Harold Williams (geologist)

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Harold Williams (born March 14, 1934 in St. John's , Newfoundland , † September 28, 2010 there ) was a Canadian geologist .

Life

Williams studied at Memorial University of Newfoundland with a bachelor's degree in 1956 and a master's degree in 1958 and received his doctorate in 1961 at the University of Toronto under the pioneer of plate tectonics J. Tuzo Wilson (A petrographic study of the Metamorphic rocks of the Chisel lake area, northern Manitoba). He was then on the Geological Survey of Canada until 1968 when he became a professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland. In 1984 he received the rank of University Research Professor there and in 1990 he became Alexander Murray Professor .

Tablelands in Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland

Williams was a leading expert on the geology of Newfoundland and specifically the section of the Appalachian Mountains in western Newfoundland there. He was significantly involved in the modern plate tectonic picture of the formation of the Appalachians through the closure of the Iapetus Ocean in the Taconic Orogeny . This was important for the development of the modern theory of plate tectonics. The geological evidence for this can be found in Gros Morne National Park (oceanic crust pushed to the surface and parts of the mantle that can be seen as peridotite in the desert-like tablelands), and Williams was instrumental in making it a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He created the first geological map of the entire Appalachian Mountains in the USA and Canada (1979), which was also the first tectonic lithofacies map.

In 1972 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada , in 1987 he received the Willet G. Miller Medal and in 1988 he received the Logan Medal . He received the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists' first RJW Douglas Medal in 1980 and the WW Hutchison Medal in 1976 and was a four-time Killam Fellow. He was involved in the Canadian Lithoprobe program to study the structure of the lithosphere .

He was a hobby violinist.

Fonts

  • with RK Stevens: The ancient continental margin of North America, in CA Burk, CL Drake, The geology of continental margins, Springer 1974, 781–796
  • Structural succession, nomenclature and interpretation of transported rocks in western Newfoundland, Canadian J. Earth Sciences, Volume 12, 1975, 1874-1894
  • as editor: Tectonic lithofacies map of the Appalachian orogen, Memorial University of New Foundland 1979, two maps in the scale 1: 1 million and 1: 2 million
  • Appalachian orogen in Canada, Canadian J. Earth Sciences, Volume 16, 1979, 792-807
  • with RD Hatcher: Suspect terranes and the accretional history of the Appalachian orogen, Geology, Volume 10, 1982, 530-536

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Williams, Harold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian geologist
DATE OF BIRTH March 14, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH St. John's , Newfoundland
DATE OF DEATH September 28, 2010
Place of death St. John's , Newfoundland