A. J. Eardley papers, 1940-1972

(This biography, edited here, appeared in the Geological Society of America memorial to Armand John Eardley and was written by William Lee Stokes.)

Armand J. Eardley was born 25 October 1901 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He died in the city of his birth 7 November 1972 at the age of 71. Eardley was of Mormon stock. His father and mother were English, and his four grandparents migrated to Utah under pioneer conditions. He attended the public schools in Salt Lake City and took his college training at Stanford University, University of Utah, and Princeton University. In 1930 he married Norma Ashton. Their son, Michael, was born in 1940. Armand's teaching career began in 1932 at the University of Michigan where, over the ensuing years, he attained the position of full professor. From 1942 to 1949 he was director of the University of Michigan Rocky Mountain Field Station at Camp Davies.

Eardley returned to the University of Utah in 1949. He served as acting head of the Department of Geology from 1951 to 1954 and as dean of the College of Mines and Mineral Industries from 1954 to 1965. In 1970, he retired and became Professor Emeritus.

Armand Eardley was an educator, writer, and administrator, as well as a scientist--the type of individual whose career adds luster and credit to the profession of geology and the institutions which he served. Eardley is probably best known through his books. In these his genius as an expositor and educator shines forth. He sought and reported his own truths but went beyond to integrate and publicize the contributions of others. His first book, Aerial Photographs: Their Use and Interpretation, published in 1942, was a pioneer treatment of what was to become, in an age of aerial and space photography, a discipline of major importance.

In 1951, Harper and Brothers published his monumental 750-page Structural Geology of North America. The title is somewhat misleading as the book is not merely structural geology, it is a reference work on the stratigraphy and historical geology of a continent as well. Although there were many joking comments about its odd shape and format and the difficulty of getting it on a shelf with ordinary books, the decision of the publishers to print it in an 8 1/4 X 11 inch edition was a wise one which did justice to the magnificient flowing lines of Eardley's cross sections and diagrams that are so important and instructive. Without the author's permission, this book was translated into Russian and widely distributed in the U.S.S.R. He never went to Russia to collect the 50,000 rubles due him. A second edition of the book came out in 1962 with seven new chapters and extensive revisions.

In 1965, Harper and Row published his General College Geology, a 499-page textbook for the nonprofessional student. This also reflects Eardley's great desire to make geology interesting and understandable to the average student. Its illustrations include many line drawings and photographs that are Eardley's own work.

His final book, Science of the Earth, was issued by Harper and Row in 1972. Again, it reflects the breadth of his interests and capabilities as well as a desire to instruct. It is more than conventional geology. There are several chapters that must be classed as oceanography and several that are meteorological and climatological. Finally, there is a section on environmental science which stresses the management and conservation of the Earth's water, land, and air.

Not only did Eardley write much that must be classed as educational in aim and content, he also sought to foster and encourage such pursuits in others. He served as president of the National Association of Geology Teachers from 1962 to 1963. He was a member of the steering committee of the Earth Science Curriculum Project which produced the textbook Investigating the Earth, which, together with its student manuals and teachers' guides, made an important contribution to earth science education in the United States.

Eardley served the profession of geology in other important positions. He was actively involved in local as well as national academic and professional organizations. He was president of the Rocky Mountain Section of Petroleum Geologists from 1950 to 1951, a member of the executive committee and editor of the bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists from 1952 to 1954, and president of the American Geological Institute from 1964 to 1965.

Eardley received many honors and awards. He was Distinguished Lecturer, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 1952-1954; and National Lecturer, Sigma Xi, 1956. Among his awards are the Distinguished Service Award, Utah Academy of Sciences, 1958; James E. Talmage Scientific Achievement Award, Brigham Young University, 1963; award for distinguished service in the earth sciences, American Federation of Mineralogical Societies, 1968; Distinguished Research Professor, University of Utah, 1969-1970; and Distinguished Sigma Xi Lecturer, University of Utah, 1970. He received an honorary Doctor of Science degree at the University of Utah in 1970.

