Memorial to John P. Albers 1919-1986

JOHN H. STEWARTU.S. Geological Survey MS-901, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025

John Patrick Albers died on December 17,1986, at the age of 67, in Palo Alto, California. Our profession and his colleagues have lost a true friend. John will be remembered for his many years of scientific and administrative achievements, and for the inspiration and encouragement he unselfishly provided. He stressed and welcomed new research ideas and continually encouraged others to be innovative. He helped many of us by his guidance, patience, and eagerness to share his vast knowledge. His warmth and enthusiasm will be deeply missed.

John was born in Terry, Montana, on May 25,1919, the son of Hugh and Theresa Whalen Albers. He grew up, however, in Northfield, Minnesota, where the family moved a month after his birth. In Northfield, he attended Carleton College, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1940. He went on to receive a Master of Science degree in 1942 from the University of Minnesota, and completed his education with a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Stanford University in 1953.

While at the University of Minnesota, John met Eileen Rouze in a geography class. They later married, forming a union that lasted 44 years. Eileen survives him, along with their children, Barbara, Patricia, and Peter, and five grandchildren.

John’s 43-year career with the U.S. Geological Survey focused on mineral deposits. He stressed the scientific importance of understanding the geologic, structural, and tectonic setting of ore deposits and the economic importance of knowing the country’s reserves of critical metals. During his career, John worked as a field geologist, a synthesizer of regional information, a teacher and scientific advisor in foreign countries, and an administrator. He pursued each of these activities with vigor and enthusiasm, and made a contribution to each.

John’s field studies started with his first assignment with the Survey in 1942, when he worked in Washington, Arkansas, and Arizona on studies of strategic minerals for World War II. After a war-related compilation of oceanographic information for the Geological Survey in cooperation with the University of California and a year in the U.S. Army, he started in 1946 on what was to be a major focus of his career—the study of the geology and mineral resources of northern California.

The initial northern California studies, done jointly with A. K. Kinkel, Jr. and W. E. Hall, consisted of detailed mapping of a geologically complex Devonian island-arc terrane containing volcanogenic massive copper-zinc sulfide deposits in the West Shasta mining district near Redding. In 1949, with J. F. Robertson, John began a similar study in the Permian-Triassic island-arc terrane of the East Shasta copper-zinc district. This eventually led to John’s Ph.D. thesis in 1953. In 1956 and 1957, John expanded the northern California work to include geologic mapping in the French Gulch quadrangle. These studies in northern California established the detailed stratigraphic and structural setting of a critical region and led John and other geologists to interpret the area as an assemblage of accreted terranes.

After other assignments, John returned to studies in the West Shasta district. In 1979, he and Bruce Doe began a multidiscipline study of the district’s massive sulfide deposits with the object of

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determining the age and genesis of the ore deposits. They used isotopic, geochemical, and geophysical techniques to reexamine and reinterpret the geologic features critical to the genesis and distribution of the ore bodies. This study was analogous to the landmark studies of the Kuroko deposits of Japan. The results of these West Shasta studies were published in 1958 in a special issue of Economic Geology, with John as both editor and contributor.

In addition to field work in northern California, John mapped the geology and studied the mineral resources of Esmeralda County, western Nevada, in collaboration with J. H. Stewart. This study was an outgrowth of John’s interest in the broad tectonic patterns of the western United States. The mapping was in a sparsely inhabited and remote region and was frustrating because of the complex geology, the large area to be covered, and the short time in which to do the work. John approached the job with great enthusiasm and dedication; he published a report on the geology and mineral resources of the county and a landmark article on right-lateral shear and sigmoidal bending in the Walker Lane of western Nevada.

John liked to synthesize regional geologic and mineral-resource information and believed that integration of existing knowledge is just as important as gathering new information. His most important efforts at synthesis started in 1976, when he began work on relating mineral-deposit types to cratonal, miogeoclinal, and accreted terranes in western North America. Products of these studies included a major paper in the Journal o f Economic Geology in 1981, titled “Metallogenic provinces in California’s lithologic-tectonic framework,” in which he succinctly demonstrated the relation between mineral-deposit types and specific tectonostratigraphic terranes. This was followed by several other broad papers, as well as a metallogenic map showing the correlation of specific mineral deposits with accreted terranes of the circum-Pacific Northwest quadrant, published in 1988 by the U.S. Geological Survey.

