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Charles R Bacon, PhD

  

Current Research Interests Petrology, geochemistry, physical volcanology, and eruptive histories of calderas, emphasizing detailed study of Crater Lake, Oregon, and Veniaminof and Aniakchak caldera volcanoes, Alaska Peninsula.  General interest in volcanic and magmatic processes.  Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry applied to geologic and biologic materials.  Landscape evolution in interior Alaska.

Professional Experience

  • Senior Research Geologist Emeritus, U.S. Geological Survey, October 2014–present.

  • Research Geologist with USGS in Menlo Park 1975–2014, Senior Scientist 2004–2014

  • Research Associate, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, 1975

  • Co-Director, USGS–Stanford Ion Microprobe Laboratory (SUMAC), October 2008-September 2014

  • Geologic mapping of Quaternary volcanic fields and caldera volcanoes in California, Oregon, and Alaska

  • Isotope geochemistry of magmatic systems

  • Microbeam chemical analysis by electron and ion microprobe applied to igneous rocks and biological materials

  • Physical volcanology of products of explosive eruptions

  • Petrologic and geochemical research on volcanic rocks and magmatic processes

  • Mentorship/Outreach

  • Research and Teaching Assistantships, University of California, Berkeley, 1970-74

  • Visiting Professor, California Institute of Technology, winter term 1988

Education and Certifications

  • University of California, Berkeley, PhD, Geology, 1975

  • Stanford University, BS, Geology, 1970

Affiliations and Memberships*

  • Member, Geochemical Society, International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI)

  • NAS/NRC Continental Scientific Drilling Committee, 1983-86

  • USGS Geologic Division Science Advisory Committee, 1988-89, Chair 1990-91

  • NSF Petrology and Geochemistry Panel, 1994-97

  • AGU VGP Section Nominating Committee, 1996, Chair 1998

  • MSA Fellows Committee, 1997-99; MSA Nominating Committee, 2007-2009

  • Associate Editor, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 1985-90

  • Associate Editor, American Mineralogist, 1989-92

  • Editorial Board, Geology, 1993-95

  • Editorial Board, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 1998-2007

  • Board of Directors, Berkeley Geochronology Center, 2009-present.

Honors and Awards

  • Fellow, American Geophysical Union, Mineralogical Society of America, Geological Society of America

  • President-elect, Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrology Section of the American Geophyscial Union, 7/02-6/04; President, 7/04-6/06

  • IAVCEI quadrennial L.R. Wager Medal, 1987

  • AGU VGP Section N.L. Bowen Award, 1999

  • USGS Shoemaker Awards for Communication Product Excellence, 2002, 2004

  • US Department of the Interior Meritorious Service Award, 2004

  • U.S. Department of the Interior Superior Service Award, 2009 (from National Park Service)

Science and Products

No results found.
Filter Total Items: 96

Bacon receives 1999 Bowen Award

Charles R. Bacon received the 1999 Bowen Award, presented by the Volcanology Geochemistry, and Petrology Section during the 1999 AGU Fall Meeting.
Authors
Edward Hildreth, Charles R. Bacon
By
Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center

Rhyolite themobarometry and the shallowing of the magma reservoir, Coso volcanic field, California

The compositionally bimodal Pleistocene Coso volcanic field is located at the western margin of the Basin and Range province ∼60 km north of the Garlock fault. Thirty-nine nearly aphyric high-silica rhyolite domes were emplaced in the past million years: one at 1 Ma from a transient magma reservoir, one at ∼0·6 Ma, and the rest since ∼0·3 Ma. Over the past 0·6 My, the depth from which...
Authors
C.R. Manley, Charles R. Bacon
By
Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center

Late Pleistocene granodiorite beneath Crater Lake caldera, Oregon, dated by ion microprobe

Variably melted granodiorite blocks ejected during the Holocene caldera-forming eruption of Mount Mazama were plucked from the walls of the climactic magma chamber at ∼5 km depth. Ion-microprobe U-Pb dating of zircons from two unmelted granodiorite blocks with SHRIMP RG (sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe–reverse geometry) gives a nominal 238U/206Pb age of100+78−80100−80+78ka...
Authors
Charles R. Bacon, H.M. Persing, J. L. Wooden, T. R. Ireland
By
Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center, Crater Lake

