Geology Professor

Brenda Kirkland

My current research focuses on the role of microbes in the precipitation of carbonate minerals in rocks and other interesting places. I have most recently been looking at the role of nannobacteria in the precipitation of minerals in human arterial plaque. I'm also finishing up a project on characterization of the biotic component, chemistry, and travertine deposits in hot springs near Viterbo, Italy and a series of controlled precipitation experiments to determine the role of organic molecules and biofilms in mineral formation.

My favorite research involves carbonate petrography. I've long been alternately intrigued, confounded, amazed, annoyed, and befuddled by peloidal to clotted textures in carbonate rocks. This has lead me into studies of the origin and nature of leopard rock from the Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico, studies of microbial micrite in the lower Capitan Formation, and a study of microbial stromatolites and ooids from Pleistocene lake deposits in the Texas panhandle. In the future I would like to take a detailed look at the role of microbial precipitation in the formation of modern reef rock.

Many years of fieldwork in the Guadalupe Mountains have left me feeling like a pincushion. (I hate cactus.) I am currently finishing up work on a dynamic model for the origin of teepee structures, and hope to do one more study of the occurrence and formation of kaolinite in the Capitan Formation, before I bleed to death. (I really hate cactus.)

Education

Ph.D. (Geology), Louisiana State University, 1992
M.S. (Geology ), Texas A&M University, 1986
Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, Munich, Germany, Courses in stone restoration, 1981-82
B.S. (Geology), The University of Texas at Austin, 1982
B.A. (German), The University of Texas at Austin, 1980

Experience

Assistant Professor, Mississippi State University, 2004
Adjunct Faculty Member, Mississippi State University, 2000-2004
Assistant Professor, The University of Texas at Austin, 1992-2000
Summer Geologist, Mobil Exploration and Producing, U.S., New Orleans, 1987
Summer Geologist, Mobil Exploration and Producing Services, Inc., Dallas, 1985, 1984

Selected Publications

Saller, A.H., Harris, P.M., Kirkland, B.L., Mazzullo, S.J., eds., 1999, Geologic Framework for the Capitan Reef, SEPM Concepts in Sedimentology and Paleontology.

Kirkland, B.L., Longacre, S.A., and Stoudt, E.L., 1999, The dynamic Capitan reef: an image of an ancient reef and suggestions for future research, in Saller, A.H., Harris, P.M., Kirkland, B.L., Mazzullo, S.J., eds., Geologic Framework of the Capitan Reef, SEPM Concepts in Sedimentology and Paleontology, p. 161-173.

Kirkland, B.L., Lynch, F.L., Rahnis, M.A., Folk, R.L., Molineux, I.J., McLean R.J.C., 1999, Alternative Origins for Nanobacteria-Like Objects in Calcite: Geology, v. 27, p. 347-350.

Kirkland, B.L., Dickson, J.A.D., Wood R.A., and Land, L.S., 1998, Microbialite and microstratigraphy: encrustations in the middle and upper Capitan Formation, Guadalupe Mountains, Texas and New Mexico, USA: Journal of Sedimentary Research v. 68, p. 956-969.

Kirkland, B.L. (translated into Polish by T. Peryt), 1995, Permian Capitan Reef Complex in the Guadalupe Mountains: Panstwowy Instytut Geologiczny, (invited article), p. 374-380.
Kirkland, B.L., Longacre, S.A., Stoudt, E.L., 1993, Reef, in, Bebout. D.G. and Kerans, C., eds. Guide to the Permian Reef Geology Trail, McKittrick Canyon, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, West Texas: Texas Bureau of Economic Geology Guidebook 26, p. 23-31.

Kirkland, B.L., Moore, C.H., and Dickson, J.A.D., 1992, Well preserved aragonitic phylloid algae (Eugonophyllum, Udoteaceae) from the Pennsylvanian Holder Formation, Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico: Palaios, v. 7, p. 111-120.

Professional and Public Service

Professional Committee Service
American Association of Petroleum Geologists Division of Environmental Geosciences, Continuing Education Committee Member 1998-2000, Chair, 2000-2002, Sub-committee on K-12 initiatives, Member 1998-1999, Chair 1999-2000
American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Delegate Representing Austin Geological Society, 1999 - 2001

Professional Meetings
Session chair, along with H.S. Chafetz, Bacterially Mediated Mineral Crystallization, SEPM Oral Session, National Meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, April 11-14 1999
Co-convener, along with A.H. Saller, J.A.D. Dickson, and P.M. Harris, International Field seminar on the Permian Capitan System, October 4-6, 1996
Session chair, along with Jay L. Banner and Clyde H. Moore, Records in Preserved carbonate Rocks: Cycles Ocean Chemistry, Sedimentation and Diagenesis, South-Central Section meeting of the Geological Society of America, Austin, Texas, March 11, 1996
Chair SEPM Evaporite Research Group Meeting, San Diego, 1996
Co-chair SEPM Evaporite Research Group Meeting, Houston, 1995

Field Trips
Field trip Leader, along with J.A.D. Dickson, A.H. Saller, S. Conway-Morris, R.A. Wood, University of Cambridge / University of Texas Field Trip Exchange, Leader, Field trip to the Guadalupe and Sacramento Mountains, 1995, 1997, Field trip to the Dorset Coast, 1994, 1996
Field trip leader, along with Jay L. Banner and Clyde H. Moore, Cretaceous cyclic Platform Carbonates of Central Texas, March 10, 1996, South-Central Section meeting of the Geological Society of America

Consulting
Academic consultant for a National Geographic article on the Permian extinction

K-12 Outreach
Curriculum Development, Texas High School Coastal Monitoring Program, in Conjunction with The Texas Bureau of Economic Geology and Ball High School, Galveston, Texas, 1997-1999
Workshop leader, Expanding Your Horizons, Workshops in scientific and mathematical fields for young women in middle school, held on the University of Texas at Austin Campus
"First Aid for Old Building Stone" (building stone deterioration and solutions, including a lesson in capillarity) 1993, 1995
"Country Creeks and City Creeks" (assessing the impact of urbanization on surface water quality) 1996

Community Service
Classroom volunteer, First Presbyterian Day School, Austin, Texas, 1998-1999; University of Texas at Austin Child and Family Lab School 1999-2000; Hill Elementary School, Austin, Texas, 2000-2001; Earth science presentations for preschool and kindergarten students
Sunday School teacher, First Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas; two and three year olds in 1996-1998; five year olds in 1998-2000

Professional Society Memberships

American Association of Petroleum Geologists
Association for Women Geoscientists
Geological Society of America
National Association of Geology Teachers
The Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM)