...December honors the passing of a great USGS scientist and photographer, Harold (Hal) E. Malde, 1923 – 2007...

Harold (Hal) E. Malde died on November 4, 2007, in Louisville, Colorado, from leukemia.  He began his career with the USGS in 1951 performing the geologic studies of the western Snake River Plain of Idaho.  He later received the Kirk Bryan Award by the Geologic Society of America for helping with the discovery of the late Pleistocene Bonneville Flood.  He also helped with the development of the theory of plate tectonics, as his studies of basaltic lava flows were used by Allan Cox to develop his paleomagnetic time-scale and later contributions to this theory.

Hal joined up with a team from Harvard in 1964 and began investigating Early Man sites in the Puebla Valley of Mexico. The 10-year project gave him a greater knowledge of volcanic deposits from the nearby volcanoes while developing the geologic maps of the area. Through this work he was asked to take part in the delegation in the Peoples Republic of China helping with the discoveries of Early Man.

As an active environmentalist, Hal represented the USGS on the Department�s of Oil Shale Environmental Advisory Panel from 1976 until 1980. For his efforts he was awarded the Meritorious Service Award by the US Department of Interior in 1979. Hal participated on the committee of the National Academy of Sciences writing several reports on the impacts of surface mining.

Hal was an avid photographer, taking images of landscape changes and creating comparison photography by repeating images of historic photographs. He retired from the Survey in 1987 and embellished his photography and love for nature, providing over 20,000 images to the Nature Conservancy of over 600 Conservancy preserves. He was awarded the Conservancy�s Oak Leaf Award in 1993 for his volunteer service.

Harold E. Malde is survived by his wife of 52 years, two daughters and three grandchildren. A memorial gathering will be held at the Nature Conservancy of Boulder on December 22nd, 2007. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Nature Conservancy or Hospice of Boulder and Broomfield Counties.

View Harold E. Malde's USGS photographs

This article referenced the obituary originally published in the Boulder Daily Camera on 11/8/2007.  To view the entire original obituary click here.