

 

1913

292

1,000

 

 

1900

184.5

 

 

 

1897

180.0

695.2

 

 

1881

 

495

 

 

1873

128.5

 

 

 

1871

117.4

 

 

 

1870

110.5

 

 

 

1865

99.0

 

 

 

1851

 

216.2

 

 

1850

49.5

215

 

 

1835

30

 

 

 

1830

22.5

 

 

 

1815

16

 

 

 

1800

11

40

 

 

1785

8.5

 

 

 

1700

3

 

 

 

1640

2

 

 

 

1540

0.2

 

 

 

1400

0.1

 

 

 

Year

Million tons

(of which open cast)

Employed

(all), 1,000s

No of

NCB pits

World Output

Million tons

*US shortfall of 140 million tons compared to 1948

 

29 May 1829, Sir Humphrey Davy, born 17 December 1778, inventor of the safety lamp (see 9 January 1816) died in Geneva.

9 January 1816. Sir Humphrey Davy�s safety lamp used in a coal mine for the first time.

31 October 1815, Sir Humphrey Davy patented the miner�s safety lamp. The metal gauze surrounding the flame dissipated heat and prevented the ignition of inflammable gases.

1 October 1813, Following the explosion at Brandling Main colliery (15 May 1812) the Sunderland Society was formed, to promote mine safety.

15 May 1812, Mine explosion at Brandling Main (Felling) colliery, Sunderland. See 1 October 1813.

17 December 1778, Sir Humphrey Davy, inventor of the miner�s safety lamp, was born in Penzance (died 1829).He was the son of a woodcarver. He also discovered the elements sodium, calcium, barium, magnesium, potassium and strontium by passing electricity through molten metal compounds.

15 May 1765, James Watt invented the condenser, effectively trebling the energy output of the existing Newcomen steam pumps. The earlier Newcomen steam engine pumped steam into a cylinder, forcing back a piston; the cylinder was then sprayed with cool water, condensing the steam and creating a vacuum that pulled the piston back. Alternately heating and cooling the cylinder was inefficient. Watt�s idea was to attach a separate chamber off the main cylinder into which the steam could be allowed to enter, and cooled there by water, again creating the vacuum that pulled the piston back again. The main cylinder could be kept hot, saving considerable energy. The energy content of Britain�s coal reserves was effectively trebled.

1712, The Newcomen steam engine began to be used to pump water out of mines (see 1698, 15 May 1765).

1700, To manufacture 1 tonne of iron, in pre-industrial times, required 10 hectares of forest to produce enough charcoal. The same amount of iron could be made with 5 tonnes of coal.

1698, An early steam pump, known as the �miner�s friend�, was designed by Thomas Newcomen to pump water out of mines. See 1712.

1640, Annual UK coal output was 2 million tons. Wood had become much scarcer since 1540, and coal was being substituted as a fuel. Wood was also more needed for the building of ships. However Britain�s road system was very poor and it cost as much to move a quantity of coal 3 miles as it did to mine it.However the cost of water transport was far less and coal could be moved 30 miles by sea for the cost of 1 mile by road. These economics had a big impact on Tyneside coal, which was sent by sea in large quantities south to London. As mining progressed, less accessible seams needed to be worked, and close to the River Tyne there was a limit imposed by water ingress. Mines needed to move away from the River, but then the high costs of road transport down to the docks came into play. However see 1882, hazards of shipping coal.

1590, First recorded use of �dramways�, two parralell lines of wooden planks from a mine pithead to the nreast waterway, to ease the passage of ore or coal (see also Railways GB)

1 July 1507, The earliest records of coal-mining at Nailsea, near Bristol. Coal was being transported to Yatton for household fireplaces. By the late 19th century coal mining had died out south of Bristol as the industry migrated to the richer seams of south Wales.

1400, Coal was an unpopular domestic fuel, used only by those who lived close to a coal mine and were too poor to afford an alternatiuve fuel.

1259, The first(?) historical record of mining in England. King Henry III granted the freemen of Newcastle on Tyne a licence to dig for coals.

1183, A coal mine was recorded as existing at Escomb, near Durham.

