Strongly foliated pelitic schist. If you look closely you can see numerous tight folds.

A close up shot of the pelitic schist showing crenulations of an older schistosity.

At the summit of Ryumonzan (蛇紋岩). On the path there was an area where the magnetism of the serpentinite was so strong that the compass needle rotated 180°.

The view from Ryumonzan. The built up valley marks the location of the Median Tectonic Line.

A brief stop at a waterfall.

Group photo at the summit of Mt Kinpu (2599 m). It didn't rain too much.

Gently dipping aplite intruded into granite

Miarolitic cavities in the granite. These features commonly show a steep fabric.

Flat-lying raised beach at a height of ~2m formed after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923

Vein structures seen in the accretionary prism—evidence of past earthquakes.

The Miocene accretionary prism.

Disrupted beds related to an ancient methane cold seep.

Beautiful flame structures.

Shear structures seen in a . Possible ancient plate boundary.

Pillow lava of the Mineoka Ophiolite

(1) Normal fault cutting interbedded mud and limestone


(2) Calcite veining and brecciation of limestone layer associated with normal faulting


(3) Fault showing slip of ~50 cm with well-developed calcite mineral fibers


(4) Close up of mineral fibers on fault plane

Inside the main building of the Turin Academy of Sciences.


After the award ceremony.


The certificate all in Latin


Some geology! Felsic gneiss containing 10 cm sized pyrope-rich garnet crystals from the Dora Maira region close to Turin.
These rocks contain coesite, the high P polymorph of quartz.

Why I applied for a JSPS Fellowship
My PhD focuses on modelling the composition of magmatic hydrothermal fluids that are responsible for ore-formation. The challenge for conventional mining practices is that this process of ore formation takes tens of thousands of years. Supercritical geothermal power plants are unique locations where super-heated magmatically-derived fluids are extracted for the purpose of providing a more efficient renewable energy source. What if we could harness an array of economically important metals like Cu from these fluids and co-produce geothermal energy? The utility of these fluids as multipurpose resources is actively being explored for extraction of metals like silica and lithium.

Geothermal energy is a promising renewable energy source in Japan and an ideal location to investigate this research, therefore I applied to a JSPS fellowship. There are a few fellowship to choose from that vary in length and fellow-type. I was awarded a predoctoral short-term fellowship which funded my research for 6 months in Japan. This research focused specifically on understanding the origins of metal enrichment in high temperature fluids from a supercritical geothermal power plant in Japan (Kakkonda) and how they compare to fluids exsolving from local magmatic systems (Iwate). As such we devised a detailed geochemical study that focused on analysis of whole rock and olivine hosted melt inclusions.

JSPS research and funded opportunities:
The JSPS funding enabled me to plan a field study to Mount Iwate with myself and members of my host research group (Figure 1). Samples from the most recent eruptions at Mount Iwate have not yet been analysed geochemically, hence our research will provide novel data for this eruption. After fieldwork was complete, samples were prepared for a melt inclusion study. This required whole rocks to be crushed and sieved into different size fractions. Olivine phenocrysts were individually picked, mounted, and polished before being set in epoxy discs and finely polished, ready for SEM imaging and EPMA analysis.

Outside of research I had to the opportunity to attend the Water-Rock Interaction Conference in Sendai where I chaired my first conference and presented some new research that I had been developing during my time in Japan (Figure 2). I was also able to meet people that are involved in the geothermal industry here in Japan and as a result myself and host supervisor were able to organise a tour around the Kakkonda Geothermal Power Plant. This was a real highlight of my time in Japan as I was given the unique opportunity to witness the real life application of my research.

Figure 1: Iwate fieldtrip

Figure 2: Conference with Research Group


Life in Japan:
Having never travelled to Japan before, I arrived during the infamous Sakura season where streets and parks are filled with cherry blossom trees and shops are bursting with Sakura themed food, drinks and omiyage (Figure 3). One of the most invaluable opportunities provided by the University of Tokyo was the free Japanese language courses which really helped me navigate daily life a little easier! Tokyo is not short of local festivals and historic temples and shrines which were a great way to experience the rich traditions of Japanese culture. I had heard about how the city transforms from day to night but seeing the vast array of neon lights in all the bustling pockets of Tokyo was an experience like no other (Figure 4). But if you feel you need to escape the hustle of busy Tokyo life, you are just a short train or flight away from the mountains and volcanoes (Figure 5). I truly enjoyed my time here at Todai and in Tokyo and cannot wait to return.

