The Waldemar Lindgren Award for 2005 Citation of Stephen Piercey

Abstract

Mr. President, friends, and colleagues: It is my great pleasure to present to you Stephen J. Piercey as this year’s winner of the Waldemar Lindgren Award. This award is offered annually to a young scientist whose published research represents an outstanding contribution to economic geology. Steve’s nomination was based on a track record of exceptional achievement in the area of igneous geochemistry and economic geology since the completion of his Ph.D. research in 2001. Over the past few years he has authored 15 peer-reviewed papers (seven of these first-authored; plus two more accepted, pending revisions), 18 government publications, and 4 geologic maps. His publications have appeared in leading scientific journals, including Economic Geology, Geology, Geological Society of America Bulletin, and Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . Steve has wisely chosen as his research area the topic of crustal growth and evolution of convergent margins through geologic time. His research theme has been the petrogenesis and tectonics of arc and back-arc volcanic and plutonic rocks in ancient orogenic and greenstone belts, and their metallogenic implications for the formation of volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits. In short, he investigates the linkages and drivers between magmatism and ore deposits formation. Although Steve’s research achievements are in the broad field of economic geology and metallogeny, the significance of his findings extends into the areas of volcanology, igneous petrology, and tectonics. Steve received his Honors B.Sc. degree in 1996 at Memorial University of Newfoundland, completing a thesis on “The Geology and Geochemistry of the Southern Pacquet Harbour Group Volcanics, Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland.” This work garnered the President’s Gold Medal of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum for best undergraduate student thesis in Canada in 1997. He stayed on at Memorial for his M.Sc. thesis, entitled “An Integrated Study of Magmatism, Magmatic Ni-Cu-Co …