 

Australia

1 August 1902, 100 miners died at a pit disaster at Wollongang, Australia.

 

Australasia coal output

Year

Million tons

1945

24.1

1943

22.8

1942

25.2

1941

24.0

1940

20.7

1939

21.9

 

Belgium

 

Belgian coal output

Year

Million tons

1945

17.3

1944

14.9

1943

26.1

1942

27.4

1941

28.5

1940

28.2

1939

32.9

1830

6

 

China

 

Chinese coal output

Year

Million tons

1944

6.0

1943

6.6

1942

6.2

1941

6.6

1940

6.3

1939

5.0

 

Czechoslovakia

 

Czechoslovak coal output

Year

Million tons

1945

29.5

1944

55.2

 

France

22 April 2004, The last coal mine in France closed, ending nearly 300 years of coal mining.

11 March 1906, 1,200 miners died in a pit explosion in northern France.

5 March 1902, French coal miners went on strike, demandn9ing an 8-hour day.

 

French coal output

Year

No of mines

No. of miners

Million tons

1968

28

87,000

 

1945

 

 

38.7

1944

 

 

31.0

1943

 

 

46.8

1942

 

 

48.4

1941

 

 

48.3

1940

 

 

45.2

1939

 

 

55.4

1938

125

210,000

 

1913

 

 

40.8

1900

 

 

26.1

1871

 

 

13.3

1830

 

 

2

1815

 

 

0.9

 

Germany

 

Ruhr and total annual coal output

Year

No. of mines

Ruhr

Million tons

Ruhr

Million tons

All Germany

No. of miners

Ruhr

1969

57

 

 

123,000

1964

99

 

 

325,000

1945

 

 

164.0

 

1944

 

 

404.0

 

1943

 

 

455.0

 

1939

 

 

474.0

 

1913

167

110.812

279

394.569

1900

 

 

89.3

 

1890

177

35.469

 

127,794

1870

220

11.813

37.9

51,391

1850

198

1.666

 

12,741

1800

158

0.23

 

1,546

 

28 January 1907, 164 miners died in a pit explosion at Saarbrucken, Germany.

1775, A mining academy was set up in Clausthal, Germany.

1765, A mining academy was established at Freiberg, Germany.

 

India

 

Indian coal output

Year

Million tons

1945

29.4

1944

26.7

1943

28.7

1942

33.0

1941

33/0

1940

28.7

1939

31.1

 

Netherlands

 

Netherlands coal output

Year

Million tons

1945

5.6

1944

9.2

1943

13.9

1942

14.0

1941

14.3

1940

13.6

1939

14.4

 

Poland

 

Polish coal output

Year

Million tons

1945

23.2

 

South Africa

 

South African coal output

Year

Million tons

1945

25.3

1943

22.7

1942

22.5

1941

20.2

1940

18.9

1939

18.6

 

USA

10 January 1962, 11 coal miners were killed in an explosion at a mine near Carterville, Illinois.

28 January 1931, A coal mine explosion in Linton, Indiana, killed 28 of the 38 workers on site.

14 August 1923, 99 miners died in a coal mine explosion near Kemmerer, Wyoming.

27 April 1917, A mine explosion in Hastings, Las Animas County, Colorado, killed 121 people.

6 December 1907, The USA suffered its worst mine disaster.361 died at Monongah, West Virginia.

2 May 1902, In Pennsylvania, USA, 200,000 coal miners began a strike, demanding union recognition and a pay rise.

1 May 1900, Explosion in a Utah coal mine killed 200.

Coal Production

Million tons

USA

1972

650.0

1971

600.0

1962

425.0

1961

410.0

1945

630.9

1944

683.3

1943

650.8

1942

643.0

1941

570.5

1940

512.3

1939

443.6

1914

455.0

1870

10.0

 

USSR

 

USSR coal output

Year

Million tons

1945

160.0

1944

130.0

1943

145.0

1942

100.0

1941

175.0

1940

181.4

1939

150.0

 

Zimbabwe

8 June 1972, A pit explosion in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) killed 400 miners.

 

Famous geologists, geological societies, geological theories

30/9/1985, Charles Richter, the US seismologist who devised the Richter Scale, died.

