Ohio Geological Survey awards Mather Medal to Thomas M. Berg
The Ohio Geological Survey recently presented its highest honor, the William W. Mather Medal, recognizing outstanding contributions to Ohio geology, to Thomas M. Berg.
Held at the Fawcett Event Center at The Ohio State University in Columbus, the award ceremony highlighted Berg’s distinguished professional career, which included his tenure as the 11th State Geologist and Chief of the Ohio Geological Survey from 1989 to 2006.
Berg came to Ohio from the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, where he had been for nearly 25 years serving as Associate State Geologist and Chief of the Mapping Division. During his career in Ohio, Berg oversaw significant improvements in statewide mapping efforts, educational publications, and digital data collection and dissemination.
Particularly, Survey geologists and cartographers experienced a significant transition from paper and Mylar to digital mapping techniques, enabling geologists to assemble data into large databases and to load multiple mapping layers to make correlations that beforehand were almost unimaginable.
One of Berg’s first scientific priorities for the Ohio Geological Survey was to produce a new bedrock geologic map of Ohio to replace John A. Bownocker’s 1920 Geologic Map of Ohio. Thousands of hours were put into new mapping efforts culminating with the release of map BG-1: Bedrock Geologic Map of Ohio in 2006. Berg also oversaw a major compilation effort to replace the 1961 Glacial Map of Ohio. The new map represented a vast improvement over the earlier version and was released in 1999 as the Quaternary Map of Ohio. Both maps marked major achievements for the Berg Survey.
Two other milestone publications for the Survey were released during Berg’s tenure—Bulletin 69: Minerals of Ohio and Bulletin 70: Fossils of Ohio. Both bulletins enjoyed broad public appeal and have remained two of the best-selling Survey publications. Additionally, the Survey created several series of free informative handouts including Educational Leaflets, GeoFacts, and Hands-On Earth Science activity sheets geared toward grade-school children.
Berg also oversaw the construction of the Horace R. Collins Laboratory and Core Repository (HRC) in Delaware, a modern facility that houses core and samples and provides laboratory spaces, examination rooms, and a large classroom for educational and outreach activities. The HRC also is home to the Ohio Seismic Network, which was founded under Berg’s leadership in 1999.
His efforts to increase access to Survey publications and maps enabled countless Ohioans to learn about the geology of our state.