James A. Dockal, Ph.D. Professor of Geology North Carolina Licensed Geologist #298 B.Sc. (geology) Iowa State University, 1970 M.Sc. (geology) Iowa State University, 1973 Ph.D. (geology) University of Iowa, 1980 Office Telephone 910-962-3494 FAX 910-962-7077 E-mail: dockal <at> uncw.edu
Field work in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado, 2004

I am a geologist who specializes in natural resource exploration associated with carbonate rocks including the traditional sedimentary rocks, marble, and carbonate bearing igneous rocks. I currently am conducting geologic studies in the Carolina Slate Belt gold deposits near Troy, NC; lead deposits in Dubuque County, Iowa; gold deposits in Gunnison  and Grand counties Colorado; and zinc deposits at Rush, Searcy County, Arkansas. Graduate student Jason Millington is putting the finishing touches on his thesis on the Bandana Marble near Spruce Pine, NC.  I teach a variety of courses including Principles of Geology,  Advanced Mineralogy, Sedimentary Petrology, and Carbonate Petrology plus I have a group of students working on gold in North Carolina Gold Mine Group. I am an avid bicycle racer, both road (USCF) and mountain (NORBA) and I am the faculty advisor for the UNCW Cycling Club and ride for the Window Gang Racing.

Some Current Research Projects

	History and geology of the Lead and Zinc Deposits  of the Upper Mississippi Valley has been a hobby of mine since I was in high school. I am especially interested in those deposits in the Dubuque, Iowa area where I grew up. Few people realize that the lead mines there predate the American Revolution by at least 100 years. The French were actively engaged in mining lead there as early as 1658 and they were probably preceded by Native American peoples.
16th or 17th century mine located in the Faldorf-Dockal Wild Flower Preserve, south of Dubuque, Iowa.	Lead and Zinc Mining in the Dubuque Area by Greg A. Ludvigson and James A. Dockal
	Another Mississippi Valley type sulfide mineralization that I am working with is the zinc mineralization in the area of Rush, Arkansas in the Buffalo National River. These mines date primarily from the first half of the 20th century. They produced principally smithsonite (turkeyfat) and sphalerite (jack). Some really excellent examples of these deposits and their associated geology and cultural features can be observed while hiking the foot paths in the Rush Creek valley portion of the park.
Gated entrance to an abandoned zinc mine at Rush, Arkansas	Suzanne Liles (retired) National Park Service and myself are building a series of web pages documenting the Zinc Mines of Rush, Arkansas
	I have been fascinated with the gold deposits of North Carolina since I arrived here in 1983. I am currently working with four undergraduate students on a project where we are trying to figure out the petrography of the rocks in which some of the gold deposits occur. Gold Exploration Study Group
Panning for gold near Gold Hill, NC Nov. 2009 (photo by Tommie Brock)

