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Overview
Faculty
Major
Courses
Science
Station
Student
Opportunities
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Professional and Personal Interests
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Dr.
Jim Clark has done field work on Spitsbergen Island, 500 miles
from the north pole, the Colorado Rockies and Brazil. He spent
3 years at Sandia National Laboratory during the early 80’s
working for the Dept. of Energy on alternative energy-related
technologies, especially massive hydraulic fracturing research.
He then taught at Calvin College for 17 years before coming
to Wheaton College 3 years ago.
Dr. Clark and his wife Sue have 3 children whom they have home-schooled.
They spent one year in Moscow, Russia and one year in the scrub
jungle of Paraguay on missionary adventures. They now are actively
involved in a Russian-speaking church in the Chicago suburbs.
Dr. Clark enjoys outdoor activities (backpacking, rock climbing
and kayaking) and watercolor painting.
| Courses
Taught |
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- Physical Geology
- Process Geomorphology
- Global Climate Change
- Earth Resources and the Environment
- Introduction to Soil Science
- Introduction to Geographical Information Systems
- Geographical Information Systems Practicum
- Hydrogeology
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Membership in Professional Societies
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Dr.
Clark received awards from the Geological Society of America
for the best publication in the field of geomorphology and from
the American Institute of Mechanical Engineers for the best
publication in applied rock mechanics.
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Research
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Dr. Clark’s past research has included computer modeling
of the changing levels of the Great Lakes resulting from earth
deformation still continuing after melting of the ice sheets
of the last ice age. Currently he is using a computer model
of the whole earth to simulate the changing levels of the
global oceans as recorded by ancient shorelines, modern tide
gauges and satellite altimetry. This research provides assessment
of the possible sea level consequences of global warming.
Student assistants have helped in all aspects of this work
and have presented papers at meetings of the Geological Society
of America and have been co-authors on recently publications.
The work has been funded by the National Science Foundation
and NASA.
He also assists local forest preserves by providing hydrology
measurement and analysis. This involves GIS analysis and modeling
of the state of surface water and groundwater.
Dr. Clark’s personal research has been in these main
areas:
- Alpine geomorphic processes
- Glacial geology and the Ice Age
- Global warming
- Earth viscosity structure
- Fracture mechanics and stress in rocks
- Groundwater modeling
- Quantitative methods in geology
Details of Dr. Clark’s research experience:
1999-1982 Professor of Geology, Calvin College, Grand Rapids,
Mi
- Principle Investigator of NASA Grant NAG5-10348 “Simulation
of global glacio-isostasy, earth deformation and sea level
changes”
- Principal Investigator of NSF Grant EAR-9515322 ”Reconstruction
of global ice-age ice sheets from global sea-level and deformation
data”
- Recipient of NSF Research Instrumentation Award EAR-8916941
for ”Acquisition of a workstation”
- Recipient of NSF Research Opportunity Award (ROA) ”Analysis
of gravity data from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet”
administered as a supplement to ”Further continuation
of glacio-geophysical survey of the interior Ross Embayment”
awarded to University of Wisconsin-Madison (PI: Charles
Bentley; NSF grant DPP86-14011).
- Principal Investigator of NSF Grant EAR-8804201 ”Reconstruction
of the Laurentide Ice Sheet over the Great Lakes region
from tilt data of glacial lake shorelines.”
- Principal Investigator of NSF Grant EAR-8607330 ”Evaluation
of the hinge line hypothesis and crustal stability in the
southern Lake Michigan basin.”
- Principal Investigator of NSF Grant EAR-8407660 ”The
theoretical prediction of proglacial lake shoreline tilting.”
1982-1979 Member of the Technical Staff, Geotechnology Research
Division, Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Research involved:
- hydraulic fracturing stimulation of ”tight”
gas sands.
- fracture mechanics at a bi-material interface.
- finite element modeling of geological materials and earth
stresses.
- rock mechanics laboratory studies.
- interpretation of natural fracturing in sandstone and
shale.
