U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 96-260

FOREWORD

I. EARLY YEARS, THROUGH GRADUATE SCHOOL

• Family Background
• Developing Interests: Nature, Rope Spinning, Radio, Minerals
• Northwestern: Choosing Geology as a Major
• To Caltech
• The Caltech Program and Some Memorable Teachers
  • Chester Stock
  • Ian Campbell
  • Horace Fraser
  • John Peter Buwalda: A Contrast
• Field Trips
  • A Trip to Stanford
  • Two Fossil Finds
  • Thesis Work on the San Andreas Fault

II. TO THE USGS AND ALASKA

• Joining the Survey: The Assembled Exams
• A Job Offer and a Career Decision
• The Second Exam and the USGS Offer
• Exploring the Kuskokwim Region
• Pioneering Exploration: A Last Opportunity
• The Successful Search for Quicksilver
• Other Projects
  • Exploring the North Slope
  • Uranium Exploration
  • Permafrost Study for the Military

III. TEACHING AND FIELD WORK: A FIVE-YEAR INTERLUDE

• To Washington State and Coeur d'Alene
• Summer Work in Idaho
• Exploring the Osburn Fault
• Meshing Theory and Observation

IV. FULL-TIME WITH USGS AGAIN

• My Washington Tour of Duty
• The Rotation System and Scientist-Administrators
• Menlo Park and the "Field-Center" Concept
  • An Innovative Center
  • Interdisciplinary Communication
• Earth-Orbiting Satellites and Space Exploration

V. GEOLOGIC MAPPING IN NEVADA

• The Goal: A Geologic Map of Nevada
• Reassignment and the Work Pattern
• Geologic Mapping and Investigation
• The Basic Geology of Nevada
• Administration and Field Work: A Survey Tradition
• How Field Work Was Done
• Thrust Faults: A Four-Dimensional Picture
• Plate Tectonics: A Transition in Thinking
• Paleoseismology: A New Approach
• Estimating the Age of Scarps
  • Prehistoric Fault Scarps in Nevada
  • Scarp Degradation

VI. FORMULATING A NATIONAL EARTHQUAKE PROGRAM: A TRAIL OF DOCUMENTS

• A Pre-1964 Effort
• The Alaskan Earthquake: The Start of the Modern Programs
• Press Report: Earthquake Prediction
• Prediction Defined: A Third Line of Defense
• A Variety of Prediction Techniques
• Probabilistic vs Deterministic Approaches
• Housner Report: Earthquake Engineers Respond
• Pecora Report: A Ten-Year Program
• 1970 Steinbrugge Report
• Allen Report: Earthquake Prediction Evaluated
• Earthquake Prediction and Public Policy: The Turner Report
• Newmark-Stever Report
• The 1977 National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP)
• Guidelines for Handling Prediction
• NEHRP Implementation Report, 1978
• The Importance of NEHRP Funding

VII. DEVELOPMENT OF THE USGS EARTHQUAKE PROGRAM

• USGS Organization and Administrative Terminology
• The Vela Uniform Program of ARPA
• The National Center for Earthquake Research
  • A Gathering of Geologists and Geophysicists
  • Some Major Players
• Earthquake Control
• Paleoseismology: A Significant Part of the Program
• The Bay Area Project: An Example of Successful Outreach
  • A Little Background
  • Program Initiated in 1969
  • Bill Kockelman's Role: "Bridging"
  • Summing Up
  • A Personal Note on Portola Valley
• The Influence of Individual Earthquakes: San Fernando, 1971
• After San Fernando: Rebuilding the Earthquake Program
  • Merger of USGS and NOAA
  • The Office of Earthquake Studies
• Other Parts of the Earthquake Program
  • Putting Prediction Studies in Context
  • Measuring Crustal Warping
  • Measuring Long Surface Lines
  • The Palmdale Bulge
  • Seismological Studies and the Parkfield Experiment
  • Global Seismology
  • Microearthquake Seismology
  • Strong-motion Seismology
  • Selecting Priorities in a Complex Program
• Determining Deep Crustal Structures
• Volcanoes
• The Computer Revolution

VIII. EARTHQUAKE EFFORTS OF OTHER INSTITUTIONS

• State Agencies
• BCDC's Engineering Criteria Review Board
• Universities and Private Consultants
• Other Earthquake-Related Activities: Selected Bibliography

IX. STORIES AND ADVENTURES (I): MEMORABLE TRIPS TO TURKEY AND THE MIDDLE EAST

• Assignment in Turkey (1964)
• Visiting a Turkish Earthquake (1966)
  • The Earthquake Near Varto
  • Vulnerability and the Case for Prediction
  • A Reconnaissance Flight and Photos
  • A Forced Quick Trip to Ankara
  • First to Locate the Fault
  • The Importance of Air Reconnaissance
• Planning the CENTO Conference: Turkey, Iran and Pakistan (1967)
  • Formulating the Conference Plan
  • The Post-Conference Field Trip
  • Muggings and Extortion: A Contrast with the Villages
  • The Coup During the World Conference
  • More Good Recollections of Turkey

X. STORIES AND ADVENTURES (II): MORE MEMORABLE TRIPS

• A Break in the Cold War--Visit to the USSR (1969)
• Nicaragua (1973): With Henry Degenkolb in Samoza's Plane
• Delegation to the USSR on Earthquake Prediction (1973)
• First Foreigners on a Fault in Kirgiz (1975)
• The Philippines and the Marcoses (1976)
  • An Evening at the Palace
  • Visiting the Mindanao Earthquake
  • The Conference on Human Survival
  • An Outing on the Presidential Yacht
  • A Traumatic Trip Home
• With a Delegation to China (1978)
• Ancient Canals and Trenches in China (1984)
  • Fault Offset of the Great Wall
  • Ancient Canals in Gansu Province
• Other Trips

XI. USGS DIRECTORS: MY RECOLLECTIONS

• Mendenhall (1931-1942), Director When I Started
• Wrather and the War Years (1943-1956)
• The Nolan Years (1956-1965)
• Bill Pecora (1965-1971): Scientist-Politician
• The McKelvey Years (1971-1978)
• William Menard as Director (1978-1982)
• Dallas Peck as Director (1982-1994)
• Gordon P. Eaton (1994 to Present)
• Retrospective: The U. S. Geological Survey

XII. RETIREMENT AND REFLECTIONS

• Volume on the San Andreas Fault System
• Closing Observations
  • Consensus and Conflict
  • A Few Generic Lessons
  • Some Darkening Shadows: Changing Concepts of Government
• Conclusion: A Great Half Century Ended

APPENDIX. Selected Publications, By Robert E. Wallace

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