Chronography of geology and mining

Page last modified 7/5/2022

Home Page

 

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.

See also Islam for Middle Eastern oil development

 

78/2004, Red Adair, specialist in fighting oil well fires, died.

 

North Sea Oil Development

For Brent Spar ep[isode see Environment

6/7/1988. 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.

27/3/1980, The Alexander Keilland oil platform in the North Sea, 250 miles off� Scotland, 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�.

27/6/1978, The UK was expected to be self-sufficient in oil in two year�s time.

27/4/1976, Britain began exporting North Sea Oil.

18/6/1975. 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,

7/3/1967, The first North Sea Gas was brought ashore in Britain.

2/6/1966. Philips petroleum found a large gas field off the Humber estuary.

5/4/1966, Shell announced the discovery of oil off Great Yarmouth.

27/12/1965. 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.

 

7/1/1975, OPEC agreed to raise crude oil prices by 10%.

23/12/1973. OPEC quadrupled the price of crude oil.

1/11/1972, The Standard Oil Company was reorganised as the Exxon Corporation.

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.

17/12/1954, British Petroleum Company (BP) was formed.

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.

23/2/1938, 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.

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

3/10/1930, A large new oilfield was discovered at Rusk County, Texas. World oil prices fell.

15/10/1927. Iraq made its first oil strike, at Kirkuk.

28/3/1924, 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, Exploration for oil began in Saudi Arabia.

15/10/1918, Britain�s first oil well was sunk, at Hardstoft in Derbyshire.

18/6/1915, 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.

26/5/1908. Significant oil fields were found in Persia (Iran), the first oil strike in the Middle East.

1901, The Baku oilfields still accounted for over half the world�s annual crude oil production.

10/1/1901, 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.

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

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

27/8/1859. 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.

29/3/1819, Edward Laurentine Drake was born in Greenville, New York, USA. On 28/8/1859 he drilled the world�s first oil well.

 

UK

 

For UK Miner�s Strikes see Great Britain

 

16/12/2015, The UK�s last deep coal mine, Kellingley Colliery, near Wakefield, Yorkshire, closed. It once employed 3,000 workers.

13/10/1992. British Coal announced 31 pit closures and the loss of 31,000 jobs.

20/12/1990. 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.

30/12/1986, The use of canaries in UK coal mines was discontinued.

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.

7/5/1947, Explosion at a coal mine in Barnsley, Yorkshire, UK, killed 9 miners.

3/6/1942, The UK Government announced plans to nationalise the coal mines.

30/6/1925. 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 30/6/1925 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 25/7/1925.

30/12/1913, Colliery explosion in South Wales, UK, killed 439 miners.

11/5/1910, 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.

11/7/1905, 124 miners died in a pit disaster in Glamorgan, south Wales.

24/5/1901, 78 miners died in� a 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 1640-1873

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

 

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

1941

206

 

 

 

1938

226

 

 

 

1913

292

 

 

 

1900

184.5

 

 

 

1873

128.5

 

 

 

1871

117.4

 

 

 

1870

110.5

 

 

 

1850

49.5

 

 

 

1835

30

 

 

 

1830

22.5

 

 

 

1815

16

 

 

 

1800

11

 

 

 

1785

8.5

 

 

 

1700

3

 

 

 

1640

2

 

 

 

1540

0.2

 

 

 

1400

0.1

 

 

 

*US shortfall of 140 million tons compared to 1948

 

29/5/1829, Sir Humphrey Davy, born 17/12/1778, inventor of the safety lamp (see 9/1/1816) died in Geneva.

9/1/1816. Sir Humphrey Davy�s safety lamp used in a coal mine for the first time.

31/10/1815, Sir Humphrey Davy patented the miner�s safety lamp. The metal gauze surrounding the flame dissipated heat and prevented the ignition of inflammable gases.

1/10/1813, Following the explosion at Brandling Main colliery (15/5/1812) the Sunderland Society was formed, to promote mine safety.

