Miami University

Janet and Elliot Baines Professor and Chair

Ph.D. (1982) Case Western Reserve University
1114 Shideler Hall
513-529-3216
hartwk@muohio.edu

My research interests are in the areas of igneous petrogenesis and volcanology. Specifically, my students and I use field, chronological, chemical and isotopic information to investigate the processes of magma generation and evolution, the evolution of the crust and mantle, and the environmental context of early hominids. Within this framework my research group maintains active, funded programs in northern Nevada - southern Oregon portion of the Basin and Range, the western and central portions of the Snake River Plain, and the northern Ethiopian and Afar rifts.

Possible thesis/dissertation topics:

• Continental magmatism and geodynamics in the northwestern USA.
• Physical and chemical volcanology; northwestern USA and Ethiopia.
• The geologic context for human evlution studies in Ethiopia.
  
  

Current/recent graduate student research:

• Kenneth Brown (Ph.D. in progress) Petrology, geochemistry and geochronology of Late Cretaceous granitoid rocks in northwestern Nevada.
• Alicja Wypych (Ph.D. in progress) Petrogenesis and tectonic significance of mid-Miocene silicic volcanism in the Owyhee Plateau - SE High Lava Plains region, nortwestern USA.
• Laura Walkup (M.S. in progress) Tephrochemical investigations of heterogeneous silicic erputive products in the Middle Awash region, Afar, Ethiopia.
• Tom Hinterberger (M.S. in progress) A Re-Os investigation of monogenetic basalt volcanism in SE Oregon.
• Emily Short (M.S. in progress) Petrologic and tectonic significance of Quaternary basaltic volcanism at the western edge of the Owyhee Plateau, Oregon.

Selected publications:

Bondre, N.R. and Hart, W.K. (2008). Morphological and textural diversity of the Steens Basalt lava flows, southeastern Oregon, USA: implications for emplacement style and nature of eruptive episodes. Bulletin of Volcanology, 70, 999-1019.

Brueseke, M.E. and Hart, W.K. (2009). Intermediate composition magma production in an intracontinental setting: “accidental” andesites and dacites of the mid-Miocene Santa Rosa – Calico Volcanic Field, northern Nevada. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, v.188, p.197-213.

Hart, W.K.,  WoldeGabriel, G., Haile-Selassie, Y., and Renne, P.R. (2009). Chapter 3: Volcanic Record of the Adu Assa Formation, in Haile-Selassie, Y. and WoldeGabriel, G., eds., Ardipithecus kadabba: Context and Environment. The Middle Awash Series (T.D. White, ed.), University of California Press, 63-91.

Meigs, A., Scarberry, K., Grunder, A., Carlson, R., Ford, M., Fouch, M., Grove, T., Hart, B., Iademarco, M., Jordan, B., Milliard, J., Streck, M., Trench, D., and Weldon, R. (2009). Geological and geophysical perspectives on the magmatic and tectonic development of the High Lava Plains and northwest Basin and Range, in Dorsey, R.J., Madin, I.P., and O’Connor, J.E., eds., Volcanoes to Vineyards: Geologic Field Trips through the Dynamic Landscape of the Pacific Northwest, Geological Society of America Field Guide 15, 435-470.

WoldeGabriel, G., Ambrose, S.H., Barboni, D., Bonnefille, R., Bremond, L., Currie, B., DeGusta, D., Hart, W.K., Murray, A.M., Renne, P.R., Jolly-Saad, M.C., Stewart, K.M., and White, T.D. (2009). The geological, isotopic, and lower vertebrate surroundings of Ardipithecus ramidus. Science, v.326, p.65-65ae5, DOI: 10.1126/science.1175817.

WoldeGabriel, G., Hart, W.K., Renne, P.R., Haile-Selassie, Y., and White, T.D. (2009). Chapter 2: Stratigraphy of the Adu-Asa Formation, in Haile-Selassie, Y. and WoldeGabriel, G., eds., Ardipithecus kadabba: Context and Environment. The Middle Awash Series (T.D. White, ed.), University of California Press, 26-61.

WoldeGabriel, G., Hart, W.K., Renne, P.R., Haile-Selassie, Y., and White, T.D. (2009). Chapter 2: Stratigraphy of the Adu-Asa Formation, in Haile-Selassie, Y. and WoldeGabriel, G., eds., Ardipithecus kadabba: Context and Environment. The Middle Awash Series (T.D. White, ed.), University of California Press, 26-61.

Selected grants:

• US Geological Survey, National Cooperative Geological Mapping Program, EDMAP 2009
  Miocene arrival of the Yellowstone hotspot and inception of Basin and Range extension in southern Oregon.
• National Science Foundation, 2005 - 2011
  Collaborative research: understanding the causes of continental intraplate tectonomagmatism: a case study in the Pacific Northwest.
• National Science Foundation, 2007 - 2010 (with Elisabeth Widom)
  Technician support: Management of thermal ionization mass spectrometry and isotope geochemistry labs

Teaching Interests:

GLG 357 - Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology
GLG 411/511 - Field Geology
GLG 646 - Igneous Petrology
GLG 699 - Advanced Field Training
GLG 710 - Topical seminars in petrology, geochemistry and geodynamics
GLG 730 - Advanced Igneous Petrology
GLG 750 - Advanced Studies in Crust & Mantle Development -

For complete descriptions of courses please click here.

For more information please click here for Dr. Hart's complete vita.