PAUL F. HOFFMAN

hoffman@eps.harvard.edu

http://www.eps.harvard.edu/people/faculty/hoffman/index.php

http://www.snowballearth.org

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences,                                                  1 Waterhouse Street #45

20 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA 02138                                                             Cambridge, MA 02138

 

RESEARCH

 

Sedimentary and tectonic geology, Proterozoic Earth history, snowball Earth

 

EDUCATION

 

B.Sc., McMaster University, 1964

M.Sc., The Johns Hopkins University, 1965

Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University, 1970

 

PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS

 

Lecturer, Franklin and Marshall College, 1968-69

Research Scientist, Geological Survey of Canada, 1969-85

Senior Research Scientist, Geological Survey of Canada, 1985-92

Professor of Geology, University of Victoria, 1992-94

Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology, Harvard University, 1994-present

 

CONCURRENT APPOINTMENTS

 

Lecturer, University of California at Santa Barbara, 1971-72

Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar, California Institute of Technology, 1974-75

Visiting Professor, University of Texas at Dallas, 1978

Visiting Professor, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 1990

 

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

 

Earth System Evolution Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, 1994-present

NASA Astrobiology Institute, 1998-2003

Tectonics Special Research Centre, University of Western Australia, 2002-present

 

AWARDS

 

Past Presidents' Medal, Geological Association of Canada, 1986

Bownocker Medal, Ohio State University, 1989

Robert Douglas Medal, Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, 1992

William Logan Medal, Geological Association of Canada, 1992

Willet Miller Medal, Royal Society of Canada, 1997

Henno Martin Medal, Geological Society of Namibia, 2000

Alfred Wegener Medal, European Union of Geosciences, 2001

 

HONORS

 

American Association for the Advancement of Science (Fellow)

American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Foreign Honorary Member)

Geological Association of Canada (Distinguished Fellow)

Geological Society of America (Fellow)

Royal Society of Canada (Fellow)

U.S. National Academy of Sciences (Foreign Associate)

 

MEMBERSHIPS IN PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES

 

SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology), since 1965

Geological Association of Canada, since 1971

Geological Society of America, since 1974

American Geophysical Union, since 1981

American Association for the Advancement of Science, since 1993

 

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

 

American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature, 1971-74

Precambrian Subcommission, International Union of Geological Sciences, 1972-82

International Lithosphere Project, 1981-86

Associate Editor, Geology, 1982-84

Associate and North American Editor, Tectonics, 1982-92

Scientific Committee, Lithoprobe Project, 1983-88

Visiting Committee, Dept of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, MIT, 1996-present

Associate Editor, Astrobiology, 2001-present

Co-convenor, Pardee symposium, Low-latitude Precambrian Glaciation: Geochemical, Climatic, and Biological Effects of the Snowball Earth, and poster session, Proterozoic Glaciations, Cap Carbonates, and Isotopic Excursions: Testing the Snowball Earth Hypothesis, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, 1999

Co-convenor, theme session, The Snowball Earth Hypothesis: Theory and Observations, Earth Systems Processes joint meeting, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2001

Alex Du Toit Memorial Lecturer, Geological Society of South Africa, 2004

 

MULTICOLOR GEOLOGICAL MAPS

 

Hoffman, P.F. (1980) Geology and tectonics, East Arm of Great Slave Lake, District of Mackenzie. Geol. Surv. Can. Map 1625A, scales 1:250,000 (geology) and 1:500,000 (tectonics).

Hoffman, P.F. (1982) Geology, northern internides of Wopmay orogen, District of Mackenzie. Geol. Surv. Can. Map 1576A, scale 1:250,000, with descriptive notes.

Hoffman, P.F. and Hall, L. (1988) Geology, Slave craton and environs. Geol. Surv. Can. Open File 2559, scale 1:1,000,000.

Hoffman, P.F. and Tirrul, R. (1994) Geology, northern externides of Wopmay orogen, District of Mackenzie. Geol. Surv. Can. Open File 3251, scale 1:250,000.

Wheeler, J.O., Hoffman, P.F., Card, K.D., Davidson, A., Sanford, B.V., Okulitch, A.V., and Roest, W.R. (1996) Geological map of Canada. Geol. Surv. Can. Map 1860A, scale 1:5,000,000.

 

REFEREED PUBLICATIONS

 

Sedimentary geology and surface processes

 

Hoffman, P.F. (1967) Algal stromatolites: Use in stratigraphic correlation and paleocurrent determination. Science 157, 1043-1045.

