Rate My Professor Lorence Collins

Lorence G. Collins was a Professor Emeritus of Geological Sciences at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where his work in geoscience profoundly influenced the field. He earned a B.S. in geology from the University of Illinois in 1953, an M.S. in 1955, and a Ph.D. in 1959, with his dissertation titled "Geology of the magnetite deposits and associated gneisses near Ausable Forks, New York," focusing on their metasomatic origin. After his master's, he served two years as a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer in Germany before completing his doctorate. In 1959, Collins joined San Fernando Valley State College, which became CSUN, teaching mineralogy, petrology, and photo-geology interpretation for 33 years until retiring in September 1993. He was the first chair of the Geology Department when the major was established in 1965, known for his curiosity, patience, and independent spirit that shaped generations of geologists.

Collins specialized in petrology, investigating metasomatic alterations of rocks post-formation, particularly myrmekite origins via K-metasomatism of plagioclase, Na- and Ca-metasomatism, and Ca/Na subtraction from deformed zoned plagioclase under cataclasis. Using thin sections, cathodoluminescence, electron microprobe analyses, and scanning electron images, his studies spanned granitoids, gneisses, augen gneisses, mylonites, and metasediments in the American Southwest, Northeastern U.S., Canada, Europe, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Australia. He argued for granite formation through replacement by fluids below eutectic temperatures, linked to deformation facilitating fluid access, with evidence from myrmekite, sieve textures, and polonium halos. Major publications include "Host rock origin of magnetite in pyroxene skarn and gneiss" (Economic Geology, 1969), "Myrmekite—A mystery solved near Temecula" (California Geology, 1988), "Origin of the Isabella pluton and its enclaves" (California Geology, 1989), "The metasomatic origin of the Cooma complex in southeastern Australia" (Theophrastus Contributions, 1993), "Origin of Polonium Halos" (Reports of the National Center for Science Education, 2010), "Significance of myrmekite" (2021), and "Appinite" (2023). His photomicrography featured in National Geographic (January 1966). Collins maintained CSUN-hosted websites with essays opposing creationism, contributing to public geoscience education.