The 2001 W.A. Johnston Medallist Derek Ford

Citation

It is a great pleasure for me to write this citation for my friend and colleague Derek Ford on the occasion of his receiving the Johnston Medal. Derek is truly deserving of this recognition for his research on the Quaternary era. His studies of caves and speleothems as recorders of climate and geomorphic evolution have been recognized throughout the world, as exemplified by the numerous awards and recognitions he has already received, including the Gold Medal of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society for his studies of Castleguard Cave, the G.K. Gilbert Award of the American Association of Geographers, and fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada.

Derek began his career at Oxford University where he did a degree under the supervision of the noted speleologist Margaret Sweeting. He studied the Mendip Caves near his home in Bath, and in subsequent years often returned to these caves to gain further insights in speleogenesis and in order to sample the stalagmites that these caves contained. In 1959 he came to McMaster, leaving briefly to try out the climate of southern California, but soon returning the Mac where he remained until his retirement in 1997. His research, however, has taken him to every corner of the world where caves can be found, from Brazil to northern Norway, from China to the Cayman Islands, from New Zealand to the Northwest Territories. There can hardly be a significant karstic terrain in the world that Derek has not investigated.

His travels have allowed him to study caves in four dimensions, observing their present-day form, and using both his geographical insights, and a variety of dating methods to infer the ways in which these underground features have evolved through time by the slow dissolution of carbonate and evaporite bedrocks. These insights were synthesized from a multitude of careful studies by himself and his many graduate students and post-docs. They allowed him to develop a comprehensive theory for the origin of cave systems, a theory which became the dominant view for the majority of students of cave development and has been borne out by studies of other researchers around the world.

At the same time, starting in the 1970's, Derek collaborated with various students as well as myself to develop a program of paleoclimate studies based on the dating and isotopic analysis of speleothems. Thanks to his broad awareness of the areas in which samples would be available for study, this program of research laid the foundations for a new insight into the history of continental climate over the past hundreds of millennia. He appreciated that this record had to be correlated with other existing records such as the isotopic signals from deep-sea sediments and ice cores from the Arctic and Antarctic. After some years of neglect, we are now seeing a world-wide revival of interest in isotopic studies of speleothems, so that this once arcane subject is now appreciated as an important input into our tracking of past glacial-interglacial transitions.

Intimately connected with these studies, Derek also maintained a close interest in the role of karst as a carrier of water. He became widely sought as a consultant on karstic hydrological systems, which provide the world with some of its most complex and inscrutable hosts for groundwater. In recognition of this work, he was awarded the 1999 first Annual Award of the Karst Waters Institute of America.

In the 1990's, he happened to encounter another cave enthusiast, Yavor Shopov from Sofia, Bulgaria, who had a wonderful way of using laser beams to discern seasonal cycles in speleothems. Bringing Yavor to McMaster was a wild and woolly adventure, and allowed Yavor to broadcast his ideas more freely to the speleothem community.

These are just some highlights of the diverse and fruitful universe of ideas that Derek has harvested through his career. The Johnston Medal justly honours the life-long work of an underground genius, a man who has led a small army of bright young men and women into the stygian depths where they could achieve enlightenment. Virtually all of the academic speleologists in the English-speaking world, and many of those from the rest of the karstic field have either been students of Derek's or have spent time in his labs. His book with Paul Williams has become a bible for those interested in the study karstic caves and hydrology.

The Quaternary Research community of Canada is fortunate to claim Derek as a member in good standing. He has been recognized both at home and around the world for his singular achievements in the study of the holes that lie beneath our feet as we stand on any limestone bedrock. The Johnston Medal is an appropriate further honour for these achievements. I look forward to his continued stimulus to myself and his many other research associates and students. Although he has moved off to Orillia, a few hours away from Hamilton, we await his regular visits to check up on how things are going with his technicians, students and the steady stream of visiting scientists who are attracted to the lab.

Henry Schwarcz McMaster University

ACCEPTANCE TEXT

It is a great honour to be a winner of CANQUA's Johnston Award for 2001 in the company of Wes Blake, a good friend and colleague for many years.

I started to study Quaternary phenomena with a 1956 undergraduate expedition to map the recession of the most northerly icecap in arctic Norway. Quaternary science has made enormous advances worldwide since then and is certainly one of the most complex and worthwhile of interdisciplinary fields today. There is a lot more exciting discovery to come. For those younger CANQUA members who will be contributing to it I would like to offer some perspective from my own experience in the field.

As Henry Schwarz notes, much of my career has been dedicated to dating of and paleo-environmental work on speleothems, stalactites, stalagmites and flowstones of calcite or aragonite that are precipitated in limestone caves. As a cave specialist I appreciated that these slowly accumulating deposits that can be seen growing on top of or buried within more conventional fluvial, lacustrine, aeolian or even glacial, sediments in ancient caves might contribute a lot to Quaternary chronology if they could be dated by some means. In 1962 a leading American specialist, John Rosholt, suggested that they would not be suitable materials for U series isotope ratio dating because they lacked sufficient uranium and suffered from detrital thorium contamination problems. In 1965, however, the "father of U series dating", V.V.Cherdyntsev, published some apparently successful results from speleothems and spring travertines in Russia. Henry Schwarcz, an isotope geochemist newly arrived at McMaster University, and I immediately decided to undertake an investigation to resolve the question. Our history of speleothem dating since then is an interesting and optimistic example of progress in scientific technology.

We began by using alpha particle radio emissions to measure the isotope ratios, the standard method of the 1960s and Œ70s. Anywhere from 40 to 100 grams of calcite would be required for one dating attempt, creating a big and ugly hole in the stalagmite - i.e., the temporal resolution within a given sample was pretty poor. After extraction, the U and Th in our samples sat for one week or more in alpha counters to accumulate a few thousand disintegrations. With such numbers the one standard deviation error of the age estimate was then about +/-10%. When we last bought an alpha counting system, in 1980, it cost $25,000.

