Thomas "Tom" Seward Lovering (May 12, 1896, St. Paul, Minnesota – April 9, 1991, Santa Barbara, California)[1] was an American geologist, known for his innovative field and laboratory research on relations between mineable ore deposits and hydrothermal alteration of wall rock.
[2] During WW I, Thomas S. Lovering volunteered for the U.S. Navy and was trained as a naval aviator, but the war ended before he was assigned to combat duty.
In 1925 he joined the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to do research, under the supervision of Bert Sylvenus Butler (1877–1960), on mining districts in Colorado's Front Range.
[3][4] After WW II ended, he resumed his professorship at the University of Michigan for the academic year but resigned in 1947 to accept a permanent position in the USGS's Mineral Deposits Branch.
His research on the geochemistry of hydrothermal alteration of wall rocks and the thermodynamics and cooling rates of igneous intrusions clarified the general processes of ore deposition.
[7] In October 1919, Thomas S. Lovering married Alexina Corinne Gray (1895–1969), who often shared the hardships of geological fieldwork involving wilderness camping in the Colorado Rockies.