Memorial to Percival Sidney Warren1890-1970C. R. STELCK

University o f Alberta, E dm onton, Alberta, Canada

Percival Sidney Warren was a Fellow of The Geological Society o f America for forty years (elected 1930). For over ha lf a cen tu ry he looked forward to the bulletin o f the Society as his link with the general field o f geology, during the m any years he was perm anent stratigrapher at a lonely outpost located farthest n o r th in America. He accepted the responsibili ty o f this post in the D epar tm en t o f Geology in the University o f Alberta at E dm on ton , and was recognized by the geological f ra ternity as the dean o f western Canadian stratigraphy. Hisstratigraphic dom ain ran from the 4 9 th parallel o f lati tude to the Arctic Ocean, and from the Canadian Shield to the Rocky Mountains.

Dr. Warren belonged to that fo r tuna te group o f men that held no branch o f geology to be less im portan t , although he did confess to a greater love o f the biostratigraphic side, with am m onites and brachiopods very definitely in first place.

He was born at Brechin, Ontario , on April 15, 1890, near the shores o f Lake Simcoe where, with his two brothers and tw o sisters, he learned the discipline o f work at anearly age. His place o f bir th gave h im wide stratigraphic scope, for his boy h oo d farm,in Ontario, was on Pleis tocene glacial material caught along the boundary o f the Precambrian and Paleozoic. T o the n o r th the Grenville Proterozoic rocks are located, and to the sou th the fossiliferous outcroppings o f the Ordovician, w ith brachiopods along the trace o f the T re n t canal, waiting to be collected. The you ng farm boy collected, and the fu ture geologist ob ta ined an early insight into, and love for, natural his tory as expressed in geology.

His parents were John Bortse Warren and Mary Gibson, o f Irish Canadian stock tha t had settled in Canada before the war o f 1812. He a t tended the collegiate at Orillia, Ontario , and originally planned to becom e a doc tor ; however, ill health caused him to take o u td o o r w ork and he became a m em ber o f a survey crew in the co ba lt area o f Ontario . Here mining discoveries enhanced the glamour o f geology; he resolved to pursue formal education in that line, and taught school for a while to save toward this goal.

Warren en tered the University o f T o ro n to , in 1913, in honors geology, b u t in te rrup ted his education to enlist in the army, in 1915, w ith the 2 6 th Battery o f the Canadian Field Artillery. His military experiences in World War I had a profound effect on his subsequent career. He was w o unded at Passchendaele, wh ich earned him the o p p o r tu n i ty to a t tend the Khaki College at the University o f London. He also used

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this opportunity to visit the classic stratigraphic sections in England, and his fossil collections, used later in teaching, were filled out with specimens collected while he was convalescing. He never lost this connection with military studies, and for the next forty-five years was a guest lecturer to the armed forces in military history and geography. His chief specialties were the peninsular campaigns o f Wellington and the military geography o f the Paris basin. Promotions continued; during World War II he was colonel-in-charge o f the Canadian Officers Training Corps at the University of Alberta. During the war years he had had close fraternity with the American officers in charge of the Canol project, and as a result he was able to obtain official permission to study the Canol fossil collections from the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. At this time Canol reports were all stamped “confidential.”

Dr. Warren received the A.R.C.S. (London) in 1919; then returned to Canada in 1920, where he completed his B.A. degree from Trinity College at Toronto University.

The great paleontologist, Dr. W. A. Parks, encouraged him to return to the University o f Toronto in the field o f paleontology (he had contemplated mineralogy first), and he obtained the Ph.D. from there in 1920. His thesis was on the stratigraphy and paleontology o f the Banff area in the National Park in Alberta, although the federal government had commissioned him primarily to go in and find out why the hot springs at the spa were dwindling. The flow had been restored by the time he reached the mountains, nevertheless he went on to solve the problem. His solution is still accepted. It is this: the amount o f rainfall and the amount o f flow are proportional. This thesis became the classic Memoir 153 o f the Geological Survey o f Canada-the Banff Memoir.

