Edward B. Branson was an American geologist and

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

. He was a professor of

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

Overview of career

Branson earned his doctorate at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

and joined the Geology department at the University of Missouri in 1911. During his doctoral studies, he had spent time searching for fossils near

Lander, Wyoming Lander is a city in Wyoming, United States, and the county seat of Fremont County. It is in central Wyoming, along the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River, just south of the Wind River Indian Reservation. It is a tourism center with several nea ...

and so he determined to set up a camp for the hands-on study of geology and paleontology nearby. Also in 1911, he came to Lander with a group of students and established the Missouri Field Geology Camp, which is now known as the Branson Field Laboratory, near Sinks Canyon State Park. The Branson Field Laboratory appears to be the oldest continually operated field geology camp in the United States. Eventually Branson formed a scientific partnership with Maurice "Doc" Mehl, another Chicago graduate who joined the Missouri faculty in 1919. Branson retired in 1948, which is when the camp was renamed in his honor.

Contributions

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". * January ...

, he wrote a paper on the origin of thick gypsum and salt deposits. In

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

, he and Mehl described the extinct genus of heterostracan agnathan ''

Cardipeltis ''Cardipeltis'' is an extinct genus of heterostracan agnathan from marine strata of early Devonian of Utah, and Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to t ...

'' in the Jefferson Formation of Utah. in

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hiro ...

, Branson and Mehl reported the presence of Carboniferous-aged fossil footprints of a new ichnospecies in the Tensleep Formation of

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

. They named the tracks ''

Steganoposaurus belli ''Steganoposaurus'' is an ichnogenus of fossil reptile footprints. The ichnospecies ''Steganoposaurus belli'', was erected for footprints discovered in Wyoming's Tensleep Sandstone. The find was first reported to the scientific literature by Edw ...

'' and attributed them to an amphibian nearly three feet in length.
The same year, he and Mehl named a new kind of Late Triassic dinosaur footprint discovered in the

Popo Agie Formation The Popo Agie Formation is a Triassic geologic formation that crops out in western Wyoming, western Colorado, and Utah. It was deposited during the Late Triassic in fluvial (river) and lacustrine (lake) environments that existed across much of ...

of western Wyoming. The new ichnogenus and species was named '' Agialopus wyomingensis''. In 1933, also with Mehl, he described the conodont species ''

Wurmiella excavata ''Wurmiella'' is an extinct conodont genus. ''Wurmiella excavata'' is from the Lower Devonian of Nevada.Statistical study of Ozarkodina excavata (Branson and Mehl) and O. tuma Murphy and Matti (Lower Devonian, delta Zone, conodonts, Nevada). Mi ...

''. In

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

, with Mehl, he described the conodont genera ''

Pseudopolygnathus ''Pseudopolygnathus'' is an extinct genus of conodonts in the family Polygnathidae. ''Pseudopolygnathus granulobatus'' is from the Late Devonian or Early Carboniferous Early may refer to: History * The beginning or oldest part of a defined ...

'' and ''

Ancyrognathus ''Ancyrognathus'' is an extinct genus of conodonts. During the Famennian The Famennian is the latter of two faunal stages in the Late Devonian Epoch. The most recent estimate for its duration estimates that it lasted from around 371.1 mill ...

''. In 1938, with Mehl, he reviewed the conodont genus '' Icriodus''. In 1941, he and Mehl described several conodont genera:New and Little Known Carboniferous Conodont Genera. E. B. Branson and M. G. Mehl,

Journal of Paleontology The ''Journal of Paleontology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the field of paleontology. It is published by the Paleontological Society. Indexing The ''Journal of Paleontology'' is indexed in: *BIOSIS Previews *Science Citation ...

, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Mar., 1941), pages 97-106
Stable URL
retrieved 29 April 2015) '' Bactrognathus'', '' Doliognathus'', ''

Scaliognathus ''Scaliognathus'' is an extinct genus of conodonts.Taxonomy and phylogeny of Scaliognathus Branson & Mehl, 1941 (Conodonta, Lower Carboniferous). HR Lane and W Ziegler, Senckenbergiana lethaea, 1983 The Tournaisian, the oldest age of the Miss ...

'', '' Staurognathus'' and '' Taphrognathus''.
Also in 1941, with C.C. Branson, he reviewed the geology of the

Wind River Mountains The Wind River Range (or "Winds" for short) is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in western Wyoming in the United States. The range runs roughly NW–SE for approximately . The Continental Divide follows the crest of the range and incl ...

in Wyoming. In

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

, he described with Mehl the conodont genus ''

Siphonodella ''Siphonodella'' is an extinct genus of conodonts. ''Siphonodella banraiensis'' is from the Late Devonian of Thailand. ''Siphonodella nandongensis'' is from the Early Carboniferous of the Baping Formation in China.New material of the Early Car ...

''. In 1947, with C.C. Branson, he reviewed the Lower Silurian conodonts from

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. In

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

, with Mehl and C.C. Branson, he published an article about the

Richmond Group The Richmond Group also known as the Richmond School, is a group of American Impressionist painters who worked in the Richmond, Indiana, area from the late 19th Century through the mid-20th Century. While the Richmond Group had no formal organizatio ...

conodonts of

and

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

.Richmond Conodonts of Kentucky and Indiana. E. B. Branson, M. G. Mehl and C. C. Branson, Journal of Paleontology, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Jan., 1951), pages 1-17
Stable URL
retrieved 29 April 2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Branson, Edward American paleontologists Conodont specialists Year of birth missing Year of death missing 20th-century American geologists 20th-century American zoologists University of Missouri faculty

Overview of career

Contributions

See also

References