School of Earth & Environmental Sciences
Washington State University
Pullman, WA  99164-2812, USA
Office: Webster 1154
Phone: (+1) 50 93 35 15 01
rlking@wsu.edu
 
A proud compatriot of the Wazzu Geoanalytical Lab
Here I am, looking for rocks in the sillimanite zone west of the Idaho Batholith along US 12.  I usually look happier when the rocks aren’t haired over quite so much.
Education
  1. •1999 — B.A. in Geology, The College of Wooster (Ohio; Cum Laude, Departmental Honors)
  2. •Thesis: Metamorphic geology and tectonic evolution of Franciscan Complex serpentinites, Big Sur region, central Coast Ranges, California
  3. •Advisor:  Dr. Lori Bettison-Varga, now Provost and Dean of the Faculty at Whitman College.  I fell in love with fluid-rock interactions when I was Lori’s student...
  4. •2002 — M.S. in Geological Sciences , University of South Carolina.
  5. •Thesis:  Estimates of fluid flow and metasomatism in the mantle wedge from Franciscan Complex ultramafic blocks
  6. •Advisor:  Dr. Matt Kohn, now at Boise State University.  Matt made me appreciate how freakin’ cool garnets are...
  7. •2006 — Ph.D. in Earth & Environmental Sciences, Lehigh University.
  8. •Dissertation: Mélange à trois: Metamorphic controls on recycling and mass transfer within subduction zones
  9. •Advisor:  Dr. Gray Bebout, who is wise in the ways of subduction.  Gray set me up with the coolest rocks and projects a boy could ever hope for...
 
 
Research Interests
My current research primarily focuses upon records of subduction zone metamorphism, but I’ve begun some forays into chemical oceanography.
 
  1. •Metamorphism, fluid-rock interactions, and metasomatism;
  2. •Recycling processes and crust-mantle interactions, principally in subduction zones;
  3. •Geochronology, thermochronology, and tectonics of convergent margins;
  4. •Isotope geochemistry of stable isotope systems [Li, B, O, S, Mg, Fe] and radiogenic systems [Rb/Sr, Sm/Nd, Lu/Hf, and (U+Th)/Pb];
  5. •Structural petrology and the interplays of deformation and metamorphism;
  6. •Hf and Nd isotopic compositions of rivers and seawater as records of continental weathering.
 
