A. J. MACKINTOSH BELL has returned to Almonte, Ontario. He has been at Harvard delivering a course of geological lectures.

P. E. HOPKINS, of the Ontario Bureau of Mines, is working on a report on the West Shining Tree district which will be published soon.

A. G. BURROWws, of the Ontario Bureau of Mines, with Mr. Hopkins, is preparing a detailed report on the geology of the Kirkland Lake area.

E. K. SOPER has returned from Trinidad to New York.

HOYT S. GALE has left the U. S. Geological Survey, to investigate oil in Bolivia.

WALLACE LEE, oil geologist, is now associated with the Frantz Corporation, Friederich Building, Denver, Colorado.

ELMER H. FINCH, geologist, has been appointed chairman of the Mineral Division, Land Classification Branch, U. S. Geological Survey. Mr. Finch, who succeeds Alfred R. Schultz, has been an active member of the Land Classification Branch for a number of years.

MILLARD K. SHALER, formerly on the staff of the U. S. Geological Survey and for years in charge of important BelgianAmerican mining interests in the Congo Free State with headquarters in Belgium, has been in the United States for a few months. He left for Belgium on January 20.

G. M. BUTLER, dean of engineering at the University of Arizona, Tucson, has been elected president of the American Association of Engineers. He addressed the section on the points for consideration before drafting an engineer-license bill.

FRANK H. SKEELS, mining engineer, of Wallace, Idaho, recently completed an investigation of the clay deposits of Idaho, under the direction of the State Bureau of Mines and geology, in coöperation with the U. S. Bureau of Mines.

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA announces the following nominations for officers for 1921: President, James F. Kemp; first vice-president, J. B. Woodworth; second vice-president, Arthur Keith; third vice-president, T. W. Stanton; secretary, Edmund Otis Hovey; treasurer, Edward B. Mathews; editor, Joseph Stanley Brown; councilors, 1921-1923, J. E. Spurr and G. D. Louderback. The next meeting of the society will be held on December 28-30, 1920 in Chicago.

THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING AND METALLURGY held its New York annual meeting, February 16-20. An unusually large number of papers pertaining to petroleum geology and an unusually small number pertaining to ore deposits were presented. Several papers relating to the broader phases of the coal industry attracted much attention. The meeting was well attended by those interested in economic geology.

The nitrate deposits, discovered in 1809 in the desert of northern Chile and later developed over widespread fields in the provinces of Tarapacá and Antofagasta, have long held high rank in mineral production. Since 1825, when 935 metric tons of sodium

nitrate were recovered (I., p. 49),1 production has increased to about 3,000,000 metric tons per annum valued at $150,000,000 (II., pp. 505–506). The total production from 1825 to date is near 60,000,000 metric tons of sodium nitrate worth at normal. exchange somewhat over two billion dollars. Iodine also is an important by-product.

Because of the confinement of production to the Chilean desert, for many years Chile held a monopoly of the world's supply of saltpeter. Recently the synthetic production of nitric acid has threatened the supremacy of the natural product; but the high cost of the process indicates, for the present, prosperity in the Chilean industry.

The occurrence, unique to these deposits, and the importance of so profitable an industry have drawn widespread comment. The literature regarding the nitrate fields is voluminous. Numerous discussions of mining and treatment have been published. Though, curiously, few contributions regarding the geology of the fields are available, many quite divergent hypotheses of the origin of the deposits have been suggested with the universal acceptance of none.

The present investigation, comprising a detailed study of a field of some 500 square miles to the southeast of Aguas Blancas and a more general survey of the Cordilleran region and most of the producing nitrate fields, has, however, resulted in the obtaining of interesting data. These facts and their conclusions are presented with the hope that they may somewhat enlighten the obscurity that has involved the problems of nitrate deposition.

In the field, information and assistance were obtained from many sources. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the interest and help of Mr. H. H. Hoey, of Oficina San Donato, Iquique; of Mr. A. E. Whittey, of Oficina Isable, Tocopilla; of Sr. Fernando Damke, of Aguas Blancas, and of Mr. J. H. Alvis, of Antofagasta. The coöperation of Mr. Huntington Adams and his staff, the able assistance in the field of Mr. William Guy Lance and Mr. 1 Figures in parenthesis refer to the bibliography.

2 Only more important references are listed in the bibliography.