Dr. Doug Haywick

Dr. Doug Haywick

Associate Professor Emeritus of Geology
Department of Earth Sciences

Research Interests

  • Sedimentary geology
  • Paleozoic carbonate biostroms in the southeastern USA
  • Carbonate diagenesis
  • Geoarchaeology
  • Coastal sedimentation
  • The geology and geochemistry of ceramics and pottery
  • Proterozoic geology of the lower Canadian Shield

Bio

Dr. Doug Haywick is an Associate Professor of Geology  specializing in sedimentary petrology and low temperature geochemistry in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of South Alabama. He received a BS (Honours) in Geology and Chemistry from McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario), an MS in Earth Sciences from Memorial University of Newfoundland (ST. John's NF), both in Canada, and a Ph.D. in Geology from James Cook University of North Queensland (Townsville, QLD) in Australia. Dr. Haywick's MS study examined dolomitization of Paleozoic carbonate strata on the west coast of Newfoundland. His Doctoral dissertation focused on the sedimentology, alteration history (diagenesis) and sequence stratigraphic framework of Plio-Pleistocene mixed carbonate and siliciclastic sedimentary rocks on the North Island of New Zealand. 

Dr. Haywick joined the geology faculty at the University of South Alabama in 1991 after a year of teaching at James Cook University in Australia. He has continued to study the sedimentology and diagenesis of sedimentary rocks but has shifted his focus area to Alabama. Current and past projects, frequently done in collaboration with geologist Dr. David Kopaska-Merkel at the Geological Survey of Alabama, have studied surface exposures of Knox Group Carbonates, Bangor Limestone, Monteagle Limestone, Hartselle Sandstone and Salt Mountain Limestone, and subsurface (cored) intervals of Smackover Limestone and other Paleozoic Cenozoic strata. 

In addition to carbonate strata, Dr. Haywick and his undergraduate student researchers have examined anthropogenic and storm influences on Holocene sedimentation in marginal marine environments along the Alabama Gulf Coast. This includes a record of storm-punctuated sedimentation spanning a 12 year interval in Weeks Bay Alabama. New research with biology colleague Dr. Brian Axsmith was recently initiated on the sedimentology and faunal paleoecology of Oligocene strata near Monroeville, AL. Other current undergraduate-centered studies include 1) analysis of the effects of heat-treatment on lithic materials used by indigenous peoples in tool making (geoarchaeology) with colleague Phil Carr, (Archaeology), 2) geochemical and mineralogical analysis of locally sourced clays with potential for use in ceramics and pottery with colleague R. Tony Wright (Visual Arts), and 3) graphite mineralization in the Blue Ridge Province of the Appalachian Mountains with colleague David Allison (Earth Sciences).


Publications

Journal Articles

  • Haywick, D.W., Kopaska-Merkel, D.C. and Keyes, R., 2016. Petrographic and faunal characterization of Monteagle and Hartselle-equivalent strata in Northeastern Alabama. Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions 66, 211-229.

  • Kopaska-Merkel, D.C., Haywick, D.W., Root, E.A. and Montgomery, M.M., 2013. Sedimentology and diagenesis of the Paleocene Salt Mountain Limestone, southwestern Alabama. Bulletin of the Alabama Museum of History 31, 94-106.

  • Haywick, D.W., Kopaska-Merkel, D.C. and Bersch, M.G. 2009. A coral mound complex: key to early diagenetic processes in the Mississippian Bangor Limestone. Carbonates and Evaporites 24, 77-92.

  • Haywick, D.W., 2004. Diagenesis of polymineralic temperate limestones in a cyclothemic sedimentary succession, eastern North Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 47, 839-855.

  • Haywick, D.W., Yokel, L.S. and Wedgeworth, M., 2004. Overcoming challenges of teaching Earth History classes for teachers in a rock-free, urban environment. Journal of Geoscience Education, 52, 429-432.

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Awards

  • 1982: Canadian Institute for Mining and Metallurgy Outstanding Undergraduate Geology Thesis Award

  • 1989: James Cook University Outstanding Geology Teacher Award

  • 2006: University of South Alabama, Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award

  • 2008: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Outstanding Educator Award

  • 2010: University of South Alabama, Arts and Sciences Outstanding Service Award


Courses

  • ES492 Planetary Geology (Honors)
  • ES492 Science in the Movies (Honors)
  • GY494 Directed Studies
  • GY480 Field Geology
  • GY402 Sedimentary Petrology
  • GY302 Mineralogy and Crystallography
  • GY112 Earth History
  • GY112L Earth History Lab
  • GY111 Physical Geology
  • GY111L Physical Geology Lab