15/5/1812, Mine explosion at Brandling Main (Felling) colliery, Sunderland. See 1/10/1813.

17/12/1778, 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.

15/5/1765, 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, 15/5/1765).

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)

1/7/1507, 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.

 

Australia

1/8/1902, 100 miners died at a pit disaster at Wollongang, Australia.

 

Belgium

 

Belgian coal output

Year

Million tons

1830

6

 

France

22/4/2004, The last coal mine in France closed, ending nearly 300 years of coal mining.

 

French coal output

Year

Million tons

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

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

 

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

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

 

USA

10/1/1962, 11 coal miners were killed in an explosion at a mine near Carterville, Illinois.

6/12/1907, The USA suffered its worst mine disaster.� 361 died at Monongah, West Virginia.

2/5/1902, In Pennsylvania, USA, 200,000 coal miners began a strike, demanding union recognition and a pay rise.

5/3/1902, French coal miners went on strike, demandn9ing an 8-hour day.

1/5/1900, Explosion in a Utah coal mine killed 200.

 

Zimbabwe

8/6/1972, 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.

21/6/1977, 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.

17/2/1942, Augusto Ponzio, semiologist was born in San Pietro Vernotico, Italy

18/12/1936, Andrija Mohorovicic, Croatian geologist, died in Zagreb.

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

16/10/1927, 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.

19/10/1925, 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.

30/6/1915, 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.

26/4/1914, Eduard Suess, Austrian geologist, died in Marz, Burgenland.

12/5/1913, 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.

4/1/1912, 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.

5/5/1908, Albert Lapparent, French geologist died.

19/4/1904, Sir Clement Foster, English geologist, died (born 23/3/1841).

7/3/1904, Ferdinand Fouque, French geologist, died (born 21/6/1828)

14/2/1904, Charles Beecher, US palaeontologist, died (born in Dunkirk, New York 9/10/1856).

18/12/1903, Robert Etheridge, English geologist, died (born 3/12/1819).

17/4/1898, Jules Marcou, Swiss-US geologist, died.

1/10/1893, Henry Crosskey, English geologist, died (born 7/12/1826).

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

1/6/1903, Peter Lesley, US geologist, died (born 17/9/1819).

23/9/1902, John Wesley Powell, US geologist (born 24/3/1834) died.

16/5/1901, Gustaf Lindstrom, Swedish palaeontologist, died (born 27/8/1829).

2/3/1901, Sir John Dawson, Canadian geologist, died (born 30/10/1820).

26/4/1900, Charles Richter, seismologist who created the earthquake scale, was born.

18/11/1899, Henry Hicks, British geologist, died (born 26/5/1837).

16/5/1899, Sir Frederick McCoy, British palaeontologist, died.

1/11/1897, Peter Brodie, English geologist, died (born 1815).

7/7/1897, Samuel Allport, English petrologist, died in Cheltenham (born 23/1/1816 in Birmingham).

12/4/1897, Edward Cope, US palaeontologist, died (born 28/7/1840).

7/3/1897, Gustav Kenncott, mineralogist, died (born 6/1/1818)

19/8/1896, Alexander Green, English geologist, died (born 10/10/1832).

9/7/1896, Heinrich Beyrich, German geologist, died (born in Berlin 31/8/1815).

29/5/1896, Gabriel Daubree, French geologist, died (born 25/6/1814).

14/4/1895, Easter Sunday; James Dana, US geologist, died (born 12/2/1813).

19/2/1895, John Hulke, British geologist, died (born 6/11/1830).

3/1/1893, Nikolai Koksharov, Russian geologist, died (born 5/12/1818).

12/2/1892, Thomas Hunt, US geologist, died (born 5/9/1826)

9/12/1891, Sir Andrew Crombie Ramsay, British geologist (born 31/1/1814) died.

22/4/1891, Harold Jeffreys, geologist, was born at Fatfield, England. In 1940 he published research on the travel of seismic waves through the Earth.

