I think it is critical that the author included the word 'geologist' in his brief description because the allows the reader to automatically infer what some values he will possess since he looks at the situation through the lens of a geologist.

I think he says "as Bryan Walsh sees it" to more or less show that he is about to refer back to the values as seen by Bryan Walsh, in the discourse he took part in. I think this is good for introducing evidence.