21 June 1977, Bruce Charles Heezen, US oceanographer and geologist, died near Reykjanes, Iceland.

1967, US and British geologists William Morgan, Dan McKenzie and Robert Parker combined Wegener�s 1912 theory of continental drift and the 1961 theory of ocean spreading to create a theory of plate tectonics, explaining mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. The theory gained universal acceptance in the 1970s.

20/9/1965, Arthur Holmes, English geologist, died in London.

1961, US geologists Robert Dietz and Harry Hess independently theorised that sea floors spread apart as magma oozed up at central ridges. This went some way to explaining Wegener�s 1912 theory of continental drift. See 1967.

17 February 1942, Augusto Ponzio, semiologist was born in San Pietro Vernotico, Italy

18 December 1936, Andrija Mohorovicic, Croatian geologist, died in Zagreb.

1935, The Richter Scale for measuring the intensity of earhbquakes was devised by US geologist Charles Richter.

16 October 1927, The first remnant of Peking Man, a tooth, was found by paleontologist Anders Birger Bohlin at Chou K'ou Tien (Zhoukoudian), under sponsorship of Davidson Black, who gave it the scientific name Sinanthropus pekinensis. More remains would be discovered over the next ten years, and reclassified as Homo erectus pekinensis, estimated to be more than 300,000 years old.

19 October 1925, Ancient sea shells were discovered in the Sahara Desert, proving it had once been underwater.

1916, A Michelson, US scientist, determined that the Earth has a molten core.

1915, In Germany, Alfred Wegener published his theory of drifting continental plates. Initially, nobody else believed an entire continent could move. Evidence for Wegener�s theory emerged in the 1950s and 60s when fossil magnetism was observed in rocks, with a different alignment to today.

30 June 1915, Elso Sterrenberg Barghoorn was born in New York City, USA. In 1954 he discovered, with Stanley A Tyler, very ancient fossils in Gunflint chert in the Canadian shield. These fossils of bacteria and algae were estimated at 2 billion years old.

26 April 1914, Eduard Suess, Austrian geologist, died in Marz, Burgenland.

12 May 1913, William Maurice Ewing was born in Lockney, Texas. In 1935 he began a seismic study of the seabed using refractions of waves from explosions.

1912, German scientist Alfred Wegener proposed that all of the earth�s continents once formed one giant landmass. He based this on how they seemed to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, and how similar fossil species could be observed on land,masses now far apart.however no-one could explain how the continents could actiually move.See 1961.

4 January 1912, Clarence Edward Dutton, US geologist, died in Eaglewood, New Jersey.

1909, Yugoslav seismologist Mohorovicic discovered the Mohorovicic Discontinuity, the boundary between the Earth�s crust and mantle.

5 May 1908, Albert Lapparent, French geologist died.

29 January 1908, Piero Leonardi, Italian geologist, was born

19 April 1904, Sir Clement Foster, English geologist, died (born 23 March 1841).

7 March 1904, Ferdinand Fouque, French geologist, died (born 21 June 1828)

18 December 1903, Robert Etheridge, English geologist, died (born 3 December 1819).

17 April 1898, Jules Marcou, Swiss-US geologist, died.

1 October 1893, Henry Crosskey, English geologist, died (born 7 December 1826).

12/9/1903, Maxwell Close, Irish geologist, died (born 1822).

1 June 1903, Peter Lesley, US geologist, died (born 17/9/1819).

23/9/1902, John Wesley Powell, US geologist (born 24 March 1834) died.

