Bill Deane
Instructor
Introductory Geology Coordinator
For several years, I ran the XRD and XRF lab for the Department. However, in the summer of 2006, I left the x-rays behind and joined the faculty as a lecturer. I will be teaching Geology 103 for the spring semester and 101 in summer school. I have three other additional duties, orchestrating the annual Earth Science Fair, creating the Department's newsletter and honchoing the Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs).
My primary research interest are terrestrial impact craters, which are caused by an asteroid or comet smashing into the Earth. Perhaps the most famous example is the Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona. Fortunately, we have two proven (Flynn Creek & Wells Creek) and two suspected (Howell Structure & Dycus Disturbance) impact sites in Tennessee. Over the past couple of years, Keith Milam, Jonathan Evenick and I made numerous trips to Flynn Creek. Keith's forthcoming paper on the central uplift and Jonathan's spectacular new structure map will add greatly to our understanding of the complex geology of the Flynn Creek impact crater.
Exploring inside the central uplift of Flynn Creek impact crater
I am a founding member of the Impact Field Studies Group (IFSG), an international organization devoted to promoting field work on impact sites. Each year, in conjunction with the the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) near Houston, Texas, I help lead a field trip to an impact crater. For example, in March 2006, we toured the Sierra Madera impact crater near the Big Bend area in Texas.
The 2006 IFSG field trip to the Sierra Madera impact crater. We are standing on the north rim looking south toward the central uplift.
Bill Deane
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
1412 Circle Drive
Knoxville, TN 37996-1410
Phone: (865) 974-0401
Email: wdeane@utk.edu