Sean Patrick Long
Professor of Earth Science
School of the Environment
Washington State University
Contact information:
Email: [email protected]
Mailing address:
School of the Environment
Washington State University
PO Box 642812
Pullman WA 99164-2812
Research interests:
My research focuses on understanding the structural evolution of contractional and extensional mountain belts, including the Himalayas, the Andes, the North American Cordillera, and the Basin and Range Province. I integrate mapping-based field data with a diverse suite of quantitative datasets, including geochronology, thermochronometry, metamorphic temperatures and pressures, microstructural analyses, regional tectonic reconstructions, and balanced cross sections. Much of my research involves field-based evaluations of the predictions of models for the dynamics of mountain belts. Please see my research page for more details.
View profile on Google Scholar
View profile on ResearchGate
New Stuff! (updated January, 2026)
Congratulations to Adelie Ionescu, who defended her PhD dissertation in November and is now officially 'Dr. Ionescu'!!!!
Congratulations to PhD advisee Andrea Richardson, who just published the second paper of her PhD research in Geosphere! pdf will be available soon
Congratulations to PhD advisee Aurora Rosenberger, who just published the first paper of her PhD research in The Journal of Structural Geology! click here for pdf
Congratulations to PhD advisee Adelie Ionescu, who just published the first paper of her PhD research in Tectonics! click here for pdf
New publications from Cordilleran and Basin and Range research:
Richardson, A.E., Long, S.P., Vervoort, J.D., and McKay, M.P., 2026, Constraining the timing of ductile shearing in the western Idaho shear zone along the Salmon River canyon, Idaho, USA: Geosphere: accepted 12-9-25, v. 21, doi: 10.1130/GES2915.1. pdf coming soon
Long, S.P., Thomson, S.N., Reiners, P.W., and Heizler, M.T., 2026, Late Cretaceous to late Eocene (ca. 85-37 Ma) pre-extensional cooling of the Nevadaplano (east-central Nevada and west-central Utah, USA): a case study for lithospheric refrigeration during Laramide flat-slab subduction: GSA Bulletin, published online January 6, 2026, doi: 10.1130/B38439.1. click here for pdf
Rosenberger., A., Long, S.P., Blackford, B., Lee, J., Haemmerli, J., Larson, K., Dowler, B., and Soignard, E., 2026, Investigating the generation of transport-parallel gradients in ductile strain and kinematic vorticity in the footwalls of metamorphic core complexes: Insights from the Northern Snake Range, Nevada, USA: Journal of Structural Geology, v. 204, 105611, 27 p., doi: 10.1016/j.jsg.2025.105611. click here for pdf
Long, S.P., Blackford, N.R., Lee, J., and Soignard, E., 2024, Crustal thermal architecture, structural reconstructions, field relationships and geophysical data rule out deep structural burial of the footwall of the Northern Snake Range metamorphic core complex (Nevada, USA): Tectonics, v. 43, e2024TC008368, 48 p., doi: 10.1029/2024TC008368 click here for pdf
Blackford, N.R., Long, S.P., Lee, J., Larson, K.P., Seward, G., Stevens, J.L., and Al Harthi, H., 2024, Relating quartz crystallographic preferred orientation intensity to finite strain magnitude in the Northern Snake Range metamorphic core complex, Nevada: a new tool for characterizing strain patterns in ductilely sheared rocks: Tectonics, v. 43, e2023TC008166, doi: 10.1029/2023TC008166 click here for pdf
Richardson, A.E., Long, S.P., Barba, W.K., and McKay, M.P., 2024, Strain and kinematics within the Salmon River suture zone and western Idaho shear zone, Idaho, USA: Exploring the contribution of ductile stretching to mass transfer and exhumation in fold-thrust and transpressional systems: Journal of Structural Geology, v. 186, 105216, 32 p., doi: 10.1016/j.jsg.2024.105216 click here for pdf
New publications from Himalayan research:
Ionescu, A., Long, S.P., Kohn, M.J., Larson, K.P., Soignard, E., and Thompson, J., 2025, Structural data and thermometry indicate that the Tso Morari UHP nappe (Indian Himalaya) was emplaced as a large-scale, structurally coherent sheet: Tectonics, v. 44, e2025TC008839, doi: 10.1029/2025TC008839. click here for pdf
Kohn, M.J., Long, S.P., and Harrison, T.M., 2024, Himalayan leucogranites: a minimal role in deformation: Elements, v. 20, p. 381-387, doi: 10.2138/gselements.20.6.381 click here for pdf
School of the Environment
Washington State University
Contact information:
Email: [email protected]
Mailing address:
School of the Environment
Washington State University
PO Box 642812
Pullman WA 99164-2812
Research interests:
My research focuses on understanding the structural evolution of contractional and extensional mountain belts, including the Himalayas, the Andes, the North American Cordillera, and the Basin and Range Province. I integrate mapping-based field data with a diverse suite of quantitative datasets, including geochronology, thermochronometry, metamorphic temperatures and pressures, microstructural analyses, regional tectonic reconstructions, and balanced cross sections. Much of my research involves field-based evaluations of the predictions of models for the dynamics of mountain belts. Please see my research page for more details.
