Research Interests

Structural and metamorphic geology; Gondwana tectonics; gneiss domes; migmatite fabrics

Geology of Antarctica: Antarctica research page

Current Projects

• Migmatite granite complexes -- 'fossil' mid crustal flow zones that may be analogs to melt horizons in active orogens
  -- sites of differentiation and stabilization of continental crust
  Favored study site: Fosdick Mountains, West Antarctica
  NSF-OPP 0338279 (with C. Teyssier and R. McFadden, U Minnesota); and pending proposal for future work


• Brittle faults and kinematics of the Laramide Orogeny - proposal pending for new research in Bighorn Mountains arch, Wyoming


• 1.4 Ga tectonism in the Southern Rockies: Evidence from high temperature domains in Colorado and New Mexico


• Antarctic rift system and Cretaceous tectonics of Gondwanaland (with Robin Bell and Michael Studinger, LDEO)


• Cordierite, (Fe,Mg)₂A_l4Si₅₀₁₈ -- diverse aspects; see below.


• Development of comprehensive GIS database for western Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica: Geological, geophysical, tectonic and historical data.


• Integrated Solid Earth Sciences [ISES] community development and activitism

Recent Publications

Siddoway, C., 2008, Tectonics of the West Antarctic rift system: New light on the history and dynamics of distributed intracontinental extension (invited paper) in Cooper, A.K. et al. (eds.), Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World, Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, p. 91-114.

Siddoway, C. and Siddoway, M., 2007, Geometrical analysis of structural data collected at high South latitude: A modular arithmetic method that addresses meridional convergence. Submitted to: Cooper, A. and Raymond, C., Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World, U.S. Geological Survey, USGS OFR-2007-1047, doi:10.3133/of2007-1047.srp061, http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1047/srp/srp061/. 5 pages.

McFadden R., C. S. Siddoway, C. Teyssier, C. M. Fanning, and S. C. Kruckenberg, 2007, Cretaceous oblique detachment tectonics in the Fosdick Mountains, Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. In: Cooper, A. and Raymond, C., Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World. U.S. Geological Survey, USGS OFR-2007-1047, doi:10.3133/of2007-1047.srp046, http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1047/srp/srp046. 6 pages.

Gaffney, Amy M. and Siddoway C.S., 2007, Heterogeneous sources for Pleistocene lavas of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica: new data from the SW Pacific diffuse alkaline magmatic province (extended abstract). In: Cooper, A. and Raymond, C., Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World. Proceedings and Conference Abstracts, U.S. Geological Survey, USGS OFR-2007-1047, http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1047/ea/of2007-1047ea063.pdf. 4 pages.

Korhonen, F.J., M. Brown, and C.S. Siddoway, 2007, Petrologic and geochronological constraints on the polymetamorphic evolution of the Fosdick migmatite dome, Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica(extended abstract). In: Cooper, A. and Raymond, C., Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World. Proceedings and Conference Abstracts, U.S. Geological Survey, USGS OFR-2007-1047, http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1047/ea/of2007-1047ea049.pdf. 4 pages.

Saito, S. Korhonen, F.J., M. Brown, and C.S. Siddoway, 2007, Petrogenesis of granites in the Fosdick migmatite dome, Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica (extended abstract). In: Cooper, A. and Raymond, C., Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World. Proceedings and Conference Abstracts, U.S. Geological Survey, USGS OFR-2007-1047, http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1047/ea/of2007-1047ea105.pdf; 4 pages.

Siddoway, C., 2007, Geology of Marie Byrd Land (invited paper), in Riffenburgh, B., ed., Encyclopedia of the Antarctic, volume 2, New York: Routledge, p. 623-627.

Siddoway, C. [editor], 2006, Frontiers and Opportunities in Antarctic Earth Sciences [Proceedings], Pontignano, Universitá di Siena, Italy (August 29-31, 2004), Terra Antartica Reports, v. 12, 212 p.

Keller, J.W., Siddoway , C.S., Morgan, M.L., Route, E., Sacerdoti, R. and Stevenson, A., 2005, Geologic Map of the Manitou Springs Quadrangle, El Paso County, Colorado, Colorado Geological Survey, Denver, CO, Open-File report 03-19. Map at 1: 24 000 and text. http://geosurvey.state.co.us/pubs/gis/mapping.asp

Siddoway, C.S., Sass, L.C. III, Esser, R.P., 2005, Kinematic history of the Marie Byrd Land terrane, West Antarctica: Direct evidence from Cretaceous mafic dykes, in Vaughan, A., Leat, P., and Pankhurst, R.J. (eds.), Terrane Processes at the Margin of Gondwana, Geological Society of London, Special Publication 246, p. 417-438.

Siddoway, C.S; Richard, S.; Fanning, C.M.; and Luyendyk, B. P., 2004, Origin and emplacement mechanisms for a middle Cretaceous gneiss dome, Fosdick Mountains, West Antarctica, in Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C.T., and Siddoway, C., eds., Gneiss domes in orogeny, GSA Special Paper 380, p. 267–294.

Whitney, D., Teyssier, C., and Siddoway, C., eds., 2004, Gneiss domes in orogeny, GSA Special Paper 380, 393 p. URL: http://rock.geosociety.org/bookstore/default.asp?oID=0&catID=9&pID=SPE380.

Siddoway, C.S.; Baldwin, S.; Fitzgerald, P.G., Fanning, C.M.; and Luyendyk, B.P., 2004, Ross Sea mylonites and the timing of intracontinental extension within the West Antarctic rift system, Geology, v. 32, no. 1, p. 57-60.

Morgan, M.L., Siddoway, C.S., Rowley, P.D., Temple, J., Keller, J.W., Archuleta , B.H., and Himmelreich, J.W. Jr., 2004, Geologic Map of the Cascade Quadrangle, El Paso County, Colorado , Colorado Geological Survey, Denver, CO, Open-File report 03-18. Map at 1: 24000 and text. http://geosurvey.state.co.us/pubs/gis/mapping.asp

Luyendyk, B. P., Wilson, D. and Siddoway, C.S., 2003 , The eastern margin of the Ross Sea Rift in western Marie Byrd Land : Crustal structure and tectonic development : Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (G3), v. 4 (10), 1090, doi:10.1029/2002GC000462. http://www.agu.org/journals/gc/

Stone, J.O., Balco, G.A., Sugden, D.E., Caffee, M.W., Sass, L.C., III, Cowdery, S., Siddoway , C., 2003, Late Deglaciation of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, Science, v. 299, p. 99-102.

Chris’s Top Ten, in no particular order…

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Colorado College has another professor by the name of Siddoway, and you guessed it, the two of us are married. Mike teaches Mathematics. Maybe you've read through this whole page and are completely confused because you are looking for the Prof. Siddoway who studies module theory, commutative rings, computational algebra, and the history of mathematics! To reach Mike, click here.