Geologist

Geologist

"The Geologist" - Carl Spitzweg, circa 1860
Occupation
Names	Geologist
Occupation type	Profession
Activity sectors	Government Mining Petroleum industry Engineering
Description
Related jobs	Seismologist Volcanologist

A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes that shape it. Geologists usually study geology, although backgrounds in physics, chemistry, biology, and other sciences are also useful. Field work is an important component of geology, although many subdisciplines incorporate laboratory work.

Some geologists work in the mining business searching for metals, oils, and other Earth resources. They are also in the forefront of natural hazards and disasters prevention and mitigation, studying natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic activity, tsunamis, weather storms. Their studies are used to warn the general public of the occurrence of these events. Geologists are also important contributors to climate change discussions.

James Hutton is often viewed as the first modern geologist. In 1785 he presented a paper entitled Theory of the Earth to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In his paper, he explained his theory that the Earth must be much older than had previously been supposed in order to allow enough time for mountains to be eroded and for sediments to form new rocks at the bottom of the sea, which in turn were raised up to become dry land. Hutton published a two-volume version of his ideas in 1795 (Vol. 1, Vol. 2). Followers of Hutton were known as Plutonists because they believed that some rocks were formed by vulcanism, which is the deposition of lava from volcanoes, as opposed to the Neptunists, led by Abraham Werner, who believed that all rocks had settled out of a large ocean whose level gradually dropped over time.

The first geological map of the U.S. was produced in 1809 by William Maclure. In 1807, Maclure commenced the self-imposed task of making a geological survey of the United States. Almost every state in the Union was traversed and mapped by him; the Allegheny Mountains being crossed and recrossed some 50 times. The results of his unaided labours were submitted to the American Philosophical Society in a memoir entitled Observations on the Geology of the United States explanatory of a Geological Map, and published in the Society's Transactions, together with the nation's first geological map. This antedates William Smith's geological map of England by six years, although it was constructed using a different classification of rocks.