PAUL E. POTTER: HIS YEARS AT CINCINNATI, INTERWOVEN WITH THE IL, IN, OH, AND KY STATE SURVEYS

In 1971, Paul Potter moved from Indiana University to the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Geology where he remained on the staff until his retirement in 1992. At UC, he joined with professors Pryor and later Maynard to establish the H.N. Fisk Laboratory of Sedimentology. Along with professors Meyer in paleontology and Huff in clay mineralogy, the Fisk Lab developed a dynamic and integrated graduate program in sedimentology whose students became leaders in industry, federal and state government, and academia. While at IU, Potter added close ties with the Indiana and Kentucky Geological Surveys to his existing connection to the Illinois Survey. While at UC, he also worked closely with the Ohio Survey. During his seven-decade career, Potter’s close contacts with the state surveys led to many publications, including the fruits of dozens of student research projects he supervised while at UC. His contributions to Midwestern professional geological societies and to the state surveys earned him the Life Achievement Award in Indiana, the Distinguished Lecturer and the Valued Contributor Awards in Kentucky, and the Mather Medal in Ohio. Paul maintained many contacts with the petroleum industry in the US and Brazil; he was awarded the Sydney Powers Gold Medal by the AAPG in 2016. His work in the Cincinnati tri-state region with the State Surveys produced the book Exploring the Geology of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Region (1996 and 2007), a 100-page urban geology text notable for its overview of the North American craton, and its interpretation of the geology and geophysics under Cincinnati, and linking these features to the local landscape. Another product of this collaboration was Lithologic and Environmental Atlas of the Berea Sandstone (1984). In the late 70s, in conjunction with colleagues at UC and with Roy Kepferle of the USGS, he began a study of the Devonian gas-bearing shales of the Appalachian and Illinois Basins. This work resulted in an array of maps and papers and in the book Sedimentology of Shale (1980) and ultimately Mud and Mudstone (2005). Potter’s vision of the importance of this package of rocks was borne out by the “fracking” boom of the 2000s.