Wood devoted himself to a study of the mollusca of the Newer or Upper Tertiary (now Neogene) of Suffolk and Norfolk, and the Older Tertiary (Eocene) of the Hampshire Basin.[1] His work in East Anglia focussed on the Crag deposits, "crag" being a local term for shelly sand that has been adopted by geologists.[2] Opportunities for fossil-gathering were then plentiful, as these deposits were quarried to be used for fertiliser.[3] These studies led to his chief work, A Monograph of the Crag Mollusca (1848–1856), published by the Palaeontographical Society. He was awarded the Wollaston medal for this work in 1860 by the Geological Society of London. A supplement was issued by him in 1872–1874, a second in 1879, and a third (edited by his son) in 1882.[1]
He worked on the older deposits with his friend Frederick Edwards, Edwards describing the univalves and Wood the bivalves.[3] This resulted in the publication of A Monograph of the Eocene Bivalves of England (1861–1871), also issued by the Palaeontographical Society.[1]