16 May 1901, Gustaf Lindstrom, Swedish palaeontologist, died (born 27 August 1829).

2 March 1901, Sir John Dawson, Canadian geologist, died (born 30 October 1820).

26 April 1900, Charles Richter, seismologist who created the earthquake scale, was born.

18 November 1899, Henry Hicks, British geologist, died (born 26 May 1837).

16 May 1899, Sir Frederick McCoy, British palaeontologist, died.

1 November 1897, Peter Brodie, English geologist, died (born 1815).

7 July 1897, Samuel Allport, English petrologist, died in Cheltenham (born 23 January 1816 in Birmingham).

12 April 1897, Edward Cope, US palaeontologist, died (born 28 July 1840).

7 March 1897, Gustav Kenncott, mineralogist, died (born 6 January 1818)

19 August 1896, Alexander Green, English geologist, died (born 10 October 1832).

9 July 1896, Heinrich Beyrich, German geologist, died (born in Berlin 31 August 1815).

29 May 1896, Gabriel Daubree, French geologist, died (born 25 June 1814).

14 April 1895, Easter Sunday; James Dana, US geologist, died (born 12 February 1813).

19 February 1895, John Hulke, British geologist, died (born 6 November 1830).

3 January 1893, Nikolai Koksharov, Russian geologist, died (born 5 December 1818).

12 February 1892, Thomas Hunt, US geologist, died (born 5/9/1826)

9 December 1891, Sir Andrew Crombie Ramsay, British geologist (born 31 January 1814) died.

22 April 1891, Harold Jeffreys, geologist, was born at Fatfield, England. In 1940 he published research on the travel of seismic waves through the Earth.

4 April 1890, Edmond Hebert, French geologist, died (born 12 June 1812).

14 June 1889, Henry William Bristow, English geologist, died (born 17 May 1817).

4 June 1889, German-US geologist Beno Gutenberg was born in Darmstadt, Germany. In 1914 he discovered a discontinuity in the behaviour of earthquake waves at 3,000 km below the earth�s surface. This is the Gutenberg discontinuity, between the mantle and the outer core.

3 May 1889, Charles Lory, French geologist, died (born 30 July 1823).

15 February 1889, Ernst Dechen, German geologist, died (born 25 March 1800).

21 July 1888, Henry Lewis, US geologist, died (born 16 November 1853).

15 August 1887, Sir Johann Haast, British-German geologist, died (born 1 May 1824).

1 July 1886, Otto Abich, German mineralogist (born 11 December 1806) died in Vienna.

14 October 1885, Thomas Davidson, British palaeontologist, died (born 17 May 1817).

3 February 1885, Gregor Helmersen, Russian geologist, died (born 29/9/1803).

18 July 1884, Ferdinand Hochstetter, Austrian geologist, died (born 30 April 1829).

5 October 1883, Joachim Barrande, Austrian geologist,died in Frohsdorf (born in Saugues, Haute Loire 11 August 1799).

5 May 1883, Henry Boase, English geologist, died (born in London 2/9/1799).

23 February 1882, Pierre Desor, Swiss geologist, died (born 13 February 1811).

21 November 1881, Ami Bourg, Austrian geologist, died (born in Hamburg 16 March 1794).

5 November 1881, Robert Mallet, Irish geologist, died (born 3 June 1810).

6 April 1881, Sir Philip Egerton, British palaeontologist, died (born 13 November 1806)

24 March 1881, Louis Delescluze, French geologist, died (born 3 February 1817).

10 February 1881, John Bigsby, English geologist, died in London (born in Nottingham 14 August 1792).

1880, The Seismological Society of Japan was founded.

1 November 1880, Alfred Lothar Wegener was born in Berlin, Germany. In 1912 he proposed a theory of continental drift, and the supercontinent of Pangea.

20 May 1880, William Miller, British mineralogist, died.

13 May 1880, David Ansted, geologist, died in Melton, near Woodbridge (born 5 February 1814 in London).

14/9/1879, Bernhard Cotta, German geologist, died (born 24 October 1808).

21/9/1878, Thomas Belt, English geologist, died in Denver, USA (born in Newcastle on Tyne 1832).

17 June 1878, William Clarke, British geologist, died (born 2 June 1798).

25 July 1877, Robert Fox, English geologist, died (born 26 April 1789)

22 December 1876, Fielding Meek, US geologist, died.

28/9/1876, Carl Credner, German geologist, died (born 13 March 1809).

