THE GIANT FOOTPRINT OF ROB KERRICH: A TRUE SCHOLAR IN ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

One of the giants in economic geology, Professor Rob Kerrich, sadly passed away on April 17, 2013. Rob was one of those special individuals who combined innovative thinking with inspiring mentorship, and his influence in the Earth Sciences community was extensive and globally recognized. He was an academic in the true sense of the word, a learned person and practiced orator with a wide-ranging general knowledge and a holistic approach to our science. Throughout his career, Rob made massive contributions to the field of ore geology, applying state-of-the-art methods in tectonics, petrology, and geochemistry, to make major inroads into improved understanding of issues and resolution of global controversies. Rob wrote more than 300 papers, with more than 6000 citations, and co-wrote with a wide array of students and colleagues from around the world. He advanced our understanding on a broad range of topics including mantle geodynamics, metallic mineral deposits, lithospheric evolution, and crustal hydrology, to name just a few. Examples of his innovative approach to research include his early use of multi-element ICP-MS analyses to constrain litho-tectonic evolution in greenstone belts, his use of geochemical relationships to answer questions regarding gold genesis and fluid flow systematics, and his application of fluid dynamics to tackle problems of structural controls on ore deposits. Rob always had an ability to notice the unusual things, rather than ignoring them, and a willingness to draw from outside the field of economic geology on cutting-edge topics not yet recognized by those working in the ore deposits world. His contributions spanned the entire scale from single ore deposits to global metallogeny. Rob’s contributions are well recognized by the scientific community, as, for example, he was awarded the Gold Medal from the Society of Economic Geologists, and the Duncan Derry and Logan Medals from the Geological Association of Canada. Rob’s unusual generosity in time, interest, and enthusiasm, can be best encapsulated in the word “mentorship”. Many leading Earth scientists throughout the world now owe much of their success to their fruitful collaborations with Rob.