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Clarence Dutton | |
|---|---|
 Clarence Dutton | |
| Born | May 15, 1841 |
| Died | January 4, 1912 (aged 70) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Yale College |
| Known for | Isostasy,Grand Canyon geology |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geology |
Clarence Edward Dutton (May 15, 1841 – January 4, 1912) was an American geologist and US Army officer. Dutton was born inWallingford, Connecticut on May 15, 1841. He graduated fromYale College in 1860 and took postgraduate courses there until 1862, when he enlisted in the 21st Connecticut Volunteer Infantry; he fought atFredericksburg,Suffolk,Nashville andPetersburg. He was elected as a member to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1871.[1]
In 1875, he began work as a geologist forJohn Wesley Powell and, after 1879, for theU.S. Geological Survey (USGS).[2] Working chiefly in theColorado Plateau region, he wrote several classic papers, including geological studies of the high plateaus of Utah (1879–80), the Cenozoic history of theGrand Canyon district (1882), and theCharleston, South Carolina,earthquake of 1886. As head of the division ofvolcanic geology at the USGS, he studied volcanism in Hawaii, California, and Oregon. He helped coordinate the scientific response toa large earthquake in the Mexican state ofSonora in 1887.
In 1878, he was one of the ten founders of theCosmos Club.[3] He was elected a member of theNational Academy of Sciences in 1884.
In 1886, Dutton led a USGS party toCrater Lake, Oregon. His team carried a half-ton survey boat, theCleetwood, up the steep mountain slope and lowered it 2,000 feet (610 m) into the lake. From theCleetwood, Dutton used piano wire with lead weights to measure the depth of the lake at 168 different points. The survey team determined the lake was 1,996 feet (608 m) deep. The currently-accepted maximum depth figure, measured by sonar, is 1,943 feet (592 m).[4]
In a footnote to an 1882 review in theAmerican Journal of Science, Dutton coined the term "isostasy". He later stated: "In an unpublished paper I have used the terms isostatic and isostacy (sic) to express that condition of the terrestrial surface which would follow from the flotation of the crust upon a liquid or highly plastic substratum – different portions of the crust being of unequal density."[5][6] Thus, he realised that there is a general balance within the Earth's crust, with lighter weight blocks coming to stand higher than adjacent blocks with higher density, an idea first expressed by Pratt and Airy in the 1850s. Dutton elaborated these ideas in his address to thePhilosophical Society of Washington in 1889.[7] When this was printed in 1892, the term isostasy was formally proposed, Dutton having, on the advice of Greek scholars, changed the ‘c’ to an ‘s’.
Dutton was a close associate ofJohn Wesley Powell,G.K. Gilbert, andWilliam Henry Holmes at the USGS. He was an energetic and effective field geologist: in 1875–1877 Dutton's field party mapped 12,000 square miles (31,000 km2) of the high plateaus of southern Utah, an area of rugged topography and poor access.
Dutton had a distinctive flair for literary description, and is best remembered today for his colorful (and sometimes flamboyant) descriptions of the geology and scenery of theGrand Canyon region ofArizona. "Dutton first taught the world to look at that country and see it as it was... Dutton is almost as much thegenius loci of the Grand Canyon asMuir is ofYosemite" –Wallace Stegner,Beyond the Hundredth Meridian.
In 1891 he retired from the USGS to serve as commander of the arsenal ofSan Antonio, Texas; then as ordnance officer of the department of Texas. After retiring from the Army in 1901, he returned to the study of geology. Dutton spent his last years at the home of his son inEnglewood, New Jersey.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Clarence E. Dutton".New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