Figure 3: Mount Fuji during sakura season

Figure 4: Shibuya from above

Figure 5: Mount Aso, Kyushu

1) SW, Takayoshi Nagaya and Olivia Hogg chaired a session. The meeting was also attended by Shogo Soejima and Takayuki Morohoshi.

2) Olivia won a prize for her presentation

3) Crater lake seen from the top of Mt Zao.

4) A stone monument near the summit commemorating the way in which Date Munetaka appeased the volcano gods, which has now damaged by lightening

Photo 1: Necking of a dolomite layer surrounded by quartzite, Makerni Spitze.

Photo 2: Kaiser Franz Josefs glacier or ‘Pasterze’ with a U-shaped valley, lateral and frontal moraine deposits visible.
The glacier has retreated 2.5 km over the last 150 years.

Photo 3: Augengneiss typical of the basement units of the Pennine domain.

Photo 4: View of the main field area looking west.

1) Trench slope deposits formed at very shallow levels
Even siltstone has a porosity up to 50%!

2) Large-scale fold developed as a result of a mass transport event on the sea floor.

3) A structure that looks like a delta type clast seen in mylonite and other metamorphic rocks. In this case the indicated sense of shear is sinistral.

4) Some photogenic shear band type structures are also developed. In this case they indicate a dextral sense of shear.

The Inada granite quarry

The summit of Mt. Tsukuba

岐阜県七宗町飛騨川沿いでジュラ紀付加帯の一部である上麻生礫岩とその上位・下位のタービダイトおよびスランプ堆積物を観察・記載

砂泥質な海溝充填堆積物に挟まれる厚さ2 m余りの上麻生礫岩 Cg.I層（折尺より左側; Adachi 1971）。地層は高角度で傾斜し、周囲のタービダイトで観察される級化層理や荷重痕などの堆積構造からは地層の上位が画像右側であることが分かる。

Cg.I層はスランプ堆積物に挟まれており、砂泥互層の破断や褶曲などの未固結堆積物の変形など多様な堆積構造が認められる。

上麻生礫岩に含まれる片麻岩礫の年代測定から20億年以上前の形成年代が示され、発見当時は日本最古の岩石であったため、露頭からほど近い場所に「日本最古の石博物館」が建てられた。

１）February 2022
Field work in Shikoku


２）August 2022
Joint field excursion in Shikoku with members of the Yamaguchi laboratory (AORI).
Thank you to Mutsuki Aoya (Tokushima Uni) and Rina Fukuchi (Naruto Uni of Education) for joining for part of schedule.




３）September 2022
Field excursion after an international workshop on slow earthquakes held in Nara.
SW and TN did some driving and Thomas helped with the planning to see the MTL outcrops.
Out thanks to Yamaguchi-san for doing most of the organization and for an excellent tour despite the typhoon.

Field Work in the Franciscan Terrane, W. USA


Serpentinite outcrop in northern part of Del Puerto Canyon area.
The layer seen in the lower left part of the image is referred to as black serpentinite and represents a shear zone along the base of the Coast Range Ophiolite


Meta psammite that was exhumed from depths of around 30 km (Del Puerto Canyon)
Deformed quartz veins are widely observed throughout the area and represent the result of inflow of fluids and movement of SiO2 at depth.


Collecting samples along the San Antonio Valley Road. Many of the samples from this survey were collected in the same way.


Ring Mountain in the Tibron Peninsula. In the center of the image there are blocks of massive serpentinite and eclogite that have undergone retrograde blueschist metamorphism and are all surrounded by a matrix of serpentinite melange.


Blueschist in the Ring Mountain area. The blocky creamy white crystals are lawsonite and this is close to the locality where lawsonite was first described. The lawsonite grains grew under high-pressure conditions. The foliation is straight and contained within the lawsonite grains. This shows that the foliation formed before the lawsonite and is related to subduction processes.


A block of blueschist showing folds. Such high-grade metamorphic blocks are more resistant to erosion than the surrounding serpentinite mélange and stand out above the generally flat-lying landscape. These blocks preserve evidence for anticlockwise P–T paths (decreasing T at the same P) , which represents the thermal structure immediately after the onset of subduction.


Folded layer of eclogite (omphacite and garnet) in blueschist. Layer is about 3 cm thick.


Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, a well-known tourist spot.