Education / Degree

Ph.D.,  University of Missouri,  1995

Research interest (Short)

Primary interests involve the tectonic and climatic geomorphology and active tectonics. Other interests are plate tectonics, structural geology, paleogeography, biogeography, and organic evolution.  Present research involves landscape evolution of the Mississippi Valley and surrounding region, documentation of prehistoric earthquakes in the central US and Central America, and the effects of volcanic hotspots on moving crustal plates.

Courses taught

Quaternary Geology ESCI 7202

An overview of the processes operating during Quaternary that gave rise to the characteristics of Quaternary geologic materials and Quaternary landforms.  Emphasis is on Quaternary climatic instability and its signature on geologic processes globally.

Tectonics ESCI 7311

Current thinking with respect to movement of the Earth's lithosphere.  Ideas discussed include: plate motions and the processes driving them; regional deformational styles associated with different types of plate margins; lithospheric stress regimes; and changes in tectonic style through geologic time.

Structural Geology ESCI 3512

Basic principles and analytical methods of structural geology.  The focus of the course is the geometric description of structures and current ideas as to the processes that produce a given structural style.  These topics are addressed at map scale, outcrop scale, and micro-scale.

Recent Publications

Gamble, E.D., Cox, R.T. and Larsen, D., 2023. A technique for quantification of quaternary ground tilting as recorded by alluvial fill terraces: An example from the northern Gulf of Mexico coastal plain. Geomorphology, 437, p.108798.

Noor, S., Cox, R.T., Smalley, R., and Hasan, R., 2023, Topographic evidence of long wavelength active folding in the New Madrid seismic zone, intraplate North America, Geomorphology, 420, p.108503

Cox, R.T., Hatcher, R.D., Jr., Forman, S.L., Counts, R., Vaughn, J., Gamble, E., Glasbrenner, J., Warrell, K., Adhikari, N., and Pinardi, S., 2022, Synthesis of recent paleoseismic research on Quaternary faulting in the eastern Tennessee seismic zone, eastern North America: implications for seismic hazard and intraplate seismicity: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 112, 1161-1189.

Lumsden, D.N., and Cox, R.T., 2022, An Ongoing 13.5 Yr Hiatus in M ≥ 4 New Madrid/Wabash Valley Earthquakes: Could People Be the Cause of the “Pause?”: Seismological Research Letters, 93, 1-4.

Reichenbacher, R., Van Arsdale, R., Cox, R., Cramer, C., 2022, Geomorphology, three-dimensional geology, and seismologic hazards of the New Madrid seismic zone in Dyer County, Tennessee. Environmental & Engineering Geoscience, 28 (2): 147–171.

Larsen, D., Paul, J., and Cox, R., 2021, Geochemical and isotopic evidence for upward flow of saline fluid to the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, southeastern Arkansas, USA: Hydrogeology Journal, 29: 1421–1444

Vanderlip, C.A., Cox, R.T., Larsen, D., Mitchell, J., Harris, J.B., Cearley, C.S., 2021, Newly recognized Quaternary surface faulting and folding peripheral to the New Madrid seismic zone, central U.S., and implications for restraining bend models of intraplate seismic zones: Journal of Geology, 129, 77-95, doi.org/10.1086/713686.

Marlow, C., R. Cox, and C. Powell, 2021, Segmentation of the Eastern Reelfoot Rift Margin: Reinterpretation of the Northeastern Reelfoot Rift Fault Geometry and Seismic Potential: Seismological Research Letters, 92: 1085-1101,  doi: 10.1785/0220200100.

Marlow, C., Powell, C., and Cox, R., 2021, Aeromagnetic Interpretations of the Crittenden County Fault Zone: Seismological Research Letters, 92: 14 pages, doi: 10.1785/0220200209.