The uplifted terrain around the volcano forms the Jackson Dome, an area of dense rock clearly noticeable in local gravity measurements.

Hilgard published his theory of an anticline beneath Jackson in 1860 due to his observations of surface strata.

[4] The noble gas data suggests mantle origins with a date of 70 million years for the Jackson Dome intrusion.

[5] Geologists have evidence of repeated uplifts accompanied by dike intrusions and volcanic extrusions, erosion, and sedimentation with one coral reef having developed during a submergence.

[7][8] A hypothesis states that the Jackson Volcano and related igneous activity in Mississippi were a result of the North America Plate's passage over the Bermuda hotspot 66 million years ago.