The main research interests and expertise of Wout Krijgsman involve dating the geological record with magnetostratigraphy, combined with integrated stratigraphic techniques, and using paleomagnetic reconstructions in time and space to unravel the climatic and tectonic components of paleoenvironmental change. He aims to understand rates of change of natural processes by determining the underlying mechanisms that explain our observations.

Key research activities focus on the Mio-Pliocene coevolution of the Mediterranean and Paratethys Sea (NWO Vici project), with special focus on Middle Miocene paleoenvironmental change and the Messinian salinity crisis (EU Medgate project). In addition, he is working on Asian paleoclimate and paleoenvironment reconstructions in China, and biodiversity changes in the Caspian region (EU PRIDE project) and in Indonesian reef systems (EU Throughflow project). He is furthermore collaborating on integrated stratigraphic studies in the continental Paleogene of North America and on marine-continental correlations in the Triassic-Jurassic.