Robert D. Hatcher, Jr.
Robert D. Hatcher, Jr.
After receiving my Ph.D., I worked for about one year for Humble Oil and Refining Company (ExxonMobil today) before moving to Clemson University, where I served on their faculty for 12 years before moving to faculty of Florida State University (two years), then to the University of South Carolina faculty (6 years) before returning to the University of Tennessee during the mid-1980s. My primary research interests are in making detailed geologic maps of interesting, previously unmapped areas. These form the basis for collection of other kinds of data in the geologic context provided by our geologic maps. While we employ stratigraphic, petrologic, geophysical, geochemical, and geochronologic data to help us understand the processes that build continental crust, we view the world through “structural geology-colored” glasses. A multidisciplinary approach, however, must be employed to address the complex processes related to the construction of mountain chains and continental crust. We work with structures on all scales, from microscopic to 3-D map-scale; incorporate available geophysical data; obtain geochemical data to determine the sedimentary and igneous origins of metamorphic rocks; determine P-T conditions of deformation and metamorphism; obtain geochronologic data on ages of rock units and magmatic or detrital components to bracket times of deposition, intrusion, and metamorphism; and conduct basin analysis to understand sedimentation processes and basin evolution. While we employ many laboratory techniques to solve problems, we are primarily field geologists-detailed geologic maps that we make form our primary, quantitative data sets. For much of the recent decade, we have been involved in the trying to understand processes that produce intraplate earthquakes in the eastern U.S. and worldwide.
Contact
Phone: 865-974-6565
Email: bobmap@utk.edu
Professional Website: hatcher.utk.edu
Research Interests
Stratigraphic, petrologic, geophysical, geochemical, and geochronologic histories of continental crust