Rhyolite thermobarometry and the shallowing of the magma reservoir, Coso volcanic field, California

The compositionally bimodal Pleistocene Coso volcanic field is located at the western margin of the Basin and Range province ∼60 km north of the Garlock fault. Thirty-nine nearly aphyric high-silica rhyolite domes were emplaced in the past million years: one at 1 Ma from a transient magma reservoir, one at ∼0·6 Ma, and the rest since ∼0·3 Ma. Over the past 0·6 My, the depth from which...
Authors
C.R. Manley, Charles R. Bacon

Gas-driven filter pressing in magmas

Most silicic and some mafic magmas expand via second boiling if they crystallize at depths of about 10 km or less. The buildup of gas pressure due to second boiling can be relieved by expulsion of melt out of the region of crystallization, and this process of gas-driven filter pressing assists the crystallization differentiation of magmas. For gas-driven filter pressing to be effective...
Authors
Thomas W. Sisson, Charles R. Bacon
By
Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center

Proceedings of the Workshop on Present and Future Directions in Volcano-Hazard Assessment; Menlo Park, California, September 23-24, 1998

No abstract available.
Authors
Charles R. Bacon, T. C. Hanks, W.E. Scott
By
Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center

Late Quaternary slip rate and seismic hazards of the West Klamath Lake fault zone near Crater Lake, Oregon Cascades

Crater Lake caldera is at the north end of the Klamath graben, where this N10°W-trending major Basin and Range structure impinges upon the north-south–trending High Cascades volcanic arc. East-facing normal faults, typically 10–15 km long, form the West Klamath Lake fault zone, which bounds the graben on its west side. The fault zone terminates on the south near the epicentral area of...
Authors
Charles R. Bacon, Marvin A. Lanphere, D.E. Champion
By
Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center, Crater Lake

Volcano and earthquake hazards in the Crater Lake region, Oregon

Crater Lake lies in a basin, or caldera, formed by collapse of the Cascade volcano known as Mount Mazama during a violent, climactic eruption about 7,700 years ago. This event dramatically changed the character of the volcano so that many potential types of future events have no precedent there. This potentially active volcanic center is contained within Crater Lake National Park...
Authors
Charles R. Bacon, Larry G. Mastin, Kevin M. Scott, Manuel Nathenson
By
Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center, Cascades Volcano Observatory, Crater Lake

Primitive magmas at five Cascade volcanic fields: Melts from hot, heterogeneous sub-arc mantle

Major and trace element concentrations, including REE by isotope dilution, and Sr, Nd, Pb, and O isotope ratios have been determined for 38 mafic lavas from the Mount Adams, Crater Lake, Mount Shasta, Medicine Lake, and Lassen volcanic fields, in the Cascade arc, northwestern part of the United States. Many of the samples have a high Mg# [100Mg/(Mg + FeT) > 60] and Ni content (>140 ppm)...
Authors
Charles R. Bacon, Peggy E. Bruggman, Robert L. Christiansen, Michael A. Clynne, J.M. Donnelly-Nolan, Edward Hildreth
By
Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center

Geothermal resources in the Crater Lake area, Oregon

No abstract available.
Authors
Charles R. Bacon, Manuel Nathenson
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center, Crater Lake

Crater Lake National Park: Presently tranquil

No abstract available.
Authors
Hans Nelson, Charles R. Bacon
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center, Crater Lake

The volcanic, sedimentologic, and paleolimnologic history of the Crater Lake caldera floor, Oregon:Evidence for small caldera evolution

Apparent phreatic explosion craters, caldera-floor volcanic cones, and geothermal features outline a ring fracture zone along which Mount Mazama collapsed to form the Crater Lake caldera during its climactic eruption about 6,850 yr B.P. Within a few years, subaerial deposits infilled the phreatic craters and then formed a thick wedge (10-20 m) of mass flow deposits shed from caldera...
Authors
C. Hans Nelson, Charles R. Bacon, Stephen W. Robinson, David P. Adam, J. Platt Bradbury, John H. Barber, Deborah Schwartz, Ginger Vagenas
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center, Crater Lake

Science and Products

*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government

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