View profile on Google Scholar
View profile on ResearchGate
New Stuff! (updated January, 2026)
Congratulations to Adelie Ionescu, who defended her PhD dissertation in November and is now officially 'Dr. Ionescu'!!!!
Congratulations to PhD advisee Andrea Richardson, who just published the second paper of her PhD research in Geosphere! pdf will be available soon
Congratulations to PhD advisee Aurora Rosenberger, who just published the first paper of her PhD research in The Journal of Structural Geology! click here for pdf
Congratulations to PhD advisee Adelie Ionescu, who just published the first paper of her PhD research in Tectonics! click here for pdf
New publications from Cordilleran and Basin and Range research:
Richardson, A.E., Long, S.P., Vervoort, J.D., and McKay, M.P., 2026, Constraining the timing of ductile shearing in the western Idaho shear zone along the Salmon River canyon, Idaho, USA: Geosphere: accepted 12-9-25, v. 21, doi: 10.1130/GES2915.1. pdf coming soon
Long, S.P., Thomson, S.N., Reiners, P.W., and Heizler, M.T., 2026, Late Cretaceous to late Eocene (ca. 85-37 Ma) pre-extensional cooling of the Nevadaplano (east-central Nevada and west-central Utah, USA): a case study for lithospheric refrigeration during Laramide flat-slab subduction: GSA Bulletin, published online January 6, 2026, doi: 10.1130/B38439.1. click here for pdf
Rosenberger., A., Long, S.P., Blackford, B., Lee, J., Haemmerli, J., Larson, K., Dowler, B., and Soignard, E., 2026, Investigating the generation of transport-parallel gradients in ductile strain and kinematic vorticity in the footwalls of metamorphic core complexes: Insights from the Northern Snake Range, Nevada, USA: Journal of Structural Geology, v. 204, 105611, 27 p., doi: 10.1016/j.jsg.2025.105611. click here for pdf
Long, S.P., Blackford, N.R., Lee, J., and Soignard, E., 2024, Crustal thermal architecture, structural reconstructions, field relationships and geophysical data rule out deep structural burial of the footwall of the Northern Snake Range metamorphic core complex (Nevada, USA): Tectonics, v. 43, e2024TC008368, 48 p., doi: 10.1029/2024TC008368 click here for pdf
Blackford, N.R., Long, S.P., Lee, J., Larson, K.P., Seward, G., Stevens, J.L., and Al Harthi, H., 2024, Relating quartz crystallographic preferred orientation intensity to finite strain magnitude in the Northern Snake Range metamorphic core complex, Nevada: a new tool for characterizing strain patterns in ductilely sheared rocks: Tectonics, v. 43, e2023TC008166, doi: 10.1029/2023TC008166 click here for pdf
Richardson, A.E., Long, S.P., Barba, W.K., and McKay, M.P., 2024, Strain and kinematics within the Salmon River suture zone and western Idaho shear zone, Idaho, USA: Exploring the contribution of ductile stretching to mass transfer and exhumation in fold-thrust and transpressional systems: Journal of Structural Geology, v. 186, 105216, 32 p., doi: 10.1016/j.jsg.2024.105216 click here for pdf
New publications from Himalayan research:
Ionescu, A., Long, S.P., Kohn, M.J., Larson, K.P., Soignard, E., and Thompson, J., 2025, Structural data and thermometry indicate that the Tso Morari UHP nappe (Indian Himalaya) was emplaced as a large-scale, structurally coherent sheet: Tectonics, v. 44, e2025TC008839, doi: 10.1029/2025TC008839. click here for pdf
Kohn, M.J., Long, S.P., and Harrison, T.M., 2024, Himalayan leucogranites: a minimal role in deformation: Elements, v. 20, p. 381-387, doi: 10.2138/gselements.20.6.381 click here for pdf
Pictures from Fall, 2023 course field trip to the Northern Snake Range, Nevada:
