| Description | Incomplete file of correspondence of Dan McKenzie, Reader in Tectonics, Department of Geodesy and Geophysics, University of Cambridge, England, February, April-December 1983. The contents principally comprise various invitations and arrangements for McKenzie to attend symposia, serve on committees, give talks or write articles, requests for preprints, or permission to republish his papers, correspondence with publishers, or with fellow academics/scientists seeking McKenzie's opinion on their works, but also:
FEBRUARY-JUNE 1983
Copy letter from McKenzie to Janet Watson, President, Geological Society of London, England, sending her a potted biography of his career to date as a geologist [to be used in the citation for his award of the Wollaston Medal], 18 February 1983; Duncan Tamsett, PhD student at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, has just submitted his thesis and enquires if there are any postdoctoral posts working with McKenzie at Cambridge, 28 April 1983, with draft reply from McKenzie explaining that he has no paid postdoctoral posts on any of his grants as he changes topics so frequently, [n.d.];
[no July]
AUGUST 1983
Copy letter from James Jackson, Bullard Laboratories, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, England, to Jacques Angelier, Tectonique Quantitative, Departement de Geotectonique et L A, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, France, has been sent a copy of Angelier's critical comments on Jackson's recent paper [Jackson, J A & G King and C Vita-Finzi, "The neotectonics of the Aegean: An alternative view", 'Earth and Planetary Science Letters', vol 61 (1982) pp303-318], and whilst he welcomes debate is saddened by the hostile tone of some of the remarks, and details his objections, 12 August 1983, with letter from Vivien Chamberlain on behalf of Keith Cox, Department of Geology & Mineralogy, University of Oxford, England and chief editor of 'Earth and Planetary Science Letters', thanking McKenzie for his expose of Angelier's criticism, also pointing out the offensive tone of the paper, 31 August 1983;
SEPTEMBER 1983
Geoffrey 'Geof' King, Office of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Engineering, US Geological Survey, California, USA, is confused by a letter he received from Anne Deschamps concerning McKenzie's apparent claim on seismological data records currently in the possession of Rob Westaway, reminding him that the data was collected by Deschamps and King and despite McKenzie's 'imperious demands' they will decide who they will give them to, although Roberto Scarpa may have priority, 14 September 1983; Professor William 'Bill' Menard, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, USA, wishes to write a history of marine geology-geophysics as it led into plate tectonics, asks McKenzie for material, 10 September 1983; Kurt Lambeck, Research School of Earth Studies, Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Australia, is concerned with Dick Peltier's recent results and as a consequence may have to stretch their current research project to Fennoscandia, invites McKenzie to come to ANU as a visitor, 15 September 1983, with copy reply from McKenzie, would like to come to Australia in the future, also concerned with Peltier's results and feels it will 'be necessary to take him on on his own ground', 29 September 1983; Mary Fowler, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, updates on her research on the Williston Basin, 18 October 1983;
OCTOBER 1983
Kevin Burke, Professor of Geology and Chairman, Department of Geological Sciences, State University of New York at Albany, New York, USA, forwarding a preprint of a paper by two colleagues which he claims contains a new technique for looking at the thermal history of sedimentary basins [paper referred to is likely to be: Harrison, T M & K Be, "40Ar/39Ar age spectrum analysis of detrital microclines from the southern San Joaquin Basin, California: an approach to determining the thermal evolution of sedimentary basins", 'Earth and Planetary Science Letters', vol 64 (1983), pp244-256], 1 March 1983, on the reverse of which is a draft reply from McKenzie explaining why the paper is fundamentally wrong, 28 March 1983, with further copy reply from McKenzie explaining more clearly that the use of Ficks Law is incorrect, 13 October 1983; Albrecht W Hofmann, Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Mainz, Germany, and Secretary of the European Union of Geosciences (EUG), concerning funding arrangements for McKenzie's expected lecture tour in three European countries in connection with his award of the Alfred Wegener Medal, 18 July 1983, with copy letters from McKenzie to Forese Wezel, University of Urbino, John Ramsay, ETH Zurich and Sven Maaloe, University of Bergen, proposing lectures, 13 October 1983; letters between Xavier Le Pichon, Director, Laboratoire de Géodynamique, Département de Géotectonique, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France, and McKenzie concerning Le Pichon's draft paper on the history of the development of plate tectonics, "Du renouvellement du fond des oceans a la tectonique des plaques, témoignage sur l'histoire de la révolution dans les sciences de la terre" [included], 4-28 October 1983; Gordon G Goles, Professor of Chemistry and Geology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA, praises McKenzie's