John’s interest in other countries and in teaching geology led to two foreign assignments. In 1957, he started a two-year program as party chief and advisor in geology and mineral exploration to the Geological Survey of India and the Ministry of Steel, Mines, and Fuel, under the U.S. Technical Assistance Program. He trained more than 90 Indian geologists in geologic mapping by means of aerial photographs, lectured to students and professors at various Indian universities, and studied and prepared a report on the Kiri Buru iron deposit. From 1968 until 1970, John was in Turkey as geological survey party chief, supported by a loan from the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) to the Mineral Research and Exploration Institute of Turkey. Through this institute, he also served as principal geological advisor to the government of Turkey. He was responsible for effectively advancing the scientific, technical, and administrative skills of the institute.

John’s administrative work was characterized by his enthusiasm, warmth, and ability to recruit and organize geologists toward a goal. From 1954 until 1956, he was in charge of the manuscript- processing staff of the Mineral Deposits Branch of the Geological Survey. In 1965, John edited and assembled a Senate Document, prepared at the request of Senator Thomas H. Kuchel, “Mineral and Water Resources of California.” In 1967, he was executive secretary of the Resource Panel, Commission on Marine Science, Engineering, and Resources, Washington, D.C. He prepared panel reports on marine mining, desalination of seawater, power from the sea, and marine recreation as a resource. From 1970 until 1973, John was the associate chief geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey. Overlapping in part with this administrative assignment, John served from 1972 until 1975 as advisor to the U.S. Law of the Sea Delegation to the United Nations. He prepared reports and attended numerous task-force meetings and discussions related to this delegation. As an outgrowth of this work, as well as other studies, John published seven major articles between 1973 and 1980 on offshore petroleum and sea-bed mineral resources of the world, on the demand of the United States for nonfuel minerals, and on the discovery rate and exploration methods for metallic-mineral deposits in the United States.

John was a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and the Mineralogical Society of

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America, an associate member of the Geological Society of Washington, and a member of the Peninsula Geological Society. He was also an active member of the Society of Economic Geologists, serving on the SEG Program Policy Committee and as secretary of the International Program Policy Committee; he also arranged several major SEG field conferences. In 1970, the Department of the Interior awarded John the Meritorious Service Award.

John’s research career focused on economic geology, with emphasis on the mineral resources of California, the future mineral needs of the United States, the mineral and petroleum resources of the ocean floor, and the regional metallogeny of accretionary tectonic terranes. These studies, in combination with his work on regional geology and numerous administrative and committee assignments, represent a lasting contribution to geology.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF J. P. ALBERS1957 (with Kinkel, A. R., Jr., and Hall, W. E.) Geology and base metal deposits of the West

Shasta copper-zinc district, Shasta County, California: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 285,156 p.

1961 (and Robertson, J. F.) Geology and ore deposits of the East Shasta copper-zinc district, Shasta County, California; U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 338, 107 p.

1964 Geology of the French Gulch quadrangle, California: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1141-J, 70 p.

------ (and others) Geology of the French Gulch quadrangle, California: U.S. Geological SurveyGeologic Quadrangle Map GQ-336, scale 1:62,5000.

------ Structural and stratigraphic environment of granitic plutons in Esmeralda County, Nevada,in Subramanian, A. P., and Balakrisha, S., eds., Advancing frontiers in geology and geophysics: Hyderabad, India, Indian Geophysical Union, p. 351-360.

1965 Economic geology of the French Gulch quadrangle, California: California Division of Mines and Geology Special Report 85, 43 p.

1966 Economic geology of the Klamath Mountains, California, in Bailey, E. H., ed., Geology of northern California: California Division of Mines and Geology Bulletin 190, p. 51-61.

