Logan, Sir William Edmond, 1798–1875, Canadian geologist. Educated in England, he managed (1831–38) coal mines and a copper smelter in Wales. In addition to making studies of clays underlying coal seams, he made extensive geological maps and sections. These were used for the first geological map of Britain by H. T. De la Beche. As head of the Canadian Geological Survey (1842–70), Logan became known as the father of Precambrian geology. He was the first to recognize altered Paleozoic rock in S Canada and first to discover reptile remains from the Carboniferous period. He wrote, with T. S. Hunt, The Geology of Canada (1863).
See biography by B. J. Harrington (1883).
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