- geologist for Department of Energy research natural gas
well. (Work funded by the Department of Energy)
1979-1977 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Geological
Sciences, Cornell University: Used inversion theory to calculate
past ice sheet histories from global sea-level data (NSF Grant
EAR77-13662; Co-Principal Investigator on NSF Grant EAR78-12977).
1977-1974 Graduate Research Assistant, Cooperative Institute
for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES): Computer simulation
of ice/ocean/earth interactions during the past 18,000 years.
Required understanding of:
- hysics of viscous deformation of the Earth from surface
loads
- worldwide glacial changes since 18,000 yrs. B.P.
- worldwide sea-level changes since 18,000 yrs. B.P.
- extensive computer programming
(NSF Grants GA-43191, DES74-13047-A01, EAR74-13047-A02,
and NOAA Contract 03-5022-94)
1974-1971 Graduate Research Assistant, Institute of Arctic
and Alpine Research (INSTAAR): Effects of cloud seeding upon
erosion rates in alpine basins. Required:
- experimental design and implementation of field projects
in an alpine basin
- analysis of results using numerous multivariate statistical
methods and clustering techniques (Bureau of Reclamation
Contract 14-06-D-7052)
| Papers
Published and/or Presented |
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Selected Papers published
and/or presented: (undergraduate co-authors indicated in boldface
type) (for a complete list of publications click here)
- Clark, J.A. and Lingle, C.S., 1977. Future sea level changes
due to West Antarctic ice-sheet fluctuations. Nature.
269:206-209.
- Clark, J.A.,
1977. An inverse problem in glacial geology: the reconstruction
of glacier thinning in Glacier Bay, Alaska, between A.D.
1910 to 1960 from relative sea-level data. Journal of
Glaciology. 18:481-503.
- Clark, J.A.,
Farrell, W.E., and Peltier, W.R., 1978. Global changes in
post-glacial sea level: a numerical calculation. Quaternary
Research. 9:265-287. (Paper received Kirk Bryan Award
for Best Publication from the Geological Society of America,
Geomorphology and Quaternary Geology Division).
- Clark, J.A.,
1980. The reconstruction of the Laurentide ice sheet of
North America from sea-level data: method and preliminary
results. Journal of Geophysical Research. 85:4307-4323.
- Clark, J.A.,
1982. Glacial loading: a cause of natural fracturing and
a control of the present stress state in regions of high
Devonian shale gas production, SPE/DOE 10798. 1982 SPE/DOE
Low Permeability Symposium Volume. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:
87-97.
- Teufel, L.W.,
Hart, C.M., Sattler, A.R., and Clark, J.A., 1984. Determinations
of hydraulic fracture azimuth by geophysical, geological,
and oriented core methods at the multi-well experiment site,
Colorado, SPE 13226. 59th Annual Society of Petroleum
Engineers Volume.
- Teufel, L.W.
and Clark, J.A., 1984. Hydraulic fracture propagation in
layered rock: Experimental studies of fracture containment.
Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal. 19-32.
- Lorenz, J.C.,
Heinze, D.M., Clark, J.A., and Searls, C.A., 1985. Determination
of Widths of Meander-belt sandstone reservoirs from vertical
downhole data, Mesaverde Group, Piceance Creek Basin, Colorado.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin.
69:710-721.
- Clark, J.A.
and Primus, J.A., 1987. Sea-level changes resulting
from future retreat of ice sheets: an effect of CO2
warming
of the climate, in Sea-level Changes. Tooley, M.J.
and Shennan, I., eds. Basil Blackwell Publ., Institute of
British Geographers Special Publication: 356-370.
- Clark, J.A.,
Hendriks, M., Timmermans, T.J., Struck,
C., and Hilverda, K.J., 1994. Glacial Isostatic
deformation of the Great Lakes region. Geological Society
of America Bulletin. 106:19-31.
- Clark, J.A.,
Haidle, P.E. and Cunningham, L.N., 2002. Comparison
of satellite altimetry to tide gauge measurement of sea
level: Prediction of glacio-isostatic adjustment. Journal
of Climate. 15(22): 3291-3300.
Complete List of Publications
Next faculty: Dr. Stephen Moshier
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