Dorothy Jung Echols

Dorothy Jung Echols (1916–1997) was an American scientist and educator.

Echols worked in the petroleum industry between 1938 and 1946, before beginning a teaching career at Washington University in St. Louis from 1951 until her retirement in 1982. She remained active in the geosciences until her passing.^[1]

Echols was born in the Bronx, New York on September 9, 1916. She grew up and attended high school in Brooklyn. She was acutely interested in minerals^[1] and swimming from an early age.

While attending New York University, Echols captained the NYU Varsity Swim Team and set a collegiate record for the 200-yard breaststroke (2:52.3) in 1935. From 1934 to 1935, she served as captain of the Varsity Swim team and was a member of the Women's Swimming Association, receiving the Florence Frankel Medal for swimming in 1935. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in geology from New York University in 1936, graduating with distinction.

She later received her master's degree in Geology from Columbia University in 1938.^[1] Afterwards, she moved to Houston, Texas and secured a position at Republic Production Company, where she worked for three years as a geoologist and micropaleontologist.

In 1941, she married Leonard S. Echols, a research chemist working for Shell, at which point she moved with him to New York. Together, they had four children: Leonard S. Echols III, Jon Jung Echols, Lizette DePue Echols, and William Ring Echols.

Between 1941 and 1942, she was assistant to the chief geologist at the Texas Company. In 1942, they moved to St. Louis, and from 1946 to 1951, Echols worked as a geologic consultant for Pond Fork Oil and Gas Company.^[1] In 1948, she became a laboratory instructor at Washington University in the Department of Geology. In 1951, she was hired as a research associate in the department to fill the position previously held by her colleague, Betty Nadeau.^[1] She continued to teach here until her retirement in 1982.

Her husband, Leonard, died in 1963; at the time, he was Shell's chief engineer in St. Louis.^[1]

Her personal mineral collection, begun in 1922, later formed the basis of NYU's teaching collection.^[2]

Echols was diagnosed with lung cancer in early 1997, which led to her death on February 4, 1997.

Echols worked in the petroleum industry from 1938 to 1946. During this time, there were few female geologists working in the petroleum industry.^[3] She later consulted on The Deep Sea Drilling Project as a shipboard sedimentologist to gather information to help determine the age and processes of ocean basins.^[1][4] In a 1948 publication, Echols explained the relationship between Wilcox and the Midway Sea through time. Additionally, she described the abundance of petroleum deposits in the area in relation to surrounding materials (basal sand, shale, etc.) and their interaction, which allowed petroleum to seep into the sands and become trapped by an impenetrable seal of rock.^[5]

Much of her career was spent in micropaleontology, specializing in microfossils. Research by Echols on new Paleozoic Ostracode genera and species was published in three Russian publications prior to American publication. These reports reclassified species discovered in Russia and previously discovered genera and species. Echols was published in three separate reports in 1952 by Netskaia A. I., Polinova E. N., and Zaspelova V. S.^[6] Afterwards, she co-authored an article with Harold L. Levin in the Micropaleontology magazine, titled "Chalk Crayons and Microfossil Contamination", first published on January 1, 1964.^[7] In May 1966, Echols published research suggesting that holotypes previously classified as Cephalopoda were structurally incompatible with this classification and should be placed in the Monoplacophora based on cross-sectioning of fossils. She found that no specimen collected exhibited structures characteristic of Cephalopoda.^[8] In 1956, Echols theorized that Ostracod carapaces moved during the Fern Glen Formation because of currents moving over shallow areas.^[9] In 1961, Echols was involved in the discovery of an extinct species of Trilobite from the Kimmswick Limestone found in Missouri.^[10] The project contributed biostratigraphic data about sediments underground, which provided an estimated paleontological age for many sediments.