4/4/1890, Edmond Hebert, French geologist, died (born 12/6/1812).

14/6/1889, Henry William Bristow, English geologist, died (born 17/5/1817).

4/6/1889, 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.

3/5/1889, Charles Lory, French geologist, died (born 30/7/1823).

15/2/1889, Ernst Dechen, German geologist, died (born 25/3/1800).

21/7/1888, Henry Lewis, US geologist, died (born 16/11/1853).

15/8/1887, Sir Johann Haast, British-German geologist, died (born 1/5/1824).

1/7/1886, Otto Abich, German mineralogist (born 11/12/1806) died in Vienna.

14/10/1885, Thomas Davidson, British palaeontologist, died (born 17/5/1817).

3/2/1885, Gregor Helmersen, Russian geologist, died (born 29/9/1803).

18/7/1884, Ferdinand Hochstetter, Austrian geologist, died (born 30/4/1829).

5/10/1883, Joachim Barrande, Austrian geologist,died in Frohsdorf (born in Saugues, Haute Loire 11/8/1799).

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

23/2/1882, Pierre Desor, Swiss geologist, died (born 13/2/1811).

21/11/1881, Ami Bourg, Austrian geologist, died (born in Hamburg 16/3/1794).

5/11/1881, Robert Mallet, Irish geologist, died (born 3/6/1810).

6/4/1881, Sir Philip Egerton, British palaeontologist, died (born 13/11/1806)

24/3/1881, Louis Delescluze, French geologist, died (born 3/2/1817).

10/2/1881, John Bigsby, English geologist, died in London (born in Nottingham 14/8/1792).

1880, The Seismological Society of Japan was founded.

1/11/1880, Alfred Lothar Wegener was born in Berlin, Germany. In 1912 he proposed a theory of continental drift, and the supercontinent of Pangea.

20/5/1880, William Miller, British mineralogist, died.

13/5/1880, David Ansted, geologist, died in Melton, near Woodbridge (born 5/2/1814 in London).

14/9/1879, Bernhard Cotta, German geologist, died (born 24/10/1808).

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

17/6/1878, William Clarke, British geologist, died (born 2/6/1798).

25/7/1877, Robert Fox, English geologist, died (born 26/4/1789)

22/12/1876, Fielding Meek, US geologist, died.

28/9/1876, Carl Credner, German geologist, died (born 13/3/1809).

22/6/1875, Sir William Logan, British geologist, died (born 20/4/1798).

9/6/1875, Gerard Deshayes, French geologist, died (born 13/5/1797).

14/12/1873, Louis Agassiz, who developed the theory of Ice Ages, died �see 28/5/1807, when born.

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

22/10/1871, Sir Roderick Murchison, British geologist, died.

29/7/1869, Joseph Jukes, Engliush geologist, died (born 10/10/1811).

24/12/1868, Etienne Archiac, French geologist, died (born 24/9/1802 in Reims).

4/11/1868, Moritz Hornes, Austrian palaeontologist, died (born 14/7/1815).

21/9/1868, Joseph Cumming, English geologist, died (born 15/2/1812).

19/5/1868, 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.

17/1/1867, Jacques Deslongchamps, French geologist, died (born 17/1/1794).

13/10/1866, William Hopkins, English geologist, died (born 2/2/1793).

29/4/1865, Abtaham Gesner, Canadian geologist, died (born 1790)

31/1/1865, Hugh Falconer, palaeontologist, died (born 29/2/1808)

5/3/1864, Leonard Horner, Scottish geologist, died (born 17/1/1785)

1/10/1863, Ebenezer Emmons, US geologist, died (born 16/5/1800).

18/12/1862, Lucas Barrett, English geologist, died, drowned, off Jamaica (born in London 14/11/1837).

5/7/1862, Henirich Bronn, German geologist, died (born 3/3/1800).

26/12/1859, Johann Hausmann, German mineralogist, died (born 22/12/1782).

18/5/1859, 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.

