HISTORY OF THE MARINE GEOLOGY PROGRAM IN THE USGS WESTERN REGION

Gretchen Luepke Bynum

Photo (left): Dr. Orlo Childs, Chief
USGS Marine Geology, 1962

Director Tom Nolan and Chief Geologist Charles "Andy" Anderson formally established the USGS program for marine geology studies in Menlo Park in 1962. It was the first USGS program to have its leader stationed in Menlo Park rather than in Washington, D.C. That person was Dr. Orlo Childs (1918-1996). He came to the Survey from the petroleum industry.The original request for funding called for a budget of $3 million. Congress eventually appropriated only $300,000. Dr. Childs left the Survey after one year, but the program managed to stay alive. Funding received a major boost in 1966 when, under the leadership of office chief Parke D. Snavely, offshore studies for gold and other strategic and critical minerals became part of the USGS Heavy Metals Program. By that time the program had also acquired its first research vessel, the Polaris, a converted yacht that saw service in the investigation of the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969. The ship is still in use by the Water Resources Division (WRD) today for work in the San Francisco Bay. The original name of the program was the Office of Marine geology and Hydrology. As such, it was the first to foster a multidisciplinary program including scientist in both the Geologic and Water Resources divisions. Perhaps the most curious example of this collaboration resulted in the publication in 1971 of USGS Circular 637, by T. John Conomos and David H. Peterson of WRD, and Paul R. Carlson and David S. McCulloch of the Geologic Division. They presented preliminary results of the effects of water circulation in San Francisco Bay to a group of Department of Interior officials. Unbeknownst to them, a reporter for the Oakland Tribune had remained in the room. When the story broke, the next day, the circular was published in record time, using the original typed manuscripts.

USGS Circular 637 Foreword

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