Hoffman, P.F. (1968) Stratigraphy of the Great Slave Supergroup (Aphebian), East Arm of Great Slave Lake, District of Mackenzie. Geol. Surv. Can. Pap. 68-42, 1-93.

Hoffman, P.F. (1969) Proterozoic paleocurrents and depositional history of the East Arm fold belt, Great Slave Lake, N.W.T. Can. J. Earth Sci. 6, 441-462.

Hoffman, P.F. (1973) Recent and ancient algal stromatolites: Seventy years of pedagogic cross-pollination. In Evolving Concepts in Sedimentology (ed. R.N. Ginsburg), pp.178-191, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

Gebelein, C.D and Hoffman, P.F. (1973) Algal origin of dolomite laminations in stromatolitic limestone. J. Sed. Petrol. 43, 603-613.

Hoffman, P.F. (1974) Shallow and deepwater stromatolites in an Early Proterozoic platform-to-basin facies change. Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories.  Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 58, 856-867.

Logan, B.W., Hoffman, P.F., Gebelein, C.D. (1974) Algal mats, cryptalgal fabrics and structures, Hamelin Pool, Western Australia. In Evolution and Diageneses of Quaternary Sequences, Shark Bay, Western Australia (ed. B.W. Logan), Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Mem. 22, 140-194.

Hoffman, P.F. (1975) Shoaling-upward shale-to-dolomite cycles in the Rocknest Formation, northwest Canada. In Tidal Deposits (ed. R.N. Ginsburg), pp.257-265. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg.

Hoffman, P.F. (1976) Environmental diversity of middle Precambrian stromatolites. In Stromatolites (ed. M. R. Walter), pp.599-611, Elsevier, Amsterdam.

Hoffman, P.F. (1976) Stromatolite morphogenesis in Shark Bay, Western Australia. In Stromatolites (ed. M. R. Walter), pp.261-271, Elsevier, Amsterdam..

Hoffman, P.F. (1989) Pethei reef complex (1.9 Ga), Great Slave Lake, N.W.T.  In Reefs: Canada and Adjacent Areas (eds. H.H. Geldsetzer, N.P. James, and G.E. Tebbutt), Can Soc. Petrol. Geol. Mem. 13, 38-48..

Hoffman, P.F. and Grotzinger, J.P. (1989) Abner/Denault reef complex (2.1 Ga), Labrador trough, NE Quebec. In Reefs: Canada and Adjacent Areas (eds. H.H. Geldsetzer, N.P. James, and G.E. Tebbutt), Can Soc. Petrol. Geol. Mem. 13, 49-54.

Hoffman, P.F. and Grotzinger, J.P. (1993) Orographic precipitation, erosional unloading, and tectonic style. Geology 25, 195-198.

Hoffman, P.F., and Hartz, E.H. (1999). A large coherent submarine landslide associated with Pan-African foreland flexure. Geology 27, 687-690.

 

Tectonics and regional geology

 

Hoffman, Fraser, J.A., and McGlynn, J.C. (1970) The Coronation geosyncline of Aphebian age, northwestern Canadian shield. In Precambrian Basins and Geosynclines of the Canadian Shield (ed. A.J. Baer), Geol. Surv. Can. Pap.. 70-40, 200-212.

Hoffman, P.F., Fraser, J.A., Irvine, T.N., Mursky, G. (1971) The Bear Province. In Variations in Tectonic Styles in Canada (eds. R.A. Price and R.J.W. Douglas), Geol. Assoc. Can., Spec. Pap. 11, 453-504.

Hoffman, P.F. (1973) Evolution of an early Proterozoic continental margin: The Coronation geosyncline and associated aulacogens, northwest Canadian shield. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. (London) A273, 547-581.

Hoffman, P.F., Dewey, J.F. and Burke, K.C. (1974) Aulacogens and their genetic relation to geosynclines, with a Proterozoic example from Great Slave Lake, Canada. In Modern and Ancient Geosynclinal Sedimentation (eds. R.H. Dott, Jr. and R.H. Shaver), Soc. Econ. Paleont. Mineral. Spec. Publ. 19, 38-55.

Hoffman, P.F., and McGlynn, J.C. (1977) Great Bear batholith: A volcano-plutonic depression (with J. C. McGlynn). In Volcanic Regimes in Canada (eds. W. R. A. Baragar, L. C. Coleman, and J. M. Hall), Geol. Assoc. Can. Spec. Pap. 16, 169-192.

Hoffman, P.F. (1980) Wopmay orogen: A Wilson cycle of Early Proterozoic age in the northwest of the Canadian shield. In Continental Crust and Its Mineral Deposits (ed. D.W Strangway), pp. 523-549. Geol. Assoc. Can. Spec. Pap. 20, 523-549.