From 1920 to 1970, for half a century, Dr. Warren’s name was linked with the University of Alberta and, indeed, that institution was known by many geologists around the world only through his presence. His descriptions o f fossils from the frontier of Canada brought him international recognition, although Warren himself travelled very little in a global sense. He joined the staff at Alberta as a lecturer in geology in 1920; rose through the academic levels to become professor o f stratigraphy in 1934, and head o f the Department o f Geology in 1949, succeeding Dr. J. A. Allan. In 1955, he retired to become emeritus professor, and was followed in the headship by R. E. Folinsbee, a former student o f Warren. Warren continued to teach advanced stratigraphy for many years, where his students vicariously responded to the thrill of his first-hand stories o f Dowling, McConnell, Kindle, and the other pioneers of western geology.

In addition to his teaching career at the University, he served as provost during the post-war years, when the veterans were returning to college. For a long time, he was chairman of the men’s athletic board and strongly supported intracollegiate sports. He established the Warren Cup at the University o f Alberta for cross country running, which had been his own specialty until wounded in World War I. He was an avid fan of interhouse basketball and hockey, and personally played a tight game of badminton until well past three score and ten.

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Dr. Warren acted on the advisory boards o f the Research Council o f Alberta during the years o f its resurgence as an important scientific center after the second world war. He was the author o f the paleontological sections in numerous field reports turned out by the Research Council, collaborating with J. A. Allan and R. L. Rutherford on these. These two men and Warren constituted the triumvirate o f geology at the University for almost thirty years. Three very good friends, they also conveyed a real sense of friendship to the students, which became a hallmark o f the Alberta department throughout the years.

For many summers Warren was associated with the Geological Survey o f Canada, leading parties in the foothills of Alberta, southern Alberta, eastern Alberta, and southern Saskatchewan in cooperation with Drs. G. S. Hume, M. Y. Williams, and F. H. Me Learn. However, much o f the research that Warren carried out was financed mainly by the meager salaries paid to professors in those days before World War II.

After the war, the resurgence o f interest in the oil potential o f western Canada brought a flood o f fossils into his office and the spectrum o f interesting oil geologists who follow petroleum. His office was a forum o f biostratigraphic debate during the period o f exploitation o f that startling new idea o f D. 0 . Boggs, that coral reefs were part of the Canadian paleoecology. The excitement o f the discovery o f the Devonian Peace River Island and its fringe o f reefs was readily communicated to the students, as the raw data from the new oil discovery o f one day was in the lectures o f the following week, explicitly interpreted. Always generous with scientific information, Warren extended help to the field man, the office worker, and the visiting authority. If help in interpretation o f new collections could be given, it was, and freely. His collections were open to those who came.

His philosophy was simple. Knowledge was to be shared. As a classroom teacher, Warren excelled beyond all else. He was rated one o f the best lecturers on campus since he had the ability to get across his own clarity o f observation, always carefully differentiating between the facts and the conclusions.

Hard rethinking o f the facts caused Warren to reject Schuchert’s Paleozoic picture of the paleogeography o f western America. The portrayal o f the Pacific transgression into Alberta was part o f his lectures even before 1950. His early recognition o f the Devonian components o f the Exshaw shale, the Upper Devonian position o f the Waterways Formation, and the Middle Devonian elements o f the Flume Formation showed a clarity o f observation slightly better than the observations o f those who disputed it later.

Dr. Warren was one o f the founders o f the Alberta Society o f Petroleum Geologists (1928) and was an honorary member o f the Society until his death. He was an honorary member o f the Edmonton Geological Society from its inception, and this society awards a P. S. Warren Prize annually for papers o f distinction, and an academic P. S. Warren Prize for introductory geology. This latter course was taught for thirty-one years by Dr. Warren and inspired many to embark on a geological career. The student’s geological society at the University o f Alberta is named the P. S. Warren Society. Perhaps this honor by students, while he was still alive, meant more to him

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than other honors he received. He was recognized by his own. He once said to me,“We live on academically only in our students.”

