Levi F. Noble

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Levi Fatzinger Noble
Born(1882-11-11)November 11, 1882
Auburn, New York
DiedAugust 4, 1965(1965-08-04) (aged 82)
Los Angeles, California
NationalityAmerican
Alma materYale University
Scientific career
Fieldsgeology
InstitutionsUnited States Geological Survey
Levi F. Noble (left) with Henry G. Ferguson (center) and James Gilluly (right), 1950s.

Levi Fatzinger Noble (November 11, 1882 – August 4, 1965)[1] was an American geologist. He was born in 1882 into a prominent and wealthy family of Auburn, New York. He received his bachelor's degree in 1904 and his doctorate in 1909, both from Yale University.[2]

In 1910, Noble married Dorothy Evans of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a wedding gift, Dorothy’s parents gave them a fruit ranch near Valyermo, California, at the foot of the north slope of the San Gabriel Mountains and athwart the San Andreas Fault zone. The ranch was their principal residence for the rest of their lives.[3] Dorothy served as the Valyermo postmaster from 1914 to 1930

His entire career was spent as a member of the United States Geological Survey; during WWII, he was associated with the USGS Military Geology Unit.[4]In his field investigations, which began in 1917 and continued off and on for 45 years, he observed and accurately recorded most of the major geologic features of Death Valley.[5]

Noble's initial investigations (including his PhD thesis) were in Grand Canyon, Arizona. He also is remembered for his studies of Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks of the Grand Canyon and as the first to prepare a detailed geologic map of a large part of Grand Canyon National Park.

Noble worked extensively in the Death Valley region, mapping an 8000 mile area (some of the mapping was done by Donald Curry). His 1926 paper on the Shoshone colemanite deposits described the first evidence for Lake Manly in Death Valley, based on observed strand lines. [6] The work was described in his 1941 paper on the Virgin Spring area (in which he introduced the term "chaos" to describe the complex geologic structure), and in a 1954 chapter co-written with .

In addition, he engaged in a long-term investigation of a fifty-mile segment of the San Andreas fault on the north side of the San Gabriel Mountains. In a 1926 paper, Noble was one of the first geologists to cite evidence for large horizontal displacement (38 kilometers) along this fault; this was a radical proposal at the time and was not accepted by most geologists. Later research by other geologists has now established movement of hundreds of kilometers on the San Andreas fault.[7][8]

In 1961, the borate mineral nobleite was named after him.[9] Upon retirement, he received the Interior Department's gold medal for distinguished service.

Publications[]

  • "Contributions to the geology of the Grand Canyon, Arizona – The geology of the Shinumo area" American Journal of Science, 4th ser., v. 29, p. 369-386. (1910)
  • "The Grand Canyon of the Colorado" Science v. 34, p. 378-380. (1911)
  • "The Shinumo quadrangle, Grand Canyon district, Arizona" U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 549 (1914)
  • "A reconnaissance of the Archean complex of the Granite Gorge, Grand Canyon, Arizona": with J.F. Hunter. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 98-I, p. 95-113. (1916)
  • "Geologic history of the Bright Angel quadrangle, Arizona": Text on back of topographic sheet, Bright Angel quadrangle, Arizona (Coconino County): U.S. Geological Survey. (1918)
  • "A section of the Paleozoic formations of the Grand Canyon at Bass Trail": U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 131-B, p. 23-73. (1922)
  • "Colemanite in Clark County, Nevada": U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 735, p. 23-39. (1922)
  • "Nitrate deposits in the Amargosa region, southeastern California": with G.R. Mansfield and others. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 724, 99 p. (1922)
  • "Borate deposits in the Kramer district, Kern County, California": U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 785, p. 45-61. (1926)
  • "Note on a colemanite deposit near Shoshone, California, with a sketch of the geology of a part of the Amargosa Valley": U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 785, p. 63-73. (1926)
  • "The San Andreas rift and some other active faults in the desert region of southeastern California": Carnegie Institute of Washington, Yearbook 25, p. 415-422. (1926)
  • The San Andreas rift and some other active faults in the desert region of southeastern California": Seismological Society of America Bulletin, v. 17, p. 25-39. (1927)
  • "The San Andreas rift in a part of southern California": Third Pan-Pacific Science Congress, Tokyo, 1926, Proceedings, p. 394-400. (1928)
  • "A section of the Kaibab limestone in Kaibab Gulch, Utah": U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 150, p. 41-60. (1928)
  • "Nitrate deposits in southeastern California, with notes on deposits in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico": U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 820 (1931)
  • "The San Andreas rift in the desert region of southern California": Carnegie Institute of Washington, Yearbook 31, p. 355-363. (1932)
  • "Excursion to the San Andreas Fault and Cajon Pass, in Gale, H. S., ed., Southern California": 16th International Geological Congress, Guidebook 15 (1933)
  • "Structural features of the Virgin Spring area, Death Valley, California": Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 52, p. 941-1000. (1941)
  • "Geology of the Pearland quadrangle, California": U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Quadrangle Map GQ 24. (1953)
  • "Geology of the Valyermo quadrangle, California": U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Quadrangle Map GQ 50. (1954)
  • "The San Andreas Fault zone from Soledad Pass to Cajon Pass, California", in Jahns, R. H., ed., Geology of Southern California: California Division of Mines Bulletin 170, chapter IV, p. 37-48. (1954)
  • "Geology of the central and southern Death Valley region, California," with L.A. Wright. in Jahns, R. H., ed., Geology of Southern California: California Division of Mines Bulletin 170, chapter II, p. 143-160. (1954)

References[]

  1. ^ The Hollister Family of America: Lieutenant John Hollister of Wethersfield, Connecticut, and his descendants by Lafayette Wallace Case (1886) p. 637
  2. ^ Bradley, W.H. (1968). "Memorial to Levi Fatzinger Noble, 1882-1965". Proceedings of the Geological Society of America: 337–340.
  3. ^ Wright, Lauren A.; Troxel, Bennie W. (2002). Levi Noble: Geologist (PDF) (Open-File Report 02-422 ed.). U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  4. ^ MJ Terman. 1998. Military Unit of the US Geological Survey During World War II. In JL Underwood and PL Guth, Military Geology in War and Peace, GSA Reviews in Engineering Geology, pp 49-54
  5. ^ Bradley, W.H. (1966). "Memorial to Levi Fatzinger Noble (1882-1965)". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 77 (3): P49-P52. Bibcode:1966GSAB...77P..49B. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1966)77[p49:mtlfn]2.0.co;2.
  6. ^ Knott, J.R.; Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M.; Machette, M.N.; Klinger, R.E. (2005). "Upper Neogene stratigraphy and tectonics of Death Valley -- a Review". Earth-Science Reviews. 73 (1–4): 255. Bibcode:2005ESRv...73..245K. doi:10.1016/J.EARSCIREV.2005.07.004. S2CID 53392670.
  7. ^ Hill, Mason L. (1981). "San Andreas fault: History of Concepts". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 92 (3): 112–131. Bibcode:1981GSAB...92..112H. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1981)92<112:SAFHOC>2.0.CO;2.
  8. ^ CS Prentice. 1999. San Andreas fault: The 1906 earthquake and subsequent evolution of ideas. In EM Moores, D Sloan, and DL Stout, Classic Cordilleran Concepts: A View from California, Geologic Society of America Special Paper 338, pp 79-85
  9. ^ Erd, Richard C.; McAllister, James F.; Vlisidis, Angelina C. (1961). "Nobleite, another new hydrous calcium borate from the Death Valley region, California". American Mineralogist. 46: 5–6.
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