Levi F. Noble

Levi Fatzinger Noble (November 11, 1882 – August 4, 1965)^[1] was an American geologist. He was born in 1882 into a prominent and wealthy family of Auburn, New York. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1904 and his doctorate in 1909, both from Yale University.^[2]

In 1910, Noble married Dorothy Evans of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a wedding gift, Dorothy’s parents gave them a fruit ranch near Valyermo, California, at the foot of the north slope of the San Gabriel Mountains and athwart the San Andreas Fault zone. The ranch was their principal residence for the rest of their lives. Dorothy served as the Valyermo postmaster from 1914 to 1930.

His entire career was spent as a member of the United States Geological Survey. Upon retirement, he received the Interior Department's gold medal for distinguished service. In his field investigations, which began in 1917 and continued off and on for 45 years, he observed and accurately recorded most of the major geologic features of Death Valley.^[3]

He also is remembered for his studies of Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks of the Grand Canyon and as the first to prepare a detailed geologic map of a large part of Grand Canyon National Park. In addition, he engaged in a long-term investigation of a fifty-mile segment of the San Andreas fault. He was the first to cite evidence for many miles of horizontal displacement along this major structural feature of western North America.^[4]

Publications

• "Contributions to the geology of the Grand Canyon, Arizona – The geology of the Shinumo area" American Journal of Science, 4th ser., v. 29, p. 369-386. (1910)
• "The Grand Canyon of the Colorado" Science v. 34, p. 378-380. (1911)
• "The Shinumo quadrangle, Grand Canyon district, Arizona" U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 549 (1914)
• "Geologic history of the Bright Angel quadrangle, Arizona": Text on back of topographic sheet, Bright Angel quadrangle, Arizona (Coconino County): U.S. Geological Survey. (1918)
• "A section of the Paleozoic formations of the Grand Canyon at Bass Trail": U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 131-B, p. 23-73. (1922)
• "Colemanite in Clark County, Nevada": U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 735, p. 23-39. (1922)
• "Borate deposits in the Kramer district, Kern County, California": U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 785, p. 45-61. (1926)
• "Note on a colemanite deposit near Shoshone, California, with a sketch of the geology of a part of the Amargosa Valley": U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 785, p. 63-73. (1926)
• "The San Andreas rift and some other active faults in the desert region of southeastern California": Report on the advisory committee in seismology, Carnegie Institute of Washington, Yearbook 25, 1925–1926, p. 415-428. (1927)
• "The San Andreas rift in a part of southern California": Third Pan-Pacific Science Congress, Tokyo, 1926, Proceedings, p. 394-400. (1928)
• "A section of the Kaibab limestone in Kaibab Gulch, Utah": U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 150, p. 41-60. (1928)
• "Nitrate deposits in southeastern California, with notes on deposits in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico": U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 820 (1931)
• "The San Andreas rift in the desert region of southern California": Carnegie Institute of Washington, Yearbook 31, p. 355-363. (1932)
• "Excursion to the San Andreas Fault and Cajon Pass, in Gale, H. S., ed., Southern California": 16th International Geological Congress, Guidebook 15 (1933)
• "Structural features of the Virgin Spring area, Death Valley, California": Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 52, p. 941-1000. (1941)
• "Geology of the Pearland quadrangle, California": U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Quadrangle Map GQ 24. (1953)
• "Geology of the Valyermo quadrangle, California": U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Quadrangle Map GQ 50. (1954)
• "The San Andreas Fault zone from Soledad Pass to Cajon Pass, California", in Jahns, R. H., ed., Geology of Southern California: California Division of Mines Bulletin 170, chapter IV, p. 37-48. (1954)
• "A reconnaissance of the Archean complex of the Granite Gorge, Grand Canyon, Arizona": with J.F. Hunter. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 98-I, p. 95-113. (1916)
• "Nitrate deposits in the Amargosa region, southeastern California": with G.R. Mansfield and others. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 724, 99 p. (1922)
• "Geology of the central and southern Death Valley region, California," with L.A. Wright in Jahns, R. H., ed., Geology of Southern California: California Division of Mines Bulletin 170, chapter II, p. 143-160. (1954)

References