THE SYNERGY BETWEEN RAILROADS AND GEOLOGY - HOW THESE TWO DISCIPLNES DEVELOPED TOGETHER DURING THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES (Invited Presentation)

The Industrial Revolution began slowly early in the 1700's with the development of Thomas Newcomen's steam engine intended to remove groundwater from coal mines, a new source of fuel now that forests had been depleted for their wood. Later that same century, James Watt added a condenser to Newcomen's engine greatly improving its efficiency. In1803 Richard Trevithick added a steam engine to a carriage and the Industrial Revolution accelerated! Geologists were now needed to find the coal and map out the deposits and railroad were needed to move this fuel to the city centers where people lived.

This presentation focuses on the beginnings of the railroad industry with a spotlight on the expotential need for scientists to not only find the coal but to assist the railroads in locating their routes on geologically stable ground. From a geologist's point of view, railroads quickly delivered large geologic survey parties to distant lands and then enabled shipments of prized fossils back to their universities. In addition to coal, ore and mineral deposits such as iron ore, potash, soda ash and oil dictated where railroads should be built. Rapid expansion of both disciplines began in earnest in 1830 and continued through to the 1920's. Correllation of the growth patterns of the number of miles of railroad constructed match closely with the number of geologic treatises written. This synergy between geology and railroads continues today with the Borah Peak Earthquake in 1983 resulting in the railroad's contributing funding for the continued development of Early Earthquake Warning Systems. Geologists are vital in the construction of Very High Speed Rail Networks which require long section of tangent track and gentle curves in order to reach speeds of 200 mph (330 kph) or greater resulting in many miles of tunneling and bridge construction being led by the geologic community.