Dallas Lynn Peck
Encyclopedia
Dallas Lynn Peck was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...

 and vulcanologist. Peck was a native of Cheney, Washington
Cheney, Washington
Cheney is a city in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The full time resident population was 10,590 as of 2010 census. Eastern Washington University is located in Cheney, and its population grows to approximately 17,600 people on a temporary basis when classes at Eastern Washington...

. He received his bachelor's (1951) and master's (1953) degrees in geology from the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...

. He received a doctorate in geology from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in 1960.

Life

Dr. Peck graduated from the California Institute of Technology and Harvard University (Ph.D., 1960). He was born March 28, 1929, in Cheney, WA. Dr. Peck resides in Virginia.

He spent his early career studying the volcanoes and volcanic rocks of Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 and the western United States. In the mid-1960s, he helped train U.S. astronauts on what to expect on the lunar landscape
Geology of the Moon
The geology of the Moon is quite different from that of the Earth...

. He also was among the first U.S. scientists to work with the Soviet Union and China in cooperative earthquake research in the 1970s.

Throughout his career, he was an adviser to the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...

, a member of the National Research Council
United States National Research Council
The National Research Council of the USA is the working arm of the United States National Academies, carrying out most of the studies done in their names.The National Academies include:* National Academy of Sciences...

, and representative to the Third General Meeting of the U.S.-Japan Cooperative Sciences Program. His memberships included the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...

, the American Geophysical Union
American Geophysical Union
The American Geophysical Union is a nonprofit organization of geophysicists, consisting of over 50,000 members from over 135 countries. AGU's activities are focused on the organization and dissemination of scientific information in the interdisciplinary and international field of geophysics...

 and the Cosmos Club
Cosmos Club
The Cosmos Club is a private social club in Washington, D.C., founded by John Wesley Powell in 1878. In addition to Powell, original members included Clarence Edward Dutton, Henry Smith Pritchett, William Harkness, and John Shaw Billings. Among its stated goals is "The advancement of its members in...

.

Peck died on August 21, 2005 at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia
Fairfax, Virginia
The City of Fairfax is an independent city forming an enclave within the confines of Fairfax County, in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Although politically independent of the surrounding county, the City is nevertheless the county seat....

 of complications from open-heart surgery in June, 2005.

USGS career

Dallas Peck was an authority on volcanoes who served as director of the U.S. Geological Survey from 1981 to 1993. He spent his entire career at the U.S. Geological Survey, starting in 1951. Peck worked in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 and Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 before moving to the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 area in 1966. He was chief of the geologic division from 1977 until he was appointed director of the survey. During his tenure, he expanded the scope of the survey's work on mineral resources, global change, water quality and mapping.

Following his term as Director, he returned to the Geologic Division of USGS in 1993 to conduct research on the granites of Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...

 and the Sierra Nevada and to serve as adviser in the Office of the Chief Geologist. In 1995 he retired from the USGS, but continued his research as an emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...

 scientist until his death.

Awards and honors

  • The Dallas Peck Outstanding Scientist Emeritus Award is names in his honor.
  • He received the Interior Department's awards for meritorious (1970) and distinguished service (1979) as well as the Presidential Meritorious Executive Award (1980).
  • He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the California Institute of Technology
    California Institute of Technology
    The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...

     in 1985.
  • A mountain range
    Peck Range
    Peck Range is a range of mountains, ridges and hills, 11 nautical miles long north-south and 6 nautical miles wide, in the west part of Du Toit Mountains, Black Coast, Palmer Land...

     in Antarctica was named after him in 1989.

Publications

  • Geologic Map of the Yosemite Quadrangle, Central Sierra Nevada, California (2002) USGS IMAP No. 2751
  • Yosemite Quadrangle, Central Sierra Nevada, California—Analytic Data (2001) USGS Open File Report No. 2001-252
  • Karst hydrogeology in the United States, with Joseph W. Troester; John E. Moore. (1988) USGS Open File Report No. 88-476
  • Merced Peak Quadrangle, central Sierra Nevada, California; analytic data, with G.K. Van Kooten (1983) USGS Professional Paper No. 1170-D
  • Geologic map of the Merced Peak quadrangle, central Sierra Nevada, California (1980) USGS Geologic Quadrangle No. 1531
  • Cooling and vesiculation of Alae lava lake, Hawaii (1978) USGS Professional Paper No. 935-B
  • The eruption of August 1963 and the formation of Alae lava lake, Hawaii (1976) USGS Professional Paper No. 935-A
  • Geology of the central and northern parts of the Western Cascade Range in Oregon, with A.B. Griggs, H.G. Schlicker, F. G. Wells, and H.M. Dole (1964) USGS Professional Paper No. 449
  • Geologic reconnaissance of the Antelope-Ashwood area, north-central Oregon, with emphasis on the John Day Formation of late Oligocene and early Miocene age (1964) USGS Bulletin No. 1161-D
  • Preliminary geologic map of the Merced Peak quadrangle, California (1964) USGS Miscellaneous Field Studies Map No. 281
  • Preliminary geologic map of the Strawberry Mine area, Madera County, California (1962) USGS Open File Report No. 62-102
  • Geologic map of Oregon west of the 121st meridian
    121st meridian west
    The meridian 121° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....

    , prepared under the direction of F.G. Wells; compiled by D.L. Peck (1961) USGS IMAP No. 325
  • Geologic reconnaissance of the Western Cascades in Oregon north of latitude 43 degrees
    43rd parallel north
    The 43rd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 43 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....

     (1960) USGS Open File Report No. 60-110

Other sources

  • Marshall, Eliot. Dallas Peck to Head USGS. Science. Vol. 212, no. 4502 (June 26, 1981) pages 1484-1485
  • Drew, Lawrence J. Directions. Natural Resources Research. Volume 4, Number 2 (June, 1995)pages 125-128

External links




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