IT

XII

CONTRIBUTIONS OF GEOLOGY

DOUGLAS W. JOHNSON

T was at dinner at the mess of General X. During a pause in the lively conversation carried on by the members of his staff, I casually asked the General himself a question which I had propounded many times before under similar circumstances:

"Have you found any practical use for geological information or assistance in the course of your operations?"

On previous occasions the answers had varied from an emphatic "yes," with concrete illustrations of the practical uses made of the science in solving military problems, to an equally emphatic "no," with reasons why geology could not be useful in warfare. One general naïvely explained that trenches and dugouts reached but a moderate depth below the surface, and that as geology only dealt with deep-seated rocks it could of course not come into play in military operations.

This evening my host replied by telling the following story: "We had to establish a big aviation camp at Y, and I sent an officer who is a trained geologist to report on the matter of water supply. After a careful examination he reported that for the number of men to be assigned to that camp, so many wells must be dug to assure adequate quantities of water throughout the entire year. This report was sent to the commanding officer of the camp for his information and appropriate action. It soon came back with the endorsement: 'What is the use of digging wells in a country which is already saturated with water?'

"The report was filed away. Summer came, the surface water disappeared, springs gradually diminished in volume, and the small number of previously existing wells could not begin to supply the demands made upon them. Then we got a distress call from the commanding officer: 'For Heaven's sake come dig us some wells. We have no water.' Now my geological officer got his revenge. He sent a reply which read something like this:

"Referring to your request of even date that some wells be sunk in your camp, your attention is respectfully called to my report of February, specifying the number of wells you would need, and to your endorsement of said report to the effect that there was no use in digging wells in a country already saturated with water. I regret to report that all our drilling parties are at present engaged on pressing work duly authorized; but as soon as a party is free, it will be sent immediately to your assistance.'

"Since that day," concluded the General, "no one in this army thinks of doing anything in a new region without first consulting our geologist."

Not in all armies did the geologist enjoy such high confidence. A survey of the army fronts, even in the last days of the war, would have shown that in some localities and in some problems geological science was actively contributing to the prosecution of military operations; while in others the geologist was conspicuous by his absence, and the most heard about him was a number of complaints from engineers and officers that their work was seriously hampered because of the lack of geological information and assistance. Nevertheless, the sum total of the contributions made by geology toward winning the war is a creditable record, and the reader may be interested in some examples of the many ways in which a knowledge of the earth's crust was made to increase the effectiveness of the military campaigns.

In England one naturally turned first to the headquarters of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, in London, to learn

whether the Government's official geologists had been called upon to contribute their special knowledge to the solution of military problems. Inquiry developed the fact that a great range of geological questions had been submitted by the military authorities, and that the members of the Survey, both in the office and at the front, were busy finding the necessary answers. When German "pill-boxes" were captured, the Survey was asked to determine the source of the gravel used in the concrete with which they were constructed, for thereon hung an important question as to how effectively a certain country was preserving its neutrality. The geologist was able to identify, in the concrete, material which could have come only from the Rhine Valley by canals across neutral territory, and thus to refute the contention that the gravel was of Belgium origin. In the same way the geologist was asked to discover the origin of certain cements used by the Germans. When between 3000 and 4000 soldiers had been rendered unfit for service by septic sores which developed on the arms of men tunneling through a particular geological formation, the Survey geologists were called upon to ascertain the cause; and they found that clay in the formation acted like Fuller's earth in removing the natural oils from the skin, with the result that the skin dried and cracked abnormally, rendering infection easy in the unclean life of the trenches. The low plain of Flanders is lacking in material suitable for road-making, so the military authorities turned to the Survey for information as to the nearest supplies of stone which, when crushed, would make good road metal. To detect and forestall German tunneling operations, some one conceived the idea of using seismographs to locate the origin of distant underground blasting, and the testing of this idea was turned over to the Survey authorities as the ones most familiar with the use of earthquake recording instruments.

The medical department of the army required information as to the geological formations likely to yield good water supply in large quantities, not only in France and Belgium, but

also in half a hundred or more places in Great Britain where large bodies of men were quartered in training camps and hospitals. The army engineers wanted to know the value of certain sands for use in concrete, why particular formations squeezed out into the trenches and dugouts, about the use of sandscreens in wells, what was the permanent level of underground water in many localities, and a long list of additional things equally varied. War trade organizations wanted information on mineral resources in many parts of the world. The navy desired help in testing various minerals needed for the manufacture of instruments used in important submarine devices, in locating coal supplies in distant ports of the world, and in finding suitable water supplies for a large number of naval stations. The ministry of munitions asked about caves for storing high explosives, and the sources and quality of minerals used in the manufacture of such explosives. Even the air service had its geological problems to bring to the Survey officials. All these needs, and many more which lack of space forbids us to mention, were met by the trained staff of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. If this were the whole story, surely few would deny that this scientific branch of the British Government had amply justified its existence when the test of war came.

But it is not the whole story. Some members of the staff were missing for a time, and inquiry would have elicited the information that three of them were in the Gallipoli peninsula developing a water supply for the forces engaged in that ill-fated campaign; while others were here or there on other geological missions. At the front you might have found Belgian, British and French army officials eagerly consulting one of the only two known available copies of a detailed geological map of Belgium showing geological cross-sections and well records of most vital importance, both copies having been supplied from the files of the British Survey. On asking about the other copy, you would have learned that the Survey staff was busy preparing from it as a base, a new issue for distribu

tion among the many headquarters where it was urgently needed. And had you seen the great mine explosions at Messines Ridge, the greatest of the entire war, and had asked where the vast tunneling operations were planned which made possible that remarkable series of nineteen volcanic eruptions, the reply would have been, “In the offices of the Geological Survey in Jermyn Street, London." From every part of Britain's far-flung battle front were threads running back to converge at the offices of the Geological Survey.

The most effective use of geology in warfare requires that a competent geological staff shall be located in the active theater of military operations, where it can quickly examine and constantly supervise every geological problem which may arise. Our British friends were alive to this truth, and established at their General Headquarters in France a geologic corps, attached for convenience to the section of the Chief Engineers. The Chief Geologist was Lt. Col. T. Edgeworth David, the distinguished Australian scientist who accompanied Shackleton on one of the Antarctic expeditions; and associated with him were Captain W. B. R. King of the British Geological Survey, and several other assistants. Their office formed part of the Headquarters establishment, but their active labors extended the full length of the British front in France and Belgium.

It would not be possible, even were it desirable, to present in a single short chapter any adequate account of the variety of geological services rendered by Col. David and his co-workers. Suffice it then to mention the principal divisions into which those services may conveniently be grouped, and to give some examples under each. Let us turn first to the all-important matter of locating underground mines, tunnels, and dugouts. It was fortunate that the British General Staff included generals who held the opinion that geological study was absolutely essential to the proper location of these underground workings, and who were frank enough to express their regret that geologists had not been employed from the