Terry Wilson (scientist)


Terry Jean Wilson is an international leader in the study of present-day tectonics in Antarctica. She has led large, international efforts, such as Polar Earth Observing Network, to investigate the interactions between the Earth's crust and the cryosphere in Antarctica.

Early life and education

Wilson received her BS from the University of Michigan and Ph.D. from Lamont Doherty Geological Observatory and Columbia University in 1983.

Career and impact

Wilson is based at Ohio State University, where she investigates the Earth's structural architecture, the interaction between ice sheets in Antarctica and the solid Earth, and neotectonic rifting. Her research integrates satellite remote sensing, Global Positioning Systems, both airborne and marine geophysical data and microstructural and structural mapping of faults in sedimentary and outcrop rock cores.

Awards and honors

Wilson has held several high-profile leadership positions in Antarctic Science:

Selected works

  • Wilson, T.J., 1999. Cenozoic structural segmentation of the Transantarctic Mountains rift flank in southern Victoria Land. Global and Planetary Change,''23, pp. 105–127.
  • Wilson, T.J., Grunow, A.M. and Hanson, R.E., 1997. Gondwana assembly: the view from southern Africa and East Gondwana. Journal of Geodynamics,23, pp. 263–286.
  • Fielding, C.R., Whittaker, J., Henrys, S.A., Wilson, T.J. and Naish, T.R., 2008. Seismic facies and stratigraphy of the Cenozoic succession in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica: Implications for tectonic, climatic and glacial history. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 260, pp. 8–29.
  • Lough, A.C., Wiens, D.A., Barcheck, C.G., Anandakrishnan, S., Aster, R.C., Blankenship, D.D., Huerta, A.D., Nyblade, A., Young, D.A. and Wilson, T.J., 2013. Seismic detection of an active subglacial magmatic complex in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Nature Geoscience, 6'', pp. 1031–1035.
  • Kennicutt, M.C., Chown, S.L., Cassano, J.J., Liggett, D., Massom, R., Peck, L.S., Rintoul, S.R., Storey, J.W.V., Vaughan, D.G., Wilson, T.J. and Sutherland, W.J., 2014. Six priorities for Antarctic science. Nature,''512'', pp. 23–25.