Geophysical Case Histories, Volume II - First Edition (1956)

An original 1956 first-edition volume of Geophysical Case Histories, published by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and edited by Paul L. Lyons of Sinclair Oil and Gas Company.

This substantial 676-page reference collects 53 technical papers by 75 authors, combining previously published research from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists with a large body of then-new material. It was conceived as a practical record of how geophysical methods actually performed in the field rather than simply a textbook treatment of their theory.

The case histories document the state of applied geophysics during the rapid postwar development of seismic, gravity, magnetic, electrical, and related exploration techniques. Individual studies examine geological structures and exploration programs throughout the United States and internationally, with extensive maps, seismic sections, diagrams, well data, and interpretations. The illustrated example shown here examines seismic interpretation and subsequent drilling in the Clarke Road area of Trinidad.

Historically, the volume captures an important stage in the development of modern geophysics. By the 1950s, geophysical prospecting had evolved from a relatively young experimental discipline into a central tool for understanding subsurface geology. The Society of Exploration Geophysicists specifically records the publication of Volume II in its history of the organization for 1956.

Much of the research was conducted in connection with petroleum and mineral exploration, making the book an artifact of the period when industrial research organizations were major centers of geological innovation. It predates the era in which the full atmospheric and climatic consequences of large-scale fossil-fuel consumption were broadly understood, and today provides a useful historical record of the scientific methods, priorities, and infrastructure of mid-20th-century resource geology.

This copy has particularly relevant institutional provenance: the title page bears a “Property of Stanolind Oil & Gas Company — Geological Dept.” stamp. Stanolind was part of the Standard Oil of Indiana organization and was itself an important center of petroleum engineering research during this period. Its engineers were involved in early development of hydraulic-fracturing technology, making the surviving corporate-library provenance especially appropriate for a technical work on applied subsurface geophysics.

Editor: Paul L. Lyons
Publisher: Society of Exploration Geophysicists
Year: 1956
Edition: First Edition / original 1956 publication
Volume: II
Contents: 53 papers by 75 authors
Pages: 676
Format: Hardcover

Condition: Vintage hardcover in dark blue cloth with gilt lettering. Former corporate geological-library copy with Stanolind Oil & Gas Company ownership stamp and spine catalog markings.