News Release No. 518

PUBLICATION ON MISSOURI GEOLOGY DEDICATED TO THREE RENOWNED GEOLOGISTS

Volume 33-518

Contact: Denise Becker

(For immediate release)

573-368-2118

ROLLA, MO DEC. 29, 2005- At 1225 pages, the Paleozoic Succession in Missouri, Part 5 -- Pennsylvanian Subsystem of Carboniferous System, Report of Investigation 70, released by the Department of Natural Resources, is a substantial work. According to its authors, it could not have been completed without the aid of professionals who played prominent roles in their lives.

The study's authors, Richard J. Gentile, professor emeritus, University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Thomas L. Thompson, principal geologist (retired) of the department's Division of Geology and Land Survey, dedicated it recently to three renowned geologists: Wallace B. Howe, Marcus L. Thompson and A. G. Unklesbay.

The work is part of a series looking at Missouri's complex geologic history. The entire series will serve as reference material for both economic and environmental decisions in Missouri.

"It has been 60 years since a compilation of the complete stratigraphy of Missouri has been published," Thompson said. "An attempt was made to update Missouri's Pennsylvanian nomenclature (names of rock and time categories) to meet with international nomenclatural changes that have and still are being developed for Pennsylvanian stratigraphy. Geologists worldwide look to each other's work to be aware of potential changes in thinking or theories, because as geology is an evolving science, there are always new concepts being developed, new sections discovered, and changing ways of organizing the units that make up the geologic record."

Thompson also authored Paleozoic Succession in Missouri, Part 2-Ordovician System; Part 3-Silurian and Devonian Systems; and Part 4-Mississippian System. Completion of the series was a feat that took Thompson a portion of his time over a 30-year period.

To learn more about this publication or other geological publications released by the Division of Geology and Land Survey, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/geology. For further information on this particular publication, please contact Patrick Mulvany, section chief, at 573-368-2139. To obtain order information, contact Dolly Howard at the division's publication desk at 573-368-2125.

For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of the department's upcoming meetings, hearings and events, visit the department's online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.

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