Great Geologists | 127
evidence that the glacial sediments interrupt successions of rocks
commonly associated with tropical to temperate latitudes, he
argued for an ice age that was so extreme that it resulted in the
deposition of marine glacial rocks in the tropics. This remarkable
hypothesis received little support when Harland first presented
it, but is now more widely
accepted under the moniker
‘Snowball Earth.’
Given the need to correlate
the geology of Spitsbergen
with other parts of the globe,
techniques for correlation and
indeed collaboration became
central to much of Harland’s
work from the 1960s onward.
Arthur Holmes had published
regular updates to his famous
geological timescale up
until the beginnings of the
1960s. Harland felt that as
more data were gathered in
the fields of geochronology
and biostratigraphy it was
imperative that an up-to-
date geological timescale
Precambrian diamictite.
was widely available to
all researchers. He thus
coordinated the research for the book for which he most arguably
most well-known — The Geological Timescale. It was first
published in 1964 with revised and expanded versions in 1971,
1982 and 1990. Not surprisingly, he soon became known as
“Timescale Harland” by the geological community at large.
Harland’s great skill in creating The Geological Timescale book
series was his ability to coordinate and synthesize the work
of a group of colleagues. He believed deeply in international
collaboration and was at the forefront of the founding of the
International Geological Correlation Programme, the now-
UNESCO funded series of research projects that seek to unravel
Earth’s history. As Honorary Secretary of the Geological Society
of London from 1963 to 1970, he led plans for the Society to
become a center for collaborative research. He initiated a series
of multi-contribution books, which led to the Society’s flagship
series of Special Publications that to date includes almost 500
volumes on a diverse range of geological subjects.
As a great ‘all-rounder,’ Harland’s interest in tectonics matched
his interest in sedimentology and stratigraphy. He coined the
term ‘transpression’ to describe mountain formation by oblique
convergence and introduced the name ‘Iapetus’ for the Early
Paleozoic ocean that ran through parts of modern-day Europe
and North America. Previously known by the misnomer Proto-
Atlantic, Harland choose the name after a conversation with a
classics colleague at Gonville and Caius who pointed out that
Iapetus was the mythological father of Atlas, from whom the
name Atlantic is derived.
Harland’s appetite for scientific
work can only be marveled
at — it is said that he typically
worked 14 hours a day. In
addition to the activities
mentioned, he edited the
prestigious journal Geological
Magazine for 30 years. He
edited the first edition of The
Fossil Record, a compendium
of the stratigraphic ranges of all
fossil groups.
There is no doubt that the
fields of Arctic geology,
geochronology, biostratigraphy,
tectonics and glacial geology
would be much poorer without
his contributions and boundless
energy to coordinate research
activities in these fields.
Brian Harland passed away
in 2003. His legacy continues in the form of CASP (formerly
the Cambridge Arctic Shelf Programme), an industry-funded
charitable research organisation that carries out field work in
remote locations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Sandra Freshney, Archivist at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth
Sciences in Cambridge is thanked for providing some of the images
used in this article.
REFERENCES
This essay has drawn on information from the following sources
along with the authors recollections of his conversations with
Brian Harland and with colleagues who worked alongside him at
Cambridge:
Frankel, H.R. 2012. The Continental Drift Controversy. Volume III:
Introduction of Seafloor Spreading. Cambridge University Press.
476pp.
Friend, P.F. 2004. Walter Brian Harland, 1917-2003. Proceedings of
the Geologists Association, 115, 183-186.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/w-b-
harland-37459.html
http://www.sedgwickmuseum.org/index.php?page=brian-
harland-100