Most geologists work on land.
But most of the Earth is ocean floor. And most dry land is really a relic of something that happened once at sea. That is why Socorro geologist Harold Tobin boarded a research ship in May to drill holes in the ocean floor. There, a huge chunk of Earth's crust, called the Philippine Plate, is slamming into Asia in a slow-motion crash that is literally building Japan. The two plates meet in the Nankai Trough, a stretch of deep ocean floor buried in sediments.