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September, 1966
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small fragments. It remained in this condition for years and years. I think the only part of the skeleton that remained in any recognizable form was the head. At one time I visited Texas Memorial Museum and was surprised to see on exhibit a head of a mosasaur which I recognized and thought that perhaps I would never live to see the day when someone would be brave enough to assemble it again.
"I heard nothing more of the mosasaur until I received a letter last fall from Dr. Warm Langston. Someone had given him my name and told him that they thought I might know something about the specimen. He wanted to know all of the facts about it, so the next time I was in Austin, I took him out to the locality and showed him the exact spot where we found it. He told me the material was just a mass of fragments with out any information as to its origin when he started working on it. I was very glad to know that he succeeded in re-assem bling the specimen and had prepared it in such a beautiful manner.
"Pete Smith took his degree in 1937 and the last I heard of him he was a Geologist with Standard Oil Company of New Jersey in Tripoli, Libya (see note on Pete in the Alumni News Section of this Newsletter) . Dr. Frank Bell, the man who put the mosasaur together for the first time, is teaching geology at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Dr. Bill Crum is on the geology staff of Texas Western College in El Paso."
The Texas Memorial Museum has a brochure in press (from which this story was taken) and it will soon be available to the public. Information concerning it may be obtained by writing to the Museum here in Austin.
The new Geology Building is shown here in its present stage of construction.
New Building Nears Completion
The new Geology Building, nearly twice the size of the present one, should be ready for occupancy in December or January. Dedication ceremonies will probably be held in October 1967, after the faculty and the Bureau of Economic Geology are well established in their new air-conditioned quarters. The new building consists of five floors, a basement, and an auditorium. The top floor, reached by two elevators,
will house the Bureau offices. The fourth floor will be used exclusively by graduate students. It includes paleontological research labs, X-ray and chemical labs, drafting rooms, dark rooms, small offices and seminar rooms. The third floor con tains the 10,000 square foot library and faculty offices, and the lower two floors provide undergraduate geology class rooms, and additional faculty offices. About half of the base ment is occupied by air conditioning, electrical and mechani cal equipment. The remainder is used for sedimentation and structural labs, storage for collections, a machine shop, and special labs for isotope geology, thin-section preparation, rock crushing and mineral separation.
Steve Clabaugh has represented the faculty in planning the building, and he is currently keeping an eye on the construc tion and discovering how many things can go wrong as the pieces are put together in a 2^ million dollar building. Ed Jonas worked with Steve in the selection of furniture, which is now being ordered. All of us are eagerly (if somewhat fear fully) awaiting the big move. The present geology building will be renovated for use by other departments of the Uni versity.
Geology Faculty News
Another distinguished geologist will join our staff next spring, and we hope that he will continue teaching here at least part of every year thereafter. He is Thomas S. Lovering, who recently retired from the U.S. Geological Survey. Tom is known around the world for his work on mineral deposits and mining geology; his books and papers are classic references in economic geology. While serving as a professor at the Uni versity of Michigan, Tom was voted best teacher on the uni versity faculty. He has long been active in the affairs of the scientific societies, and he is a member of the National Acad emy of Sciences.
The Director of our Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, Murry Tamers, has been in Venezuela for three years setting up the only radiocarbon laboratory in South America. Murry has now decided to stay in Caracas, and Salvatore Valastro, Jr. will soon take charge of our laboratory as Associate Director. E. Mott Davis of the Anthropology Department has been serv ing as Director in Tamers' absence, and Joe Pearson managed the operation of the laboratory until he completed his Ph.D. in June and joined the staff of the U.S. Geological Survey in New York.
Alfred Traverse taught historical geology and paleobotany last year as a visiting lecturer here. He has now moved to Perm State as Associate Professor of Geology, and he will continue his research in paleobotany with support of a grant from NSF.
The faculty for next year will be as follows :
Professors Virgil E. Barnes, Associate Director, Bureau of Economic Geology W. Charles Bell Fred M. Bullard