------ (ed.) Mineral and water resources of California: U.S. Senate Document, October 1966.1967 Belt of sigmoidal bending and right-lateral faulting in the western Great Basin: Geological

Society of America Bulletin, v. 78, p. 143-156.1970 (and Kleinhampl, F. J.) Spatial relations of mineral deposits to Tertiary volcanic centers in

Nevada, in Geological Survey research, 1970: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 700-C, p. C1-C10.

1972 (with Stewart, J. H.) Geology and mineral deposits of Esmeralda County, Nevada: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 78, 80 p.

1973 (and others) Summary of petroleum and selected mineral statistics for 120 countries, including offshore areas: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 817,149 p.

------ Offshore petroleum; Its geography and technology, in Gamble, J. K., Jr., and Pontecorvo,Giulio, eds., Law of the sea; The emerging regime of the oceans: Cambridge, Massachusetts, Barlinger, p. 293-310.

------ (with Berryhill, H. L., Jr.) Global geologic processes and their practical significance; Oceanmanagement 1: Amsterdam, Elsevier, p. 263-274.

1974 (with Meyer, R. F.) New information on worldwide seabed resources; Ocean management: Amsterdam, Elsevier, p. 61-74.

1975 (with Ashley, R. P.) Distribution of gold and other ore-related elements near ore bodies in the oxidized zone at Goldfield, Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Professional paper 843-A,48 p.

1976 (and Bawiec, W. J., and Rooney, L. F.) Demand for nonfuel minerals and materials by the United States energy industry, 1975-1990; U.S. Geological Survey ProfessionalPaper 1006-A, 19 p.

1977 Discovery rate and exploration methods for metallic mineral deposits in the U.S., 1940-1976: Engineering and Mining Journal, v. 178, p. 71-73.

1981 Metallogenic provinces in California’s lithologic-tectonic framework: Economic Geology, v. 76, p. 765-790.

____ Tectonic framework and metallogeny in California, in Halbouty, M. T., ed., Energyresources of the Pacific region: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Studies in Geology, no. 12, p. 409-417.

1983 Distribution of mineral deposit types in major terrenes, in Albers, J. P., and Tooker, E. W„ Correlation of mineral deposits in tectonostratigraphic terranes and cratonal rocks in the western United States: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 20, p. 1019-1029.

____ The role of the U.S. Geological Survey in meeting the nation’s mineral and energy needs;1879-1983, in Boardman, S. J., ed., Revolution in the earth sciences, Proceedings of a symposium held at Carleton College. Northfield, Minnesota, April 14-16, 1983: Dubuque, Iowa, Kendall/Hunt, p. 326-335.

1984 (with Fraticelli, L. A.) Metallogenic trends and oil and gas fields of the northeast quadrant, Circum-Pacific region, in Howell, D. G., Jones, D. L., Cox, Allen, and Nur, Amos, eds., Proceedings of the Circum-Pacific Terrene Conference: Stanford University Publications in the Geological Sciences, v. 18, p. 10-16.

____ (with Fraticelli, L. A.) Preliminary mineral resource assessment map of California: U.S.Geological Survey Mineral Investigations Map MR-88, scale 1:1,000,000.

____ Geology and chromite in the Low Plateau area, Del Norte County, California, in Geologicand geophysical studies of chromite deposits in the Josephine Peridotite, northwestern California and southwestern Oregon: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1546-B, p. 39-52.

1985 (editor and contributor) A special issue devoted to massive sulfide deposits, West Shasta district, California: Economic Geology, v. 80, p. 2067-2254.

1988 (with Fraticelli, L. A., and Dawson, K. M.) Metallogenic map of the Circum-Pacific region, northeast quadrant, showing inferred mineral belts and distribution of oil and gas fields in accreted terranes and craton: U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Investigations Map MR-95, scale 1:20,000,000.

------ (with R. W. Hutchinson) Metallogenic evolution in the Cordilleran region of the westernUnited States, in Burchfiel, B. C., Lipman, P. W., and Zoback, M. L., eds., The Cordilleran orogen: Conterminous United States: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, v. G-3 (in press).

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