BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 

 Vol. 16, pp. 411-418 August 28, 1905 



GEOLOGICAL BOOK-KEEPING 



BY J. F. KEMP 



(Read before the Society December 29, 1904-) 

 CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction 411 



The field map and note book 412 



The compilation book. 416 



Principles on which the system is based 417 



Introduction 



So long as a geologist is in the field for a short and continuous period 

 and in a restricted and comparatively simple district, no more elaborate 

 and systematic system of note3 is needed than is afforded by a map and 

 a book. But when the district becomes complex and difficult, as in 

 many metamorphic areas, and when the field work extends through sev- 

 eral seasons, often with intervals of a year or two between, some method 

 of indexing and compiling becomes absolutely necessary. The best of 

 memories can not carry the endless details involved, and during office 

 work time can not be spared for the discouraging search through a num- 

 ber of note books. A system that will work almost automatically is as 

 essential to the geologist as is double-entry book-keeping to a large com- 

 mercial house, and it fills very much the same field. 



If, moreover, a teacher has to give field instruction to rather large 

 parties in structural and areal work, it is almost as essential to have 

 some uniform method in accordance with which all will record their 

 observations and coordinate them one with another. From experience 

 of both these kinds the writer has been led to evolve the plan here set 

 forth and has found that it answers satisfactorily and adds greatly to 

 efficiency. It is also quite evident that were this or something like it 

 in general use by state surveys, it would, as years go by, save much 

 useless repetition of field observations. A later worker might then in- 

 herit and understand the observations of one or more predecessors. 



The first essential of satisfactory field work is a map, and now that 

 the topographic sheets of the United States Geological Survey are be- 



LVI— Boll. Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. 16, 1904 (411) 