Hoffman, P.F. (1981) Autopsy of Athapuscow aulacogen: A failed arm affected by three collisions.  In Proterozoic Basins in Canada (ed. F.H.A. Campbell), Geol. Surv. Can. Pap. 81-10, 97-102.

Hoffman, P.F. and Bowring, S.A. (1984) Short-lived 1.9 Ga continental margin and its destruction, Wopmay orogen, northwest Canada. Geology 12, 68-72.

Hoffman, P.F., Bowring, S.A., and Van Schmus, W.R. (1984) U-Pb zircon ages from Athapuscow aulacogen, East Arm of Great Slave Lake, N.W.T. Can. J. Earth Sci. 21, 1315-1324.

Hoffman, P.F. (1985) Is the Cape Smith belt (northern Quebec) a klippe? Can. J. Earth Sci. 22, 1361-1369.

Searle, M.P., Rex, A.J., Tirrul, R., Windley, J.F., St-Onge, M.R., and Hoffman, P.F. (1986) A geological profile across the Baltaro-Karakoram Range, N. Pakistan. Geol. Bull. Univ. Peshawar 19, 1-12.

Hoffman, P.F. (1987) Continental transform tectonics, Great Slave Lake shear zone (ca 1.9 Ga), northwest Canada. Geology 15, 785-788.

Hoffman, P.F. (1987) Proterozoic foredeeps, foredeep magmatism, and Superior-type iron-formation in the Canadian shield. In Proterozoic Lithospheric Evolution (ed. A. Kröner), Am. Geophys. Un. Geodyn. Ser. 17, 85-97.

Hildebrand, R.S., Hoffman, P.F., and Bowring, S.A. (1987) Tectono-magmatic evolution of the 1.9-Ga Great Bear magmatic zone, Wopmay orogen, northwestern Canada. J. Volc. Geotherm. Res. 32, 99-118.

Hoffman, P.F. (1988) United plates of America, the birth of a craton: Early Proterozoic assembly and growth of Laurentia. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 16, 543-603.

Hoffman, P.F. and Ranalli, G. (1988) Archean oceanic flake tectonics. Geophys. Res. Lett. 15, 1077-1080.

Hoffman, P.F., Tirrul, R., King, J.E., St-Onge, M.R., and Lucas, S.B. (1988) Axial projections and modes of crustal shortening, eastern Wopmay orogen, northwest Canadian shield. In Processes in Continental Lithospheric Deformation (eds. S.P. Clark, Jr., B.C. Burchfiel, and J. Suppe), Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap.r 218, 1-29.

Hoffman, P.F. (1989) Precambrian geology and tectonic history of North America. In The Geology of North America—An Overview (eds. A.W. Bally and A.R. Palmer), pp.447-511, Geological Society of America, Boulder.

Hoffman, P.F. (1989) Speculations on Laurentia's first gigayear (2.0-1.0 Ga). Geology 17, 135-138.

Hoffman, P.F. (1990) Geological constraints on the origin of the mantle root beneath the Canadian shield. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. (London), Ser. A 331, 523-532.

Hoffman, P.F. (1990) Subdivision of the Churchill province and extent of the Trans-Hudson orogen. In The Early Proterozoic Trans-Hudson Orogen of North America (ed. J.F. Lewry and M.R. Stauffer), Geol. Soc. Can. Spec. Pap. 37, 15-38.

Hoffman, P.F. (1990) Dynamics of the tectonic assembly of northeast Laurentia in geon 18 (1.9-1.8 Ga). Geoscience Canada 17, 222-226.

Hoffman, P.F. (1991) Did the breakout of Laurentia turn Gondwanaland inside-out? Science 252, 1409-1412.

Hoffman, P.F. (1991) On accretion of granite-greenstone terranes. In Greenstone Gold and Crustal Evolution (eds. F. Robert, P.A. Sheahan and S.B. Green), pp.32-45. Geol. Assoc. Can., St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Williams, H., Monger, J.W., Hoffman, P.F., Lewry, J.F., and Rivers, T. (1991) Anatomy of North America: thematic geologic portrayals of the continent. Tectonophysics 187,117-134.

Hoffman, P.F. (1992) North America: Geologic history. In The New Encyclopædia Britannica 24 (Macropædia), pp.998-1007, Britannica Press, Chicago.

Hoffman, P.F., Hawkins, D.P., Isachsen, C.E., and Bowring, S.A. (1996) Preliminary U-Pb zircon ages for early Damaran magmatism in the Summas Mountains and Welwitschia Inlier, northern Damara belt, Namibia. Commun. Geol. Surv. Namibia, 11, 47-52.

