The main focus of my research has been on the tectonics of continental collision, specifically the Tibetan Plateau and Himalaya, using surface geological observations and (in collaboration) thermochronological studies. This research has examined areas in the southern part of the Tibetan Plateau and the western Himalayan syntaxis (Nanga Parbat), and central Tibet (INDEPTH III); recent work has been focussed on the eastern Himalayan syntaxis around Namche Barwa, and the northern edge of the Plateau  (INDEPTH 4). Tectonic research into some aspects of older collisional orogens, especially the Taconic belt of the northern Appalachians, is still an active interest. Research into the exhumation history and tectonics of the Hellenic Ridge is also a recent project.

Courses that used to be taught by me each academic year at the University at Albany:
                       GEO 330 Stuctural Geology I   GEO 331 Field Excursions for Structural Geology
                       GEO 221 Minerals, Rocks, Geological Time  GEO 223 Introductory Field Geology
                       GEO 470/517 Tectonics

Graduate students - dissertations and theses supervised at the University at Albany

Selected References:

Hellenic Ridge research

Marsellos, A. E., W. S. F. Kidd, and J. I. Garver, 2010. Extension and exhumation of the HP/LT rocks in the Hellenic forearc ridge. Amer. J. Sci., 310, 1-36. [journal link]

Namche Barwa project

Zeitler, P.K., Meltzer, A.S., Brown, L., Kidd, W.S.F., Lim, C., and Enkelmann, E., 2014. Tectonics and topographic evolution of Namche Barwa and the easternmost Lhasa block, Tibet. in Nie, J., Horton, B.K., and Hoke, G.D., (eds.), Toward an Improved Understanding of Uplift Mechanisms and the Elevation History of the Tibetan Plateau. Geological Society of America Special Paper 507, p. 23–58. [publication link]
Data Repository item 2014215

Booth, A.L., C.P. Chamberlain, W.S.F. Kidd, and P.K. Zeitler, 2009. Constraints on the metamorphic evolution of the eastern Himalayan syntaxis from geochronologic and petrologic studies of Namche Barwa. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., 121, 385–407; doi: 10.1130/B26041.1; Data Repository item 2008211. [journal link]

Booth, A.L., P.K. Zeitler, W.S.F. Kidd, J. Wooden, Y. Liu, B. Idleman, M. Hren, and C.P. Chamberlain, 2004. U-Pb Zircon constraints on the tectonic evolution of southeastern Tibet, Namche Barwa area. Amer. J. Sci., 304, 889-929.

Solon, K.D., A.G. Jones, K.D. Nelson, M.J. Unsworth, W.S.F. Kidd, W. Wei , H. Tan, S. Jin, M. Deng, J.R. Booker, S. Li, and P. Bedrosian, 2005. Structure of the crust in the vicinity of the Banggong-Nujiang suture in central Tibet from INDEPTH magnetotelluric data. J. Geophys. Res., 110, B10102, p.1-20, doi:10.1029/2003JB002405.

Zhu B., W.S.F. Kidd, D.B. Rowley, B.S. Currie, N. Shafique, 2005. Age of initiation of the India-Asia collision in the east-central Himalaya. J. Geol., 113, 265–285.

Zhu B., Delano J. W., and Kidd, W. S. F., 2005. Magmatic compositions and source terranes estimated from melt inclusions in detrital Cr-rich spinels: an example from mid-Cretaceous sandstones in the eastern Tethys Himalaya. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 233, 295-309.

Zhu, B., Kidd, W.S.F., Rowley, D., and Currie, B., 2004. Chemical compositions and tectonic significance of chrome-rich spinels in the Tianba flysch, southern Tibet. J. Geol., 112, 417-434.

M. Edwards, W. Kidd, A. Pecher, C. Burchfiel, L. Royden, 1999. Southern Tibet Detachment system (STDS) at Khula Kangri, eastern Himalaya: a large-area, shallow detachment stretching into Bhutan? J. Geol., 107, 623-631. 

M.J. Cogan, K.D. Nelson, W.S.F. Kidd, and C. Wu, 1998. Shallow structure of the Yadong-Gulu rift, southern Tibet, from refraction analysis of Project INDEPTH common midpoint data. Tectonics, 17, 46-61.

