Cam DeSilva

Early career geologist at ExxonMobil

About Me

I'm currently an early-career geologist working for Hess Corporation since 2023. I'm currently working in exploration on new ventures in Atlantic margins.

I earned my M.S. in geology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 2023, and my B.S. in geology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2020. My research focuses on using geochemistry to understand timing, rates and processes related to subduction.

I am from a small town in suburban Chicago. I grew up camping on the shores of Lake Michigan, looking at outcrops of the Michigan and Illinois basins. I discovered a love for Earth sciences at Waubonsee Community College. I am an avid outdoorsman, reader, birder and runner. Most Saturdays I volunteer at my local food pantry in Houston, speaking Spanish and distributing groceries.

My Research

Paper: Origin of the compositionally zoned Paso Puyehue tephra deposit, Antillanca Volcanic Complex, Chile (DeSilva et. al., 2023)

(2023) This is my M.S. thesis work published in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. My coauthors and I describe the Paso Puyehue tephra (PPT) from the Antillanca Volcanic Complex in southern Chile. We combined field observations with EPMA measurements on minerals and glass and numerical modeling of magma evolution in MELTS (Ghiorso and Gualda, 2012). We found the compositional zoning in the tephra to be generated via fractional crystallization, not magma mixing.

Poster: Origin of the compositionally zoned Paso Puyehue tephra deposit, Antillanca Volcanic Complex, Chile

(2023) poster presented at AGU 2023 on the Paso Puyehue Tephra.

Poster: (U-Th)/He Thermochronology: Recent Cooling History and Basin Analysis of the Laramide Beartooth Mountains, Wyoming and Montana

(2020) A research poster on the preliminary results from my senior thesis work. Presented at the University of Illinois 2020 SESE Research Review.

Paper: Deciphering (U-Th)/He Data Scatter in Archean Grains from the Beartooth Range, Montana

(2020) My undergraduate senior thesis on a long term thermal history of the Beartooth Mountains in Montana. This models the thermal history of the last ~2Ga of the Beartooth Mountains with (U-Th)/He thermochronology.

Poster: Geologic History of Extensional Growth Structures at El Morro Beach in the Santa Rosalia Basin, Central Baja California Sur, Mexico

(2019) Here's my (first ever) poster of my work analyzing the structure and faults of the Santa Rosalia Basin in Baja California. This is a product from the Baja Basins IRES, 2019.

Procedures for zircon and apatite U-Th/He picking, packing and degassing
Operating a He noble gas spectrometer with Nd:YAG lasing systems
Scanning electron microscope (SEM) imaging techniques
Constructing balanced cross sections and geologic maps from detailed field observations and interpretations
Creating scientific figures from Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop
Standard optical microscopy techniques

Technical Experience

Research Interests

Geochronology & Thermochronology
- Making the highest possible precision measurements in 40Ar/39Ar geochronology
- Using high-precision geochronologic data for novel interpretations
Geochemistry and Petrology
- How do volcanoes and their magma plumbing systems evolve in active volcanoes?
- When and how do injections of basaltic magma trigger eruptions?
- How do the composition of different mineral phases record the petrologic growth and magma storage conditions in volcanoes?
Volcanology and Glacial Geology
- How do volcanoes and magma plumbing systems react to glacial loading and unloading?
- How did volcanoes and ice sheets interact during retreat at the Last Glacial Maximum? What was the glacial morphology through time?