In September, 2023, collaborator Jeffrey Lee and I led 10 WSU graduate and undergraduate students and 6 Colorado School of Mines students on a field trip to the Northern Snake Range metamorphic core complex in Nevada. Here's a picture of our group at the neck of a house-sized dolomite boudin, and a picture of the students standing on the famous Northern Snake Range decollement. |
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Picture from Summer, 2023 field work in Ladakh, India:
In July-August, 2023, I went with WSU PhD student Adelie Ionescu and professor Matt Kohn from Boise State University to perform field work in the Northwestern Indian Himalaya, in the Tso Morari region of Ladakh and further to the southwest in Himachal Pradesh. Here's a picture of Adelie and I, with Cambrian sedimentary rocks of the Tethyan Himalayan sequence behind us.
In July-August, 2023, I went with WSU PhD student Adelie Ionescu and professor Matt Kohn from Boise State University to perform field work in the Northwestern Indian Himalaya, in the Tso Morari region of Ladakh and further to the southwest in Himachal Pradesh. Here's a picture of Adelie and I, with Cambrian sedimentary rocks of the Tethyan Himalayan sequence behind us.
Picture from 2019 GSA annual meeting in Phoenix
In September, 2019, five students from my research group (from left to right: Russell DiFiori, Ryan Anderson, Nolan Blackford, Jesslyn Starnes, and Kimberly Kramer) traveled to the GSA annual meeting in Phoenix to present their research.
In September, 2019, five students from my research group (from left to right: Russell DiFiori, Ryan Anderson, Nolan Blackford, Jesslyn Starnes, and Kimberly Kramer) traveled to the GSA annual meeting in Phoenix to present their research.
Pictures from Summer, 2018 field work in Ladakh, India:
In July-August, 2018, Matt Kohn from BSU, Matt's graduate student Buchanan Kerswell, and I performed field work in the Tso Morari region of Ladakh in northwestern India. Here are a couple of pictures, including me at the second-highest road pass in the world, at the three of us at Tso Morari, a beautiful high-elevation lake. |
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Picture from Fall, 2016 Bhutan field work:
In Fall, 2016, two of my graduate students, Laura Pianowski and Jesslyn Starnes accompanied me, collaborator Stacia Gordon, and collaborator Robert Miller, on a field expedition to Bhutan. This picture shows Laura (left) and Jesslyn (right) in their kiras, the traditional Bhutanese female clothing. Behind them is Bhutan's famous Takstang monastery.
In Fall, 2016, two of my graduate students, Laura Pianowski and Jesslyn Starnes accompanied me, collaborator Stacia Gordon, and collaborator Robert Miller, on a field expedition to Bhutan. This picture shows Laura (left) and Jesslyn (right) in their kiras, the traditional Bhutanese female clothing. Behind them is Bhutan's famous Takstang monastery.
Check out this picture!!!
In March, 2012, while mapping in southeast Bhutan, by chance Nadine McQuarrie (center), Tobgay (right) and myself (left) happened to meet his majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk, the 5th king of Bhutan, and queen Jetsun Pema. This picture was taken that evening at their camp.
In March, 2012, while mapping in southeast Bhutan, by chance Nadine McQuarrie (center), Tobgay (right) and myself (left) happened to meet his majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk, the 5th king of Bhutan, and queen Jetsun Pema. This picture was taken that evening at their camp.