But for two glorious weeks, Wallace, Lawson, and 14 fellow students traipsed around in the heat of Oman, a small country on the eastern margin of the Arabian Peninsula. During their trip to Oman, UW students sampled the layered gabbro, normally submerged deep under the Earth's oceans. When it comes to studying oceanic crust, the site is unparalleled. Most of it is submerged deep under the oceans. But in a few places, geologic processes have caused a piece of oceanic crust and the mantle beneath it to break off and rise up onto the land.
Oman is by far the best example on the planet of exposed oceanic crust.
In Oman, the exposed crust extends for more than 400 miles. They were joined by a group from the University of Oregon and two French scientists who are experts on the region. We'd drive on the road in a caravan and then just turn off onto unmarked dirt roads, which we'd follow for hours. The French guides had figured out where to take us and what kinds of rocks to see. The exposed oceanic crust in Oman is tilted in such a way that visitors, if they travel far enough, can view all of its layers.