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Overview

Faculty

Major

Courses

Science Station

Student Opportunities

   

Dr. Stephen Oakley Moshier

Department Chair, Associate Professor of Geology
On faculty since 1991

Office Phone: (630) 752-5856
Email: Stephen.O.Moshier@wheaton.edu

Education

Ph.D., 1987, LSU, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Geology

M.A., 1979, SUNY Binghamton, Binghamton, New York; Geology

B.S., 1977, VPI & SU, Blacksburg, Virginia; Geology

 
Professional and Personal Interests
Dr. Stephen Moshier has practiced geology as a college professor and an oil company explorationist. Much of his early research in geology was applied to describing and interpreting oil reservoir rocks. He has published papers on oil fields in North America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. This work has contributed to our understanding of the origin of oil in giant oil-sand deposits and the formation of porosity in subsurface limestone reservoirs. Stephen is also interested in ancient and modern reef depositional environments (allowing him occasional trips to snorkel in the Bahamas and Belize).

While Dr. Moshier still maintains an interest in petroleum geology, recent research efforts are in the field of geoarchaeology. In 1998, Stephen visited the northwest Sinai coast with Egyptologist James Hoffmeier (Trinity International University) to look for potential excavation sites associated with the ancient Egyptian New Kingdom. Since 1999, Dr. Moshier has served as team geologist in Dr. Hoffmeier’s excavation of Tell el-Borg. Field mapping was conducted in the area of the excavation in 2001, in order to understand how the land appeared in New Kingdom times. An ancient stream that ran through the site, now buried beneath the desert floor, was discovered using satellite photography and hand-dug trenches. Dr. Moshier is involving students in his research, including field work in Egypt and lab and remote sensing work back at Wheaton College.

Dr. Moshier has served as past president of the Geological Society of Kentucky and the Affiliation of Christian Geologists. He is a member of the Society for Sedimentary Geology, the Geological Society of America, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the American Research Center in Egypt, the American Scientific Affiliation and the Affiliation of Christian Geologists.

Dr. Moshier and his wife have two children who will probably not be geologists someday. They are all active in their church in Geneva IL, where Stephen teaches an adult Sunday school class. The family has enjoyed many summers together in the Black Hills at the Wheaton College Science Station. Stephen was interested in space exploration as a child, which led to his study of geology in college and remains a hobby. His other interests include music (frustrated acoustic guitarist), travel (a benefit of being a geologist) and reading historical biography (at least one per year). His primary role now is as Chair of the Geology and Environmental Science Department.


Courses Taught
  • General Oceanography (nonmajor course)
  • Natural Disasters (nonmajor course)
  • Geology of National Parks (nonmajor course)
  • Theories of Origins (nonmajor course) (co-teacher)
  • Earth History and Stratigraphy
  • Physical Geology
  • Introductory Geology in the Field (WCSS)
  • Biogeology
  • Geoarchaeology
  • Marine Biology (co-teacher with Biology faculty)
  • General Petrography and Petrology (co-teacher)
  • Fundamentals of Geochemistry
  • Senior Geology Seminar

Membership in Professional Societies

  • Geological Society of America
  • American Association of Petroleum Geologists
  • Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM)
  • Affiliation of Christian Geologists, President 1999-2002
  • American Scientific Affiliation
  • Geological Society of Kentucky (President--1990; Eastern Vice President--1989)
  • ARCE (American Research Center in Egypt)

Research

Individual Projects:

  • Applications of geology to archaeology, Quaternary paleoenvironmental analysis- Study area in east Nile Delta, NW Sinai, Egypt.
  • Carbonate petrology (sedimentology and diagenesis): microporosity formation and lime mud diagenesis; unconformity related diagenesis; carbonate-coal depositional and diagenetic systems; carbonate petroleum reservoirs.

Research with Students:

  • Geoarchaeology (field work, remote sensing and sedimentology)
  • Watershed analysis for urban planning and community development (previous projects in Chicago suburbs and rural Honduras).

Papers Published and/or Presented

Selected Book Chapters:

  • Moshier, Stephen O. 2006. What is God¹s Purpose for Natural Disasters? In Not Just Science: Questions Where Christian Faith and Natural Science Intersect. eds. Dorothy F. Chappell and E. David Cook, 141-147. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.

Selected Refereed Articles:

  • Hoffmeier, James K., and Stephen O. Moshier. 2006. New paleo-environmental evidence from the north Sinai to complement Manfred Bidtak¹s map of the eastern Delta and some historical implications. In Timelines: Studies in Honour of Manfred Bietak, Volume II, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 149. eds. E. Czerny, I. Hein, H. Hunger, D. Melman, A. Schwab, 167-176. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters Publishers.
  • de Wet, C. B, Moshier, S. O., Hower, J. C., de Wet, A. P., Brennan, S. T., Helfrich, C. T., and Raymond, A. L., 1997. Disrupted coal and carbonate facies within two Pennsylvanian cyclothems, southern Illinois Basin, United States. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 109:1231-1248.
  • Moshier, S. O., and Kirkland, B. L., 1994. Identification and diagenesis of a phylloid alga: Achaeolithophyllum from the Pennsylvanian Province Limestone, western Kentucky - Reply. Journal of Sedimentary Research. A64:925-926.
  • Moshier, S. O., and Kirkland, B., 1993. Identification and diagenesis of a Phylloid Alga: Archaeolithophyllum from the Pennsylvanian Providence Limestone, Western Kentucky. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. 63:1032-1041.
  • Moshier, S. O., 1989. Development of microporosity in a micritic limestone reservoir, Lower Cretaceous, Middle East. Sedimentary Geology. 63:191-213.

Selected Conference Presentations:

  • Moshier, S. O., Greenberg, J. K, and Maas, D. E., 2003, Geology Education at Evangelical Wheaton College: History and Approaches (abstr.). Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 35, No. 6, p. 610.
  • Moshier, S. O., El-Kelani, Ali, Powell, Lauren K., 2002, Reconstructing the paleogeography of the New Kingdom Egypt Eastern Frontier using CORONA photography, field mapping and GIS (abstr.). Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 34, n. 6, p. 380.
  • Hoffmeier, J. K. and Moshier, S. O., 1999. The East Frontier Canal Archaeological Project: 1998 and Beyond, Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt, Chicago IL, April 25, 1999.
  • Moshier, S. O., 1997. Coal-bearing Cyclothems as Testimony of Global Change and Protracted Geologic History (abstr.). American Scientific Affiliation 52nd Annual Meeting, Santa Barbara, CA, August 1-4, 1997.
  • Moshier, S. O., and Stamper, M. E., 1994. Depositional facies and porosity development at Coon Creek Field (Newman "Big Lime"), Leslie County, Kentucky (abstract). American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin. 78:1332.
  • Conrad, M., Tebo, J., Heinecke, T., and Moshier, S., 1994. Tectonic influence on the Deposition and reservoir development in Bull Creek Field (Newman Limestone), eastern Kentucky - a model for future exploration (abstract). American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin. 78:1328.
  • Moshier, S. O., 1992. Limestone microporosity associated with cavern development, Cumberland Mtn., Ky, Tn. Program with Abstracts, Illinois Groundwater Association Fall Conference, Starved Rock State Park and Conference Center, October 15-16, 1992.

Next faculty: Dr. Jeffrey Greenberg