In the 1980s our McMaster colleague, Alan Dickin, took some of our dated speleothem samples to experiment with thermal ionisation mass spectrometry, his specialty. We were beaten to the draw by Edwards, Chen and Wasserburg (Caltech) who published successful results on calcite corals in 1996/7. Our first clear successes with speleothems came one year later. "TIMS" is now the standard method for U dating calcites. The size of individual samples is usually no more than one gram and can be much less if a deposit is old. The dating range is pushed back from ~350,000 years BP to 500,000 - 600,000 years in favorable circumstances and the one standard deviation error is reduced to about 1% or less. U can be counted in automatic mode overnight while you are out at the pub but, with current technology, a skilled person is needed to control the thorium counting, paying close attention to the monitor for about three hours per sample. A suitable mass spectrometer costs $250,000 or more.

During the past two years U series dating of speleothems has been tried on induction-coupled plasma mass spectrometers ("ICPMS"). It works! Both the uranium and thorium isotopes of a given sample can be counted in just 20 minutes. Running on the ICPMS machine at GEOTOP, Montreal, our McMaster speleothem standard yields an age of 15,750 years BP with a two standard deviation error of 30 years - which is probably less than the actual span of time that it took the calcite of the sample to accumulate in the first place. Suitable machines cost more than $1,000,000 but just think - inflation!

In other speleothem work we are now resolving calcite deposition to individual years or even to seasons within them. I am sure that there are similar successes to come everywhere else in Quaternary studies. Most impressive are recent results by Darryl Granger and Derek Fabel (Purdue University) studying the radioactive decay of cosmogenic 26Al and 10Be in the skins of quartz sands washed into Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, and so removed from further cosmic bombardment. Quartz grains one metre or more below the surface in any glacial deposits should be similarly protected. The one standard deviation error of 26Al, 10Be dating is now about the same as it was in our U series technology c.1975.

Good luck!

Derek Ford

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

IN PRESS

Bosak, P., Bella, P., Cilek, V., Ford, D.C., Hercman, H., Kadlec, J., Osborne, A. and Pruner, P. Ochtina Aragonite Cave, Slovakia: Morphology, Mineralogy and Genesis. Geologica Carpathica.

Ford, D.C. 2002. Ranges (amplitudes) of isotopic ratios in speleothems, with particular reference to samples from the centre of North America. Acta Geologica Polonica.

Blanchon, P., Jones, B. and Ford. D. Discovery of a submerged relict reef and shoreline off Grand Cayman: Further support for an early Holocene jump in sea level. Sedimentary Geology.

McFarlane, D.A., Lundberg, J. and Ford, D.C. The age of the Dream Cave woolly rhino. Cave and Karst Science.

2002

Ford. Depth of conduit flow in unconfined carbonate aquifers: Comment. Geology. p.93

2001

Dubljansky, Y., Ford, D. and Reutski, V. Traces of epigenetic hydrothermal activity at Yucca Mountain, Nevada: preliminary data on the fluid inclusion and stable isotope evidence. Chemical Geology 173, 125-149.

Van Beynen, P.E., Bourbonniere, R., Ford, D.C. and Schwarcz, H.P. Causes of colour and fluorescence in speleothems. Chemical Geology 175 (3-4), 319-341.

2000

Vajoczki S. and Ford D.C. Underwater dissolutional pitting on dolostones, Lake Huron-Georgian Bay, Ontario. Physical Geography 21(5), 418-432.

Frumkin, A., Ford D.C. and Schwarcz, H.P. Palaeoclimate and vegetation of the last glacial cycles in Jerusalem from a speleothem record. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 14(3), 863-870.

Lundberg,J., Ford, D.C and Hill, C.A. A preliminary U-Pb date on cave spar, Big Canyon, Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico, U.S.A. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 62(2), 144-148.

Laval, B., Cady, S.L., Pollack, J.C., McKay, C.P., Bird, J.S., Grotzinger, J.P., Ford, D.C. and Bohm, H.R. Modern freshwater microbialite analogues for ancient dendritic reef structures. Nature 407(6804), 626-629.

van Beynen, P.E., Ford, D.C. and Schwarcz, H.P. Seasonal variability in organic substances in surface and cave waters at Marengo Cave, Indiana. Hydrological Processes 14, 1177-1197.

1999

Vezina, J., Jones, B. and Ford D. Sea-level highstands over the last 500,000 years: evidence from the Ironshore Formation on Grand Cayman, British West Indies. Journal of Sedimentary Research 69, 317-327.

Frumkin, A., Carmi, I, Gopher, A. Ford, D.C., Schwarcz, H.P and Tsuk, T. A Holocene millennial scale climatic cycle from a speleothem in Nahal Qanah Cave, Israel. The Holocene 9(6), 677-682.

Williams, P.W., Marshall, A., Ford, D.C. and Jenkinson,A.V. Paleoclimatic interpretation of stable isotope data from Holocene speleothems of the Waitomo district, North Island, New Zealand. The Holocene 9(6), 649-657.

Frumkin, A., Ford, D.C. and Schwarcz, H.P. Continental oxygen isotope record of the last 170,000 years in Jerusalem. Quaternary Research 51, 317-327

Ford Perspectives in Karst Hydrogeology and Cavern Genesis. Bulletin d'Hydrogeologie 16, 9-29.

Tarhule-Lips, R. and Ford. Morphometric studies of bellhole development on Cayman Brac. Cave and Karst Science 25(3), 119-130.

