Geology: A Venture in Earth Science Reporting, Vol. 1 Nos. 1–4 - Inaugural Volume (1973)

The complete first volume of Geology, the influential earth-science journal of the Geological Society of America, containing all four issues published during its inaugural year: September through December 1973.

The Geological Society of America developed Geology in the early 1970s as a new kind of scientific journal built around concise, rapidly published research papers. After approval by the GSA Council in 1972, the first issue appeared in September 1973. The journal subsequently became one of the major international publications in the geosciences and remains in publication more than fifty years later.

This bound inaugural volume captures earth science at a particularly interesting moment. Plate tectonics had only recently become the dominant framework for understanding the planet, while lunar exploration and the emerging field of planetary geology were expanding geological research beyond Earth.

The very first issue reflects that transition. Its original lunar-surface cover is preserved here, along with papers on subjects including meteorite impacts and Martian landforms, an experimental X-ray analyzer for Martian regolith, ocean-trench geology, sedimentation, submarine reconnaissance, aeromagnetic geological mapping, and the structure of ophiolites. Later issues continue with contemporary research on plate tectonics, geophysics, sedimentology, petrology, and related fields.

Among the papers preserved in the volume is George W. Moore's 1973 “Westward Tidal Lag as the Driving Force of Plate Tectonics,” an example of the active scientific debate that accompanied the rapid adoption of plate-tectonic theory during this period.

Unlike a modern reprint or digital archive, this volume preserves the original 1973 journal issues—including their covers, typography, advertisements, editorial material, letters, reviews, and other features—as they were encountered by working geologists when the journal was new.

Contents:

Volume 1, No. 1 — September 1973
Volume 1, No. 2 — October 1973
Volume 1, No. 3 — November 1973
Volume 1, No. 4 — December 1973

Publisher: Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado
Year: 1973
Volume: 1 — Complete Inaugural Volume
Format: Four original journal issues bound together in hardcover
ISSN: 0091-7613

Vintage institutional/library binding in tan cloth with the original journal issues and illustrated covers preserved inside.