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Fred B Phleger |
In honoring Fred B Phleger, the Directors of the Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research recognize the wide-ranging contributions of one of the pioneers of modern marine geology, a man whose work has had considerable impact on the development of paleoecology and paleoceanography, both in deepsea research and in the study of shallow marine deposits.
Fred Phleger entered the fields of foraminiferal research and marine geology from paleontology. His early published work, spanning the 1930's, concerns Ordovician fossils, Lichadian trilobites, and Pleistocene cats. Fred's interest in foraminifera was awakened through association with Joseph A. Cushman, and grew rapidly after he joined the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1937. In the decade following this initial work, while teaching at Amherst, Phleger focussed his research at Woods Hole entirely on the study of modern foraminifera, to help build a basis for their application to paleoecologic problems. At that time, of course, foraminiferal paleoecology was still only a gleam in the eye of a very few people like M. L. Natland and W. Schott. Phleger realized at once the enormous potential of this field for the study of marine processes and ocean history. When the Swedish Deep-Sea Expedition set out, under the leadership of Hans Pettersson, to make a systematic survey of late Quaternary deep-sea sediments, Fred was "preadapted" for this opportunity to make significant contributions to the earth sciences. His 1948 paper on a core from the Caribbean already hints at the usefulness of foraminifera as indicators of Pleistocene climatic fluctuations and represents a first step toward the study of the ice age wiggles which was to dominate marine Quaternary research for the next three decades. The monograph on North Atlantic foraminifera which followed, coauthored with F. L. Parker and J. F. Peirson, is a classic of paleoceanography. Among the major contributions of this study are a greatly improved climate zonation for planktonic foraminifera, the first quantitative survey of deep-sea benthonic foraminifera, important insights regarding the migration of climatic zones during the Pleistocene, and the effects of carbonate dissolution on the preservation of foraminifera. Required reading for students of sedimentology and micropaleontology, it is still widely cited in research literature a quarter century after it was published. Besides recognizing the paleoceanographic potential of deep-sea foraminifera, in 1951 Fred Phleger employed foraminifera in the unravelling of problems associated with redeposition processes. "Turbidites" were figuring prominently in marine sedimentology during the following decade, and displaced foraminifera played an important role in the debates. Sometime between 1949 and 1951 Fred decided to settle in La Jolla. During this interval he held appointments both at Woods Hole and at Scripps. At La Jolla his interest in shallow marine environments culminated in extensive works in the Gulf of Mexico. His studies and those of his associates formed part of an ambitious effort (Project 51 of the American Petroleum Institute, 1951-1958) to increase by a "quantum jump" knowledge about shallow marine sedimentary processes. The success of this venture may be gauged by another classic of sedimentology-paleoceanography: "Recent Sediments, Northwest Gulf of Mexico," edited by F. P. Shepard, Fred B Phleger, and T. H. van Andel. In 1960, Phleger summarized in his book "Ecology and Distribution of Foraminifera" what was then known about the ecology of foraminifera, drawing extensively on his own intimate experience with deepsea sediments and shallow marine processes, as well as on the work of his long-term collaborator Frances L. Parker and on the studies by his early students, W. R. Walton, T. Uchio, and J. S. Bradshaw. Central themes are: depth zonation, effects of environment on growth and distribution, planktonic foraminifera as water mass indicators, and applications to paleoceanography. With this book a milestone had been set and a new field - foraminiferal paleoceanography - had been opened. His later students, in particular A. Golik, A. Blackman, and W. H. Berger, were to build on this foundation. In the following years, Fred concentrated his research activities on lagoons and marshes, an environment he perceived to be of crucial importance in the context of increasing industrial activity in the coastal zone. In doing so, he also became an ambassador of good will to many foreign countries which sought his advice, a role that brought him in especially close contact with Mexican colleagues. His concern with the human side of the scientific enterprise, and especially with graduate teaching, is evidenced by the friendly, even cordial, atmosphere which permeated the Marine Foraminifera Laboratory at Scripps for all those years, and by the firm, but kind manner in which he guided the students passing through his tutelage. Last, but not least, his interest in general education led to the publication of a series of children's books, done with the help of his wife Marjorie. These books have brought delight to hundreds of thousands of children while teaching them something about ecology. My own children's favorites are stories based on the migrations of the gray whale and the salmon - "The Whales Go By," and "Red Tag Comes Back." In short, Fred B Phleger is not only admired for his many distinguished accomplishments, he is also respected as a colleague and treasured as a friend by those who know him. His selection sets a high standard for the Joseph A. Cushman Award.
W. H. Berger
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