Obituary notices

HAROLD VINCENT DUNNINGTON, member ofthe Geologists' Association since 1947, died on 16October 1981.

'Don' (to his family and close friends) was born inYorkshire and graduated from the University of Leedswith a First Class Honours degree in Geology in 1940.His professor and mentor at Leeds, the late R. G. S.Hudson, often referred to 'Don' as his most brilliantstudent.

Following active service with the British Army dur­ing the war years, Dunnington joined the Iraq Pet­roleum Company in 1946 and was posted to Kirkukwhere he stayed until 1958. During this period hemade outstanding contributions to the stratigraphyand petroleum geology of Iraq and established himselfas a leading authority on the geology of the MiddleEast. Among pioneering work was his contribution tothe development of a lithostratigraphic nomenclaturein Iraq which appeared in the Lexique StratigraphiqueInternationale series in 1959. Dunnington's co­ordination of the project and his uncompromising highstandards are reflected in the quality of the work.

.His most enduring achievement as a petroleumgeologist, however, is perhaps his paper on the 'Gen­eration, Migration, Accumulation and Dissipation ofOil in Northern Iraq' which was published in TheHabitat of Oil in 1958. It is a classical example of anintegrated approach to the relation between lithofaciesand oil occurrence, and illustrates the depth of hisinsight and vision as a petroleum geologist.

In 1958 Dunnington was transferred to Iraq Pet­roleum Company's London headquarters where heremained until his retirement in 1974. He rose to thepositions of Chief Geologist and Exploration Man­ager, directing the Company's successful search for oiland gas in the Trucial Coast States and Oman. Despitehis administrative duties during this period, he foundtime to foster and maintain an active association withacademic institutions and to continue his reflections onthe petroleum geology of the Middle East. Thesereflections culminated in a second thought-provokingpaper entitled the 'Stratigraphic Distribution ofOilfields in the Iraq-Iran-Arabian Basin' in 1967.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions, theUniversity of Leeds honoured Dunnington by award­ing him the degree of Doctor of Science in 1969.

After his retirement he remained active as a consul­tant and a director of Cluff Oil Ltd. He was alsoinvolved in the founding of the Journal of PetroleumGeology, and served as its editor-in-chief.

Dunnington is survived by his wife, Yvonne, andfour children. His untimely death has deprived themof a very dear member of the family; it is also animmense loss to the geological fraternity. He was aconstant source of encouragement to aspiring geolog­ists, always courteous, extremely kind and an inspiring

mentor. He possessed that rare quality which can onlybe called a generous spirit.

Over the last few years Dunnington had been col­lecting data for writing a book on the petroleumgeology of the Middle East, a task for which he waseminently qualified. Sadly, he was unable to realise hislife-long ambition; it would have been a fitting monu­ment to a distinguished career.

M.AA

ALFRED NORMAN (Bill) BURTON joined the As­sociation in 1948. Many friends and colleagues wereshocked to learn of his untimely death and there is nodoubt that he will be sadly missed not only in his ownorganisation, Hunting Surveys Limited, but in theProfession as a whole.

Bill Burton was born 1925 in the village of Eastonin Huntingdonshire. He was educated at HuntingdonGrammar School and then at London Universitywhere he was awarded first-class honours in bothPhysics and in Geology, as well as an Associateship ofThe Royal College of Science.

After lecturing in Geology at the University ofWales, he joined George Wimpey & Co where heworked for five years supervising site investigation. Hejoined Huntings in 1957 and his work took him tomany locations overseas involved in a variety of en­gineering geological studies connected with major de­velopment projects. His first assignment was in theSudan as Engineering Geologist on the Jebal MarraProject. He spent the next five years in Calabria,Southern Italy, and eventually became Chief Geologisttechnically in charge of an immense geological surveyproject. From Italy he moved on to work in Jordan,Bangladesh, Greece, Iran, Somalia and The Gambiawith constant emphasis on work involving engineeringgeology. He acted as Consultant Geologist for anumber of major engineering projects including theEgnatia Road Project in Greece.

As interest in marine geology and site investigationincreased with developments in the North Sea, Billbecame involved in this side of Hunting's business andin 1974 was appointed Director responsible for allMarine and Geotechnical activities and during his timeas Director saw this side of the Company's businessincrease enormously.

Bill Burton was typical of the hard working, highlyqualified professional executive who over the yearsbuilds the reputation of his organisation and enhancesits name. He will be sadly missed. Bill leaves a wife,Joy, and two sons.

AD.B.

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