Associate Professor of Geosciences

Contact Information:
Email: jbesancon@wellesley.edu
Room: SCI-272
Phone: (781)283-3030
Fax: (781)283-3642

Degrees: B.S., Yale University; Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Teaching Interests:
In 2008-09 I am excited to be teaching a new seminar course for first-year students, The Yucca Mountain Problem: Where Should We Put Nuclear Waste? We will explore the numerous technical issues that make this Nevada mountain such a controversial site.

The Dynamic Earth covers a broad survey of the earth and how its systems work, touching on issues of national concern such as earthquakes (did you know Boston is at some risk?) and floods.

Hydrogeology, Water and Pollutants is the study of water both on the surface and under the ground. Clean water shortages worldwide over the next few decades will make this critical resource a growing concern. We will learn how water supplies are located, which way they flow, how pollution spreads, and how it can be cleaned up.

Volcanoes, Agents of Regional and Global Crisis examines how and why volcanoes erupt, what hazards they pose, and how they affect people near and far.

Research Interests:
My recent work has been on the development of modal analysis of complex mixtures (rocks) by x-ray diffractometry, and the analysis of soils and sediments polluted by mine waste and by naturally occurring arsenic (in conjunction with Dan Brabander). In working with a suite of igneous rocks from the Blue Hills south of Boston, I have produced over a hundred quantitative mineralogical (mode) analyses of whole rock samples, and am in the process of analyzing the data obtained. These related samples reflect intrusive and extrusive equivalents of very similar magmas and provide a good test of the methods being developed. I am also using a field-portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometer to measure trace elements in situ in fine-grained rocks, especially zirconium abundances which are important in locating optimal samples for radiometric dating. Opportunities for student research include exploratory and confirmatory work with the XRF unit, and exploratory statistical analysis of the data produced.

Publications
Besancon, J. R. and T. M. Spence (2004). Modal Petrology and Geostatistics of the Blue Hills Igneous Complex, Boston, Massachusetts, by Rietveld X-ray Diffraction: Multi-scalar Investigation of Volcanic and Intrusive relationships. Eos Trans. AGU Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract V21B-0614, San Francisco, California, American Geophysical Union.

Thompson, M.D., Hermes, O.D., Bowring, S.A., Isachsen, C.E., Besancon, J.B., and Kelly, K.L., Tectonostratigraphic implications of Late Proterozoic U-Pb ages in the Avalon zone of southeastern new England, in Nance, R.D. and Thompson, M.D., eds., Avalonian and Related Peri-Gondwanan Terrances of the Circum-North Atlantic: Geological Society of America Special Paper 304,179-191, 1996.

Besancon, J.R., An Automated Spindle Stage for Polarized Light Microscopes. The Microscope, 40, 13-19, 1992.

Burns, R.G., Besancon, J.R., and Pratt, S.F., Reflectance spectra of Fe2+ - Mg2+ disordered pyroxenes; implications to remote-sensed spectra of planetary surfaces. Reports of planetary geology and geophysics program, 1990, NASA Technical memorandum 4300, Pages 253-255, 1991.

Additional Interests and Activities
I am an avid hiker, reader, and swimmer. My wife and three children make much of my time away from work a joy.