22 June 1875, Sir William Logan, British geologist, died (born 20 April 1798).

9 June 1875, Gerard Deshayes, French geologist, died (born 13 May 1797).

14 December 1873, Louis Agassiz, who developed the theory of Ice Ages, died �see 28 May 1807, when born.

11 November 1871, William Lonsdale, English geologist, died (born 9/9/1794).

22 October 1871, Sir Roderick Murchison, British geologist, died.

29 July 1869, Joseph Jukes, Engliush geologist, died (born 10 October 1811).

24 December 1868, Etienne Archiac, French geologist, died (born 24/9/1802 in Reims).

4 November 1868, Moritz Hornes, Austrian palaeontologist, died (born 14 July 1815).

21/9/1868, Joseph Cumming, English geologist, died (born 15 February 1812).

19 May 1868, John Fillmore Hayford was born in Rouses Point, New York. He used the new science of geodesy to determine the exact shape of the Earth.

17 January 1867, Jacques Deslongchamps, French geologist, died (born 17 January 1794).

13 October 1866, William Hopkins, English geologist, died (born 2 February 1793).

29 April 1865, Abtaham Gesner, Canadian geologist, died (born 1790)

31 January 1865, Hugh Falconer, palaeontologist, died (born 29 February 1808)

5 March 1864, Leonard Horner, Scottish geologist, died (born 17 January 1785)

1 October 1863, Ebenezer Emmons, US geologist, died (born 16 May 1800).

18 December 1862, Lucas Barrett, English geologist, died, drowned, off Jamaica (born in London 14 November 1837).

5 July 1862, Henirich Bronn, German geologist, died (born 3 March 1800).

26 December 1859, Johann Hausmann, German mineralogist, died (born 22 December 1782).

18 May 1859, Geophysicist Harry Reid was born in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He showed that earthquakes were caused when rocks either side of fault lines moved; previous theories suggested that the earthquakes caused the faults, not the other way round.

17 December 1858, In London, UK, the Geologists� Association was formed.

3 December 1858, Joseph Durocher, French geologist, died (born 31 May 1817).

12 August 1857, Sir John Coode, geologist, died (born 7 June 1787)

20 March 1857, Ours Dufrenoy, French geologist, died (born 5/9/1792).

23 January 1857, Andrija Mohorovicic was born in Volosko, Yugoslavia. In 1909 he discovered the boundary in the Earth�s crust 30 km down where earthquake waves change. This Mohorovicic Discontinuity is the boundary between the crust and mantle.

9 October 1856, Charles Beecher, UA palaeontologist, was born in Dunkirk, New York (died 14 February 1904).

24 August 1856, William Buckland, geologist, died (born 12 March 1784)

17 August 1856, Constant Prevost, French geologist, born 4 June 1787, died.

2 April 1855, George Greenough, English geologist, died (born 18 January 1778).

1854, Heinrich Ernst identified the Oligocene geological period.

16 November 1853, Henry Lewis, US geologist, was born (died 21 July 1888).

22 August 1853, Karl Karsten, German mineralogist, died (born 26 November 1782).

10 November 1852, Gideon Mantel, English geologist, died.

6/9/1851, Karl Koenig, German geologist, died.

21 April 1851, Charles Barrois, French geologist, was born in Lille.

10 December 1850, Francois Beudant, French geologist, died (born in Paris 5/9/1787).

12 April 1849, Albert Heim, Swiss geologist, was born.

7 October 1847, Alexandre Brogniart, French geologist, died (born 5 February 1770).

11 January 1845, Etheldred Benett, one of the earliest woman geologists, died (born 1776).

23 December 1844, Sebastian Munster, German palaeontologist, died (born 17 February 1776).

7 August 1844, Auguste Levy, French geologist, was born.

6 May 1843, Grove Gilbert, US geologist, was born.

30/9/1842, Charles Lapworth, English geologist, was born.

1841, Sir Roderick Impey Murchison identified the Permian geological period.

