416 e. w. shaw the study of sedimentary deposits 



Need of Classification and Nomenclature 



The collection, together with mechanical analyses, might furnish a 

 foundation for that goal that seems at times hopelessly inachievable, a 

 satisfactory classification and nomenclature of sedimentary rocks. These 

 are, is seems to the writer, very essenfial foundation stones for the up- 

 building of any science. It is a mistake to say that it does not matter 

 whether or not you have a name for a thing or a diagram or an index 

 where its name can be placed in an expressive position, oi^ even that it 

 matters not what the name is. What would have been the advance in 

 mineralogy or paleontology without names, and what further advance 

 might they not have realized if all the names had been carefully fash- 

 ioned handles, easy to grasp, retain, and wield ! Numerous examples 

 might be cited of the coming to grief of an overzealous student of physi- 

 ology, histology, or ecology who thought he could dispense with taxonomy 

 and nomenclature. The gumbotil has been observed and more or less 

 well described over and over again, but, wliether or not it is a matter of 

 cause and effect, it seems to be a fact that progress in understanding the 

 deposit dates from its christening. (There is a rather complex bit of 

 psychology involved that can not be further discussed here.) 



Areal Surveys 



Areal studies of ancient sediments have already been carried as far as 

 or farther than those of present-day deposits, notwithstanding the fact 

 that they are on the whole less accessible, considerable portions being 

 unexposed and not yet reached by the drill. The work on ancient sedi- 

 ments has been done largely through the individual enterprise of such 

 men as Salisbury, Lee, Barrell, Willis, and many paleontologists ; and, as 

 Blackwelder^ has emphasized, much more can be done if facilities are 

 afforded and encouragement offered. 



Detailed areal surveys of ocean, lake, and river bottoms are few and of 

 small extent, and some of the results have been achieved by engineers 

 who either do not publish their observations or else report them in docu- 

 ments not often consulted by geologists. Excellent material on the bed 

 of portions of the Mississippi, for example, can be culled from the United 

 States Engineers' reports on river improvement. Other classes of inves- 

 tigators have made numerous observations on the sediment that is accu- 

 mulating in certain restricted areas, but have not carried the work to the 

 point of constructing an areal map. The work done by Yaughan and 



5 Eliot Blackwelder : Memorandum to T. W. Vaughan quoted in "Present tendencies in 

 geology : Sedimentation," E. W. Shaw, Jour. Wash. Acad, Sci., vol. 9, no. 17, October, 

 1919, pp. 513-521. 



