Marty joined the Louisiana Geological Survey as an assistant professor of research in January 2007. He was previously at the LSU Department of Geology & Geophysics as Instructor and Field Camp Director. He earned a B.S. in Geophysics at the University of Oklahoma in 1982, an M.S. in Geology at the Arizona State University in 1986, and a Ph.D. in Mathematical Sciences & Geology at the University of Texas at Arlington in 1996. He has taught courses in Physical Geology, Historical Geology, Mineralogy, Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, Volcanology, and Field Geology (sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic, and structural geology).
His early research topics at LGS included stratigraphy and structural geology of the North Louisiana Salt Basin structural province in northwestern Louisiana, mapping and petrographic contributions to the USGS STATEMAP initiative to produce 100k scale geologic maps of Louisiana, sampling and analysis of ground water chemistry related to the Haynesville Play, northwest Louisiana, and measurement and analysis of stream discharge at over 50 gaging stations across the State.
Marty currently leads LGS' mission in geologic mapping of the state of Louisiana at 1:24,000 scale, funded by the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP) and administered by the US Geological Survey. Geologic mapping at this scale has recently focused on quadrangles in the Florida parishes of southeast Louisiana due to its rapid residential and economic growth. The region produces an abundance of construction raw materials: clay, sand, and gravel, from sediment that was deposited at near sea-level during glacial and inter-glacial periods over the last 130,000 years. Mapping at this scale also resolves traces of the Baton Rouge – Tepetate fault system, a continental scale system with normal displacement separating the greater Gulf of Mexico structural basin from the North American craton.
In addition to geologic mapping, Horn develops and applies field geophysics methods of magnetometry and electrical resistivity to identify near-subsurface geologic features, such as fault zones, sediment layering, and ground water topology & chemistry. These methods are also applied to non-natural features: buried waste, pipelines, historic and pre-historic archaeological ruins, and cemetery and criminal graves, in collaboration with archaeologists, environmental engineers, and law enforcement.
