Lessons from planet Earth

Azure and endless, the cloud-streaked skies in remote northern Tibet arch over the highest plateau on Earth. It's no surprise the country is sometimes called "the roof of the world."

As glorious as the skies and landscapes are, UCLA assistant professor John He and postdoctoral researcher Jordan Wang find even more inspiration in what lies beneath … way beneath.

Every summer, they spend a month in the Qiangtang Wilderness Preserve, an area few tourists and even fewer scientists have been able to access. Rain, snow or shine, they conduct geologic, structural and sedimentological observations to reconstruct the most detailed possible history of how the lithosphere, the fragmented upper shell of our planet, deforms to form mountains. In other words: what causes rocks to buckle, break and fold when plates collide? And how have these processes altered the Earth's landscape over time?

"We're like forensic scientists trying to figure out what happened 300 million years ago," said He, who recently published a paper in Science solving the mystery of the Colorado River's 5 million-year absence from the geological record.

Not only does their work dovetail with global interest in how megathrust earthquakes form along subduction zones - a particular concern in northern California and the Pacific Northwest - it also strengthens humanity's overall understanding of the fundamental processes of our planet.

This painstaking work benefits from their time-tested teamwork. The remote expeditions require a level of trust and rapport built up over many years of research. Together, the two have conducted fieldwork across the planet, from alpine peaks above the tree line in British Columbia, Canada, to a Pacific island off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. Now that Wang has joined He's Field Tectonics lab at UCLA, they are set to take their geologic investigations back to the Tibetan Plateau this summer with He's two new graduate students, continuing their long-running collaboration.

Working with graduate students reminds them both of what led them to Earth science.

The summer before he began his undergraduate education, Wang, who grew up in the Bay Area north of San Francisco, read "Annals of the Former World," John McPhee's Pulitzer Prize-winning compilation of books about North America's plate tectonic journey.

"I thought it was really exciting; I liked the language of geology and geologic time immediately," Wang said. "I had been considering a lot of different study options, but these books really influenced me."

As for He, who was born in Pittsburgh but grew up in Shanghai, his interest was sparked in a more roundabout way after spending his formative years far removed from nature.

"I was never the typical future geologist - my only experience with geology in Shanghai was asphalt, marble and granite buildings," he said. "The first time that I actually really spent time outdoors was [as an] undergrad in Massachusetts, when I started seeing the planet in a completely different way than before."

Although Wang is still figuring out what his next step will be once he completes his postdoc and leaves He's lab, they remain committed to their longstanding collaborations. One of the new research projects they're launching will focus on the California coast and will make use of He's expertise in low-temperature thermochronology to look deeper into explaining the journey experienced over eons by subducted rocks.

And, of course, they will continue to collaborate on their annual field expedition to Qiangtang, exploring its countless geologic structures, including the highest rift valleys on the planet. To reach their field site, they have to travel more than a thousand kilometers - two full days' drive from the closest airport in Lhasa; they also have to pace themselves over a week or two to acclimate to the lower levels of oxygen at those dizzying altitudes.

The challenges are more than worth it, the two agree, saying that conducting their research in the area is a privilege - and a reminder of the foundation of their own work and friendship.

"Being a postdoc can look different for everyone, but I really appreciate how John gives me a lot of leeway to focus on my own research and the questions I want to explore," Wang said. "Our Tibet work highlights why we are good field partners for one another - we're able to spend time in each other's respective work and help each other along, but we bring unique perspectives that change how we see things and motivate new work."

Ultimately, they say, this work and field expeditions have the ability to unite us, seeing how innately Earth sciences are tied to our lives.

"I found geology and being a scientist through mentors who shared that passion with me. I never would have known that this was a possibility except for a geology professor [while I was an] undergrad who was really excited about teaching the Earth and sharing the planet with everyone," He said. "I enjoy that part of my work and want to do the same. It's a beautiful experience for all of us to talk and think about our shared planet and see it in a different way."

Watch an audio description version of the video here.