CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE GEOLOGY OF URANIUM AND THORIUM:
U. S. GeologicalSurvey Professional Paper 300. Editedby Lincoln R. Page '31, H. E. Stocking, andHarriet B. Smith.
The International Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy at Geneva, Switzerland, in August of 1955 was held under the sponsorship of the United Nations for the broad exchange of information on all phases of atomic energy. Two of the technical sessions were devoted to discussions of the occurrence of and prospecting for uranium and thorium. U. S.Geological Survey Professional Paper 300 is composed of papers submitted to these sessions by members of the U. S. Geological Survey and the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission. Principal editor, Lincoln R. Page '31, is now general supervisor of the U. S. Geological Survey's extensive program in fissionable materials.
Professional Paper 300 is by far the most authoritative and informative report yet published on the natural occurrences of uranium and thorium, and summarizes ten years of intensive study of the subject by thousands of workers in the United States. Much of the information has been available, heretofore, only in confidential governmental reports, and much is presented here for the first time.
The main portion of the book is devoted to the principles of occurrence of uranium in sedimentary and igneous rocks, and in veins. A shorter section is devoted to the occurrences of thorium, and a final section to the methods of prospecting for uranium and thorium. As is to be expected, there is considerable emphasis on the Colorado Plateau area, the source of 93.2% of all uranium mined in the United States. It is heartening, however, to discover that uranium is ubiquitous, and occurs in a wide variety of geologic settings. It is the one major energy source over which there should be no future international friction. Even now it is theoretically extractable from some granites. In the words of one of the contributors to the volume . . no nation which needs uranium and thorium in quantity need be deprived of supplies of these elements."
Professional Paper 300 has a strong Dartmouth flavor. Dr. Page has contributed three papers to the volume. Of the 132 experts called upon, five others are Dartmouth alumni. These men, and the topics on which they wrote are: Louis C. Conant '26, Uranium inthe Chattanooga Shale; Edwin V. Post '51, Uranium in the Black Hills; James W. Mytton '49, Radioactive Elements in Oil and GasFields; Stewart R. Wallace '41, Thorium inColorado; and Robert K. Pitman '42, SubsurfaceCore-Drilling Techniques. The College can well be proud of the scientific contributions of these alumni to a subject of such notable importance.
