Industrial Research 



357 



oceanography, metamorphic theology, and mineralogy 

 are all recognized as scientific entities. 



The portions of geology, geochemistry, and geophy- 

 sics which are of particular industrial service are those 

 which relate especially to the fields of mining and 

 metallurgy, petroleum production, the production of 

 natural gases, soil study, geodesy, seismography, and 

 water research. The last four of these fiekls of activity 

 are more suited to governmental than to private enter- 

 prise, because of the bulk and expense of the research 

 required, and the public-service nature of the results 

 expected. They have, accordingly, been very largely 

 shouldered bj- governmental agencies, and hence are 

 not of primary concern here, vitally essential though 

 they are to hmnan welfare. 



Of the several industrial activities of the United 

 States which are primarily served by the border lines 

 of geology, geochemistry, and geophysics, the two most 

 unportant are certainly the mining and petroleum 

 industries. The mines of the United States employ 

 collectively over 1,100,000 workers of whom roughly 

 750,000 are employed in the production of coal, and 

 another 200,000 in metal mines and metallurgical 

 works. The United States is probably the world's 

 largest producer of copper, iron, lead, and zinc, produces 

 roughly 10 percent of the world's silver, and in 1934 

 produced 30 percent of the world's coal. Both in the 

 mining of metals and in metallurgy, geology, geochem- 

 istry, and geophysics play predominantly important 



parts. The function of geology in facihtating the 

 location of natural ores is as old as mining itself, but 

 has recently been widely extended. Geochemistry 

 plays an especially important role in preliminary ore 

 analysis. Descriptive industrial geology as a field 

 science contributes predominantly to the large-scale 

 assaj'ing of terrain in the prospecting of original mine 

 sites, to the identification of ore-bearing strata once 

 the mine is opened, and to the determination of the 

 mechanics of the way in which those strata shall be 

 exploited. Petrography and mineralogy are of especial 

 importance in the prospecting of both mine sites and 

 ores, and industrial workers trained in these fields find 

 wide opportunities of work. The large-scale handling 

 of ores, and the extractive and refining processes for 

 their metals developed in connection with them, are 

 peculiarly the province of mineralogy and especially 

 of geochemistry. Modern methods of ore flotation, 

 ore roasting, and other extractive processes bear wit- 

 ness to the contributions that have been made in this 

 field. Recently, entirely new mining techniques have 

 been required by the development of the important 

 som'ces of radium in Canada. Some of these have 

 been provided by the mining engineer, in the over- 

 coming of the tremendous physical handicaps of mining 

 in such cold and inaccessible regions. Others, however, 

 necessitated by the peculiar nature of the chemical 

 product, have been provided by men from the ranks 

 of geochemistry and geophysics. 



Figure 102. — Research Department Library, American Can Company, Maywood, Illinois 