1 October 1841, Carl Credner, German geologist, was born.

23 March 1841, Sir Clement Foster, English geologist, was born (died 19 April 1904).

28 July 1840, Edward Cope, US palaeontologist, was born (died 12 April 1897).

16 May 1840, Andre Brochant de Villiers, French geologist, died (born 6.8/1772).

23 March 1840, William MacLure, US geologist, died.

26 December 1838, William Dawkins, English geologist, was born.

14 November 1837, Lucas Barrett, English geologist, was born in London (died, drowned, off Jamaica 18 December 1862).

26 May 1837, Henry Hicks, British geologist, was born (died 18 November 1899).

1835, The theory that huge moving ice sheets had created the long lines of stony rubble found in parts of Europe, as they pushed it ahead of them, began to gain credence; the Theory of Ice Ages. Before this such stony ridges were attributed to the Biblical Flood. It was not for another 50 years that an explanation of how Ice Ages happen was developed.

17 December 1835, Alexander Agassiz, geologist, was born in Neuchatel (died 1910).

21 August 1835, John MacCulloch, Scottish geologist, died.

1 June 1834, Francois Laumont, mineralogist, died (born 38 May 1747).

27 July 1833, Thomas Bonney, English geologist, was born in Rugeley.

10 October 1832, Alexander Green, English geologist, was born (died 19 August 1896).

7 October 1832, William Blanford, English geologist, was born in London (died in London 23 June 1905).

23 June 1832, Sir James Hall, Scottish geologist, died (born 17 January 1761).

20 August 1831, Austrian geologist Edouard Seiss was born in London.

6 November 1830, John Hulke, British geologist, was born (died 19 February 1895).

27 August 1829, Gustaf Lindstrom, Swedish palaeontologist, was born (died 16 May 1901).

30 April 1829, Ferdinand Hochstetter, Austrian geologist, was born (died 18 July 1884).

21 June 1828, Ferdinand Fouque, French geologist, was born (died 7 March 1904)

28 April 1828, Matthew Heddle, Scottish mineralogist, was born (died 19 November 1897).

7 December 1826, Henry Crosskey, English geologist, was born (died 1 October 1893).

25/9/1826, Giovanni Brocchi, Italian geologist, died (born 18 February 1772).

6 January 1826, John Farey, English geologist, died (born 1766).

12 October 1825, Mineralogist Franz Joseph Muller died in Vienna, Austria.

30 March 1825, Theodor Kjerulf, Norwegian geologist, was born (died 25 October 1888).

11 March 1825, Felix Karrer, Austrian geologist, was born (died 19 April 1903).

1 May 1824, Sir Johann Haast, British-German geologist, was born (died 15 August 1887).

20 April 1824, Peter Duncan, English palaeontologist, was born (died 28 May 1891).

22 December 1822, John Newberry, US geologist, was born (died 7 December 1892).

30 July 1823, Charles Lory, French geologist, was born (died 3 May 1889).

3 June 1822, Rene Hauy, French mineralogist, died (born 28 February 1743).

9 March 1822, Edward Clarke, English mineralogist, died (born 5 June 1769).

30 October 1820, Sir John Dawson, Canadian geologist, was born (died 2 March 1901).

3 December 1819, Robert Etheridge, English geologist, was born (died 18 December 1903).

1 October 1819, Thomas Jones, English geologist, was born,

17/9/1819, Peter Lesley, US geologist, was born (died 1 June 1903).

8 December 1818, Mineralogist Johann Gottleib Gahn died in Falun, Kopparburg, Sweden.

5 December 1818, Nikolai Koksharov, Russian geologist, was born (died 3 January 1893).

6 January 1818, Gustav Kenncott, mineralogist, was born (died 7 March 1897).

7 November 1817, Jean Deluc, Swiss geologist, died (born 8 February 1727).

17 October 1817, Alfred des Cloizeaux, French mineralogist, was born (died 5/1897).

31 May 1817, Joseph Durocher, French geologist, was born (died 3 December 1858).

17 May 1817, Henry William Bristow, English geologist, was born (died 14 June .1889).

3 February 1817, Louis Delescluze, French geologist, was born (died 24 March 1881).

28 July 1816, Robert Harkness, English geologist, was born (died 4 October 1878).

23 January 1816, Samuel Allport, English petrologist, was born in Birmingham. He died 7 July 1897 in Cheltenham.

1815, William Smith�s book, The geological map of England, was the first to identify rock strata by the fossils they contain. This enabled geologists far apart to know they were working on the same period rocks.