3/12/1858, Joseph Durocher, French geologist, died (born 31/5/1817).

12/8/1857, Sir John Coode, geologist, died (born 7/6/1787)

20/3/1857, Ours Dufrenoy, French geologist, died (born 5/9/1792).

23/1/1857, 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.

9/10/1856, Charles Beecher, UA palaeontologist, was born in Dunkirk, New York (died 14/2/1904).

24/8/1856, William Buckland, geologist, died (born 12/3/1784)

17/8/1856, Constant Prevost, French geologist, born 4/6/1787, died.

2/4/1855, George Greenough, English geologist, died (born 18/1/1778).

1854, Heinrich Ernst identified the Oligocene geological period.

16/11/1853, Henry Lewis, US geologist, was born (died 21/7/1888).

22/8/1853, Karl Karsten, German mineralogist, died (born 26/11/1782).

10/11/1852, Gideon Mantel, English geologist, died.

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

21/4/1851, Charles Barrois, French geologist, was born in Lille.

10/12/1850, Francois Beudant, French geologist, died (born in Paris 5/9/1787).

12/4/1849, Albert Heim, Swiss geologist, was born.

7/10/1847, Alexandre Brogniart, French geologist, died (born 5/2/1770).

11/1/1845, Etheldred Benett, one of the earliest woman geologists, died (born 1776).

23/12/1844, Sebastian Munster, German palaeontologist, died (born 17/2/1776).

7/8/1844, Auguste Levy, French geologist, was born.

6/5/1843, 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.

1/10/1841, Carl Credner, German geologist, was born.

23/3/1841, Sir Clement Foster, English geologist, was born (died 19/4/1904).

28/7/1840, Edward Cope, US palaeontologist, was born (died 12/4/1897).

16/5/1840, Andre Brochant de Villiers, French geologist, died (born 6.8/1772).

23/3/1840, William MacLure, US geologist, died.

26/12/1838, William Dawkins, English geologist, was born.

14/11/1837, Lucas Barrett, English geologist, was born in London (died, drowned, off Jamaica 18/12/1862).

26/5/1837, Henry Hicks, British geologist, was born (died 18/11/1899).

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.

17/12/1835, Alexander Agassiz, geologist, was born in Neuchatel (died 1910).

21/8/1835, John MacCulloch, Scottish geologist, died.

1/6/1834, Francois Laumont, mineralogist, died (born 38/5/1747).

27/7/1833, Thomas Bonney, English geologist, was born in Rugeley.

10/10/1832, Alexander Green, English geologist, was born (died 19/8/1896).

7/10/1832, William Blanford, English geologist, was born in London (died in London 23/6/1905).

23/6/1832, Sir James Hall, Scottish geologist, died (born 17/1/1761).

20/8/1831, Austrian geologist Edouard Seiss was born in London.

6/11/1830, John Hulke, British geologist, was born (died 19/2/1895).

27/8/1829, Gustaf Lindstrom, Swedish palaeontologist, was born (died 16/5/1901).

30/4/1829, Ferdinand Hochstetter, Austrian geologist, was born (died 18/7/1884).

21/6/1828, Ferdinand Fouque, French geologist, was born (died 7/3/1904)

28/4/1828, Matthew Heddle, Scottish mineralogist, was born (died 19/11/1897).

7/12/1826, Henry Crosskey, English geologist, was born (died 1/10/1893).

25/9/1826, Giovanni Brocchi, Italian geologist, died (born 18/2/1772).

6/1/1826, John Farey, English geologist, died (born 1766).

12/10/1825, Mineralogist Franz Joseph Muller died in Vienna, Austria.

30/3/1825, Theodor Kjerulf, Norwegian geologist, was born (died 25/10/1888).

11/3/1825, Felix Karrer, Austrian geologist, was born (died 19/4/1903).

1/5/1824, Sir Johann Haast, British-German geologist, was born (died 15/8/1887).

20/4/1824, Peter Duncan, English palaeontologist, was born (died 28/5/1891).

