Matthew G. Jackson

Assistant Professor

Office: CAS 135
Phone: 617.353.4009
E-mail: jacksonm@bu.edu
Matt’s Homepage

Educational Background

Ph.D. 2007 Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program
B.S. 2001 Yale University

Research

Prof. Jackson uses the isotopic and chemical composition of lavas erupted at plume-fed hotspot volcanoes to gain insight into the make-up of the Earth’s deep interior.  In particular, he is interested in understanding the origins (recycling of subducted material, metasomatism, etc) and length scales (hemispheric to micron-scale) of heterogeneities in the mantle.  He employs innovative in situ techniques to get at the composition of lavas, phenocrysts and the melt inclusions they host.  Owing to the diversity of hotspots in the region, fieldwork in Polynesia plays an integral role in Prof. Jackson’s research.

Geochemistry research group
Solid Earth and Tectonics research group

Teaching

Introduction to Geochemistry (ES 371)
Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology (ES 424)

Selected Publications

(*=student)

  • Jackson, M.G., S. Shirey (2011). Re-Os systematics in Samoan shield lavas and the use of Os-isotopes in olivine phenocrysts to determine primary magmatic compositions. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 312, 91-101.
  • Huang, S., P.S. Hall, M.G. Jackson (2011). Geochemical zoning of volcanic chains associated with Pacific hotspots. Nature Geoscience 4, 874-878.
  • Jackson, M.G., R. Carlson (2011). An ancient recipe for flood basalt genesis. Nature 476, 316–319.
  • Koppers, A.A.P., J. A. Russell, J. Roberts, M. G. Jackson, J. Konter, Dawn J. Wright, H. Staudigel, S. R. Hart (2011). Age systematics of two young en echelon Samoan volcanic trails. Geochem. Geophys. Geosys.,
doi:10.1029/2010GC003438.
  • Jackson, M.G., S.R. Hart, J.G. Konter, A.A.P. Koppers, H. Staudigel, M.D. Kurz, J. Blusztajn, J.M. Sinton (2010), The Samoan hotspot track on a “hotspot highway”: Implications for mantle plumes and a deep Samoan mantle source. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., doi:10.1029/2010GC003232.
  • Jackson, M.G., R. Carlson, M.D. Kurz, P.D. Kempton, D. Francis, J. Blusztajn (2010). Evidence for the survival of the oldest terrestrial mantle reservoir. Nature 466, 853-856.15.
  • Dasgupta, R., Jackson, M.G., C.-T.A. Lee (2010). Major element chemistry of ocean island basalts – conditions of mantle melting and heterogeneity of mantle source. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 289, 377-392.
  • Jackson, M.G., S.R. Hart, A.E. Saal, N. Shimizu, M.D. Kurz, J. Bluztajn and A. Skovgaard (2008).  Globally elevated titanium, tantalum, and niobium (TITAN) in ocean island basalts with high 3He/4He.  Geochem. Geophys. Geosys., 9, Q04027, doi:10.1029/2007GC001876.
  • Jackson, M.G., S.R. Hart, A.A.P. Koppers, H. Staudigel, J. Konter, J. Blusztajn, M.D. Kurz and J.A. Russell (2007). The return of subducted continental crust in Samoan lavas, Nature, 448, 684-687.
  • Jackson, M.G., M.D. Kurz, S.R. Hart and R.K. Workman (2007). New Samoan lavas from Ofu Island reveal a hemispherically heterogeneous high 3He/4He mantle, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 264, 360-374.
  • Jackson, M.G. and S.R. Hart (2006). Strontium isotopes in melt inclusions from Samoan basalts: Implications for heterogeneity in the Samoan plume, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 245, 260-277.
  • Jackson, M.G., N. Oskarsson, R.G. Trønnes, J.F. McManus, D.W. Oppo, K. Grönvold, S.R. Hart and J.P. Sachs (2005). Holocene loess deposition in Iceland: Evidence for millennial-scale atmosphere-ocean coupling in the North Atlantic, Geology, 33, 509-512.