Starts : 8/23/2012 - Ends : 8/23/2012

PUBLIC LECTURE ON GEOLOGY

 

On Thursday, 23^rd August, the 2012  A. L. du Toit Memorial Lecture, entitled “Barberton komatiites: creation and crystallization of the world's hottest magmas”, will be presented by Professor Nicholas Arndt of the Universite de Grenoble of France.

 

Time: 17h30 for 18h00

 

Venue: Senate Chamber, Westville Campus, UKZN

 

This is the Durban stage of a national lecture tour organised by the Geological Society of South Africa.

 

 

MORE DETAILS ABOUT PROFESSOR NICK ARNDT BELOW

The Fellows Committee of the Geological Society of South Africa is pleased to announce that the 2012 A L du Toit Memorial lectureship has been awarded to Professor Nicholas Arndt of the Universite de Grenoble of France. 

He will present a lecture entitled “Barberton komatiites: creation and crystallization of the world's hottest magmas”. 

This will be a great opportunity to learn about the current views on the genesis and importance of the earliest Barberton rocks.  Nick is currently leading a drilling project in Barberton as part of International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP) project, and is a frequent visitor to South Africa. 

Professor Arndt was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in Canada in 1975.  Following a year in an Australian mineral exploration company and academic positions in the United States, Canada, Australia and Germany, he became a Professor at the Université de Rennes 1, France, in 1990. In 1998 he moved to the Université de Grenoble where he is a Professor with the position ‘classe exceptionnelle, échelon 2’. His research interests include petrology and geochemistry of mafic and ultramafic rocks, magmatic ore deposits, and the early-Earth environment.

Professor Arndt’s professional activities include director of an ICDP project “Scientific Drilling in the Barberton Belt” (2009- ), director of a Research Program of European Science Foundation “Archaean Environment: the Habitat of Early Life” (2005-2010); member of the Science Committee (SASEC) of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (2008-2010); member of the Science Committee of CNRS Planetology Program (2009- ); President of the GMPV Division, European Geosciences Union (2011 - ); and member of a Working Group on Raw Materials, French Ministry of Education; director of the European Ore Deposits Initiative

He is an ISI “Highly cited researcher”; Member of Academia Europaea; an Elected fellow of the Geochemical Society; and a Senior member of the Institute Univérsitaire de France.

He is married to a geochemist, Catherine Chauvel, who studies subduction zones.