Jim Beard

"I spent a lot of time outdoors as a child and was always interested in nature. My childhood dream was to become a botanist, but after taking my first geology course in college, I knew that geology was it for me."

- Dr. Jim Beard on what inspired him to pursue a career in science

Contact

Dr. Jim Beard
Curator Emeritus of Earth Sciences
jim.beard@vmnh.virginia.gov

Professional Titles

• Curator of Earth Sciences, Virginia Museum of Natural History (retired)
• Adjunct Professor of Geology at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

Education

• Ph.D. in Geology, Univ. of California, Davis, 1985
• B.S. in Geology, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1978

Research Interests

• Origin and evolution of granitoid rocks in continental and oceanic settings
• Mineralogy of metamorphosed manganese deposits
• High temperature metamorphism and partial melting
• Serpentinization and low-T metamorphism in oceanic environments
• Geochemical characteristics of Lägestatten

Professional Service

• Member, shipboard scientific party, Ocean Drilling Program Leg 173 (1997) and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Exp. 305 (2005)
• Session organizer and chair, igneous and metamorphic petrology, Goldschimdt Conference, 2001
• Organizer, Ragland Symposium, SE GSA, Spring 2006
• MSA representative to GSA Joint Technical Program Committee, 2002-
• Associate editor, Canadian Mineralogist, 2009-2011
• Associate editor, Journal of Petrology, 2011-
• Founding Chair, GSA division for Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology and Volcanology (MGPV) 2009-10
• Chair, Natural Resources Working Group, Fort Monroe (inter-agency task force) 2009
• Rotating Program Officer, NSF/GEO/OCE, Dec 2011-Jan 2014
• Fellow, Mineralogical Society of America

Selected Publications

• Hopkinson, L., Beard, J.S., and Boulter, C. (2004) The hydrothermal plumbing of a serpentinite-hosted detachment:  Evidence from the West Iberia non-volcanic rifted continental margin. Marine Geology, v.204, p.301-315.
• Beard, J.S., Ragland, P.C., and Rushmer, T. (2004) Hydration Crystallization reactions between anhydrous minerals and hydrous melt to yield amphibole and biotite in igneous rocks: description and implications. Journal of Geology, v.112, p.617-621.
• Beard, J.S., Ragland, P.C., and Crawford, M.L. (2005) Reactive bulk assimilation: a model for crust-mantle mixing in silicic magmas. Geology, v.33, p.681-684.
• Beard, J.S., Ragland, P.C., and Crawford, M.L. (2005) Using incongruent, equilibrium hydration reactions to model latter-stage crystallization in plutons: examples from the Bell Island tonalite, Alaska.  Journal of Geology, v.113, p.589-599.
• Beard, J.S., Sorensen, S.S., and Giere, R. (2006) REE Zoning in Allanite Related to Changing Partition Coefficients During Crystallization: Implications for Behavior in an Epidote-Bearing Tonalite. Mineralogical Magazine, v.70, p.419-435.
• Ildefonse, B., Blackman, D.K., John, B.E., Ohara, Y., Miller, D.J., MacLeod, C.J., Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expeditions 304/305 Science Party (2007) Oceanic core complexes and crustal accretion at slow-spreading ridges. Geology, v.35, p. 623-626.
• Frost, B.R. and Beard, J.S. (2007) On silica activity and serpentinization. Journal of Petrology, v.48, p.1351-1368.
• Beard, J.S. (2008) Crystal-melt separation and the development of isotopic heterogeneity in hybrid magmas. Journal of Petrology, v. 49, p.1027-1041.
• Beard, J.S. (2008) The rift-to-drift transition in the southern North Atlantic: A stuttering start of the MORB machine?: Comment. Geology, v.36, p.e174 doi: 10.1130/G24775C.1.
• Frost, B.R., Beard, J.S., McCaig, A., and Condliffe, E. (2008) The formation of micro-rodingites from IODP Hole U1309D: key to understanding the process of serpentinization. Journal of Petrology, v. 49,  p.1579-1588.
• Severs, M.J., Beard, J.S., Bodnar, R.J., Hanchar, J.M., and Mutchler, S.R. (2009) Distribution of trace elements (REE. Sr, Ba, Y, Ti, Zr, Hf, Nb, Pb) between dacitic melt, plagioclase, orthopyroxene, and clinopyroxene: evidence from laser ablation analysis of silicate melt inclusions. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, v.73, p.2123-2141.
• Beard, J.S., Frost, B.R., Fryer, P., McCaig, A., Searle, R., Ildefonse, B., Zinin, P., and Sharma, S.K. (2009) Onset and progression of serpentinization and magnetite formation in olivine-rich troctolite, core 227, IODP Hole U1309D. Journal of  Petrology, v.50, p.387-403.
• Luitkus, C.M., Beard, J.S., Fraser, N.C., and Ragland, P.C. (2010) Use of fine scale stratigraphy and chemostratigraphy to evaluate conditions of deposition and preservation in a Triassic lagerstätte, south-central Virginia.  Journal of Paleolimnology, v.44, p.645-666.
  Beard J.S. (2010) Reconnaissance mineralogy of the Eocene Mole Hill diatreme, Rockingham County, Virginia.  Jeffersoniana, v. 25, p.1-17.
• Blackman. D.K. and IODP 304-305 Science Party (2011). Drilling Constraints on Lithospheric Accretion and Evolution at Atlantis Massif, Mid-Atlantic Ridge 30N. Journal of Geophysical Research, v.116, BO7103, doi:10.1029/2010JB007931.
• Frost, B.R., Evans, K., Swapp, S.M., Beard, J.S. and Mothersole, F.E. (2013) The Process of Serpentinization in Dunite from New Caledonia.  Lithos v.178, p.24-39.
• Tappa, M.J., Ayuso, R.A, Bodnar, R.J., Aylor, J.G., Beard, J.S., Henika, W.S., Vazquez, J.A., and Wooden, J.L. (2014) Age of Host Rocks at the Coles Hill uranium deposit, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, based on zircon U/Pb geochronology. Economic Geology, v.109, p.513-530.
• Hibbard, J.P., Beard, J.S., Henika, W.S., and Horton, J.W. (in press) The Western Piedmont. In, Bailey, C., and Hibbard, J. eds. Geology of Virginia.