1998

Tarhule-Lips, R. and Ford, D.C. Condensation Corrosion in Caves on Cayman Brac and Isla de Mona, P.R. Journal of Caves and Karst Studies 60(2); 84-95.

MacFarlane, D.A. and Ford, D.C. The age of the Kirkdale Cave paleofauna. Cave and Karst Science 25(1); 3-6.

MacFarlane, D.A., MacPhee, R.D.E. and Ford,D.C. Body size variability and a Sangamonian extinction model for Amblyrhiza, a West Indian megafaunal rodent. Quaternary Research 50, 80-89.

1997

Worthington, S.R.H. and Ford, D.C. Strategy for evaluating channelling in the carbonate bedrock at Smithville, Ontario. Proceedings, Annual Meeting, Air and Waste Management Association.

Zambo, L. and Ford, D.C. Limestone dissolution processes in Beke Doline, Aggtelek National Park, Hungary. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 22, 531-543.

Ford, D.C. Principal features of evaporite karst in Canada. Carbonates and Evaporites 12(1), 15-23.

Lauriol, B., Ford, D.C., Cinq-Mars, J. and Morris, W.A. The Chronology of Speleothem Deposition in Northern Yukon and its Relationship to Permafrost. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 34(7), 902-911. v 1996

Ford, D.C., Salomon, J.-N. and Williams, P.W. Les Forets de Pierres ou "Stone Forests" du Lunan (Yunnan-Chine). Karstologia 28(2), 25-40.

Brook, G.A., Cowart, J.B. and Ford, D.C. Raised marine terraces along the Gulf of Aden coast of Somalia. Physical Geography 17(4), 297-312.

Ford, D.C. Paleokarst phenomena as "targets" for modern karst groundwaters: the contrasts between thermal water and meteoric water behaviour. Carbonate and Evaporites 10(2).

1995

Frumkin, A. and Ford D.C. Rapid entrenchment of stream profiles in the salt caves of Mt. Sedom, Israel. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 20, 139-152.

Frumkin, A. Schwarcz, H.P. and Ford, D.C. Evidence for isotopic equilibrium in stalagmites from caves in a dry region: Jerusalem, Israel. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 43, 221-230.

Worthington, S.R.H. and Ford, D.C. High sulfate concentrations in limestone springs: an important factor in conduit initiation? Environmental Geology 25, 9-15

1994

Lundberg, J. and Ford, D.C. Late Pleistocene sea level change in the Bahamas from U series dating of speleothem by mass spectrometry. Quaternary Science Reviews 13, 1-14.

Lundberg, J. and Ford, D.C. Canadian Landform Examples: Limestone and Dolomite Pavements, with an example from Dodo Creek, Mackenzie Mountains, NWT. The Canadian Geographer 38(3), 271-5.

Shopov, Y.Y. Ford, D.C. and Schwarcz, H.P. Luminescent microbanding in speleothems: High resolution chronology and paleoclimate. Geology 22, 407-10.

1993

Stenson, R.E. and Ford, D.C. Morphometric analyses of Holocene gypsum karst, Windsor and Cape North, Nova Scotia. Geographie physique et Quaternaire 47(2), 239-243.

Ghazban, F., Ford, D.C. and Schwarcz, H.P. Multistage dolomitisation in the Society Cliffs Formation, northern Baffin Island, NWT, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 29(7), 1459-1473.

Ford, D.C., Palmer, A.N., Palmer M.V., Dreybrodt, W., Lundberg ,J. and Schwarcz, H.P. Uranium series dating of the draining of an aquifer: the example of Wind Cave, Black Hills, South Dakota. Bulletin Geological Society of America 105, 241-250.

1992v Ghazban, F., Schwarcz, H.P, and Ford, D.C. Correlated strontium, carbon and oxygen isotopes in carbonate gangue at the Nanisivik zinc-lead deposits, northern Baffin Island, Canada. Chemical Geology (Isotope Geoscience Section) 87, 137-146.

Straus, L.G., Altuna, J., Ford, D.C., Marambat, L., Rhine, J.S., Schwarcz, H.P. and Vernet, J.-L. Early farming in the Algarve, southern Portugal: a preliminary view from two cave excavations near Faro. Trabalhos de Antropologia e Etnologia 32, 141-162.

1991

Ford, D.C. Antecedent canyons of the South Nahanni River. The Canadian Geographer 35(4), 426-431.

Ghazban, F., Schwarcz, H.P. and Ford, D.C. Stable isotopic composition of the hydrothermal fluids responsible for the Nanisivik Zn-Pb deposits, Northwest Territories, Canada. Applied Geochemistry, 6, pp. 257-266.

Ford, D.C. Features of the genesis of Jewel Cave and Wind Cave, Black Hills, South Dakota. Bulletin National Speleological Society of America 51, 100-110.

1990

Lundberg, J., Ford, D.C., Schwarcz, H.P., Dickin, A.P. and Li, W.-X. Dating sea levels in caves. Nature (343, 6255), 217-218.

Ford, D.C. and Gospodaric R. U series dating studies of Ursus spelaeus deposits in Krizna Jama, Slovenia. Acta Carsologica XVIII, 39-57.

1989

Latham, A.G., Ford, D.C., Schwarcz, H.P. and Birchall, T. Secular variations from Mexican stalagmites: their potential and problems. Physics of Earth and Planetary Interiors 56, 34-48.

Li, W-X., Lundberg, J., Dickin, A.P., Ford, D.C., Schwarcz, H.P., McNutt, R. and Williams, D. High precision mass spectrometric dating of speleothem and implications for paleoclimate studies. Nature 339(6225), 534-536.

Ford, D.C. and Hill, C.A. Dating deposits from Carlsbad Cavern and other caves of the Guadalupe Mountains, N.M. Geochron West (54), 3-7.

