Clarence Samuel Ross (20 September 1880,

Eldora, Iowa Eldora is a city in Hardin County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,663 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Hardin County. History Eldora was platted in 1853. It was incorporated on July 1, 1895. The name Eldora was ...

– 19 April 1975,

Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city that serves as the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, and is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fifth-largest community in ...

) was an American mineralogist, petrologist, and economic geologist. His 1961 paper on ash-flow

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

s, coauthored with Robert Leland Smith (1920–2016), has at least 600 citations.

Biography

Ross received from the University of Illinois his A.B in 1913, A.M. in 1915, and Ph.D. in 1920. He joined the U.S. Geological Survey in 1917. The survey first assigned him the task of mapping oil lands in

Osage County, Oklahoma Osage County is the largest county by area in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Created in 1907 when Oklahoma was admitted as a state, the county is named for and is home to the federally recognized Osage Nation. The county is coextensive with the Os ...

, where he studied

bentonitic Bentonite () is an absorbent swelling clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite (a type of smectite) which can either be Na-montmorillonite or Ca-montmorillonite. Na-montmorillonite has a considerably greater swelling capacity than Ca-mon ...

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

horizons. In the summer of 1917 he was sent to the southern Appalachian region to study copper deposits of the Ducktown type. In 1919, with Esper S. Larsen, Jr., he made geologic maps of the southern end of the

San Luis Valley The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, extending from the Continental Divide on the northwest rim into New Mexico on the south. It co ...

in New Mexico. In the early 1920s he published several reports with Hugh D. Miser. Ross was a fellow of the

Mineralogical Society of America The Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) is a scientific membership organization. MSA was founded in 1919 for the advancement of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, and petrology, and promotion of their uses in other sciences, industry, ...

, the

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchco ...

, and the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's act ...

. He was the President of the Mineralogical Society of American in 1935. He received the

Roebling Medal The Roebling Medal is the highest award of the Mineralogical Society of America for scientific eminence as represented primarily by scientific publication of outstanding original research in mineralogy. The award is named for Colonel Washington ...

in 1946. In 1927 William F. Foshag and Frank Lee Hess (1871–1955) named rossite in his honor. The secondary mineral which results from dehydration of rossite is named metarossite in his honor. Marjorie Hooker compiled a bibliography of Ross's papers. On 2 November 1918, Ross married Helen Hall Frederick, who died in 1968. Their children were Betsy Ross Jones and Malcolm Ross, who became a geochemist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

Selected publications

* with Hugh Dinsmore Miser and Lloyd William Stephenson: * with Paul Francis Kerr: * * * with Sterling B. Hendricks: * with Roy A. Bailey and Robert L. Smith: * with Robert L. Smith and Roy A. Bailey:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Clarence S. 1880 births 1975 deaths 20th-century American geologists American mineralogists Petrologists Fellows of the Geological Society of America Fellows of the American Geophysical Union University of Illinois alumni United States Geological Survey personnel People from Eldora, Iowa