A modern giant (imo.) of the forearc basin studies - Dr. Atsushi Noda! 

There is a series of very insightful papers by Dr. Noda's work since 2016. He rigorously re-investigate and re-define what is "forearc basin", observe various stratigraphic architectures, and discuss its heterogeneity in response to different tectonic strain settings. Some concepts and descriptions of forearc basin characteristics from classic papers by Dickinson (1995) and Ingersoll (1988, 2011) may already be outdated. I got a lot to learn from his works, and am thinking about how applicable of this concept is in the Coastal Range stratigraphy of eastern Taiwan.

Source:

Noda, A.,  Koge, H.,  Yamada, Y.,  Miyakawa, A., &  Ashi, J. (2020). Forearc basin stratigraphy resulting from syntectonic sedimentation during accretionary wedge growth: Insights from sandbox analog experiments. Tectonics,  39, e2019TC006033. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019TC006033

– [Oct 23, 2022]

I recently went to Canyon Creek Meadows trail in the Oregon Cascade on June 28th 2020, a very enjoyable trail with spectacular volcanic geology of the Three Fingered Jack. Here is the view near the end of the trail, showing a textbook cross-section of a volcano created by glaciation. Along the trail, I found that basaltic andesite seems to be the dominant rocktype here. It was classified as a shield volcano in documentaries, but why not a stratovolcano as we saw the cross-section here? Anyway, more to learn! Just a example of the view from my geologically trained eyes and brains, and a bit showing off on my nerdy/geeky field sketch and interpretations.

[Disclaimer] The photo and interpretive sketch are made for fun and personal teaching needs. Copyright preserved. 

– [Oct 22, 2020]

Nowadays, the new generation of science community is facing huge challenge in learning and publication due to explosively increase of knowledge and specializations. Meanwhile, the journals and audience tend to see more fancy stories that can make "high impacts" to our world - more people like to see who brings the torch. We are trained to update our knowledge to the date, but we also are required to trace the original data and idea back in very old literatures. If you want to speak something out, scientists "have to" stand on those giants' shoulders. However, living in an era that requires much more publications for getting a stable job (e.g., faculty position), and it becomes increasingly more difficult to do well on doing research today.  So far, I have no good clues to deal with that. I am just trying to fucos on cutting-edge research and read newest review papers + classic textbooks as much as I can. It's probably impossible to track all relevant data, and perhaps some will eternally elapse in the swamp of knowledge.  Maybe the best practice to stay enthusiastic, give respect and embrace existing scientific progress (including success and failures), ignite new torchs, and pass them to the younger generations.

– [May 16, 2018]

Surprisingly, the term "plate boundary" is commonly misused in geo-world. A common misconception is that plate boundary is a single fault line on the surface. No, it's not, and has never been. It is a zone of deformation that absorbs difference of relative plate in between two contacting plates. If the boundary zone encompasses a broad region, such as a orogenic belt or a dilating crustal-thinning region, it could be classified as a "diffuse boundary." Frequent misusage of this term may have lead to several unnecessary debates and controversies. "Plate boundary" should also not be used interchangably with the term "plate suture," which is referred to the narrow zone where materials from two adjant plate meet up and mix with each other. For example, the whole Taiwan island plus offshore orogenic wedge should be considered as whole diffuse collisional/convergent plate boundary, and the Longitudinal valley and melange unit may represent the plate suture zone. 

– [May 3, 2018]