1988

Grun, R., Schwarcz, H.P., Ford, D.C. and Hentzsch, B. ESR dating of spring-deposited travertines. Quaternary Science Reviews 7, 429-432.

Gordon, D., Smart, P.L., Andrews, J.N., Ford, D.C., Atkinson, T.C., Rowe, P. and Christopher, N.S.J. Dating of United Kingdom Interglacials and Interstadials from Speleothem Growth Frequency. Quaternary Research 31, 14-26.

MacPhee, R.D.E., Ford, D.C. and McFarlane, D.A. Pre-Wisconsinan mammals from Jamaica and models of late Quaternary extinction in the Great Antilles. Quaternary Research 31, 94-106.

1987

Latham, A.G., Schwarcz, H.P. and Ford, D.C. Secular variation of the Earth's magnetic field from 19.5 to 15.0 ka B.P., as recorded in a Vancouver Island stalagmite. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 24(6), 1235-1241.

Ford, D.C. Effects of Glaciations and Permafrost upon the Development of Karst in Canada. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 12(5), pp. 507-522.

Ford, D.C. and Lundberg, J.A. Dissolutional rilling in limestone and other soluble rocks. Catena. Supp. 8, 119-140.

Bakalowicz, M., Ford, D.C., Miller, T.E., Palmer, A.N. and Palmer, M.V. Thermal genesis of dissolution caves in the Black Hills, South Dakota. Bulletin Geological Society of America 99, 729-738.

1986

Smart, C.C. and Ford, D.C. Structure and function of a karst aquifer, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 23(7), 919-929.

Latham, A.G. Schwarcz, H.P. and Ford, D.C. The paleomagnetism and U-Th dating of Mexican stalagmite, DAS 2. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 79, 195-207.

Ford, D.C. Genesis of paleokarst and strata-bound zinc/lead sulfide deposits in a Proterozoic dolostone, Northern Baffin Island - a discussion. Economic Geology 81(6), 1562-1563.

1985

Ford, D.C. Dynamics of the karst system: a review of recent N. American work. Ann. de Soc. Geol. Belgique 108, 283-291.

Ford, D.C. Plate tectonic morphology: a comparative survey. The Canadian Geographer 39(4), 315-323.

Yonge, C.J., Ford, D.C., Gray, J. and Schwarcz, H.P. Stable isotope studies of cave seepage water. Chemical Geology (Isotope Geoscience Section, 58, 97-105.

1984

Gascoyne, M. and Ford, D.C. Uranium series dating of speleothems, Part II. Results from the Yorkshire Dales. Transactions, British Cave Research Association 11(2), 65-85.

Ford, D.C., Andrews, J.T., Day, T.E., Harris, S.A., Macpherson, J.B., Occhietti, S., Rannie, W.F., and Slaymaker, H.O. Canada: How Many Glaciations? Canadian Geographer XXVIII(3), 205-225.

Gascoyne, M., Ford, D.C., and Schwarcz, H.P. Rates of cave and landform development in the Yorkshire Dales from speleothem age data. Earth surface processes and landforms 8(6), 557-568.

1983

Ford, D.C. Effects of glaciations upon karst aquifers in Canada. J. Hydrology 61(1/3), 149-158.

Karolyi, M.S., and Ford, D.C. The Goose Arm Karst, Newfoundland. J. Hydrology 61(1/3), 181-186.

Roberge, J.S. and Ford, D.C. Karst of the Salmon River, Anticosti Island, Quebec. J. Hydrology 61(1/3), 159-162.

Ford, D.C. The Winnipeg Aquifer. J. Hydrology 61(1/3), 177-180.

Smart, C.C. and Ford, D.C. Hydrogeology of Castleguard karst, Main Ranges, Rocky Mountains of Canada. J. Hydrology 61(1/3), 193-201.

Ford, D.C. Alpine karst systems at Crowsnest Pass, Alberta-British Columbia. J. Hydrology 61(1/3), 187-192.

Gascoyne, M., Schwarcz, H.P. and Ford, D.C. Uranium-series ages of speleothem from Northwest England: correlation with Quaternary climate. Philosophical Transactions, Royal Society, B301, 143-164.

Ford, D.C. The physiography of the Castleguard karst and Columbia Icefields area, Alberta, Canada. Arctic and Alpine Research 15(4), 427-436.

Ford, D.C., Smart, P.L. and Ewers, R.O. The physiography and speleogenesis of Castleguard Cave. Arctic and Alpine Research 15(4), 437-540.

Schroeder, J.J. and Ford, D.C. Clastic sediments in Castleguard Cave. Arctic and Alpine Research 15(4), 451-461.

Gascoyne, M., Latham, A.G., Harmon, R.S. and Ford, D.C. The antiquity of Castleguard Cave. Arctic and Alpine Research 15(4), 463-470.

1982

Schwarcz, H.P., Gascoyne, M. and Ford, D.C. Uranium-series Disequilibrium Studies of Granitic Rocks, in G.W. Bird and W.S. Fyfe (Eds.) Geochemistry of Radioactive Waste Disposal (proceedings of a symposium). Chemical Geology 36, 1982, 87-102.

Smart, C.C. and Ford, D.C. Quantitative dye tracing in a glacierised alpine karst. Beitraege zur Geologie der Schweiz-Hydrologie 28(7), 191-200.

Brook, G.A. and Ford, D.C. Hydrologic and geologic controls of carbonate water chemistry in the sub-Arctic Nahanni karst, Canada. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 7(1), 1-16.

Latham, A.G., Schwarcz, H.P., Ford, D.C. and Pearce, W.G. The paleomagnetism of three Canadian speleothems. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 19(10), 1985-1995.

