Research Interests

I am an earth scientist with a focus on tectonic processes. My research involves the integration of sedimentology, stratigraphy, and structural geology with geochronology and thermochronology to understand sediment provenance and the relationships between deformation and deposition. Currently, I am working on projects in the southern Appalachian foreland thrust belt, the eastern Gulf Coastal Plain, the Laramide belt of the Rocky Mountains, and the eastern Tibetan Plateau.

East Tibet mappings & K-Pg outcrop, west-central Alabama (lower right)

Education

Ph.D., University of Alabama, 2017
M.S., University of Memphis, 2012
B.S., University of Alabama, 2009

Teaching

I teach the following undergraduate and graduate courses:

• ESCI-1050 The Earth Through Time
• ESCI-3712 Sedimentology and Stratigraphy
• ESCI-4622 Geology Field Camp
• ESCI-7100 Basin Analysis
• ESCI-7220 Geochronology

Students mapping in northern New Mexico 2023, 2022 Spring Break Field Excursion to Big Bend National Park & Yellowstone excursion during field camp 2023

Honors/Awards

2018 Stephen E. Laubach Structural Diagenesis Award, Geological Society of America

Current Graduate Students

2023-present Katherine (Kade) Parsons (MS)

Thesis: TBD

Lab Alumni

2020-2022 Katelyn Giles (MS)

Thesis: River system input, alongshore transport, and regional sediment mixing of coastal deposits in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico

Giles, K. D., Jackson, W. T., Jr., McKay, M. P., Beebe, D.A., Larsen, D., Kwon, Y., & Shaulis, B (2023). Sediment input, alongshore transport, and coastal mixing in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico based on detrital zircon geochronology. Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 148, 105997, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2022.105997 

Recent Publications

Jackson, W. T., Jr., McKay, M. P., Beebe, D. A., Mullins, C., Ionescu, A., Shaulis, B., & Barbeau, D. L., Jr. (2021). Sediment provenance in the eastern Gulf Coastal Plain (USA) based on detrital zircon U-Pb ages and Th/U values. Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 91(10), p. 1025-1039, https://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2020.177. 

Jackson, W. T., Jr., Robinson, D. M., Weislogel, A. L., & Jian, X. (2020). Cenozoic reactivation along the Late Triassic Ganzi-Litang suture, eastern Tibetan Plateau. Geoscience Frontiers, v. 11, p. 1069-1080, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2019.11.001. 

Jackson, W. T., Jr., McKay, M. P., Bartholomew, M. J., Allison, D. T., Spurgeon, D., Shaulis, B., VanTongeren, J. A., & Setera, J. B. (2019). Initial Laramide tectonism recorded by Upper Cretaceous paleoseimites in the northern Bighorn Basin, USA: Field indicators of an applied end load stress. Geology, v. 47, no. 11, p. 1059-1063, https://doi.org/10.1130/G46738.1.  

Jackson, W. T., Jr., Robinson, D. M., Weislogel, A. L., Jian, X., & McKay, M. P. (2018). Cenozoic development of the nonmarine Mula basin, southern Yidun terrane: deposition and deformation in the eastern Tibetan Plateau associated with the India-Asia collision. Tectonics, v. 37, p. 2446-2465, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018TC004994.  

Jackson, W. T., Jr., Robinson, D. M., Weislogel, A. L., Shang, F., & Jian, X. (2018). Mesozoic development of nonmarine basins in the northern Yidun terrane: deposition and deformation in the eastern Tibetan Plateau prior to the India-Asia collision. Tectonics, v. 37, p. 2466-2485, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018TC004995.

Jackson, W. T., Jr., Bartholomew, M. J., Dupré, W. R., Armstrong, T. F., & Stewart, K. G. (2016). Campanian paleoseismites of the Elk Basin anticline, northern Bighorn Basin, USA: A record of initial Laramide deformation. Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 86, p. 394-407, https://doi:10.2110/jsr.2016.28.