Dr. Warren was elected a Fellow o f the Royal Society of Canada in 1931 and served as president o f section four from 1950 to 1951. He represented the University o f Alberta at the Tercentenary of the Royal Society in London, England, in 1960. He was a member o f the Paleontological Society and o f the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He was one of the group that founded the Little Theatre movement in Edmonton and was a long time patron o f the Edmonton Symphony and the Women’s Musical Club. He was appreciative o f good music, good art, and good conversation, or an evening o f bridge.

His wife, the former Evelyn Runcinan, predeceased him in 1951. He is survived by his two daughters: Margaret (Mrs. R. B. Ferguson) o f Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Mary (Mrs. J. E. Campbell) of Edmonton, Alberta, and by four grandchildren.

Professor Warren passed away in Edmonton on February 23, 1970, after a short illness. He had been soldier, scientist, and teacher. He was always a gentleman in all o f his relationships with his fellow scientists, university confreres, and his students. We were all honored who knew him.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PERCIVAL SIDNEY WARREN1925 A Kinderhook fauna from Nordegg, Alberta: Am. Jour. Sci., 5th Ser., Vol. 10,

No. 59, p. 448-450.1926 The invertebrate fauna of the upper part of the Edmonton Formation on the

Red Deer River, Alberta: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol. 20, sec. IV, p. 1-7.------- A marine fauna in the Birch Lake sandstone, Alberta: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans.,

Vol. 20, sec. IV, p. 9-14.1927 Banff area, Alberta: Canada Geol. Survey, Mem. 153, 94 p.------- A new cycad from the Kootenay coal measures of Alberta: Roy. Soc. Canada

Trans., Vol. 21, sec. IV, p. 47-50.1928 (and R. L. Rutherford) Fossil zones in the Colorado Shale of Alberta: Am. Jour.

Sci., 5th Ser., Vol. 16, p. 129-136.------- (with W. S. Dyer, E. J. Whittaker, and M. Y. Williams) Calgary sheet, Map 204A:

Canada Geol. Survey, Publication No. 2150.------- The Paleozoics of the Crowsnest Pass, Alberta: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol.

22, sec. IV, p. 109-120.1929 Sedimentary record in the Rocky Mountains at about the 51st parallel:

Canadian Field Naturalist, Vol. 43, No. 2, p. 23-27.1930 Description of new species of fossils from parts of Peace River and Grande

Prairie districts, Alberta: Res. Coun. Alberta, Rept. 21, Appendix, p. 57-68.------- Three new ammonites from the Cretaceous of Alberta: Roy. Soc. Canada

Trans., Vol. 24, sec. IV, p. 21-26.1931 Invertebrate palaeontology of southern plains of Alberta: Am. Assoc. Petrol.

Geol. Bull., Vol. 15, No. 10, p. 1283-1291; also in Stratigraphy of the southern plains of Alberta, Donaldson Bogart Dowling Memorial Symposium: Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Tulsa, p. 1 55-163.

------- A Lower Jurassic fauna from Fernie, B.C.: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol. 25,sec. IV, p. 105-112.

PERCIVAL SIDNEY WARREN 133

1932 A Middle Devonian fauna from Nordegg, Alberta: Canadian Field Naturalist, Vol. 46, No. 8, p. 184-186.

------- (with J. A. Allan and R. L. Rutherford) A preliminary study of the easternranges of the Rocky Mountains in Jasper Park, Alberta: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol. 26, sec. IV, p. 225-249.

------- A new pelecypod fauna from the Fernie Formation, Alberta: Roy. Soc. CanadaTrans., Vol. 26, sec. IV, p. 1-36.

1933 (with A. K. Miller) A Propinacoceras from North America: Am. Jour. Sci., Vol. 26, No. 153, p. 259-299.

------- The age of the Devonian at McMurray, Alberta: Canadian Field Naturalist, Vol.47, No. 8, p. 148-149.

------- New Coloradan species from upper Peace River, British Columbia: Roy. Soc.Canada Trans., Vol. 27, sec. IV, p. 109-120.

------- Geological section in Crowsnest Pass, Rocky Mountains, Canada: Trans. Roy.Canadian Inst., Vol. 19, Pt. 2, No. 42, p. 145-160.