1981

Ford, D.C., Schwarcz, H.P., Drake, J.J., Gascoyne, M., Harmon, R.S., and Latham, A.G. On the age of existing relief in the southern Rocky Mountains in Canada. Arctic and Alpine Res. 13(1), 1-10.

Ford, D.C. and Ewers, R.O. The development of limestone caves in the dimensions of length and depth, first published in Canadian Journal of Earth Sci. 15(11), republished in International J. Speleology 10, 213-244, at editor's request.

Gascoyne, M., Ford, D.C., and Schwarcz, H.P. Late Pleistocene chronology and paleoclimate of Vancouver Island determined from cave deposits. Canadian J. of Earth Sci. 18(11), 1643-1652.

Drake, J.J. and Ford, D.C. Karst Solution: a global model for groundwater solute concentrations. Trans. Japanese Geomorphological Union 2(2), 223-230.

1980

Glew, J.R. and Ford, D.C. Simulation of rillenkarren. Earth Surface Processes 5(1), 25-36.

Cowell, D.W. and Ford, D.C. Hydrochemistry of a dolomite terrain; the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 17(4), 520-526.

Brook, G.A. and Ford, D.C. Hydrology of the Nahanni Karst, northern Canada, and the importance of extreme summer storms. J. Hydrology 46, 103-121.

Harmon, R.S. and Schwarcz, H.P., Ford, D.C., and Koch, D.L. An isotope palaeotemperature record for late Wisconsinan time in northeast Iowa, reply. Geology 8, 263-265. v Gascoyne, M., Ford, D.C. and Schwarcz, H.P. A palaeotemperature record for the mid Wisconsin in Vancouver Island. Nature 285, 474-476.

1979

Harmon, R.S., Schwarcz, H.P., Ford, D.C. and Koch, D.L. An Isotopic Palaeotemperature Record of the Late Wisconsinan in Northeast Iowa. Geology.

Ford, D.C. A review of alpine karst in the southern Rocky Mountains of Canada. Bulletin Nat. Speleological Soc. America 41(3), 53-65.

Latham, A.G., Schwarcz, H.P., Ford, D.C. and Pearce, W.G. Paleomagnetism of stalagmite deposits. Nature 280(5721), 383-385.

Gascoyne, M., Benjamin, G., Schwarcz, H.P. and Ford, D.C. Sea-level lowering during the Illinoian Glaciation: evidence from a Bahamas 'Blue Hole'. Science 205(4408), 806-808.

1978

Harmon, R.S., Schwarcz, H.P. and Ford, D.C. Stable isotope geochemistry of speleothems and cave waters from the Flint Ridge-Mammoth Cave system, Kentucky: implications for terrestrial climate change during the period 23,000 to 100,000 years B.P., J. Geol. 86, 373-384.

Harmon, R.S., Thompson, P., Ford, D.C. and Schwarcz, H.P. Late Pleistocene palaeoclimates of North America as inferred from stable isotope studies of speleothems, Quaternary Research 9, 54-70.

Gascoyne, M., Schwarcz, H.P. and Ford, D.C. Uranium Series Dating and Stable Isotope Studies of Speleothems: Part 1 Theory and Techniques, Bulletin British Cave Research Association 5(2), 91-111.

Ford, D.C. and Ewers, R.O. The development of limestone cave systems in the dimensions of length and depth. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 15(11), 1783-1798.

Brook, G.A. and Ford, D.C. The nature of labyrinth karst and its implications for climaspecific models of tower karst. Nature 275(5260), 493-496.

1977

Thompson, P., Ford, D.C. and Schwarcz, H.P. Stable isotope geochemistry, geothermometry and geochronology of speleothems from West Virginia. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. Vol. 87, 1730-1738.

Harmon, R.S., Ford, D.C. and Schwarcz, H.P. Interglacial chronology of the Rocky and Mackenzie Mountains based upon 230/Th234 U dating of calcite speleothems, Can. J. Earth Sci., 14(11), 1977, pp. 2543-2552.

Brook, G.A., Ford, D.C. and Cowell, D.W. Comment upon Regional Hydrochemistry of North American Carbonate Terrains, by R.S. Harmon, W.B. White, J.J. Drake and J.W. Hess, The Effect of Climate on the Chemistry of Carbonate Groundwater by J.J. Drake and T.M.L. Wigley, Water Resources Research 13(5), 856-868.

1976

Ford, D.C., Harmon, R.S., Schwarcz, H.P., Wigley, T.M.L., and Thompson, P. Geohydrologic and thermometers observations in the vicinity of the Columbia Icefields, Alberta and British Columbia. J. Glac. 16(74), 219-230.

Schwarcz. H.P., Harmon, R.S. and Thompson, P. and Ford, D.C. Stable isotopes of fluid inclusions in speleothems and their palaeoclimatic significance. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 40(2), 657-665.

Drake, J.J. and Ford, D.C. Solutional erosion in the Canadian Rockies. Can. Geogr. XX(2), 158-170.

Schwarcz, H.P. and Ford, D.C. Radiometric age studies of speleothems, Geol. Survey Can. Paper, 76-1B, 151-152.

Ford, D.C. Evidences of multiple glaciation in South Nahanni National Park, Mackenzie Mountains, N.W.T., 1974, Can. J. Earth Sci. 13(10), pp. 1433-1445.

1975

Harmon, R.S., Thompson, P., Ford, D.C. and Schwarcz, H.P. Uranium-Series Dating of Speleothems. Natl. Speleo. Soc. Amer. Bull 37 (2), 21-33.

Cowell, D.W. and Ford, D.C. The Wodehouse Creek Karst, Grey Co., Ontario. Can. Geogr. XIX(3), 196-205.

Thompson P., Schwarcz, H.P. and Ford, D.C. "U234/U238 ratios in lime stone cave seepage waters and speleothems from West Virginia. Geochim et Cosmochim Acta 39(5), 661-669.

