Although Tyrrell was a geologist specializing in petrology, he also had considerable interest in glaciology. One of his papers, “The glaciers of Spitsbergen”, published in the Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow in 1922, is a classic. Much of the terminology in his classification of the Spitsbergen glaciers is in use today.

The references to the works of other authorities, who wrote on Spitsbergen glaciers and are cited in this paper, alone make interesting reading—E. J. Garwood, G. de Geer, G. Cole, G. Lamplugh, E. von Drygalski, A. Hoel and J. M. Wordie.

Tyrrell’s petrological papers covered several topics and numerous areas, ranging from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Even today his Antarctic geological work provides an authoritative reference.

He joined the Geological Society of London in 1910, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1918. He was Vice-President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1940 to 1943.