Alec Trendall
{{Short description|English geologist, poet, and explorer}}
{{Infobox scientist| name = Alec Trendall | image = | caption = | nationality = British | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1928|12|8}} | birth_place = Enfield, Middlesex | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2013|4|4|1928|12|8}} | death_place = | occupation = geologist, poet, and explorer | spouse = | known_for = Director of the Geological Survey of Western Australia | education = PhD (University of Liverpool) | alma_mater = Imperial College London | honours = | thesis_title = The origin of albite gneisses | doctoral_advisor = Robert Shackleton }}
Alec Trendall (8 December 1928 – 4 April 2013{{cite web|last1=Cockbain|first1=Tony|title=Alec Francis Trendall 1928 - 2013 Trendall - Respected geologist who mapped South Georgia Island|url=http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/History/Obituaries-2001-onwards/Obituaries-2013/Alec-Francis-Trendall-1928-2013|website=The Geological Society|accessdate=12 November 2014}}
{{cite journal
| last = Cockbain
| first = Tony
| title = Obituary - Alec Francis Trendall 1928-2013
| journal = Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia
| volume = 96
| issue = 1
| pages = 35-37
| date = 2013
| language =
| url = https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/58083495
| jstor =
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| access-date = 2024-02-08}}
) was an English geologist, poet, and explorer. He is known for his work in mapping the island of South Georgia and for surveying the geology of Western Australia.
Early life
Alec Trendall was born in 1928 at Enfield, Middlesex, and in 1949 graduated in geology at Imperial College, London. He has a PhD degree from Liverpool University.
Exploration
Trendall was the geologist on the 1951–52 and 1953-54 South Georgia Survey expeditions led by Duncan Carse. Trendall Crag, 1,005 m, overlooking the north side of Drygalski Fjord at the southeast end of South Georgia, was named to commemorate Alec Trendall's contribution. In 2011 he published a full account of the survey expeditions, entitled Putting South Georgia on the Map.Trendall, A (2011) Putting South Georgia on the Map {{ISBN|978-0-9870614-0-9}}
The Scott Polar Research Institute's digitised archive includes 305 images of Trendall[http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/library/pictures/catalogue/sgs1951-57/search/?q=trendall Trendall images in SPRI archive] including images of a bergschrund - a hole in an ice sheet - which Trendall fell down before being carried on an improvised sled,[http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/library/pictures/catalogue/article/p54.19.a18.28/ Picture library catalogue] to leave the First expedition.
Geological Survey of Western Australia
Trendall was Director of the Geological Survey of Western Australia from 1969-1989.[http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/5253.aspx Geological Survey of Western Australia] Trendall discovered the locality known as Trendall Reserve, Eastern Pilbara in 1984. It contains convincing evidence of some of the oldest known fossils known as stromatolites.[http://pilbara.mq.edu.au/wiki/Trendall_Locality Trendal Locality]
References
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Category:History of South Georgia
Category:20th-century British geologists