The Geology of Venezuela and Trinidad

Today I was given a book! It is a fat and old looking book that has a sober dark green cover with golden lettering. “The Geology of Venezuela and Trinidad” by R.A. Liddle (1946). The book was part of the BEG Houston Research Center Library, formerly Unocal’s Exploration & Production Library. A good soul decided to rescue this little treasure for me. Its cover even has a texture! It is a rough surface made of some sort of fabric! I bet you cannot buy this one on Amazon. The first edition of this book was published in 1928 and in the original preface Liddle wrote: “Grateful appreciation is expressed to General Juan Vicente Gomez, President of the United States of Venezuela, for the many courtesies which he extended, and to the Venezuelan people for their hospitality” This definitely puts things into historical context, Juan Vicente Gomez was the de facto ruler of Venezuela from 1908 until his death in 1935. The United States of Venezuela evolved into the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela through the years and many rulers (and some presidents) have been in power since the days of “El Benemerito”. As part of my few and scattered possessions I have a 1948 map of “Los Estados Unidos de Venezuela” in my office. I like the look and relief of the map but there is something still missing to the east (not the topic of this post).

From 1920 to 1926 Liddle studied the geology of the United States of Venezuela (including Margarita) and the islands of Trinidad and Curacao. He was on the field for five years! He acknowledged the contributions of many other Venezuelan and foreign geologists who helped him with his publication. The book has plenty of black and white photographs that not only show the geology but also represent a time window into the Venezuela of the 1920s. I can spend hours looking at these pages. Those were the days when geologists were also adventurers! Now, most of us are desk geologists with a bunch of monitors in front of us…technology is a bless!

Thanks to Dr. Bob Loucks for rescuing this book for me.

This is the map that I proudly have for display in my office. Thanks to Dr. Edgar Guevara for the legacy.

Mapa de Los Estados Unidos de Venezuela published by Aero Service Corporation

"PLATE IX. - Fig. 2. - Lumber camp of New York and Bermudez Company on Rio Guarapiche between Maturin and Cano Colorado. Logs cut here are floated in rafts to Guanoco where they are sawed into lumber for construction and use in connection with asphalt shipments" (From Liddle, 1946)

"PLATE X.- Fig.2 - The philosopher and the scientist at Pie del Paramo, State of Merida. To Mr. Bremmer the author is indebted for much valuable information and many excellent views of the high Andes" (From Liddle, 1946)