Ford, D.C. Castleguard Cave, an alpine cave in the Canadian Rockies, invited paper. Studies in Speleology 2(7-8), 299-310.

1974

Thompson, P., Schwarcz, H.P. and Ford, D.C. Continental Pleistocene Climatic Variations inferred from Speleothem Age and Isotopic Data. Science 184(4139), 893-895.

Drake, J.J. and Ford, C.D. Hydrochemistry of the Athabasca and North Saskatchewan Rivers in the Rocky mountains of Canada. Water Resources 10(6), 1192-1198.

Schwarcz, H.P. and Ford, D.C. Radiometric age studies of speleothems. Geol. Survey Can. Paper 74-1B, 223.

1973

Wigley, T.M.L., Drake, J.J., Quinlan, J.F. and Ford, D.C. Geomorphology and geochemistry of a gypsum karst near Canal Flats, British Columbia. Can. J. Earth Sci. 10(2), 113-129.

Brown, M.C. and Ford, D.C. Caves and Groundwater patterns in a tropical karst environment. Amer. J. Sci. 173, 622-633.

Ford, D.C. Contribution to The Wisconsin Deglaciation of Canada. B.J. Bird (Ed.), Arctic and Alpine Res. 5(3), 232.

Ford, D.C. Development of the canyons of the South Nahanni River, N.W.T., Can. J. Earth Sci. 10(3), 366-378.

1972 Drake, J.J. and Ford, D.C. The analysis of growth patterns of two-generation populations: the example of karst sinkholes. Can. Geogr. XVI(4), 381-384.

1971

Ford, D.C. Geologic structure and a new explanation of limestone cavern genesis, Cave. Res. Gp. G.B., Trans 13(2), 81-94.

Goodchild, M.F. and Ford, D.C. A study of scallop patterns by simulation under controlled conditions. J. Geol. 79, 52-62.

Ford, D.C. Alpine karst in the Mount Castleguard-Columbia Icefield area, Canadian Rocky Mountains. Arctic Alpine Res. 3(3), 239-252.

Ford, D.C. Characteristics of limestone solution in the southern Rocky Mountains and Selkirk Mountains, Alberta and British Columbia. Can. J. Earth Sci. 8(6), 585-609.

Bones, J.G. and Ford, D.C. Simulating the development of river drain age networks. Can. Geogr. XV(3), 207-211.

Brown, M.C. and Ford, D.C. Quantitative tracer methods of investigating karst hydrologic systems. Cave Res. Gp. G.B. Trans. 13(1), 27-46.

1970

Ford, D.C., Fuller, P.G. and Drake, J.J. Calcite precipitates at the soles of temperature glaciers. Nature 226 (5244), 441-442.

Ford, D.C. Theories of limestone cavern genesis, Simpson Memorial Address. Brit. Speleo. Assoc. J. VI (45), 35-45.

Pluhar, A. and Ford, D.C. Dolomite karren of the Niagara Escarpment of Ontario. Zeit. Fur Geomorph. 14(4), 392-410.

1969

Ford, D.C. On Mesozoic marine erosion of the Mendip Hills. Geol. Assoc., Proc. 80(2), 379.

Brown, M.C., Ford, D.C. and Wigley, T.M.L. Water budget studies in karst aquifers. J. Hydrology 9, 113-116.

1968

Ford, D.C. Features of cavern development in Central Mendip. Cave Res. Gp. G.B., Trans. 10(1), 11-25.

Ford, D.C. and Stanton, W.I. Geomorphology of the south-central Mendip Hills. Geol. Assoc. Proc. 79(4), 401-427.

1967

Ford, D.C. The sinking streams of Mt. Tupper - a remarkable karst in Glacier National Park. B.C., Can. Geogr. XI(1), 49-52.

1966

Ford, D.C. Permo-Triassic karstification in the Mendip Hills, Cave Res. Gp., Trans. 16(2).

Ford, D.C. Calcium carbonate solution in some central Mendip caves. Univ. Bristol Speleo. Soc. Proc. 9(1), 89-104.

1965

Ford, D.C. A method of contouring cave maps. Natl. Speleo. Soc. Amer. Bull. 27(2), 55-58.

Ford, D.C. The Origin of Limestone Caves: a model from the central Mendip Hills, England. Natl. Speleo. Soc. Amer. Bull. 27(4), 107-132.

1964 Ford, D.C. On the geomorphic history of G.B. Cave. Univ. Bristol Speleo Soc., Proc. 10(2), 149-188.

Ford, D.C. Stream potholes as indicators of erosion phases in caves. Natl. Speleo. Soc. Amer. Bull. 26(4), 67-74.

1961

Ford, D.C. The Bonnechere Caves, Renfrew Co., Ontario. Can. Geogr. 3, 22-25.

1958

Ford, D.C. Seilandsjokulen and Nordmannsjokulen, Finnmark, Norway. J. Glaciology 3(24), 249-252.

BOOKS

2000

Klimchouk,A.V., Ford, D.C., Palmer, A.N. and Dreybrodt,W. (Editors). Speleogenesis; Evolution of Karst Aquifers. Huntsville, Al. National Speleological Society of America. 527 p.

1996

McCann, S.B. and Ford, D.C. (Editors). Geomorphology sans frontieres. London, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. p xii, 245.

1989

Ford, D.C. and Williams, P.W. Karst Geomorphology and Hydrology. Unwin-Hyman, London. 601 pages

Bosak, P., Ford, Glazek, J. and Horacek, M. (Eds.) Paleokarst: a world regional and systematic review. Elsevier/Academia Praha, Amsterdam and Prague, 720 pages.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO REFEREED CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS AND OTHER BOOKS.

