Grove Karl Gilbert

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Grove Karl Gilbert
Grove Karl Gilbert
Born	May 6, 1843 Rochester, New York
Died	May 1, 1918
Nationality	American
Fields	geology
Alma mater	University of Rochester

Grove Karl Gilbert (May 6, 1843 – May 1, 1918), known by the abbreviated name G. K. Gilbert in academic literature, was an American geologist.

Gilbert was born in Rochester, New York and graduated from the University of Rochester. In 1871, he joined George M. Wheeler's geographical survey as its first geologist. He then joined the Powell Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region in 1874, becoming Powell's primary assistant, and stayed with the survey until 1879.^[1] During this time he published an important monograph, The Geology of the Henry Mountains (1877). After the creation of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1879, he was appointed to the position of Senior Geologist and worked for the USGS until his death (including a term as acting director).

Gilbert published a study of the former ancient Lake Bonneville in 1890 (the lake existed during the Pleistocene), of which the Great Salt Lake is a remnant. He named that lake after the army captain Benjamin L.E. de Bonneville, who had explored this region previously. He also joined the Harriman Alaska Expedition in 1899.

Gilbert is considered one of the giants of the sub-discipline of geomorphology, having contributed to the understanding of landscape evolution, erosion, river incision and sedimentation. Gilbert was a planetary science pioneer, correctly identifying lunar craters as caused by impacts, and carrying out early impact-cratering experiments. ^[2] Gilbert was one of the more influential early American geologists.

He won the Wollaston Medal in 1900. Craters on the Moon and on Mars are named in his honor. Another crater on Mars was named after the ancient Lake Bonneville.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Wallace Stegner, Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West, University of Nebraska:Lincoln
^ Ronald Greeley, Planetary Landscapes, 1985, Boston, Allen & Unwin