A new beginning...

I know it has been a while, but I have a good reason for being silent for so long on this blog.
I have been very busy since August 2010.

• I finished my undergraduate degree
• Had another succesful field season working on the Santa Elena peninsula in Costa Rica. My focus was on melt-rock reaction textures, pegmatoidal gabbros and plagioclase peridotites
• Attended field camp at the Yellowstone-Bighorn Research Association
• Wrote a thesis on my work with plagioclase-bearing peridotites from the Godzilla Megamullion Oceanic Core Complex
• Began working on lunar meteorite DHO910- element mapping and geochemical analysis of clasts and glass in the impact breccia
• Went on a second submersible diving cruise to the Godzilla Megamullion (R/V Yokosuka YK11-08) where we found some amazing new stuff while examining the abyssal hills southwest of the breakaway and the termination/paleo-ridge axis.
• Began working on petrography and geochemical analysis of lower-crustal and upper mantle peridotites, troctolites, and gabbros from the inner trench wall of the Bonin Ridge.
• Finished a manuscript for my work on the Godzilla Megamullion
• Attended the IODP workshop on Ultra-deep drilling into arc crust (https://www.jamstec.go.jp/ud2012/form/)
• And began work on a manuscript for my first round of data from my Bonin Ridge samples.
• I have established a domain to use as a personal website for my work and published papers

Needless to say, I've been very busy.

My plan for this blog in the near future is simple: I am going to begin weekly or bi-weekly posts which pertain to interesting topics in my and my colleague's research. This blog will be associated with and displayed on my personal website. Although it is not up and completely running yet, my website is www.matthewloocke.com

Be on the lookout for the launch of my site in the next week or two. I will have links to all of my various profiles and pdfs or links to my publications.

That's it for now. Until next time, keep your mind lucid and your rocks intrusive!
Matt Loocke

Behind... Obviously

So I started this blog about a year and a half ago with the intentions of posting my experiences with traveling for research and conferences with my geology research and such. So far, I have written down what to put in these blogs, but never gotten around to posting them. Over the next few days I will be workling on getting these many experiences posted.

Since beginning this blog I have spent 30 days on a Japanese led expedition in the Philippine Sea and subsequently a week in port on the island of Chichi Jima, numerous trips with undergraduate courses to Big Bend National Park and Central Texas for mapping projects and geo-tourism, 2 weeks in Costa Rica for both preliminary field work for a petrological and field mapping project of an ignored oceanic mantle section on the Northwest coast ( which was followed of course by some more geo-tourism), a week-and-a-half in Cyprus for the AGU Chapman conference on detachment faulting in oceanic lithosphere, a week in Chiba, Japan for the Japanese Geophysical Union annual meeting, and a week and a half at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute this summer investing some time with my advisor, Dr. Jon Snow's, PhD advisor Dr. Henry Dick into examining my current research interest of plagioclase in abyssal peridotites.

Its been a very busy and worthwhile year. And the greatest thing is that its not slowing down anytime soon!

So I hope whoever reads these next posts finds something in them that makes the time you spent reading them worthwhile.

Cheers,

Matt

Welcome

Well, This is my first post, and if you are reading this I woul like to thank you for taking the time to check in and see what I have been up to. The main purpose of this blog is to create a way for me to keep track of travels abroad and here at home in geology. I am currently studying geology at the University of Houston, and have so far gotten some great opportunities that are quickly giving me a wealth of knowledge and experience in a subject that I have a true passion for.

I will post up some experiences of the pastyear or so that have left an imprint on my mind, and that have given me vital experience, as well as begin covering in real time my experiences in the near and distant future. Currently I am set to depart Houston for Tokyo Japan on May 1st to work on a submersible research dive on the Godzilla Mullion north of The ogasawara islands of japan. i will hopefully be able to keep a daily blog of that trip, so as to keep all of you who are interested up to date.

Thanks for reading, and happy travels!
Matt