R. Kelly Vance

---

Robert Kelly Vance, Ph.D., M.S., B.S.
Professor of Geology
Office: Herty, 2116C
Phone: 912-478-5353
Email: rkvance@georgiasouthern.edu

Academic Background

Ph.D., New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 1989  

• Major: Geology
• Thesis: Geochemistry and Tectonic Setting of the Early Proterozoic Yavapai Supergroup, Central Arizona

M.S., University of Kentucky, 1984 

• Major: Geology
• Thesis: Geology and Geochemistry of the Gunnison Intrusive Complex, Gunnison County, Colorado

B.S., University of Kentucky, 1978

• Major: Geology

---

Research

Igneous Petrology and Geochemistry, Industrial and Metallic Mineral Resources,  Tectonic and Metallogenic Evolution of Volcanic Arcs, Ground Penetrating Radar Applications,  The Structure, and the Geologic and Hydrologic Evolution of St. Catherines Island, Georgia,  Sea Turtle Conservation,  Geoscience Education and Field-Based Science Education

---

Teaching

• Environmental Geology
• Mineralogy
• Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology
• Economic Geology
• Regional Field Courses
• Sea Turtle Conservation and Natural History
• Barrier Island Environmental Geology

---

Selected Publications

Butler, Z. P., Wenger, S. J., Pfaller, J. B., Dodd, M. G., Ondich, B. L., Coleman, S., Gaskin, J. L., Hickey, N., Kitchens-Hayes, K., Vance, R. K., and Williams, K. L. (2020). Predation of Loggerhead Sea Turtle Eggs across Georgia’s Barrier Islands. Global Ecology and Conservation, 23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01139

Rich, F. J., Vance, R. K., Reichard, J. S., and Meyer, B. K., (2018), Stratigraphy, Palynology, and Paleoecology of Ancient Freshwater Wetlands, St. Catherines Island, Georgia, USA, Southeastern Geology, Vol. 53, No. 2, Nov. 2018, p. 97-120

Meyer, B. K., Vance, R. K., Bishop, G. A., and Dai, Dajun, (2016), Shoreline Dynamics and Environmental Changed Under the Modern Marine Transgression: St. Catherines Island, Georgia, U.S.A., Environmental Earth Sciences 75:36, p. 1-16, in 2015 on-line, DOI: 10.1007/s12665-015-4780-1

Raymond, L. A., Merschat, A., and Vance, R. K., (2016), Metaultramafic Schists and Dismembered Ophiolites of the Ashe Metamorphic Suite of Northwestern North Carolina, International Geology Review on line DOI: 10.1080/00206814.2015.1129515

Meyer, B. K., Vance, R. K., Bishop, G. A., and Deocampo, D. M., (2015), Origin and Dynamics of Nearshore Wetlands: Central Georgia Bight, USA. Wetlands, Vol. 35, p247–261.

Rich, F. J., Vance, R. K., and Potter, D. B., (2015), The Presence of Carya (Hickory) Pollen in St. Catherines Island Sediments (USA), and its Significance in Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions, Southeastern Geology, V. 51, No. 3

Rich, F. J., Vance, R. K., & Rucker, C. R. (2014). The palynology of Upper Pleistocene and Holocene sediments from the eastern shoreline and central depression of St. CATHERINES ISLAND, Georgia, USA. Palynology, 39(2), 234–247. https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2014.945666

Vance, R. K., Bishop, G. A., Rich, F. J., Meyer, B. K. and Camann, E. J., (2011), Application of Ground Penetrating Radar to Investigations of the Stratigraphy, Structure and Hydrology of St. Catherines Island, in Bishop, G.A., Rollins, H. B. and Thomas, D. H. (eds.), Geoarchaeology of St. Catherines Island, Georgia, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Number 94, p. 209-235.

Vance, R. K., Trupe, C. H., and Rich, F. J., (2009), Integrating Ground Penetrating Radar and Traditional Stratigraphic Study in an Undergraduate Field Methods Course in Mogk, D. W., Whitmeyer, S. J., and Pyle, E. J. (eds.) Field Geology Education: Historical Perspectives and Modern Approaches. Geological Society of America Special Paper 461, p 155-161.

DeWitt, Ed, Langenheim, Victoria, Force, Eric, Vance, R. K., Lindberg, P. A., and Driscoll, R. L., (2008), Geologic Map of the Prescott National Forest and the Headwaters of the Verde River, Yavapai and Coconino Counties, Arizona: U.S.G.S. Scientific investigations Map 2996, Scale 1:100,000, 100-p. pamphlet

Feiss, P. Geoffrey, Vance, R. Kelly, and Wesolowski, David, (1993), Volcanic rock-hosted gold and base-metal mineralization associated with Neoproterozoic-Early Paleozoic back-arc extension in the Carolina terrane, southern Appalachian Piedmont. Geology, V. 21, p 439-442.

Vance, R. K., and Condie, Kent C., (1987). Geochemistry of the Early Proterozoic Deception Rhyolite in the Footwall Alteration Zone of the United Verde Massive Sulfide Deposit, Jerome, Arizona. Economic Geology, V. 82, 571-586.

Last updated: 8/7/2023