Richard LeRoy Hay (April 29, 1929 – February 10, 2006) was an American geologist whose most famous work was as the principal geologist working with Mary Leakey at Olduvai Gorge., the site of many important hominid finds in the study of human evolution. His scientific impacts went much further, however, including fundamental contributions to our understanding of the interactions of water, minerals, and organisms near the Earth's surface. He held the position of Professor of Geology at the University of California, Berkeley for 26 years (1957-1983) and at the University of Illinois for another 11. His life and scientific contributions were celebrated with a special session of the Geological Society of America at the national meeting in 2007.
Geology of the Olduvai Gorge: A Study of Sedimentation in a Semiarid Basin, University of California Press, 1976 ISBN 978-0-520-02963-7
1963 Stratigraphy and Zeolitic Diagenesis of the John Day Formation of Oregon. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 42(5): 199-262 with John Stark.
Geology and Petrography of Volcanic Rocks of the Truk Islands, East Caroline Islands. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 409. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Stratigraphy of Beds I through IV, Olduvai Gorge, Tanganyika: Science 139(3557): 829–833.
Zeolitic Weathering in Olduvai Gorge, Tanganyika. Geological Society of America Bulletin 74(10): 1281-1286.
1966 Zeolites and Zeolitic Reactions in Sedimentary Rocks. Geological Society of America Special Paper 85. New York: Geological Society of America.
1968 Petrology of Palagonite Tuffs of Koko Craters on Oahu, Hawaii. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 17(2): 141-154 with A. Iijima.
Analcime Composition in Tuffs on the Green River formation of Wyoming. American Mineralogist 53, January–February: 184-200.
1970 Silicate Reactions in Three Lithofacies of a Semiarid Basin, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Mineralogical Society of America Special Paper 3: 237-255.
1972 with G.H. Curtis. Further Geologic Studies and K-Ar Dating of Olduvai Gorge and Ngorongoro Crater. In Calibration of Human Evolution. W.W. Bishop and J.A. Miller, eds. pp. 289–301. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.
1973 Lithofacies and Environments of Bed I, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Quaternary Research 3: 541-560.
1976 Geology of the Olduvai Gorge. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
1978 with R.K. Stoessell. Geochemical Origin of Sepiolite and Kerolite at Amboseli, Kenya. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 65: 255-267.
1979 with M.D. Leakey. Pliocene footprints in the Laetolil beds at Laetoli, Northern Tanzania. Nature 278: 317-323.
1982 M.D. Leakey. The Fossil Footprints of Laetoli. Scientific American. 246: 50-57.
1983 Natrocarbonatite Tephra of Kerimasi Volcano, Tanzania. Geology 11(10): 599-602
1984 with H. Bowman, F.H. Stross, F. Asaro, R.F. Heizer, and H.V. Micel. The Northern Colossus of Memnon: New Slants. Archaeometry 26, 218-229.
1986 with R.E. Pexton, T.T. Teague, and T.K. Kyser. Spring-related Carbonate Rocks, Mg Clays, and Associated Minerals in Pliocene Deposits of the Amargosa Desert, Nevada and California. Geological Society of America Bulletin 97(12): 1488-1503.
1988 with F.H. Stross, F. Asaro, H.R. Bowman, and H.V. Michel. Sources of the Quartzite of Some Ancient Egyptian Sculptures. Archaeometry 30(1): 109-119.
1989 Holocene Carbonatite-Nephelinite Tephra Deposits of Oldoinyo Lengai, Tanzania. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 37(1): 77-91.
1991 with S.G. Guldman, J.C. Matthews, R.H. Lander, M.E. Duffin, and T.K. Kyser. Clay Mineral Diagnesis in Core KM-3 of Searles Lake, California. Clays and Clay Minerals 39(1): 84-96.
1993 with R.H. Lander. Hydrogeologic Control on Zeolitic Diagenesis of the White River Sequence. Geological Society of America Bulletin 105(3): 361-376.
1999 with D.B. Finkelstein and S.P. Altaner. Origin and Diagenesis of Lacustrine Sediments, Upper Oligocene Creede Formation, Southwestern Colorado. Geological Society of America Bulletin 111(8): 1175-1191.
2001 with T.K. Kyser. Chemical Sedimentology and Paleoenvironmental History of Lake Olduvai, a Pliocene Lake in Northern Tanzania. Geological Society of America Bulletin 113(12): 1505-1521.
2003 with J. Liu, A. Deino, and T.K. Kyser. Age and Origin of Authigenic K-feldspar in Uppermost Precambrian Rocks in the North American Midcontinent. Geological Society of America Bulletin 115(4): 422-433.