2001

Worthington, S.R.H and Ford D.C. Test methods for developing a conceptual model for a PCB-contaminated carbonate aquifer. In B.F.Beck and J.G.Herring (Eds). Geotechnical and Environmental Applications of Karst Geology and Hydrology. Lisse, Balkema Publishers. pp 333-338.

2000 Klimchouk, A.B., Ford, D.C., Palmer, A.N. and Dreybrodt, W. Introduction. In Klimchouk, Ford, Palmer and Dreybrodt (Eds.) Speleogenesis; Evolution of Karst Aquifers. Huntsville, Al. National Speleological Society Press. pp 15 - 19.

Klimchouk, A. and Ford, D.C. 3.1 Types of Karst and Evolution of Hydrogeologic Settings. In Klimchouk, Ford, Palmer and Dreybrodt (Eds) op cit. pp 45-53.

Klimchouk, A. and Ford, D.C. 3.2 Lithologic and Structural Controls of Dissolutional Cave Development. In Klimchouk, Ford, Palmer and Dreybrodt (Eds), op cit. pp 54-63.

Ford, Lauritzen, S.-E. and Ewers, R. 4.2.1 Hardware and Software Modelling of Initial Conduit Development in Karst Rocks. In Klimchouk, Ford, Palmer and Dreybrodt (Eds.) op cit. pp 175-183.

Ford 5.3 Speleogenesis Under Unconfined Settings. In Klimchouk, Ford, Palmer and Dreybrodt (Eds), op cit. pp 319-324.

Ford 5.3.1 Deep Phreatic Caves and Groundwater Systems of the Sierra del Abra, Mexico. In Klimchouk, Ford, Palmer and Dreybrodt (Eds.) op cit. pp 325-331.

Ford, Lauritzen, S.-E. and Worthington, S.R.H. 5.3.2 Speleogenesis of Castleguard Cave, Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada. In Klimchouk, Ford, Palmer and Dreybrodt (Eds.) op cit. pp 332-337.

Ford 5.3.12 Caves Branch, Belize, and the Baradla-Domica System, Hungary and Slovakia. In Klimchouk, Ford, Palmer and Dreybrodt (Eds.) op cit. pp 391-396.

Worthington, S.R.H., Ford, D.C. and Beddows, P.A. 8.1 Porosity and Permeability Enhancement in Unconfined Carbonate Aquifers as a Result of Solution. In Klimchouk, Ford, Palmer and Dreybrodt (Eds.) op cit. pp 463-472.

Worthington, S.R.H., Ford,D.C. and Davies,G.J. Matrix, fracture and channel flow components of storage and flow in a Paleozoic carbonate aquifer. In I.D.Sasowsky and C.M.Wicks (Eds) Groundwater Flow and Contaminant Transport in Carbonate Aquifers. Rotterdam, A.A.Balkema. pp113-128

1999

Ford, D.C. Endokarstic Sedimentary Records and Paleo-environmental Reconstructions in Caves. In B.Andreo, F.Carrasco and J.J.Duran (Eds) Contribucion del estudio cientifico de las cavidades karsticas al conocimiento geologico. Patronato de la Cueva de Nerja, Nerja (Malaga). pp113-115.

Ford, D.C. Perspectives on karst hydrogeology and cavern genesis. In A.N.Palmer, M.V.Palmer and I.D.Sasowsky (eds) Karst Modelling, Special Publication #5, Karst Waters Institute, pp 17-29.

1998

Ford, D.C. Perspectives on Karst Geomorphology in the 20th Century. In Kranjc, A. (ed) Papers presented at the Classical Karst Symposium, 4th International Conference on Geomorphology, Acta Carsologica, XXVII/I, pp 79-98.

1997

Ford, D.C. Dating and paleo-environmental studies of speleothems. Invited chapter in C.A. Hill and P. Forti (eds). Cave Minerals of the World, (second edition). Huntsville, Al. National Speleological Society of America Press, pp. 271-284.

McCann, S.B. and Ford, D.C. (eds). Geomorphology sans frontierès. London, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. i-xiii.

Ford, D.C. Karst in a Cold Climate. in McCann, S.B. and Ford, D.C. (eds.) Geomorphology sans Frontieres, London, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., pp. 153-179.

1996

Worthington, S.R.H. and Ford, D.C. Guidelines for the quantities of dye required for quantitative tracing to springs in carbonate rocks. in G. Gunay (ed) "Karst Waters and Human Impacts", Proceedings of a Symposium, International Research and Application Center for Karst Water Resources, Haceteppe University, Turkey, pp. 186-190.

Karmann, I. and Ford, D.C. Facies hidroquimicas do carste do alte vale do Rio Ribeira de Iguape, Municipio de Iporanga, Sao Paulo. V Congresso Brasileiro de Geoquinica e III Congresso de Geoquinica dos Paises de Lingua Portuguesa, Niteroi/RJ. pp. 130-3.

Karmann and Ford, D.C. Denudacao quinica da bacia associada do sistema de Cavernas Perolas-Santana, Municipio de Iporanga, Sao Paulo. V Congresso Brasileiro de Geoquinica e III Congresso de Geoquinica dos Paises de Lingua Portuguesa, Niteroi/RJ. pp. 134-6.

1995

Kovanda, J. Smolikova, L., Ford, D.C., Kaminska, L., Lozek and Moracek, I. The Skalka travertine mound at Hôrka-Ondrej near Poprad, Slovakia, Sbornik geologickyeh ved Antropozoikum, Vol. 22, pp. 113-140.

Ghazban, F. and Ford, D.C. Meteoric and hydrothermal karstification in dolostones of the Society Cliffs Formation, northern Baffin Island, NWT, Canada in Afrasiabian (ed). Proceedings, International Symposium on Water Resources in Karst with special emphasis on arid and semi-arid zones, Shiraz, Iran, Vol. 1, pp. 331-357.

