Editing Grove Karl Gilbert

{{Short description|American geologist (1843–1918)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Grove Karl Gilbert
| image             = Grove Karl Gilbert 0129.jpg
| image_size        =
| caption           = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1843|5|6}}
| birth_place       = [[Rochester, New York]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1918|5|1|1843|5|6}}
| death_place       = [[Jackson, Michigan]]
| citizenship       = 
| nationality       = [[Americans|American]]
| field             = [[Geology]]
| work_institutions = 
| alma_mater        = [[University of Rochester]]
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = [[River delta#Gilbert deltas|Gilbert delta]]<br /> [[Impact crater|Crater studies]]<br />[[Epeirogenic movement]]<br />[[Geology of the Rocky Mountains]]<br />[[Cycle of erosion]]
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| prizes            = [[Wollaston Medal]] {{small|(1900)}}<br>[[Charles P. Daly Medal]] <small>(1910)</small>
| footnotes         = 
| signature         = Signature of Grove Karl Gilbert.png 
}}

'''Grove Karl Gilbert''' (May 6, 1843 – May 1, 1918), known by the abbreviated name '''G. K. Gilbert''' in academic literature, was an American [[geologist]].

==Biography==
Gilbert was born in [[Rochester, New York]], and graduated from the [[University of Rochester]]. During the [[American Civil War]], he was twice listed for the draft, but his name was drawn neither time.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/gilbert-grove.pdf |journal=Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=21 |number=5 |year=1927 |access-date=4 June 2022 |title=Biographical Memoir: Grove Karl Gilbert 1843–1918 |last1=Davis |first1=William M.}}</ref> In 1871, he joined [[George M. Wheeler]]'s geographical survey as its first geologist.

===Rockies geologist===
[[File:Headward erosion.jpg|thumb|right|Headward erosion of a gully; photo by G.K. Gilbert]]

Gilbert joined the [[John Wesley Powell|Powell]] Survey of the [[Rocky Mountains|Rocky Mountain]] Region in 1874, becoming Powell's primary assistant, and stayed with the survey until 1879.<ref>[[Wallace Stegner]], ''Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West'', University of Nebraska:Lincoln</ref> During this time he published an important monograph, ''The Geology of the [[Henry Mountains]]'' (1877). After the [[U.S. Geological Survey]] was created in 1879, he was appointed to the position of Senior Geologist and worked for the USGS until his death (including a term as acting director).

Gilbert published a study of the former ancient [[Lake Bonneville]] in 1890 (the lake existed during the [[Pleistocene]]), of which the [[Great Salt Lake]] is a remnant. He named it after the army captain [[Benjamin Bonneville]], who had explored the region. The type of [[river delta]] that Gilbert described at this location has since become known to geomorphologists as a [[River delta#Types|Gilbert delta]].<ref name=chidsey>"Geological and Petrophysical Characterization of the Ferron Sandstone for 3-D Simulation of a Fluvial-deltaic Reservoir". By Thomas C. Chidsey, Thomas C. Chidsey, Jr (ed), Utah Geological Survey, 2002. {{ISBN|1-55791-668-3}}. pp. 2–17. [https://books.google.com/books?id=jacORXGQG9AC Partial text] on Google Books.</ref>

===Meteor crater===
In 1891, Gilbert examined the origins of a crater in Arizona, now known as [[Meteor Crater]] but then as Coon Butte. For several reasons, and against his intuition, he concluded it was the result of a [[Maar|volcanic steam explosion]] rather than an impact of a [[meteorite]]. Gilbert based his conclusion on the beliefs that the volume of an impact crater including the meteorite should be more than the ejected material on the rim and that, if it was a meteorite, iron should create magnetic anomalies. Gilbert's calculations showed that the crater's volume and the debris on the rim were roughly equal, and that there were no magnetic anomalies. He argued that the meteorite fragments found on the rim were just "coincidence". In 1892, Gilbert delivered his paper "The Moon's Face; A Study of the Origin of Its Features" as his retiring President's lecture to the Philosophical Society of Washington, and it was published in the Society's bulletin.<ref name = "Gilbert">{{cite journal |last1=Gilbert |first1=G. K. |title=The Moon's face; a study of the origin of its features |journal=Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington |date=1892 |volume=12 |pages=241–292 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/252085#page/311/mode/1up}}</ref> He publicized these conclusions in a series of lectures in 1895.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.barringercrater.com/science/ |title=The Science: What is the Barringer Meteorite Crater? |access-date=2008-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719102623/http://www.barringercrater.com/science/ |archive-date=2008-07-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Later investigations revealed that it was in fact a meteor crater, but that interpretation was not well established until the mid-20th century. As part of his interest in crater origins, Gilbert also studied the moon's craters and concluded they were caused by impact events rather than volcanoes, although he wondered why the craters were round and not oval as expected for an oblique impact. The interpretation of lunar craters as of impact origin was also debated until the mid-20th century.<ref name=DRO-GS2002>{{cite book|last=Oldroyd|first=David Roger|title=The earth inside and out: some major contributions to geology|year=2002|publisher=Geological Society|pages=28–30}}</ref>

==Geomorphology==
[[Image:Imbrium Sculpture Figure 14 G K Gilbert.jpg|thumb|right|Gilbert's 1893 drawing of ''sculpture'' around Mare Imbrium]]
[[File:1906 earthquake train.jpg|thumb|right|Derailed train after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake; photo by G.K. Gilbert]]
Gilbert joined the [[Harriman Alaska Expedition]] in 1899. Two weeks after the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]], he took a series of photographs documenting the damage along the San Andreas fault from Inverness to Bolinas.