1934--Present status o f the Fernie Shale: Am. Jour. Sci., Vol. 27, No. 157, p. 56-70. ------- Palaeontology of the Bearpaw Formation: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol. 28,

sec. IV, p. 81-100.1935 (with F. H. McLearn) Geological Map, Regina sheet, Saskatchewan: Canada

Geol. Survey, Map No. 267A, Publication Nos. 2271 and 2341.------- (with F. J. Fraser, F. H. McLearn, L. S. Russell, and R. T. D. Wickenden)

Geology of southern Saskatchewan: Canada Geol. Survey, Mem. 176, 137 p.------- (with M. B. B. Crockford) The Cache Creek Series of British Columbia: Roy.

Soc. Canada Trans., Vol. 29, sec. IV, p. 149-161.------- Fauna of the Lea Park Shale: Trans. Roy. Canadian Inst., Vol. 20, Pt. II, No. 44,

p. 223-229.1936 (with A. K. Miller) A Timanites from upper Devonian beds of America: Jour.

Paleon., Vol. 10, No. 7, p. 632-636.------- Two new fossil fish from the Canadian Rockies: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol.

30, sec. IV, p. 55-58.1937 An Aptian horizon in the Cretaceous of the Lower Mackenzie valley: Jour.

Paleon., Vol. 11, No. 1, p. 69-72.------- Age of the Exshaw Shale in the Canadian Rockies: Am. Jour. Sci., 5th Ser., Vol.

33, No. 198, p. 454-457.------- A rhynchonellid brachiopod from the Bearpaw Formation of Saskatchewan:

Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol. 31, sec. IV, p. 1-4.------- The significance of the Viking moraine: Trans. Roy. Canadian Inst., Vol. 21, Pt.

II, No. 46, p. 301-305.1938 (with A. E. Cameron, Appendix by R. Ruedemann) Geology of the South Nahanni River, N. W. T.: Canadian Field Naturalist, Vol. 52, No. 2, p. 15-21.

------- Age of the Selkirk and Rocky Mountain uplifts in Canada: Am. Jour. Sci., Vol.36, No. 211, p. 66-71.

------- The Blairmore conglomerate and associated sediments: Trans. Roy. CanadianInst., Vol. 22, Pt. I, No. 47, p. 7-20.

1939--(with G. S. Hume) Ribstone Creek, Alberta: Canada Geol. Survey, Map 501 A. ------- (with G. S. Hume) Hardisty, Alberta: Canada Geol. Survey, Map 502A.------- The Flaxville plain in Alberta: Trans. Roy. Canadian Inst., Vol. 22, No. 48, Pt.

II, p. 341-349.

134 THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

1940 (with C. R. Stelck) Cenomanian and Turonian faunas in the Pouce Coupe district, Alberta and British Columbia: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol. 34, sec. IV, p. 143-152.

------- Sedimentation in the Cordilleran geosyncline in Alberta and British Columbia:Proc. Sixth Pacific Sci. Congress, 1939, p. 245-251.

1942 (with G. A. Cooper and others) Correlation of the Devonian sedimentary formations of North America: Geol. Soc. America Bull., Vol. 53, p. 1729-1794.

------- The Spirifer argentarius fauna in the Canadian Rockies: Roy. Soc. CanadaTrans., Vol. 36, sec. IV, p. 129-135.

1944 The role of Sphaerospongia tessellata in the Mackenzie River Devonian: Canadian Field Naturalist: Vol. 58, No. 1, p. 28-29.

------- The drainage pattern in Alberta: Trans. Roy. Canadian Inst., Vol. 25, Pt. I, p.1-14.

------- Index brachiopods of the Mackenzie River Devonian: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans.,Vol. 38, sec. IV, p. 105-135.

1945 Triassic faunas in the Canadian Rockies: Am. Jour. Sci., Vol. 243, No. 9, p. 480-491.

1947 (with C. E. Decker and C. R. Stelck) Ordovician and Silurian rocks in Yukon Territory, northwestern Canada: Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., Vol. 31, No. 1, p. 149-156.

------- Cretaceous fossil horizons in the Mackenzie River Valley: Jour. Paleon., Vol. 21,No. 2, p. 118-123.