20/9/1815, Nicolas Desmarest, French geologist, died (born 16/9/1725).

31 August 1815, Heinrich Beyrich, German geologist, was born in Berlin (died 9 July 1896).

14 July 1815, Moritz Hornes, Austrian palaeontologist, was born (died 4 November 1868).

25 June 1814, Gabriel Daubree, French geologist, was born (died 29 May 1896).

5 February 1814, David Ansted, geologist, was born in London (died 13 May 1880 in Melton, near Woodbridge).

7 October 1813, Mineralogist Peter Jacob Hjelm died in Stockholm, Sweden.

12 June 1812, Edmond Hebert, French geologist, was born (died 4 April 1890).

10 October 1811, Joseph Jukes, Engliush geologist, was born (died 29 July 1869).

12/9/1811, James Hall, US geologist, was born (died 7 August 1898).

3 June 1810, Robert Mallet, Irish geologist, was born (died 5 November 1881).

31 August 1809, Oswald Heer, Swiss geologist, was born (died 27/9/1883).

24 October 1808, Bernhard Cotta, German geologist, was born (died 14/9/1879).

29 February 1808, Hugh Falconer, palaeontologist, was born (died 31 January 1865)

25 January 1807, William Enniskillen, British palaeontologist, was born (died 21 November 1886).

28 May 1807, Louis Agassiz, who developed the theory of Ice Ages, was born in Motier en Vully, Switzerland. His father, a Christian minister, wanted his son to become a medical doctor, although as a boy he showed a strong interest in zoology. Later, during his travels through the Alps, in 1836, he developed the theory that much of the Earth had once been underneath great ice sheets. He died on 14 December 1873.

11 December 1806, Otto Abich, German mineralogist (died 1 July 1886) was born in Berlin.

13 November 1806, Sir Philip Egerton, British palaeontologist, was born (died 6 April 1881).

29/9/1803, Gregor Helmersen, Russian geologist, was born (died 3 February 1885).

10 October 1802, Hugh Miller, Scottish geologist, was born (died 23 December 1856).

24/9/1802, Etienne Archiac, French geologist, was born in Reims (died 24 December 1868).

26 November 1801, Deodat Dolomieu, French geologist, died (born 24 June 1750).

15 May 1801, Joseph Fournet, French geologist, was born (died 8 January 1869),

6 April 1801, William Hallowes Miller was born in Llandovery, Wales. In 1839 he developed a system for classifying crystals in rocks that is still used today.

8 October 1800, Jules Desnoyers, French geologist, was born (died 1887).

16 May 1800, Ebenezer Emmons, US geologist, was born (died 12/120/1863).

25 March 1800, Ernst Dechen, German geologist, was born (died 15 February 1889).

3 March 1800, Henirich Bronn, German geologist, was born (died 5 July 1862).

1799, Alexander von Humboldt coined the term Jurassic.

11 August 1799, Joachim Barrande, Austrian geologist, was born in Saugues, Haute Loire (died in Frohsdorf 5 October 1883)

2/9/1799, Henry Boase, English geologist, was born in London (died5 May 1883).

22 January 1799, Horace Benedict de Saussure, geologist, died in Geneva, Switzerland.

25/9/1798, Jean Elie de Beaumont, geologist, was born (died 21/9/1874).

2 June 1798, William Clarke, British geologist,was born (died17.6.1878).

20 April 1798, Sir William Logan, British geologist, was born (died 22 June 1875).

14 November 1797, Sir Charles Lyell, British geologist, was born (died 22 February 1875).

13 May 1797, Gerard Deshayes, French geologist, was born (died 9 June 1875).

26 March 1797, James Hutton, Scottish geologist, died (born 3 June 1726).

9/9/1794, William Lonsdale, English geologist, was born (died 11 November 1871).

16 March 1794, Ami Bourg, Austrian geologist, was born in Hamburg (died 21 November 1881).

17 January 1794, Jacques Deslongchamps, French geologist, was born (died 17 January 1867).

21 April 1793, Geologist John Michell died at Thornhill, England.

5/9/1792, Ours Dufrenoy, French geologist, was born (died 20 March 1857).