Gilbert is considered one of the giants of the subdiscipline of [[geomorphology]], having contributed to the understanding of landscape evolution, [[erosion]], river incision, and [[sediment]]ation. He was a [[planetary science]] pioneer, correctly identifying lunar craters as caused by impacts, and carrying out early impact-cratering experiments.<ref>Ronald Greeley, ''Planetary Landscapes'', 1985, Boston, Allen & Unwin</ref> He coined the term ''sculpture'' for a pattern of radial ridges surrounding [[Mare Imbrium]] on the moon, and correctly interpreted them in 1892 as [[ejecta]] from a giant impact.<ref name = "Gilbert" />{{rp|275}}  Gilbert was one of the more influential early American geologists.

==Awards==
He won the [[Wollaston Medal]] from the [[Geological Society of London]] in 1900.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Geological Society of London|date=20 February 1900 |page=5 |issue=36070}}</ref> He was elected as a member to the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1902.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?year=1902;smode=advanced;startDoc=1|access-date=2021-05-19|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> He was awarded the [[Charles P. Daly Medal]] by the [[American Geographical Society]] in 1910.<ref name="amergeog">{{cite web|url=http://www.amergeog.org/honorslist.pdf |title=American Geographical Society Honorary Fellowships |publisher=amergeog.org |access-date=2009-03-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704200812/http://www.amergeog.org/honorslist.pdf |archive-date=2009-07-04 }}</ref>   Gilbert was well-esteemed by all American geologists during his lifetime, and he is the only geologist to ever be elected twice as President of the [[Geological Society of America]] (1892 and 1909).<ref>Eckel, Edwin, 1982, GSA Memoir 155, The Geological Society of America — Life History of a Learned Society, {{ISBN|0-8137-1155-X}}.</ref>  Because of Gilbert's prescient insights into planetary geology, the Geological Society of America created the [[G.K. Gilbert Award]] for planetary geology in 1983.  Gilbert's wide-ranging scientific ideas were so profound that the Geological Society of America published GSA Special Paper 183 on his research (Yochelson, E.L., editor, 1980, The Scientific Ideas of G.K. Gilbert, fourteen separate biographical chapters, 148 pages). Gilbert also served as the president of the [[American Society of Naturalists]] from 1885 to 1886.<ref>{{cite web|title=Past Officers of the ASN|date=January 2, 2024|publisher=American Society of Naturalists|url=https://www.amnat.org/about/history/past-ec.html|access-date=May 31, 2025}}</ref>

[[Impact crater|Crater]]s on the [[Gilbert (lunar crater)|moon]] and on [[Gilbert (Martian crater)|Mars]] are named in his honor, as is [[Mount Gilbert (Chugach Mountains)|Mount Gilbert]] in Alaska, a second [[Mount Gilbert (California)|Mount Gilbert]] in California, and [[Gilbert Peak (Utah)|Gilbert Peak]] in the [[Uinta Mountains]] of Utah.

==Publications==
* "[https://archive.org/details/reportongeology00gilbgoog Report on the geology of the Henry mountains] (1877)
* "[https://books.google.com/books?id=NY0sAAAAYAAJ&dq=lake%20bonneville%20grove%20karl%20gilbert&pg=RA1-PR5 Lake Bonneville" US Geological Survey Monograph No. 1]. 1890. 438 p.
* "[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100359666 The Moon's face: a study of the origin of its features"]. Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington (January 1893).
* "[https://archive.org/details/undergroundwate00gilbgoog The Underground Water of the Arkansas Valley in Eastern Colorado]" (1896)
* "[https://archive.org/details/alaskaexp03harruoft Harriman Alaska Expedition, Volume 3: Glaciers and glaciation] (1899)
* "[https://archive.org/details/sanfranciscoear00gilbgoog The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of April 18, 1906, and Their Effects on Structures and ...]" (1907)
* "[https://archive.org/details/transportationof00gilbrich The transportation of débris by running water]" US Geological Survey Professional Paper No. 86 (1914)
* "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110725090930/http://libraryphoto.cr.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/search.cgi?search_mode=noPunct&free_form=bolinas&free_form=&free_form=&free_form= Bolinas]" USGS photographs of San Andreas fault taken by Gilbert (1906)
* "[https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0153/report.pdf Studies of Basin-Range structure"] U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 153 (1928)

==See also==
* [[Gilbert (lunar crater)]]
* [[Gilbert (Martian crater)]]
* [[G. K. Gilbert Award]] of the Geological Society of America

==References==
<references />

==Secondary sources==
* [[Stephen J. Pyne|Pyne, Stephen J.]] ''Grove Karl Gilbert: A Great Engine of Research''. Austin: [[University of Texas Press]], 1980.

==External links==
{{wikisource author}}
{{commons category}}
* {{Internet Archive author|search=("Gilbert, Grove" OR "G. K. Gilbert") OR ("1843–1918" AND Gilbert) AND NOT Chesterton}}

{{Presidents of the Geological Society of America}}
{{Presidents of the American Society of Naturalists}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Grove}}
[[Category:1843 births]]
[[Category:1918 deaths]]
[[Category:American geomorphologists]]
[[Category:Tectonicists]]
[[Category:Grand Canyon history]]
[[Category:University of Rochester alumni]]
[[Category:Scientists from Rochester, New York]]
[[Category:United States Geological Survey personnel]]
[[Category:Wollaston Medal winners]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:National Geographic Society founders]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Association of Geographers]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Geological Society of America]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Society of Naturalists]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]