# Alec Trendall

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{{Short description|English geologist, poet, and explorer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox scientist| name = Alec Trendall | image =    | caption =  | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1928|12|8}} | birth_place = [Enfield](/source/Enfield%2C_London), Middlesex | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2013|4|4|1928|12|8}} | death_place =  | occupation = geologist, poet, and explorer | spouse =  | known_for = Director of the Geological Survey of Western Australia  | education = PhD (University of Liverpool) | alma_mater = Imperial College London | honours = | thesis_title      = 	The origin of albite gneisses | doctoral_advisor  = [Robert Shackleton](/source/Robert_Millner_Shackleton)<ref name="Cockbain_GSL"/> }}

'''Alec Trendall''' (8 December 1928 &ndash; 4 April 2013<ref name="Cockbain_GSL">{{cite web|last1=Cockbain|first1=Tony|title=Alec Francis Trendall 1928 – 2013 Trendall – Respected geologist who mapped South Georgia Island|url=http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/History/Obituaries-2001-onwards/Obituaries-2013/Alec-Francis-Trendall-1928-2013|website=The Geological Society|accessdate=12 November 2014}}</ref><ref name=Cockbain2>
{{cite journal
| last = Cockbain
| first = Tony
| title = Obituary – Alec Francis Trendall 1928–2013
| journal = Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia
| volume = 96
| issue = 1
| pages = 35–37
| date = 2013
| language = 
| url = https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/58083495
| jstor = 
| issn = 
| doi = 
| id = 
| mr = 
| zbl = 
| jfm = 
| access-date = 8 February 2024}}
</ref>) was an English geologist, poet, and explorer.  He is known for his work in mapping the island of [South Georgia](/source/South_Georgia_Island) and for surveying the geology of [Western Australia](/source/Western_Australia).

==Early life==
Alec Trendall was born in 1928 at Enfield, Middlesex, and in 1949 graduated in geology at [Imperial College](/source/Imperial_College%2C_London), London. He has a PhD degree from [Liverpool University](/source/Liverpool_University).<ref name=Cockbain2/>

==Exploration==
Trendall was the geologist on the 1951–52 and 1953–54 [South Georgia Survey](/source/South_Georgia_Survey) expeditions led by [Duncan Carse](/source/Duncan_Carse).  [Trendall Crag](/source/Trendall_Crag), 1,005 m, overlooking the north side of [Drygalski Fjord](/source/Drygalski_Fjord) at the southeast end of [South Georgia](/source/South_Georgia_Island), was named to commemorate Alec Trendall's contribution.   In 2011 he published a full account of the survey expeditions, entitled ''Putting South Georgia on the Map''.<ref>Trendall, A (2011) ''Putting South Georgia on the Map'' {{ISBN|978-0-9870614-0-9}}</ref>

The Scott Polar Research Institute's digitised archive includes 305 images of Trendall<ref>[http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/library/pictures/catalogue/sgs1951-57/search/?q=trendall Trendall images in SPRI archive]</ref> including images of a [bergschrund](/source/bergschrund) – a hole in an ice sheet – which Trendall fell down before being carried on an improvised sled,<ref>[http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/library/pictures/catalogue/article/p54.19.a18.28/ Picture library catalogue]</ref> to leave the First expedition.

==Geological Survey of Western Australia==
Trendall was Director of the [Geological Survey of Western Australia](/source/Geological_Survey_of_Western_Australia) from 1969 to 1989.<ref>[http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/5253.aspx Geological Survey of Western Australia]</ref> Trendall discovered the locality known as Trendall Reserve, Eastern [Pilbara](/source/Pilbara) in 1984. It contains convincing evidence of some of the oldest known fossils known as [stromatolites](/source/stromatolites).<ref>[http://pilbara.mq.edu.au/wiki/Trendall_Locality Trendal Locality]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ach|aw}}
{{s-bef|before=[Lilian Ross Fraser](/source/Lilian_Ross_Fraser)}}
{{s-ttl|title=[Clarke Medal](/source/Clarke_Medal)|years=1977}}
{{s-aft|after=[Donald Thomas Anderson](/source/Donald_Thomas_Anderson)}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trendall, Alec}}
Category:1928 births
Category:History of South Georgia
Category:2013 deaths
Category:20th-century English geologists
Category:Alumni of the University of Liverpool
Category:Alumni of Imperial College London

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alec Trendall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Trendall) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Trendall?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.