K D. Nelson, Zhao Wenjin, L. Brown, J. Kuo, Che J., Liu X., S. Klemperer, Y. Makovsky, R. Meissner, J. Mechie, R. Kind, F. Wenzel, J. Ni, J. Nabelek, Chen L., Tan H., Wei, W., A. Jones, J. Booker, M. Unsworth, W. Kidd, M. Hauck, D. Alsdorf, A. Ross, M. Cogan, Wu C., E. Sandvol, M. Edwards, 1996. Partially molten middle crust beneath Southern Tibet: synthesis of Project INDEPTH results. Science, 274, 1684-1688. 

M.A. Edwards, J. Li, M. Clark, and W.S.F. Kidd, 1996. Multi-stage development of the Southern Tibet Detachment System near Khula Kangri. New data from Gonto-la. Tectonophysics, 260, 1-19. 

T.M. Harrison, P. Copeland, W.S.F. Kidd, and O. Lovera, 1995. Activation of the Nyainqentanghla shear zone: implications for uplift of the southern Tibetan Plateau. Tectonics, 14, 658-676.

P Copeland, T.M. Harrison, Y. Pan, W.S.F. Kidd, M. Roden, and Y. Zhang, 1995. Thermal evolution of the Gangdese batholith, southern Tibet: a history of episodic unroofing. Tectonics, 14, 223-236.

A. Yin,. T M. Harrison, F.J. Ryerson, W. Chen, W.S.F. Kidd, and P Copeland, 1994. Tertiary structural evolution of the Gangdese thrust system, southeastern Tibet. J. Geophys. Res., 99, 18,175-18,201.

Y. Pan and W.S.F. Kidd, 1992. The Nyainqentanglha shear zone: a late Miocene extensional detachment in the southern Tibetan Plateau. Geology, 20, 775-778. 

T.M. Harrison, P. Copeland, W.S.F. Kidd and A. Yin, 1992. Raising Tibet. Science, 255, 1663-1670. 

Zeitler, P.K., P.O. Koons, M.P. Bishop, C.P.Chamberlain, D. Craw., M.A. Edwards, S. Hamidullah, M.Q. Jan, M.A. Khan, M.A.K. Khattak, W.S.F. Kidd, R.L. Mackie, A.S. Meltzer, S.K. Park, A. Pêcher, M.A. Poage, G. Sarker, D.A. Schneider, L. Seeber, and J.F. Shroder, 2001. Crustal reworking at Nanga Parbat, Pakistan: Metamorphic consequences of thermal-mechanical coupling facilitiated by erosion. Tectonics, 20, 712-728.

D.A. Schneider, P.K. Zeitler, W.S.F. Kidd, and M.A. Edwards, 2001. Geochronologic constraints on the tectonic evolution and exhumation of Nanga Parbat, western Himalaya syntaxis, revisited. J. Geol., 109, 563-583. 

P.K. Zeitler, A.S. Meltzer, P.O. Koons, D. Craw, B. Hallet, C.P. Chamberlain, W.S.F. Kidd, S. Park, L. Seeber, M. Bishop, J. Shroder, 2001. Erosion, Himalayan Geodynamics and the Geomorphology of Metamorphism. GSA Today, 11, 4-9.

M.A. Edwards, W.S.F. Kidd, M.A. Khan, and D.A. Schneider, 2000. Tectonics of the southwest margin of the Nanga Parbat massif. pp 77-100 in Khan, M.A., Treloar, P.J., Searle, M.P., and Jan, M.Q., (eds.) Tectonics of the Nanga Parbat Syntaxis and the western Himalaya. Geol. Soc. London, Spec. Pub. 170.

D.A. Schneider, M.A. Edwards, W.S.F. Kidd, M.A. Khan, L. Seeber, and P.K Zeitler, 1999. Tectonics of Nanga Parbat, western Himalaya: synkinematic plutonism within doubly-vergent shear zones of a crustal-scale pop-up structure. Geology, 27, 999-1002.