geopoet.htm

Selected Publications

• Dockal, J. A. and Smith, M.S., 2007, Petrography of the country rock surrounding the Crabtree pegmatite, Spruce Pine District, Mitchell County, North Carolina. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 2, p. 26, GSA abstract and PowerPoint Presentation
• Dockal, J. A., 2007, Cradle-of-Forestry-in-America Fault, an Acadian and Alleghanian dextral strike-slip fault within the Eastern Blue Ridge, Transylvania County, North Carolina. Southeastern Geology, v. 44, no. 4, p.
• Dockal, J. A., and Smith, M.S., 2006, The origin of the ‘metachert’ in the Dubois Greenstone, Wildcat Gulch region, Gunnison County, Colorado: A mineralogical and petrological study. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v.38, no. 6, p. 11. GSA abstract
• Dockal, J. A., 2006, Dextral strike-slip faulting in the eastern Blue Ridge near Brevard, North Carolina: Observations, Problems, and Speculations. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 38, No. 3, p. 20. GSA Abstract
• Dockal, J. A. and Smith M.S., 2005, Tertiary non-marine limestone within the strata of the Sullivan Buttes Volcanic Field, Yavapai County, Arizona: A petrologic and diagenetic investigation. Carbonates and Evaporites, Vol.. 20, No. 2, p. 161-180.
• Dockal, J. A., 2005, Sandstone 'dikes' within the Arapaho Pass Fault, Indian Peaks Wilderness, Boulder and Grand counties, Colorado. The Mountain Geologists, Vol. 42, No. 4, p. 143-158.
• Dockal, J. A. and Smith, M.S., 2005, Evidence for a prehistoric petroglyph map in central Arizona. KIVA: The Journal of Southwestern Archaeology and History, Vol. 70, No. 4, p. 413-420.
• Dockal, J. A., 2004, 'Cradle-of-Forestry-in-America Fault': A newly discovered northeast-southwest trending dextral fault in the Eastern Blue Ridge, Transylvania County, North Carolina: Geological Society of America Abstracts With Programs, Vol. 36, No. 2, p. 74. 
• Dockal, J. A., 2001. Boundary relationships of the Looking Glass Pluton, Shining Rock Quadrangle, Transylvania County, North Carolina. Geological Society of America Abstracts With Programs, Vol. 33, No. 2, p. 50.
• Dockal, J. A., Harris, W. B. and Laws, R. A., 1998. Late Maastrichtian sediments on the north flank of the Cape Fear Arch, North Carolina. Southeastern Geology. Vol. 37, No. 3, p. 149-159
• Dockal, J. A., Harris, W. B., and Laws, R. A., 1997, Masstrichtian sequence stratigraphy, Onslow Block, NC. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. No. p. PowerPoint Presentation
• Dockal, J. A., 1997, Reply to discussion of: Dockal, J. A., 1995. Evaluation of an Apparent Late Pleistocene (25-40 ka BP) Sea Level High Stand: An Artifact of a Greatly Enhanced Cosmic Ray Flux of ~60 ka BP: Journal of Coastal Research, Vol. 13, No. 3, p. 970-973. 
• Dockal, J. A., 1997. Deposition of Mississippian of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming and its Relationship to North American Paleogeography and Historical Geology. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, vol. 29, no. 6. PowerPoint Presentation
• Dockal, J. A., 1996. The Coquinas of the Neuse Formation, New Hanover County, North Carolina. IN: William J. Cleary (editor) Environmental Coastal Geology: Cape Lookout to Cape Fear, NC. Carolina Geological Society Fieldtrip Guidebook. p. 11- 21.
• Dockal, J. A., 1995. Documentation and Evaluation of Radiocarbon Dates from the "Cape Fear Coquina" (Late Pleistocene) of Snows Cut, New Hanover County, North Carolina. Southeastern Geology, Vol. 35, No. 4, p. 169-186.
• Dockal, J. A., 1995. Evaluation of an Apparent Late Pleistocene (25-40 ka BP) Sea Level High Stand: An Artifact of a Greatly Enhanced Cosmic Ray Flux of ~60 ka BP. Journal of Coastal Research, Vol. 11, No. 3, p. 623-636.
• Dockal, J. A. and Worsley, T. R., 1991. Modeling Sea Level Changes as the Atlantic Replaces the Pacific: Submergent Versus Emergent Observers. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 96, No. B4, p. 6805-6810.
• Dockal, J. A. and Huntsman, J. R., 1990. Application of Turbidite Sedimentology to Determination of Thrust Fault Displacements in the Carolina Slate Belt. Journal of Structural Geology, Vol. 12, No. 3, p. 285-296.
• Dockal, J. A. and Dockal, J. A., Sr., 1989. Semiquantitative measurement of fission-produced gamma ray radioactivity in soils at Dubuque, Iowa. The Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science, Vol. 96, No. 4, p. 92-98.
• Dockal, J. A., Laws, R. A., and Worsley, T. R., 1989, A general mathematical model for balanced global isostasy; Mathematical Geology, vol. 21, no. 2,p.147-170.
• Dockal, J. A., 1988. Thermodynamic and Kinetic Description of Dolomitization of Calcite and Calcitization of Dolomite 'Dedolomitization'. Carbonate and Evaporites, Vol. 3, No. 2, p. 125-141PDF file 6 Mb
• Dockal, J. A., 1986,  Cements and related diagenetic features of the Castle Hayne Limestone, East Coast Limestone Quarry, Pender County, North Carolina; Society of Economic Paleontologists and  Mineralogist 1986 Midyear Meeting Fieldtrip Guidebook, p. 277-284.

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