14 August 1792, John Bigsby, English geologist, was born in Nottingham (died in London 10 February 1881).

19 February 1792, Geologist Roderick Impey Murchison was born in Tarradale, Scotland. He was the first to identify the Silurian Period, in 1835.

26 April 1789, Robert Fox, English geologist, was born (died 25 July 1877).

5/9/1787, Francois Beudant, French geologist, was born in Paris (died 10 December 1850).

7 June 1787, Sir John Coode, geologist, was born (died 12 August 1857).

21 January 1787, Gustavus Brander, English expert in fossils, died (born 1720 in London)

1785, James Hutton (born Edinburgh, Scotland, 3 June 1726),in his work Theory of the Earth, proposed the principle of Uniformitarianism � that all current geological features can be explained by very slow-scale processes.

22 March 1785, Geologist Adam Sedgwick was born in Yorkshire, England. In 1835 he identified the Cambrian Period.

17 January 1785, Leonard Horner, Scottish geologist, was born (died 5 March 1864)

12 March 1784, William Buckland, geologist, was born (died 24 August 1856).

26 November 1782, Karl Karsten, German mineralogist, was born (died 22 August 1853).

1779, Horace de Saussure coined the term �geology� in his work Voyages dan les Alpes.

17 February 1776, Sebastian Munster, German palaeontologist, was born (died 23 December 1844).

26 April 1774, Christian Buch, German geologist, was born (died 4 March 1853).

29 January 1773, Friedrich Mohr, German mineralogist, was born (died 20/9/1839).

31 August 1772, William Borlase, geologist, died (born in Penden, Cornwall 2 February 1695).

6 August 1772, Andre Brochant de Villiers, French geologist, was born (died 16 May 1840).

5 February 1770, Alexandre Brogniart, French geologist, was born (died 7 October 1847).

5 June 1769, Edward Clarke, English mineralogist, was born (died 9 March 1822).

19 August 1765, Mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt died in Stockholm, Sweden.

17 January 1761, Sir James Hall, Scottish geologist, was born (died 23 June 1832).

21 March 1753, Franz Bruckmann, German geologist, died (born 27/9/1767). He was the first to use the terms oolite and oolitic for rocks that resembled the roe of a fish in graininess.

25/9/1750, German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner was born in Wehrau. He pioneered a method of classifying minerals by their physical charatceristics such as colour, hardness,transparency,lustre, and shape.

24 June 1750, Deodat Dolomieu, French geologist, was born (died 26 November 1801).

28 May 1747, Francois Laumont, mineralogist, was born (died 1 June 1834).

1745, Mikhail Vasilievich published a catalogue of 3,030 minerals.

28 February 1743, Rene Hauy, French mineralogist, was born (died 3 June 1822).

26 December 1742, Ignaz Born, Ausstrian mineralogist, was born in Transylvania (died 1791).

21 February 1738, Mineralogist Franz Cancrin was born (died 1812).

8 February 1727, Jean Deluc, Swiss geologist, was born (died 7 November 1817).

3 June 1726, James Hutton, Scottish geologist, was born (died 26 March 1797).

16/9/1725, Nicolas Desmarest, French geologist, was born (died 20/9/1815).

1703, De la Hautefeuille designed the first (Western) seismograph.

27/9/1697, Franz Bruckmann, German geologist, was born (died 21 March 1753).

2 February 1695, William Borlase, geologist, was born in Penden, Cornwall (died 31 August 1771).

1658, Coal production at Newcastle on Tyne reached 529,000 tons a year, up from 33,000 tons in 1564. Much of England had been deforested by the use of wood as fuel, and now coal was the main substitute.

1086, Shen Kuo, Chinese polymath, wrote essays on fossils, erosion, uplift and sedimentation; the foundations of modern geology.

565 BCE, The Greek philosopher Xenophanes theorised that because fossil sea shells can be found on mountaintops, then parts of the Earth�s surface must have risen and sunk over time; an early theory of geology.

 

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