Henry Halls

Professor Emeritus

Campus

Fields of Study

Areas of Interest

My general field of research is the application of geophysical methods (gravity, magnetics and paleomagnetism) to the solution of geological problems, mainly involving major tectonic units of the Canadian shield. More recently, I have concentrated on the integrated paleomagnetic, geochronological and geochemical study of Precambrian dyke swarms worldwide in an effort to understand their origins and their use as links between dispersed Precambrian terranes.

Biography

After obtaining B.Sc. (Geology) and M.Sc. (Geophysics) degrees at the Universities of Sheffield and Durham (UK), I obtained my Ph.D. in 1970 in the Department of Geology at the University of Toronto, under the supervision of Gordon West, Department of Physics. The topic of my dissertation was The Geology and Geophysics of the Lake Superior Basin. I have been a faculty member at the University of Toronto in Mississauga since 1970, where I have held the rank of Emeritus Professor since 2010. I have authored or co-authored over 90 refereed papers in internationally-recognized journals.

In 1985 I organized the first International Dyke Conference which brought together more than 100 scientists from 20 countries, the results of which were published as a Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 34 “Mafic Dyke Swarms” (Halls & Fahrig 1987). Since this inaugural meeting, International Dyke Swarm Conferences have been held approximately every five years. The sixth meeting (IDC6) was held February 4-7, 2010 in Varanasi, India, and a volume of papers presented at this meeting has been published by Springer Verlag (2011). The seventh meeting (ICD7) was held 18-20 August, 2016 in Beijing, China.

In 1988 I was elected the international leader of IGCP (International Geological Correlation Program) Project 257 on Mafic Dyke Swarms from which more than 30 publications including two books were produced. In the last five years about 30 dyke swarms from about 15 Precambrian cratons worldwide have been the subject of completed or ongoing studies by research groups from many countries including Canada, China, Australia, Finland, Russia, India, and Brazil. The last 10 years has seen a burgeoning of papers on dykes and particularly on the recognition of “giant radiating dyke swarms”.  This term was first used in the title of a Special Session I convened at the Geological Association of Canada Annual Meeting in Toronto in 1991.  The session entitled “Giant Radiating dyke swarms and mantle plumes” drew more than 100 participants (standing room only!) and has been an important influence on  subsequent thinking.

Education

PhD, University of Toronto
MSc, University of Durham
BSc, University of Sheffield