When Eardley was called to be dean of the School of Mines and Mineral Industries at the University of Utah in 1954, it was a difficult new position involving integration of eight diverse departments including geology, ceramic engineering, fuels engineering, geophysics, metallurgy, meteorology, mineralogy, and mining and geological engineering. The space problem was acute, and competition among the departments for all resources was a constant problem. In addition to the on-campus tasks of administration, relations with a diversity of downtown mining and industrial interests required constant attention.

Eardley had an abiding interest in the practical aspects of geology and was sought out as a consultant because of his wide and basic knowledge of the geology of the Western United States. From 1946 to 1949 he worked on a seasonal basis for Sinclair Oil and from 1949 to 1954 was retained by Cities Service Oil Company. He also contributed in various capacities to the development of other resources, including uranium, salt, and rock products.

As a scientist, Armand Eardley tended to paint with a broad brush, and he was well qualified to do so because of his familiarity with basic patterns and wide regional relationships. He had a way of summarizing and synthesizing the works of others which preserved their essentials, gave due credit and fitted their work into the big picture fairly and accurately.

Wherever he went, Eardley could see geologic problems and opportunities. A short visit to Alaska resulted in papers on the Yukon Valley sediments and topography. A stay in southern France produced a fresh contribution on that well-worn topic of flyshe and molasse and on the petroleum geology of the Aquitaine Basin.

He was a conservative in geological thinking. His works show that he did not "become a believer" in plate tectonics or continental drift. In his personal struggles with global matters, illustrated by papers on the relationships of North and South America (1954) and the Arctic Basin (1949), he managed without either plate tectonics or polar wandering.

Fundamentally, Eardley was a believer in vertical uplift as a primary tectonic force. His unparalleled experience in the ranges of the Rocky Mountains convinced him that the thrust faults on the margins were due to gravity sliding. It was interesting to see him attempt to translate his thinking about the "thin-skinned" Rockies to the geosynclinal Great Basin. He looked for prethrust uplifts and gave the thrusters a good run for their money.

Although Eardley's interests and publications were wide ranging, there were several subjects to which he reamined devoted during his professional career. His doctoral thesis was on the southern Wasatch Mountains and was the basis for his first four papers published from 1932 to 1934. Occasional papers on the Wasatch Range followed, the last in 1969. A longstanding interest in the Great Salt Lake is even more evident. His pioneer paper on sediments of the lake (1938) is widely quoted and basic to much subsequent work. Offshoots of his interest in the modern lake and sediments were publications on Lake Bonneville and consulting jobs and services as an expert witness in relation to exploration and utilization of the mineral resources of the briny "liquid ore body." At the time of his death, he was engaged in a significant joint study, financed by the National Science Foundation, of a deep core in the nearshore bottom sediments, which proves the existence of a succession of many lakes in the area. He lived to see the installation of great commercial enterprises on the lake and the utilization of much of his data in a practical way.

His life's work proves that he kept busy on long-range projects of many kinds. Yet he always had time to listen to the troubles of students and colleagues. He enjoyed his vacations at Camp Davies at the Eardley cabin, which he built himself. Outstanding was his willingness to go into the field with his graduate students to check their progress and keep them working effectively.

Eardley was a superb craftsman. The relation of carpentry and drafting are unmistakable in his productions. With board or paper, he always came up with something that fit, had utility, and was both understandable and economical.

Eardley was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served as a missionary for this church in Switzerland and Germany from 1921 to 1923. At the time of his death, he was a High Priest in the 11th Ward, Monument Park Stake, Salt Lake City.

Armand Eardley is difficult to classify profesionally. He is known chiefly as a structural geologist, but this probably arises from the frequent necessity of having to fill the blanks of some survey or citation with a specialty of one sort or another. In addition to structure and tectonics, his bibliography has important titles in sedimentology, stratigraphy, geomorphology, Pleistocene geology, and the geology of oil and other mineral products.

Eardley may have resented the classification of men of his type as being of the classical school. He could be proud of being a geologist, which is more than being a mineralologist, paleontologist, or seismologist. He was a student of the Earth.