22/12/1822, John Newberry, US geologist, was born (died 7/12/1892).

30/7/1823, Charles Lory, French geologist, was born (died 3/5/1889).

3/6/1822, Rene Hauy, French mineralogist, died (born 28/2/1743).

9/3/1822, Edward Clarke, English mineralogist, died (born 5/6/1769).

30/10/1820, Sir John Dawson, Canadian geologist, was born (died 2/3/1901).

3/12/1819, Robert Etheridge, English geologist, was born (died 18/12/1903).

1/10/1819, Thomas Jones, English geologist, was born,

17/9/1819, Peter Lesley, US geologist, was born (died 1/6/1903).

8/12/1818, Mineralogist Johann Gottleib Gahn died in Falun, Kopparburg, Sweden.

5/12/1818, Nikolai Koksharov, Russian geologist, was born (died 3/1/1893).

6/1/1818, Gustav Kenncott, mineralogist, was born (died 7/3/1897).

7/11/1817, Jean Deluc, Swiss geologist, died (born 8/2/1727).

17/10/1817, Alfred des Cloizeaux, French mineralogist, was born (died 5/1897).

31/5/1817, Joseph Durocher, French geologist, was born (died 3/12/1858).

17/5/1817, Henry William Bristow, English geologist, was born (died 14/6/.1889).

3/2/1817, Louis Delescluze, French geologist, was born (died 24/3/1881).

28/7/1816, Robert Harkness, English geologist, was born (died 4/10/1878).

23/1/1816, Samuel Allport, English petrologist, was born in Birmingham. He died 7/7/1897 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).

31/8/1815, Heinrich Beyrich, German geologist, was born in Berlin (died 9/7/1896).

14/7/1815, Moritz Hornes, Austrian palaeontologist, was born (died 4/11/1868).

25/6/1814, Gabriel Daubree, French geologist, was born (died 29/5/1896).

5/2/1814, David Ansted, geologist, was born in London (died 13/5/1880 in Melton, near Woodbridge).

7/10/1813, Mineralogist Peter Jacob Hjelm died in Stockholm, Sweden.

12/6/1812, Edmond Hebert, French geologist, was born (died 4/4/1890).

10/10/1811, Joseph Jukes, Engliush geologist, was born (died 29/7/1869).

12/9/1811, James Hall, US geologist, was born (died 7/8/1898).

3/6/1810, Robert Mallet, Irish geologist, was born (died 5/11/1881).

31/8/1809, Oswald Heer, Swiss geologist, was born (died 27/9/1883).

24/10/1808, Bernhard Cotta, German geologist, was born (died 14/9/1879).

29/2/1808, Hugh Falconer, palaeontologist, was born (died 31/1/1865)

25/1/1807, William Enniskillen, British palaeontologist, was born (died 21/11/1886).

28/5/1807, 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 14/12/1873.

11/12/1806, Otto Abich, German mineralogist (died 1/7/1886) was born in Berlin.

13/11/1806, Sir Philip Egerton, British palaeontologist, was born (died 6/4/1881).

29/9/1803, Gregor Helmersen, Russian geologist, was born (died 3/2/1885).

10/10/1802, Hugh Miller, Scottish geologist, was born (died 23/12/1856).

24/9/1802, Etienne Archiac, French geologist, was born in Reims (died 24/12/1868).

26/11/1801, Deodat Dolomieu, French geologist, died (born 24/6/1750).

15/5/1801, Joseph Fournet, French geologist, was born (died 8/1/1869),

6/4/1801, William Hallowes Miller was born in Llandovery, Wales. In 1839 he developed a system for classifying crystals in rocks that is still used today.

8/10/1800, Jules Desnoyers, French geologist, was born (died 1887).

16/5/1800, Ebenezer Emmons, US geologist, was born (died 12/120/1863).

25/3/1800, Ernst Dechen, German geologist, was born (died 15/2/1889).

3/3/1800, Henirich Bronn, German geologist, was born (died 5/7/1862).

