D
DALY, REGINALD ALDWORTH (1871–1957)
Tom Spencer
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Reginald Aldworth Daly (1871–1957) Canadian igneous
petrologist, structural geologist, early geophysicist, and
originator of the glacial control hypothesis for
the origin of modern coral reefs. Educated at Victoria
College, Ontario and Harvard University (PhD 1896),
where he was a teaching assistant under N.S. Shaler and
W.M. Davis. In 1901, he joined the Canadian International
Boundary Survey and undertook a monumental survey of
structural geology along the 49th Parallel from the Pacific
coast through the Cascades and Rocky Mountains into the
Great Plains. In 1907, he returned to academic life, first
taking a position at Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and then succeeding Davis as Sturgis Hooper Professor at
Harvard in 1912, a post he held until his retirement in
1942.
In 1909, he undertook (with T.A. Jaggar, founding Director of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory) early studies of
Kilauea volcano, Hawaii and as a member of the Shaler
Memorial Expedition to the southern hemisphere (1921–
1922), he mapped the volcanic islands of St. Helena and
Ascension and studied the Bushveld intrusion in South
Africa, the latter leading him to become a supporter of
the theory of continental drift. In 1919, on a Carnegie
Institution – funded expedition with A.G. Mayor, he mapped
the geology of American Samoa. Other interests included
carbonate sedimentation and beachrock (with field studies
at the Tortugas Marine Laboratory, Dry Tortugas, Florida),
turbidity currents and the formation of submarine canyons,
and isostasy and glacial rebound (supported by evidence
from raised shorelines in Canada and Fennoscandanavia).
He made a major contribution to coral reef science through
the glacial control hypothesis (see Glacial Control Hypothesis) which drew attention to the importance of Pleistocene
variations in sea level and ocean temperature in determining
the morphology of modern coral reefs; while many of his
inferences on the magnitude of Pleistocene environmental
change have been shown to be broadly correct, he overestimated its impact on coral reef morphology.
Bibliography
Birch, F. A., 1960. Reginald Aldworth Daly May 19, 1871–
September 19, 1957. Biographical Memoirs. Washington, DC:
National Academy of Sciences, pp. 31–64.
Daly, R. A., 1910. Pleistocene glaciation and the coral reef problem.
American Journal of Science, Fourth Series, 30, 297–308.
Daly, R. A., 1915. The glacial control theory of coral reefs. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 51,
157–251.
Daly, R. A., 1919. Origin of beach-rock. Yearbook of the Carnegie
Institution, Washington 18, 192.
Daly, R. A., 1924. The geology of American Samoa. Carnegie Institution, Washington Publication, 340, 93–143.
Daly, R. A., 1934. The Changing World of the Ice Age. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 271 pp.
Natland, J. H., 2006. Reginald Aldworth Daly (1871–1957): Eclectic theoretician of the Earth. GSA Today, 16, 24–26.
Cross-references
Beach Rock
Davis, William Morris (1850–1934)
Glacial Control Hypothesis
Mayor, Alfred Goldsborough (1868–1922)
David Hopley (ed.), Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2,
# Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011
DALY, REGINALD ALDWORTH (1871–1957)
Tom Spencer
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Reginald Aldworth Daly (1871–1957) Canadian igneous
petrologist, structural geologist, early geophysicist, and
originator of the glacial control hypothesis for
the origin of modern coral reefs. Educated at Victoria
College, Ontario and Harvard University (PhD 1896),
where he was a teaching assistant under N.S. Shaler and
W.M. Davis. In 1901, he joined the Canadian International
Boundary Survey and undertook a monumental survey of
structural geology along the 49th Parallel from the Pacific
coast through the Cascades and Rocky Mountains into the
Great Plains. In 1907, he returned to academic life, first
taking a position at Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and then succeeding Davis as Sturgis Hooper Professor at
Harvard in 1912, a post he held until his retirement in
1942.
In 1909, he undertook (with T.A. Jaggar, founding Director of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory) early studies of
Kilauea volcano, Hawaii and as a member of the Shaler
Memorial Expedition to the southern hemisphere (1921–
1922), he mapped the volcanic islands of St. Helena and
Ascension and studied the Bushveld intrusion in South
Africa, the latter leading him to become a supporter of
the theory of continental drift. In 1919, on a Carnegie
Institution – funded expedition with A.G. Mayor, he mapped
the geology of American Samoa. Other interests included
carbonate sedimentation and beachrock (with field studies
at the Tortugas Marine Laboratory, Dry Tortugas, Florida),
turbidity currents and the formation of submarine canyons,
and isostasy and glacial rebound (supported by evidence
from raised shorelines in Canada and Fennoscandanavia).
He made a major contribution to coral reef science through
the glacial control hypothesis (see Glacial Control Hypothesis) which drew attention to the importance of Pleistocene
variations in sea level and ocean temperature in determining
the morphology of modern coral reefs; while many of his
inferences on the magnitude of Pleistocene environmental
change have been shown to be broadly correct, he overestimated its impact on coral reef morphology.
Bibliography
Birch, F. A., 1960. Reginald Aldworth Daly May 19, 1871–
September 19, 1957. Biographical Memoirs. Washington, DC:
National Academy of Sciences, pp. 31–64.
Daly, R. A., 1910. Pleistocene glaciation and the coral reef problem.
American Journal of Science, Fourth Series, 30, 297–308.
Daly, R. A., 1915. The glacial control theory of coral reefs. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 51,
157–251.
Daly, R. A., 1919. Origin of beach-rock. Yearbook of the Carnegie
Institution, Washington 18, 192.
Daly, R. A., 1924. The geology of American Samoa. Carnegie Institution, Washington Publication, 340, 93–143.
Daly, R. A., 1934. The Changing World of the Ice Age. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 271 pp.
Natland, J. H., 2006. Reginald Aldworth Daly (1871–1957): Eclectic theoretician of the Earth. GSA Today, 16, 24–26.
Cross-references
Beach Rock
Davis, William Morris (1850–1934)
Glacial Control Hypothesis
Mayor, Alfred Goldsborough (1868–1922)
David Hopley (ed.), Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2,
# Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011