Alva E Ellisor (1 results)
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Published by [Tulsa, OK:] American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 1925, 1925
- First Edition
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United KingdomPeter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB.
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£ 325.00
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Add to basketOriginal offprint of the seminal 44-page paper which revolutionized the field of micropalaeontology by proving that microfossils could be used to date the layers of the Earth's crust. It remains a turning point in the development of modern geology. In 2017 it was included in the AAPG's 100th Anniversary project recognizing the t…en most impactful papers over their 100 years of publishing. Lead author Esther Richards Applin (1895-1972) was a petroleum geologist at the Rio Bravo Oil Company. "In a paper presented at a Geological Society meeting in 1921 by her supervisor at Rio Bravo, Applin suggested that microfossils could be used to date strata. She was ridiculed by more experienced geologists for her audacity. To verify her claim, Applin worked with Alva Ellisor and Hedwig Kniker to find ways to separate the fossils from the matrix of the cuttings. In 1925, the three coauthored a paper that detailed the sequences and oil-bearing zones in the Gulf Coast using microfossils" (Ogilvie & Harvey). "Because of their discovery, the field of micropalaeontology expanded exponentially, and oil companies, universities and geological surveys hired hundreds of micropalaeontologists over the next four decades" (Gries, p. 249). Ellisor (1892-1964) was one of the first professional female stratigraphers in the United States, and probably the first woman to do geological work for an oil company, the Humble Oil and Refining Company. "She recognized the importance of combining laboratory work with field work. She examined nearly every area of the gulf coast, visiting Pliocene, Miocene, Oligocene, and Cretaceous exposures of the coast. After her first paper was published (1918), she identified the first Foraminifera ever observed on the Gulf Coast. this discovery supplied the oil industry with the means to identify these oil-bearing formations where previously they had been dependant on large fossils or fossil fragments. After this discovery, she became Humble's first research stratigrapher and paleontologist" (Gries, p. 249). Ellisor was elected vice-president of the Houston Geological Society twice and was a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. Kniker (1891-1985) graduated from the University of Texas in 1916 with degrees in German, psychology and geology. During her professional career she worked for Texaco in Houston, Phillips Petroleum in San Angelo, and United Geophysical Company in Chile, as well as spending twenty years in Patagonia developing an oil field for Gulf Oil. R. R. Gries, "Buried discoveries of female petroleum geologists", in C. V. Bruek & B. M. Higgs, eds, Celebrating 100 Years of Female Fellowship of the Geological Society: Discovering Forgotten Histories, The Geological Society, 2021; Ogilvie & Harvey, Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science I, p. 46. Octavo. Map to p. 84, plate facing p. 97. Original buff wrappers printed in black, wire-stitched. A few chips to rear wrapper extremities, contents bright and clean. A near-fine copy.