1799, Alexander von Humboldt coined the term Jurassic.

11/8/1799, Joachim Barrande, Austrian geologist, was born in Saugues, Haute Loire (died in Frohsdorf 5/10/1883)

2/9/1799, Henry Boase, English geologist, was born in London (died5/5/1883).

22/1/1799, Horace Benedict de Saussure, geologist, died in Geneva, Switzerland.

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

2/6/1798, William Clarke, British geologist,� was born (died17.6.1878).

20/4/1798, Sir William Logan, British geologist, was born (died 22/6/1875).

14/11/1797, Sir Charles Lyell, British geologist, was born (died 22/2/1875).

13/5/1797, Gerard Deshayes, French geologist, was born (died 9/6/1875).

26/3/1797, James Hutton, Scottish geologist, died (born 3/6/1726).

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

16/3/1794, Ami Bourg, Austrian geologist, was born in Hamburg (died 21/11/1881).

17/1/1794, Jacques Deslongchamps, French geologist, was born (died 17/1/1867).

21/4/1793, Geologist John Michell died at Thornhill, England.

5/9/1792, Ours Dufrenoy, French geologist, was born (died 20/3/1857).

14/8/1792, John Bigsby, English geologist, was born in Nottingham (died in London 10/2/1881).

19/2/1792, Geologist Roderick Impey Murchison was born in Tarradale, Scotland. He was the first to identify the Silurian Period, in 1835.

26/4/1789, Robert Fox, English geologist, was born (died 25/7/1877).

5/9/1787, Francois Beudant, French geologist, was born in Paris (died 10/12/1850).

7/6/1787, Sir John Coode, geologist, was born (died 12/8/1857).

21/1/1787, Gustavus Brander, English expert in fossils, died (born 1720 in London)

1785, James Hutton (born Edinburgh, Scotland, 3/6/1726),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.

22/3/1785, Geologist Adam Sedgwick was born in Yorkshire, England. In 1835 he identified the Cambrian Period.

17/1/1785, Leonard Horner, Scottish geologist, was born (died 5/3/1864)

12/3/1784, William Buckland, geologist, was born (died 24/8/1856).

26/11/1782, Karl Karsten, German mineralogist, was born (died 22/8/1853).

22/2/1782, Johann Hausmann, German mineralogist, was born (died 26/12/1859).

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

17/2/1776, Sebastian Munster, German palaeontologist, was born (died 23/12/1844).

26/4/1774, Christian Buch, German geologist, was born (died 4/3/1853).

29/1/1773, Friedrich Mohr, German mineralogist, was born (died 20/9/1839).

31/8/1772, William Borlase, geologist, died (born in Penden, Cornwall 2/2/1695).

6/8/1772, Andre Brochant de Villiers, French geologist, was born (died 16/5/1840).

5/2/1770, Alexandre Brogniart, French geologist, was born (died 7/10/1847).

5/6/1769, Edward Clarke, English mineralogist, was born (died 9/3/1822).

19/8/1765, Mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt died in Stockholm, Sweden.

17/1/1761, Sir James Hall, Scottish geologist, was born (died 23/6/1832).

21/3/1753, 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.

24/6/1750, Deodat Dolomieu, French geologist, was born (died 26/11/1801).

28/5/1747, Francois Laumont, mineralogist, was born (died 1/6/1834).

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

28/2/1743, Rene Hauy, French mineralogist, was born (died 3/6/1822).

26/12/1742, Ignaz Born, Ausstrian mineralogist, was born in Transylvania (died 1791).

21/2/1738, Mineralogist Franz Cancrin was born (died 1812).

8/2/1727, Jean Deluc, Swiss geologist, was born (died 7/11/1817).

3/6/1726, James Hutton, Scottish geologist, was born (died 26/3/1797).

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 21/3/1753).

2/2/1695, William Borlase, geologist, was born in Penden, Cornwall (died 31/8/1771).

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.

 

Back to top