DR. VIRGIL E. BARNES: CHAMPION OF GEOLOGIC MAPPING IN TEXAS

Virgil E. Barnes (1903-1998) served at the Bureau of Economic Geology at The University of Texas at Austin from 1961 until his death in 1998. World-renowned for his research on tektites, he was also an outstanding field geologist, geologic mapper, dedicated research scientist, and visionary leader.

In 1961, Dr. Barnes was assigned as director of the Geologic Atlas of Texas (GAT) (https://store.beg.utexas.edu/25-geologic-atlas-of-texas) project to create new uniform geologic maps of the state, an ambitious project that he had originally proposed in the late 1940s. The GAT project would require compilation of maps from published sources, unpublished theses and dissertations, and oil company files to create a series of geologic maps for Texas that each covered an area of one-degree latitude by two degrees longitude. Each map was to include topography, roads, cities, towns, railroads, and other cultural features.

Twenty-six years later in 1987, the project was completed when the last of 38 map sheets covering the surface geology for the state of Texas at the scale of 1:250,000 was published. Dr. Barnes also directed the Geologic Map of Texas (https://store.beg.utexas.edu/thematic-maps/1257-sm0003.html) project that produced a four-quadrant 1:500,000-scale geologic wall-sized map of the state that was completed in 1992.

The GAT maps are an invaluable resource for geoscience in Texas and are foundational to any regional and state-level natural resource evaluation from energy, minerals, aggregate, groundwater, ecological, and natural hazards. Dr. Barnes and his collaborators took disparate geologic information and synthesized it into a consistent and uniform layout, while establishing the geologic nomenclature, stratigraphy, and structure within each map area. This work created the framework for continued detailed geologic mapping in Texas.

Beyond Texas the maps have served as important components in the creation of other maps of North America. In acknowledgment of their significance, the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Texas Natural Resources Information System collaborated in 2007 to digitize the paper maps, resulting in the seamless, GIS-based Geologic Database of Texas (GDT). This adaptation ensures that this pioneering work continues to be relevant and influential in the age of digital mapping.