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Walter Bell
Walter Bell was a pioneering biostratigrapher, a distinguished member of the Geological Survey of Canada and is considered to be the founder of Canadian Carboniferous stratigraphy. Bell started his career with the Geological Survey of Canada in 1920 and continued to work for the Survey for the next 34 years. He served as the Survey’s Director from 1950 to 1953, during which time increasing attention was paid Canada’s mineral potential. Bell contributed a great amount to the study of paleontology of Canada, as evidenced by his 57-year publication record.
Bell spent summers doing fieldwork in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and winters in Ottawa writing up his research. He dedicated himself to studying the Carboniferous rocks of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for 25 years. One of his reports dealt with the plant fossils from the Clifton Formation in northern New Brunswick. He studied the coal-bearing strata of the Maritimes and used his data to benefit the coal industries in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
