Reports
Industrial minerals of the mid-Atlantic states
1985, Glaser, J.D. and Edwards, J. (eds.)
Special Publication 2
Foreward
The 20th Forum on the Geology of Industrial Minerals was held May 15 through 18, 1984 in Baltimore, Maryland, under the sponsorship of the Maryland Geological Survey. The Forum consisted of a symposium on Industrial Minerals of the Mid-Atlantic States as well as papers on industrial minerals in the U.S. and other parts of the world. The papers are grouped in this Proceedings Volume in the order of presentation at the Forum.
This meeting marks the 20th Anniversary of the Forum. From its inception in 1965 in Columbus, Ohio, the Forum has had no formal organization. The chairmanship has been passed from host organization to host organization from year to year with each host organization being responsible for publishing the Proceedings Volume. That this informal process has endured and prospered is an indication of the dedication of the participants in the Forum as well as their long and abiding interest in industrial minerals.
It is the nature of businesses which rely on nonrenewable raw materials to experience wide fluctuations in their business cycle. At the time this meeting was held, the industrial minerals industry was just coming out of a deep slump, the metal mining industries were still in a deep depression, and the petroleum industry, as far as exploration is concerned, was also down. Although none of us can predict the future, we know that these lows will have to be reversed. The industrial minerals industry will be called upon to provide the raw materials for housing, offices and factories for the "baby boom" generation. Additionally, the interstate highway system which began in the Eisenhower years now needs repair and replacement. The younger generation is rediscovering our long-neglected cities and they are again becoming vibrant places to live and work through a combination of saving the best of the old and building anew. All of these trends lead to a renewed demand on our industrial raw material storehouse which in turn will increase the pressure on geology and geologists to find and develop sources of industrial minerals.
We suspect that the next twenty years of the Forum will be at least as dynamic and interesting as have been the last twenty.
Kenneth N. Weaver
General Chairman
Kenneth A. Schwarz
Co-Chairman
