William Arkell

views updated

William Arkell

1904-1958

English geologist and paleontologist who made major contributions to understating stratigraphy (sequence of rock layers) and invertebrate paleontology. Arkell's Jurassic Geology of the World helped to place stratigraphy on a more systematic basis, making that part of geology much more rigorous a science. In addition, his work on ammonites (an extinct cephalopod) was definitive and his work to correlate English geologic structure with European equivalents was both important and impressive.

About this article

William Arkell

Updated About encyclopedia.com content Print Article