Duncan Heron

Bio and Research:

Professor Heron's research interests are broad within the area of sedimentary geology. Previous studies included the Cretaceous and Tertiary clastic sequences in the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Fifteen abstracts and twenty-five articles have resulted from this area of study. More recent work has been on the Holocene history of a barrier island system on both limbs of the Cape Lookout foreland (North Carolina Outer Banks). Up until the time of this study the barrier island model was Galveston Island, Texas, a regressive barrier. Nine students have worked on this project and, in conjunction with Dr. Heron, have demonstrated that each island within the Cape Lookout sequence has a unique origin. Within a short distance of one another there are islands that are transgressive, islands that are regressive, and islands that are composed almost entirely of inlet fill. Eleven abstracts and nine publications have resulted from this study. Two studies of the clay deposits in Georgia ha! ve been funded by industry. One project looked at the clastic facies and origin of the lower Tertiary claybearing sequence. Another study has been on the economic Cretaceous clays in a mine in central Georgia. This study focused on the nature of the clay body and its vertical and lateral variations in clay mineralogy, texture, etc. In addition to his other departmental responsibilities, Dr. Heron is the editor-in-chief of SOUTHEASTERN GEOLOGY journal which is published at Duke, and Secretary-Treasurer of the Carolina Geological Society.