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April 20, 2015 — The fourth volume of the comprehensive history of the U.S. Geological Survey, Minerals, Lands, and Geology for the Common Defence and General Welfare: Volume 4, 1939‒1961, has been issued as an electronic document.
Featuring more than 200 illustrations, the 704-page Volume 4 focuses on the United States and the USGS in war and peace from the beginning of World War II in Europe to the end of the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. During this period, the USGS developed and adapted new instruments and methods that included airborne magnetometers and radiometers, advanced seismometers, stereoscopic plotters for topographic mapping, geophysical logging (detailed records of geologic formations penetrated by a borehole), and geological sampling from deep wells.
The late Mary C. Rabbitt (1915‒2002), a geophysicist who served with the USGS (1949‒1978), wrote the first three volumes in the series: Volume 1, Before 1879 (1979), Volume 2, 1879‒1904 (1980), and Volume 3, 1904‒1939 (1986). Volume 4 was begun by Rabbitt and completed by coauthor Clifford M. Nelson, a geologist with the USGS since 1976.
Like the earlier books in the series, Volume 4 places USGS operations in mapping and the earth sciences within the wider contexts of national and international history. For instance, USGS development of the airborne magnetometer — an instrument that traces the Earth’s magnetic field, enabling an effective method of exploring for subsurface minerals — followed from a wartime device that U.S. forces used to hunt enemy submarines in World War II.
In the foreword to Volume 4, Mark D. Myers, the 14th USGS Director (2006‒2009), wrote that the volume records USGS support of the Nation’s efforts during “a pivotal interval of transformation for the United States and the agency, …a time of great national sacrifice, rapid expansion of industrial capacity, spectacular scientific and technological advancement, and international leadership.”
