Jeff Davies died unexpectedly on 3 May at the age of 75. Jeff was a hydrogeologist who spent his entire career putting ‘geology’ into ‘hydrogeology’. He would tell you that there was no point in trying to understand the hydrogeology of an area unless you first understood the geological setting which you could then refine with new data from borehole logs and down-hole geophysics. His enthusiasm was appreciated by his many colleagues in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Fiji as well as at home at the British Geological Survey.
Jeff was never keen on the big international congresses but was often seen speaking at regional meetings both in Europe and Africa. His scathing comments about groundwater models based on sparse and dubious data were well known as too were his efforts to verify data and publish it on the web (e.g. the SADC Data Base). Jeff will be sorely missed both by those of us who knew and worked with him, as well as the many young hydrogeologists he mentored in the field and back in the office.
Nick Robins