Hoffman, P.F. (1997) Tectonic genealogy of North America.  In Earth Structure: an Introduction to Structural Geology and Tectonics, ed. B.A. van der Pluijm and S. Marshak, pp. 459-464. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Hoffman, P.F. (1999) The break-up of Rodinia, birth of Gondwana, true polar wander and the snowball Earth. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 28, 17-33.

 

Snowball Earth phenomena

 

Hoffman, P.F., Kaufman, J.A., and Halverson, G.P. (1998) Comings and goings of global glaciations on a Neoproterozoic carbonate platform in Namibia. GSA Today 8,1-9.

Hoffman, P.F., Kaufman, A.J., Halverson, G.P., and Schrag, D.P. (1998) A Neoproterozoic snowball Earth. Science 281, 1342-46.

Hoffman, P.F., Schrag, D.P., Halverson, G.P., and Kaufman, A.J. (1998) An early snowball Earth? Response to Comment by G. S. Jenkins and C. R. Scotese. Science 282, 1645-1646.

Hoffman, P.F. and Schrag, D.P. (1999) Considering a Neoproterozoic snowball Earth. Response to Comment by N. Christie-Blick, L. E. Sohl, and M. J. Kennedy. Science 284 (5417): 1087a (online).

Hoffman, P.F. (1999). Snowball Earth theory still stands. Nature 400, 708.

Hoffman, P.F. and Maloof, A.C. (1999) Glaciation: the snowball theory still holds water. Nature 397, 384.

Hoffman, P.F. and Schrag, D.P. (2000) Snowball Earth. Sci. Am. 282, 68-75.

Hoffman, P.F. (2000) Comment: Vreeland Diamictites—Neoproterozoic glaciogenic slope deposits, Rocky Mountains, northeast British Columbia. Bull. Can. Petrol. Geol. 48, 360-363.

Schrag, D.P. and Hoffman, P.F. (2001) Life, geology and snowball Earth. Nature 409, 306.

Hoffman, P.F. (2002) Carbonates bounding glacial deposits: evidence for snowball Earth episodes and greenhouse aftermaths in the Neoproterozoic Otavi Group of northern Namibia. International Assoc. Sedimentologists Field Excursion Guidebook, 49 p., Rand Afrikaans University, Auckland Park, South Africa.

Hoffman, P.F. and Schrag, D.P. (2002) The snowball Earth hypothesis: testing the limits of global change. Terra Nova 14, 129-155.

Hoffman, P.F., Halverson, G.P., and Grotzinger, J.P. (2002) Comment: Are Proterozoic cap carbonates and isotopic excursions a record of gas hydrate destabilization following Earth's coldest intervals? Geology 30, 286-287.

Halverson, G.P., Hoffman, P.F., Schrag, D.P. and Kaufman, J.A. (2002) A major perturbation of the carbon cycle before the Ghaub glaciation (Neoproterozoic) in Namibia: Prelude to snowball Earth? Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 3, on-line 10.1029/2001GC000244.

Schrag, D.P., Berner, R.A., Hoffman, P.F., and Halverson, G.P (2002) On the initiation of a snowball Earth. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 3, on-line 10.1029/2001GC000219.

Halverson, G.P., Maloof, A.C. & Hoffman, P.F. (2004) The Marinoan glaciation (Neoproterozoic) in northeast Svalbard. Basin Research 16, 297-324, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2117.2004.00234.

Allen, P.A. & Hoffman, P.F. (2005) Extreme winds and waves in the aftermath of a Neoproterozoic glaciation. Nature 433, 123-127.

Halverson, G.P., Hoffman, P.F., Schrag, D.P., Maloof, A.C. & Rice, A.H.N. (2005) Towards a Neoproterozoic composite carbon isotope record. Geological Society of America Bulletin 117, 1181-1207.

Hoffman, P.F. (2005) On Cryogenian (Neoproterozoic) ice-sheet dynamics and the limitations of the glacial sedimentary record (28^th Alex. Du Toit Memorial Lecture). South African Journal of Geology 000, 000-000.

Hurtgen, M.T., Halverson, G.P., Arthur, M.A., and Hoffman, P.F. (in press) Sulfur cycling in the aftermath of a Neoproterozoic (Marinoan) snowball glaciation: Evidence for a syn-glacial sulfidic deep ocean. Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Hoffman, P.F. & Halverson, G.P. (in press) Otavi Group of the Northern Platform and the North Margin Zone. In: Handbook on the Geology of Namibia (R.McG. Miller, ed.), Geological Survey of Namibia, Windhoek.