------- Description of Jurassic ammonites from the Fernie Formation, Alberta, inGeology of Highwood-Elbow area, Alberta, by J. A. Allan and J. L. Carr: Res. Council Alberta, Rept. 49, Appendix, p. 67-74.

1948 Chimaeroid fossil egg capsules from Alberta: Jour. Paleon., Vol. 22, No. 5, p. 630-631.

------- (with J. M. Weller and others) Correlations of the Mississippian Formations ofNorth America: Geol. Soc. America Bull., Vol. 59, No. 2, p. 91-1 88.

------- (with M. B. B. Crockford) The occurrence of the crinoid Uintacrinus socialis, inthe Cretaceous of Alberta: Canadian Field Naturalist, Vol. 62, No. 5, p. 159.

1949 Fossil zones of the Devonian o f Alberta: Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., Vol. 33, No. 4, p. 564-571.

------- (with C. R. Stelck) The late Middle Devonian unconformity in northwesternCanada: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol. 43, sec. IV, p. 139-148.

1950 (with C. R. Stelck) Succession of Devonian faunas in Western Canada: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol. 44, sec. IV, p. 61-78.

1951 Some stratigraphic features of the Upper Devonian sequence of the Canadian western plains: Proc. Athabasca Oil Sands Conf., Edmonton, p. 46-54.

------- The Rocky Mountain geosyncline in Canada: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol. 45,sec. IV, p. 1-10.

1952 Memorial to Ralph Leslie Rutherford (1894-1952): Geol. Assoc. Canada Proc., Vol. 5, p. 127.

1954 (with C. R. Stelck) The stratigraphic significance of the Devonian coral reefs of western Canada, in Western Canada Sedimentary Basin-a symposium, R. L. Rutherford Memorial Volume: Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Tulsa, p. 214-218.

------- Some glacial features o f central Alberta: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol. 48, 3rdSer., sec. IV, p. 75-85.

PERCIVAL SIDNEY WARREN 135

1955 (with C. R. Stelck) New Cenomanian ammonites from Alberta: Res. Council Alberta, Rept. 70, Appendix, p. 63-80.

1956 (with C. R. Stelck) Devonian faunas o f western Canada: Geol. Assoc. Canada, Spec. Paper No. 1.

------- Memorial to John A. Allan (1884-1955): Geol. Soc. America Proc., Ann. Rept.for 1955, p. 89-92.

1958 (with C. R. Stelck) The Nikanassin-Luscar hiatus in the Canadian Rockies: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol. 52, sec. IV, p. 55-62.

------- (with C. R. Stelck) Continental margins o f western Canada in pre-Jurassic time:Jour. Alberta Soc. Petrol. Geol., Vol. 6, No. 2, p. 29-42.

------- (with C. R. Stelck) Lower Cenomanian ammonoidea and pelecypoda from PeaceRiver area, western Canada: Res. Council Alberta; Geol. Div., Bull. 2, Pt. 2, p. 36-48.1959 (with C. R. Stelck) Evolutionary trends within Gastroplitan ammonoids: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol. 53, sec. IV, p. 13-20.

1960 (with C. R. Stelck) A new Freboldiceras from the Canadian Arctic: Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., Vol. 54, sec. IV, p. 21-26.

1961 (with C. R. Stelck) Pacific floodings of the Canadian Rocky Mountain area: Proc. Ninth Pacific Sci. Congress 1957, Vol. 12, p. 50-57.

1962 (with C. R. Stelck) Western Canadian Givetian: Jour. Alberta Soc. Petrol. Geologists, Vol. 10, No. 6, p. 273-291.

1968 (with C. R. Stelck) (text of) Geology of natural gas in Mesozoic strata of western Canadian plains, by Edmonton Geological Society, in Beebe, L. (ed), Natural gasses o f North America: Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Mem. No. 9, p. 671-682.

1969 (with C. R. Stelck) Early Neogastroplites, Fort St. John group, western Canada: Bull. Can. Petroleum Geology, Vol. 17, No. 4, p. 529-547.