UAA Geology receives generous gift from mineralogy pioneer
by Michelle Saport |
Don Greybeck's collection of about 1,500 ore and mineral samples from Alaska, Colorado and around the world, represent a lifetime of work and his passion for geology.
The UAA Department of Geology is pleased to announce they have received a donation of polished ore samples and slides, with an estimated value of more than $112,000. The collection of approximately 1,500 samples represents the lifework of Donald Grybeck, a pioneer in the research of mineralogy in the state and the former Chief of the Branch of Alaskan Geology for USGS.
Longtime Alaskan Donald Grybeck earned his B.S. in Geological Science from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1963 and his Ph.D. in Geological Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 1969. A year later he returned to Fairbanks and was a professor at UAF from 1970-1975. During his career, Don was key in initiating the cooperative effort between the USGS and the Russian Academy of Science, and instrumental in creating the Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF). The database of more than 7,407 records is a compilation of published literature, unpublished reports and data from the geological and mining industries, as well as the U.S. Bureau of Mines, the USGS and other sources. The data includes descriptions of mines, prospects and mineral occurrences in Alaska. After his retirement, Don continued to work passionately on this database, which is now the "go-to" source for minerals information in the state.
Grybeck's collection was donated to the university as a tool to enhance students' education, as well as provide accessibility to the public for research purposes.
"UAA Geology receives generous gift from mineralogy pioneer" is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.