Heading down the dark waters of the
Edisto River in South Carolina...

Dr. Chris A. Barker

Associate Professor of geology at

Stephen F. Austin State University

Department of Geology, Box 13011, SFA Station
Nacogdoches, Texas 75962
(936) 468-2340

email: cbarker@sfasu.edu

Greetings from 'Deep East' Texas!

Structural Geology. An upper level course for geology majors dealing with faults, folds and other kinds of rock deformation.

Summer Field Course. This is a senior capstone course where our students learn geologic mapping.

Field Camp 2003 was another good one. We had a large group and as usual started in starkly beautiful Big Bend National Park, then went on to Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, and wound up in Silver City, New Mexico. Silver City was our base for the first two big mapping projects in the rugged Gila Wilderness. This area is about a mile high in elevation so it's not as hot as Texas in the early summer. After finishing up in Silver City we headed northwest and looked at the geology in a string of spectacular parks, including Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Bryce, Arches, and Zion. The next major project was at Parowan Gap in southern Utah, a place famous for its Indian petroglyphs. Then we wound up with our last major project in the beautiful La Sal Mountains (photo at left), a series of laccolith intrusions, which look like the Swiss Alps! All in all, a great trip.

Click here for more information about previous field camps.

Introduction to Field Methods. LaRell Nielson and I team teach this course in the Nacogdoches area in the Spring. Introduces students to working with a Brunton compass and preparation of geologic maps.

Metamorphic Petrology. An in-depth study of metamorphic rocks, this is one-third of our semester-long petrology course.

Introductory geology courses. Physical and Historical Geology. These courses are still some of the most fun to teach.

Advanced Structural Geology. A graduate class that digs into the subject of structural geology in more detail.

Regional Tectonics. A graduate class that examines patterns of structural deformation in different regions.

Education:

PhD: University of South Carolina, Columbia; Structural Geology. Dissertation title: Late Proterozoic deformation in northeast South Carolina: Additional evidence for an exotic Carolina terrane. (Abstract.) Advisor: Dr. Don Secor. Follow this link to see a portion of the geologic map that Don and I made of the Longtown, SC, area. (USC geology department).

MS: Baylor University, Waco, TX; Geomorphology. Thesis title: Geomorphic reorganization along the retreating Cretaceous margin and in the Wichita Neoplain, north central Texas. Advisor: Dr. O.T. Hayward. (Baylor geology department).

BS: University of Texas at Austin; Geology. (UT geology department).

During my graduate studies, I taught as an adjunct at three small liberal arts institutions in South Carolina. At Furman University in Greenville, SC, I taught physical, environmental, and structural geology, and worked with a great group of folks in the geology department. I also taught historical geology at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC, and earth science at Newberry College in the little town of Newberry. Prior to that I taught labs in physical geology, historical geology, structural geology, petrology, geophysics, and field mapping at the University of South Carolina, and also at Baylor University in Texas.

Exotic terrane accretion in the Carolina Piedmont of the southern Appalachians; mylonite zones in the Llano Uplift; fold belts of Oklahoma; subtle structure in East Texas; arsenic occurrance in Eocene rocks in East Texas; structure of the Burro Mtns., New Mexico, and the Moab, Utah, area; environmental geology and hydrology of Atlantic coastal forests and wetlands; fluvial geomorphology of north central and eastern Texas; and field mapping techniques.

Teaching, music, Macs, birdwatching, and the Spiritual Life -- not necessarily in that order. My wife, Anne, facetiously suggested that I bill myself on this page as "Chris Barker - the Jivin' Geologist!" -- a reference to the fact that I've been playing bongos for years. In fact I recently participated in my fourth (not yet ready for prime time) recording session.

Do I ever play bongos for my geology students? Well, you'll have to sign up for one of my classes to find out!