paper "A possible mechanism for epeirogenic uplift "[published in 'Nature', vol 307 (1984), pp616-618] a draft of which was lent to him by Keith Cox, forwards a copy of an earlier report which includes an example of an epeirogenic lift caused by the intrusion of a basaltic 'bubble', encourages McKenzie to learn about 'real rocks and their structural settings' as he believes it would be of great use, 13 September 1983, with copy reply from McKenzie stating that he is aware of other examples of uplift associated with vulcanism, but he was not aware of any quantitative estimates of the likely magnitude of the effect, is surprised by Goles comments about 'real rocks' as he has just returned from leading a field trip around Greece which concerned this very topic, 30 September 1983, with further letter from Goles expanding on examples of epeirogenic uplift, 4 October 1983, with final, brief copy letter from McKenzie thanking Goles for his corrections [not in reply to the previous letter], 28 October 1983; typescript report on the research activities of Bob Courtenay, Claire Craig, Nick Hoffman, James Jackson, Dan McKenzie and Rob Westaway from the Earth Sciences Department, University of Cambridge, England, [n.d.];
NOVEMBER 1983
Fred Spilhaus jnr, Executive Director, American Geophysical Union (AGU), Washington DC, USA, asks McKenzie's opinion, as a recipient of the Macelwane Award, on the future direction of the AGU, 30 September 1983, with detailed copy reply from McKenzie praising the American approach to science and the AGU conferences, but expressing concern at the AGU publications particularly the prohibitive cost, editorial and refereeing process of the 'Journal of Geophysical Research', providing examples of six of his published papers which save one were published elsewhere, 20 October 1983, with reply from Spilhaus thanking McKenzie for his letter, 9 November 1983; Ron Oxburgh, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, England, encloses a copy of a letter he intends to send to the Editor of 'The Times' complaining about government cuts to the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grants, 21 November 1983; copy letter from McKenzie to Roberto Scarpa offering him the seismological data Rob Westaway has been working on, but would first like access to station records, 21 November 1983; Robert 'Bob' Liebermann, Visiting Professor, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France, is on sabbatical leave and wishes to visit McKenzie in Cambridge, 27 October 1983, with copy reply from McKenzie expressing his delight at the proposed visit, 21 November 1983; NERC grant application for McKenzie's project "Creep and compaction of partial melts and sediments", 22 November [1983]; copy letter from McKenzie to John Groom, Producer, 'Horizon', BBC, London, England, enjoyed the last edition of the programme 'The Earthquake Connection' but was amused by the efforts made to avoid directly referencing McKenzie by name, is glad as he is annoyed that the stretching model [sedimentary basins] is often referred to as the 'McKenzie model' whilst flattering tells you nothing, 21 November 1983, with reply from Groom stating that he would have preferred to have named McKenzie but it may have confused viewers as he did not appear in the programme, 23 November 1983; typescript report by McKenzie detailing the computer usage in the Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge, in response to the NERC survey of future computing requirements, 6 November 1983, with brief letter of receipt from B A Robinson, Planning and Special Services, NERC, Swindon, Wiltshire, England, 25 November 1983;
DECEMBER 1983
Professor Foreze Wezel, Director, Director, Instituto di Geologia dell'Università degli Studi, Urbino, Italy, would be pleased to host one of McKenzie's lecture series [as part of McKenzie's award of the Alfred Wegener Medal by the EGU], 8 November 1983, with brief copy reply from McKenzie, glad as the other institutions he approached were less than keen, 7 December 1983; Mark Harrison, Assistant Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, State University of New York at Albany, New York, USA, has been enjoying McKenzie's correspondence with Kevin Burke about his paper [ "40Ar/39Ar age spectrum analysis of detrital microclines from the southern San Joaquin Basin, California: an approach to determining the thermal evolution of sedimentary basins", ibid] and clarifies the calculations which McKenzie has taken issue with, 10 November 1983, with copy reply from McKenzie still not convinced, and suggests the correct equations, 7 December 1983; copy letter from McKenzie to Professor Richard L Stanton, Department of Geology, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia, is working on the kinetics of certain low temperature reactions in organic compounds which occur during the early stages of metamorphism and has heard through Grahame Oliver that Stanton is working in a connected area, 8 December 1983; copy letter from McKenzie to Anthony 'Tony' Hallam, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Birmingham, England, praising Hallam's recent book on geological controversies, and suggesting that Lord Kelvin was ignorant of both radioactive decay and mantle convection when estimating the age of the Earth, [n.d.], with reply from Hallam intrigued by McKenzie's comments on Kelvin, 22 December 1983. |