2 Amalgamation and Breakup of Pangea in the Americas I

Thursday, 29 March 2012
8:30 AM - 12:50 PM
Juarez 3

J. DUNCAN KEPPIE: AN APPRECIATION AND A CELEBRATION

Paper number: 2-1
Program: Symposia Sessions
Time: 8:30 AM – 8:50 AM

Authors

Abstract

Duncan Keppie is, quite simply, one of the most influential geologists of our time. Having received a doctorate from the University of Glasgow (Scotland) in 1967, his career with geological surveys and universities in Zambia, Nova Scotia and Mexico spans 45 years. Trained as a structural geologist, Duncan was soon bitten by the plate tectonic bug, and paleogeographic reconstructions became one of his most enduring scientific legacies, placing the geology of Atlantic Canada and Paleozoic Mexico onto the world stage. To fuel this passion, he became an expert in metamorphic petrology, geochronology, paleomagnetism, igneous petrology, geochemistry, stratigraphy, sedimentology and paleontology. He was the first geoscientist to interpret the geology of Nova Scotia is terms of plate tectonics and one of the first to apply the principles of terrane analysis to the Appalachians, extrapolated this analysis to include the circum-Atlantic orogens and Mexico.

From the study of conical folds in the early 1970s to his recent research into the recycling of continental lithosphere through subduction erosion and extrusion, Duncan has been equally interested in tectonic processes. In total, his research has produced more than 250 published articles and more than 250 abstracts. It has been a great pleasure working with him on rocks and tectonic processes from around the globe. We are delighted that he has passed his passion for geology on to his son, so that we will be reading insightful Keppie papers for decades to come.