In a 1948 publication co-authored with Doris S. Malkin, 'Wilcox (Eocene) Stratigraphy, a Key to Production,' Echols expanded the understanding of Eocene stratigraphy and its implications for petroleum geology. Their work examined the sedimentation patterns and stratigraphic sequences of the Wilcox Group, a geological formation known for its hydrocarbon potential. By interpreting the regional deltaic sedimentation and the stratigraphic history, they mapped trends that informed petroleum production up until 1945 in the productive sands in the Wilcox fields that span Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.^[5]

Echols participated in The Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP), a scientific endeavor aimed at exploring the composition and structure of the Earth's oceanic crust by drilling and coring deep below the ocean floor. Initiated in 1968, the project provided direct sampling of deep ocean basins, representing a step forward in oceanography and geology, and offered insights into Earth's geological past, including the history of its oceans, the development of its crust, and the processes that govern plate tectonics.

The project used the drilling vessel Glomar Challenger to recover samples of sediment and basaltic crust from various depths and locations across the world's oceans. These samples were used for testing and confirming theories like plate tectonics and seafloor spreading. They revealed the age and distribution of oceanic crust and provided evidence for past climate conditions by examining sediment layers.

Echols's role as a sedimentologist and micropaleontologist in this project involved analyzing the recovered cores for microfossil content—which includes the remains of tiny organisms such as foraminifera, diatoms, and coccolithophores. These microfossils are used in dating sediments and reconstructing past environmental conditions, thus aiding in understanding Earth's climatic and geological history.^[11]

The DSDP was foundational in establishing the field of paleoceanography—the study of ocean history through geology and paleontology—and set the stage for subsequent scientific ocean drilling programs.

Echols's expertise in microfossils enabled her to contribute to the understanding of how the distribution and composition of these creatures could indicate the presence and locations of petroleum reserves. Her insights helped shape the scientific community's understanding of sediment deposition and stratigraphic sequences, which are vital for hydrocarbon exploration.

Echols pioneered women's participation in field geology through several key achievements:

• 1952: She became one of the first female geologists hired by Standard Oil of New Jersey (later Exxon), specializing in micropaleontology for hydrocarbon exploration^[12]
• 1968-1972: She served as the only woman on the scientific team for DSDP Legs 11 and 19, analyzing Atlantic Ocean sediment cores^[13]
• 1979: she co-founded 'Curtis and Echols Geological Consultants' with Doris Malkin Curtis, developing innovative sequence stratigraphy techniques for oil exploration^[14]

• Listed in Marquis Who's Who from 1976 to 1996 as a geological consultant^[18]
• Delivered the 1985 Paleontological Society Distinguished Lecture on "Foraminifera as Paleoenvironmental Indicators"^[19]
• Served on the National Science Foundation Oceanography Advisory Panel (1978–1981)^[20]

Echols published research throughout her years studying and teaching geology. ^[21]

In 1956, Echols contributed to the Journal of Paleontology, volume 30. She co-authored papers with John J. Gouty on Fern Glen (Mississippian) Ostracoda,^[9] Bruce L. Stinchcomb on Missouri Upper Cambrian Monoplacophora previously considered cephalopods,^[8] and Courtney Werner on Three Dimensional Graptolites in the Maquoketa Shale (Upper Ordovician) of Missouri.^[22] The writings describe findings from trips taken by Echols, including animal fossils located in their original habitats and various rock samples. Echols and Gouty, in their studies on Fern Glen (Mississippian) Ostracoda, divided the land into four sections for research and collection of sedimentary samples containing Ostracods. Echols and Stinchcomb found fossils originally believed to belong to breviconic cephalopods, but which were determined to be Monoplacophora belonging to the genus Hypseloconus. The fossils appeared to have cone-shaped and curved forms.^[8] Echols and Werner published their findings on the Maquoketa shale of Missouri, which is a light brown coloured shale that contained varied fauna, including ostracods, bryozoans, brachiopods, conodonts, pelecypods, and quantities of pieces of unpressed and replaced graptolites preserved beneath it.^[22] The unpressed graptolites belonged to the genus Climacograptus and possibly the species Climacograptus putillus Hall.^[22]

• Memorial to Dorothy Jung Echols 1916–1997
• Paleontologists, Dorothy Jung Echols and Murlene Clark, aboard the drilling vessel