Towards these ends, I’m a postdoc here at Washington State working with Jeff Vervoort.
Publications Grove, M., Bebout, G.E., Jacobson, C.E., Barth, A.P., Kimbrough, D.L., King, R.L., Zou, H., Lovera, O.M., Mahoney, B.J., and Gehrels, G., in press, The Catalina Schist: Evidence for mid-Cretaceous subduction erosion of southwestern North America: Geological Society of America Special Paper, Formation and applications of the sedimentary record in arc collision zones. King, R.L., Bebout, G.E., Grove, M., Moriguti, T., and Nakamura, E., 2007, Boron and lead isotope signatures of subduction-zone mélange formation: Hybridization and fractionation along the slab-mantle interface beneath volcanic arcs: Chemical Geology, v. 239, p. 305-322. pdf King, R.L., Bebout, G.E., Moriguti, T., and Nakamura, E., 2006, Elemental mixing systematics and Sr-Nd isotope geochemistry of mélange formation: Obstacles to identification of fluid sources in arc volcanics: Earth & Planetary Science Letters, v. 246, p. 288-304.  pdf King, R. L., Bebout, G. E., Kobayashi, K., Nakamura, E., and van der Klauw, S. N. G. C., 2004, Ultrahigh-pressure metabasaltic garnets as probes into deep subduction-zone cycling: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, v. 5, Q12J14, doi:10.1029/2004GC000746.  pdf King, R. L., Kohn, M. J., and Eiler, J.  M., 2003, Constraints on the petrologic structure of the subduction zone slab-mantle interface from Franciscan Complex exotic ultramafic blocks: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 115, p. 1097-1109.  pdf [Note: The list of my conference abstracts has been banished to a sub-page.]rlk_files/Kingetal-2007-CG.pdfrlk_files/Kingetal-2006-EPSL.pdfrlk_files/Kingetal-2004-G3.pdfrlk_files/Kingetal-2003-GSAB.pdfabstracts.htmlshapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_3shapeimage_2_link_4
Ivan Savov is one of my oldest friends in the subduction world.  Ivan’s insights into the mantle wedge from the Mariana serpentinite seamounts have really helped shaped our understanding of mantle wedge processes.
It’s quite easy to argue that Thomas Zack is the presentable face of the Army.  Zacki does excellent work, understands the limitations of his science [and yours, mind you], asks all the right questions, etc...in short: he’s the complete package.  He’s also much calmer than people like me, so people actually listen to him with more regularity.
Horst Marschall has a talent for immediately getting your attention.  His impressive height accounts for much of this [it’s hard to ignore seven-odd freakin’ feet of metamorphic petrologist], but even more impressive is his frightening dedication and passion for his work.  The formalization of the Metamorphic Army is largely Horst’s doing, as he devised the original Uncle Sam logo.  Thank God.
When you talk to Weronika Gorczyk, you get to see how crazy and insane the physics of subduction and metamorphism probably are.  Her models make me cackle with malicious glee...
When I first met Timm John, he grilled me at my AGU poster for a good 30 minutes.  It was a little distracting, since it’s not easy to win an argument with Timm.  In the end I must have said a few things right, since we’re still friends.  Timm was good enough to invite me out to Kiel for a talk and so that I could enjoy an EGU meeting in Vienna, which I highly recommend.  Us Amurricans don’t see things like the Vienna culture often enough.
Maureen Feineman and I had a make-do 2004 Thanksgiving in Japan, where we used way too much butter in all the food...but it rocked.  Mo has magmatic sympathies, but do not mistake her dedication to the Army.  I suppose this means that she’s our ambassador...to the other side...[cue up that twilight zone soundtrack]
As previously predicted in this space, Christie Rowe has gotten a fantastic job faster than I ever could.  Now at Cape Town, Christie does great structural/mechanical research on accretionary complexes.  I love her stories about working in Kodiak while carrying massive guns to defend against grizzlies.  
Sean Mulcahy is one of those unstoppable structural/metamorphic hybrid geologists.  Naturally, this means he’s getting his doctorate at UC-Davis, home to such types.  When he’s not mapping in Argentina, Sean spends most of his time picking mineral separates [such is the price of geochronology].  If I have my facts straight, Christie is technically Sean’s academic aunt, which means the Army is already getting inbred.
Tomohiro Usui is a good buddy of mine from when we were at the PML, but is now down at UT-Knoxville with Hap McSween working on meteorites.  Usui made his name working on the geochronology and geochemistry of lawsonite eclogites, so deep down inside he’ll always be a metamorphic guy.
Tetsuya Yokoyama is another buddy from PML and might just be the best chemist in the world.  He's finishing his postdoc at Maryland where he’s been working on siderophile elements in meteorites, but soon Yoko will move to the Tokyo Institute of Technology as a new professor.  This is a big deal, I assure you.
Interested in signs of the apocalypse?  My buddy Kurt Frankel is now an Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech.  In my mind, Kurt is most infamous for attending both the wrong Carolina and the wrong USC...tough to do.  Kurt and I TA'd Lehigh's field camp together in 2002 and he blinded me with arcane geomorphic nollidj.  Dirt goes downhill!...I say.  I guess strath terraces and such are still somewhat interesting.
Karl Wegmann is one of my former office mates at Lehigh. Karl is another geomorphic master, but is superior to Kurt in that he uses his madjic to study modern convergent margin processes [Crete!].  Regardless of his marine terrace skillz, all respect is due to Karl, Emily and Milo Oskar for letting me crash at their home after I was evicted from my apartment because...well...metamorphic petrologists are only understood by The Truly Intelligent Peoples.  While I’ve never asked for the proofs, der Wegmanns have photos of me and Fletch in our kilts just prior to my wedding...
Last modified 16 June 2008.
All content on any of my pages is my own fault, and no one else has any responsibility for my pointless ramblings...most especially Washington State University.
Join up with the Metamorphic Army while the joining is good:rlking@wsu.edu
Links to my geology buddies out in the wild world
[In no particular order...save that geomorphologists are last.]
Big Sur is a good place to do field work.  That’s the Franciscan in those sea cliffs.
Robbie King
Research Associate
Metamorphic Petrology and Isotope Geochemistry
Yes, there is a fair chance that my wife knows more about radiation than you...it’s not personal...
Life would be better if the Astros didn’t totally suck this year.
OK...you’ve earned it...here are pictures of where we live...THE PALOUSE!!!
Columbia River Basalts along the Snake River
When down in the gorge, I get tired of trying to count the basalt flows, but this gives you some idea of the sheer volume of the basalt underlying the Palouse...so much Miocene death...
Classic Palouse topography up on the plateau
Up on top of the CRBs, the big-sky beauty of the Palouse is overwhelming.  Fields to be plowed in the foreground...planted wheat in the background...puffy clouds over it all...<sigh>...
Rick might not be a geologist, but this picture is too good to NOT put up.  Dr. Rick is here to unpimp your thermo...