Alec Trendall, geologist and author, was born in 1928 at Enfield, Middlesex, and in 1949 graduated in geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 at London University. His PhD degree from Liverpool University was under the supervision of Robert Shackleton, a cousin of Sir Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...

.

Exploration

Trendall was the geologist on the 1951-52 and 1953-54 South Georgia survey expeditions led by Duncan Carse

Duncan Carse

Duncan Carse was born in 1913 and attended Sherborne School. A British actor and explorer, he died on 2 May 2004, aged 90. He had lived in Fittleworth, West Sussex, for over 40 years. His father was the artist A...

. Trendall Crag

Trendall Crag

Trendall Crag is a mountain crag, 1,005 m, overlooking the north side of Drygalski Fjord at the southeast end of South Georgia. Surveyed by the SGS in the period 1951-57 under Duncan Carse, and named for Alec Trendall, geologist of the SGS, 1951–52 and 1953-54....

, 1,005 m, overlooking the north side of Drygalski Fjord at the southeast end of South Georgia was named to commemorate Alec Trendall's contribution. In 2011 he published a full account of the survey expeditions entitled Putting South Georgia on the Map.

The Scott Polar Research Institute's digitised archive includes 305 images of Trendall including images of a Bergschrund

Bergschrund

A bergschrund is a crevasse that forms where the moving glacier ice separates from the stagnant ice above. It is often a serious obstacle for mountaineers, who sometimes abbreviate "bergschrund" to "schrund"....

 - a hole in an ice sheet - which Trendall fell down before being carried on an improvised sled, to leave the First expedition.

Geological Survey of Western Australia

Trendall was Director of the GSWA from 1969-1989. Trendall discovered the locality known as Trendall Reserve, Eastern Pilbara in 1984. It contains convincing evidence of some of the oldest known fossils known as stromatolites.

External links