N. Appalachian research

Schoonmaker, A., Kidd, W.S.F., DeLong, S.E., and Bender, J.F., 2014. Lawrence Head Volcanics and Dunnage Mélange, Newfoundland Appalachians: origin by Ordovician ridge subduction or in back arc rift? Geoscience Can., 41, xxx-xxx. [journal link]

Schoonmaker, A., W.S.F. Kidd, D.N. Reusch, M.J. Dorais, T. Gregg, and C. Spencer, 2011. Stratigraphic context, geochemical, and isotopic properties of magmatism in the Siluro-Devonian inliers of northern Maine: Implications for the Acadian Orogeny. Amer. J. Sci., 311, 528-572. [journal link]

Schoonmaker, A., and Kidd, W.S.F., 2007. A reappraisal of the Stanbridge Nappe and adjacent shelf strata, southern Quebec and northwestern Vermont. Can. J. Earth Sci., 44, 155-169.  [coloured geological outcrop map Highgate VT-St. Armand Station PQ]

Schoonmaker, A., and W.S.F. Kidd, 2006. Evidence for a ridge subduction event in the Ordovician rocks of north-central Maine. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., 118,  897–912. 

Schoonmaker, A., W.S.F. Kidd, and D. Bradley, 2005. Foreland/Forearc collisional granitoid and mafic magmatism caused by lower-plate lithospheric slab-breakoff: the Acadian of Maine, and other orogens. Geology, 33, 961–964.

Lim, C., Kidd, W.S.F., and Howe, S., 2005. Late shortening and extensional structures and veins in the western margin of the Taconic Orogen (NY-VT). J. Geol., 113, 419-438. 

Landing, E., G. Pe-Piper, W.S.F. Kidd, and K. Azmy, 2003. Tectonic setting of outer trench slope volcanism: pillow basalt and limestone in the Taconian orogen of eastern New York. Can. J. Earth Sci., 40, 1773-1787. 

Hayman, N.W., and W.S.F. Kidd, 2002. The Champlain Thrust System in the Whitehall-Shoreham area: influence of pre- and post-thrust normal faults on the present thrust geometry and lithofacies distribution. Field trip A7, pages7-1 to 7-24 in McLelland, J.M., amd Karabinos, P., (editors) Guidebook for Fieldtrips in New York and Vermont. New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference 94th Annual meeting, and New York State Geological Association 74th Annual meeting, Lake George, NY, September 27th-29th, 2002. Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs. pdf file (1.5Mb)    [coloured geological outcrop map Benson-Shoreham area, VT]

D.C. Bradley and W.S.F. Kidd, 1991. Flexural extension in collisional foredeeps. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., 103, 1416-1438.

Field trip guides and geological maps
Tectonic significance of Cambro-Ordovician and Siluro-Devonian stratigraphy and magmatism in the Chesuncook Lake and Ripogenus Gorge area, north-central Maine. NEIGC 2013 meeting. pdf file  [coloured geological map, cross sections and stratigraphic column of Ripogenus Dam and Gorge area]

Evidence against the allochthonous nature of the Stanbridge Nappe at Highgate Gorge, northwestern Vermont. NEIGC 2009 meeting. pdf file
[coloured geological outcrop map Highgate VT-St. Armand Station PQ]

The Champlain Thrust System in the Whitehall-Shoreham area: influence of pre- and post-thrust normal faults on the present thrust geometry and lithofacies distribution. NYSGA/NEIGC 2002 meeting. pdf file   [coloured geological outcrop map Benson-Shoreham area, VT]

Lithofacies and structure of the Taconic Flysch, Melange, and Allochthon in the New York Capital District. NYSGA 1995 meeting. pdf file  [coloured geological outcrop map of New York Capital district]

Thrusts, melanges, folded thrusts, and duplexes in the Taconic Foreland. NYSGA 1985 meeting. pdf file

Detailed stratigraphic and structural features of the Giddings Brook slice of the Taconic Allochthon in the Granville area. NYSGA/NEIGC 1979 meeting. pdf file

Nanga Parbat area photos [1][2][3]
Himalaya panorama
Selections from Bill's scrapbook - the University at Albany - Quotes I like - Amusing notices and scenes

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