Bill Hirt, geology instructor
Department of Biological and Physical Sciences
College of the Siskiyous
800 College Avenue
Weed, California 96094
Office: LS-15
Office hours: MWF 10:00-10:50 AM, TR 12:30-1:20 PM and by appointment
E-mail: hirt@siskiyous.edu
Office phone: 530·938·5255
Lab phone: 530·938·5194
Fax: 530·938·5506
Spring 2012 Schedule |
| 8:00-8:50 AM | ||||||
| 9:00-9:50 AM | ||||||
| 10:00-10:50 AM | office hour |
office hour |
office hour |
|||
| 11:00-11:50 AM | LS-16 |
college hour |
LS-16 |
college hour |
LS-16 |
|
| 12:00-12:50 PM | ||||||
| office hour |
office hour |
|||||
| 1:00-1:50 PM | GEOL 1220 LS-16 |
GEOL 1220 LS-16 |
||||
| GEOG 1110 LS-16 |
GEOG 1110 LS-16 |
|||||
| 2:00-2:50 PM | ||||||
| GEOL 1220 lab LS-16 |
||||||
| 3:00-3:50 PM | ||||||
| 4:00-4:50 PM | ||||||
| 5:00-5:50 PM | ||||||
| TBA | GEOL
1120 online |
GEOL
1120 online |
GEOL
1120 online |
GEOL
1120 online |
GEOL
1120 online |
GEOL
1120 online |
6:30-9:20 PM, 27-Apr |
XNH 0360 LS-16 |
XNH 0360 field |
Academic Background and Research |
I began my study of geology at Santa Monica College, and went on to earn my degrees from UC Los Angeles and UC Santa Barbara. Since earning my Ph.D. I have continued to study how felsic (silica-rich) magmas form, accumulate in Earth's crust, and change composition as they cool, crystallize, and interact with other magmas.
Although I have studied some very hot felsic lavas in Idaho that are related to the Yellowstone hotspot (Hirt, 2002), most of my work has been has been directed towards understanding the development of a suite of felsic magmas that accumulated deep underground in California's Sierra Nevada about 85 million years ago. The compositions and textures of rocks in the Mount Whitney Intrusive Suite suggest that Earth's crust warmed as the intrusion grew, and that this warming enabled magma near the center of the body to stay molten long enough for crystals and melt to separate on a large scale and form a compositionally-stratified magma reservoir (Hirt, 2007).
I'm currently working with my colleague Jim Hatton to create a model of how the crust 'makes room' for a growing intrusion in order to develop a more accurate picture of its emplacement and thermal history (Hirt and Hatton, 2011). We hope this model will enable us to better understand the origins of the patterns of rock texture and composition found in many felsic intrusions.
Publications during current review period (Spring 2011—Fall 2014).
Campus and Community Service |
During the Spring 2012 semester I expect to continue to serve as a member of:
- the Equivalency Committee and the Senate Executive Committee on campus;
- and the board of the Shasta Valley Resource Conservation District.