1993

Latham, A.G. and Ford, D.C. The paleomagnetism and rock magnetism of cave and karst deposits: solicited chapter in D.M. Aissaoni, D.F. McNeill and N.F. Hurley (Eds.) Applications of Paleomagnetism to Sedimentary Geology. SEPM Special Publication 49, pp. 149-156.

Duran J.J., Ford D.C. and Grun R. Dataciones geocronologicas (Series de Uranio y Metodo ESR) en la cueva de Nerja. Implicaciones evolutivas, paleoclimaticas y neotectonicas. y Trabajos sobre La Cueva de Nerja, Acad. Sciences, Spain; pp. 233-248.

Ford D.C. Karst in the Cold Environments, invited chapter in French H.M. and Slaymaker, O., (Eds.) Canada's Cold Environments. McGill-Queen's University Press, pp. 199-222.

1992 Ford D.C. Karst et Glaciation, invited chapter in J.-N. Salomon and R. Maire (Eds.) Karsts et Evolutions Climatiques, Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, pp. 249-266.

1990

Ford D.C. 1987 Characteristics of dissolutional cave systems, republished as Charakteristiky jeskynnich systemn yzniklych rozpoustenim karbonatovych hornin. Ceska speleo. Spolecnost, 16, pp. 1-66. (Czech translation).

Ford, D.C. Complexity in physical geography: the example of karst landforms in Canada. In: R. Preston & B. Mitchell (Eds.). Reflections and Visions: 25 years of Geography at Waterloo, Geography Publication Series, No. 33, University of Waterloo, pp. 177-206.

1989

Ford, D.C. Paleokarst of Canada. A chapter in Paleokarst: a world systematic and regional review. pages 313-336.

Ford, D.C. Solution Processes in Quaternary Geology of Canada (R.J. Fulton, Ed.) Geological Survey of Canada. pages 617-619.

Ford, D.C. Relationships between karst landform and aquifer development and repeated glaciations in mountains. Problemi karsta gornix strai (Problems of karst in mountainous countries); Proc. International Symposium in Speleology, Acad. Sciences, Georgian S.S.R. pp. 61-63.

1988

Ford, D.C., Palmer, A.N. and White, W.B. Landform developments; karst. in Back, W., Rosenshein, J.J. and Seaber, P.R. (eds.) Hydrogeology: the Geology of North America, vol. 0-2. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colo. pp. 401-412.

1987

Ford, D.C. Characteristics of dissolutional cave systems in carbonate rocks. in N.P. James and P.W. Choquette (Eds.) Paleokarst. Proceedings of a Soc. Econ. Paleontologists and mineralogists' symposium. Springer-Verlag, pp. 25-57.

1984

Worthington, S.R.H. and Ford, D.C. Pattern and antiquity of sinkholes along and alluviated karstified valley: Friars' Hole, West Virginia, in B.F. Beck (Editor) Sinkholes: their geology, engineering and environmental impact. Proceedings of the First Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes, Orlando, Fla. Balkema, Rotterdam/Boston, pp. 93-96.

Ford, D.C. Karst groundwater activity in the modern permafrost regions of Canada, in R. LaFleur (Ed.) Groundwater Weathering in Geomorphology, George Allen and Unwin, London, pp. 340-350.

1982 v Ford, D.C. and Drake, J.J. Spatial and temporal variation in karst solution and precipitation rates: the structure of variability, in C.E. Thorn (Ed.), Space and Time in Geomorphology, George Allen and Unwin, London, pp. 147-170.

1980

Ford, D.C. and Schwarcz, H.P. Uranium series disequilibrium dating, and Schwarcz and Ford, Applications of stable isotope fractionation effects in water, sedimentary deposits, flora and fauna. Two contributions to A. Goudie (Ed.) Methods in Geomorphology, British Geomorphological Research Group pp. 284-7, 288-91.

Ford, D.C. Geologic structure and a new explanation of limestone cavern genesis, (first published, C.R.G./G.B. Trans. 1971) and Thompson, P., Ford, D.C. and Schwarcz, H.P., Pleistocene climatic variations from speleothem age and isotopic data, (first published, Science, 1974). Both re-published in Sweeting M.M. (Ed.) Karst Geomorphology, Benchmark Papers in Geology, Hutchinson-Ross Inc., Penna. pp. 187-200, 273-275.

Ford, D.C. Thresholds and limits in karst geomorphology, a chapter in R.L. Frederking (Ed.) Thresholds in Geomorphology. Dowden and Hutchinson Co., New York, pp. 345-362.

1975

"Discussion" in B. Fahey and G. Thompson (Eds.) Research in Polar and Alpine Geomorphology, (Proceedings, 3rd Guelph Symposium in Geomorphology); Geo Abstracts, Norwich, England; pp. 200-206.

1974

Goodchild, R. and Ford, D.C. A study of scallop patterns by simulation under controlled conditions, (J. Geology 1971) - republished in A. Falconer (Ed.) Physical Geography - The Canadian Context, McGraw-Hill-Ryerson Press, pp. 98-107.

1972

Ford, D.C., Thompson, P. and Schwarcz, H.P. Dating cave calcite by the Uranium Disequilibrium Method: some preliminary results from Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, in A. Falconer (Ed.) Research methods in Pleistocene Geomorphology, (Proceedings, 2nd Guelph Symposium in Geomorphology); Geo Abstracts, Norwich, England; pp. 247-255.

1971

Research methods in karst geomorphology, in E. Yatsu (Ed.), Research methods in geomorphology, (Proceedings, 1st Guelph Symposium in Geomorphology); Science Research Assoc. (Canada), Ltd., 1971, pp. 23-48.