John Ludden (geologist)

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John Ludden

CBE FRSE
Alma mater University of Lancaster (BSc)
University of Manchester (PhD)
Scientific career
Institutions University of Montreal
CNRS
British Geological Survey
Heriot-Watt University
Thesis The petrology of Piton de la Fournaise Volcano, Reunion Island, western Indian Ocean (1976)
Doctoral advisor W.J. Wadsworth and B.F.G. Upton

John Nicholas Ludden CBE FRSE is a British geologist, with expertise in igneous petrology and geochemistry. He was the 19th director of the British Geological Survey from 2006 to 2019, and has been president of the European Geosciences Union and the International Union of Geological Sciences. [1]

Contents

Education

Ludden was educated at the Skinners' School in Royal Tunbridge Wells. From 1970 to 1973 he studied for a BSc in Environmental Sciences at the University of Lancaster, before undertaking a PhD in igneous petrology at the University of Manchester. He completed his doctoral thesis on the petrology of Piton de la Fournaise volcano, Reunion Island, under the supervision of W.J. Wadsworth and Brian Upton. [2]

Career

After completing his PhD, Ludden went to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the US as a post-doctoral research fellow. In 1978, he was appointed to a faculty position as associate professor at the Université de Montréal in Canada. In 1984, Ludden was promoted to professor of geochemistry, and was research leader for a part of the Canadian Lithoprobe project, with a focus on the precambrian geology of the Abitibi greenstone belt. [3]

In 1994, Ludden moved to France, as director of the CNRS centre for petrography and geochemistry (CRPG), and director of a research group in Nancy, France. He also taught at ENSG-Nancy. From 2002 to 2006 he was associate director for Earth Sciences for CNRS. [3]

In 2006, Ludden was appointed Director of the British Geological Survey, succeeding David Falvey. He stepped down from this role in 2019, and took up the post of Bicentennial Research Professor at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, until 2022. [4]

Over the course of his research career, Ludden has published research papers on topics ranging from the evolution of the volcanoes of Reunion island [2] to the geology of the precambrian Canadian shield [5] and the weathering of ocean floor basalts. [6] In 1988, Ludden was co-chief scientist on Leg 123 of the Ocean Drilling Program, to the Argo abyssal plain of the Indian Ocean. [7]

Professional contributions

Ludden has held a number of senior positions in international geoscience associations, including:

In addition, Ludden has also joined the board of the Krafla magma testbed project. [10]

Awards

Ludden is also a Foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences [9]

Related Research Articles

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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to geology:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volcanism of Eastern Canada</span>

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Carl Michael Lesher is an American geologist. He is an authority on the geology and origin of nickel-copper-platinum group element deposits, especially those associated with komatiites, their physical volcanology and localization, the geochemistry and petrology of associated rocks, and controls on their composition.

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Mihir Kumar Bose (1933–2009) was an Indian geologist and a professor at the Presidency College, Kolkata. He was known for his studies on igneous petrology and was an elected fellow of the Geological Survey of India, Indian National Science Academy, and the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences in 1976.

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Carol Denison Frost is an American isotope geologist, petrologist and professor. Her primary research focuses on the evolution of the continental crust and granite petrogenesis. She has spent over thirty-five years investigating the geologic history of the Wyoming Province and the formation and geochemical classification of granite. Other contributions include isotopic fingerprinting of natural waters, including water associated with energy production. She served as Director of the Earth Sciences Division, National Science Foundation, from December 2014 to January 2018.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Academy of Europe: Ludden John". www.ae-info.org.
  2. 1 2 Ludden, John N. (August 1, 1978). "Magmatic evolution of the basaltic shield volcanoes of Reunion Island". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 4 (1): 171–198. Bibcode:1978JVGR....4..171L. doi:10.1016/0377-0273(78)90035-5 – via ScienceDirect.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "John Ludden". European Geosciences Union (EGU).
  4. ↑ "Head of BGS to join Heriot-Watt". www.hw.ac.uk. June 28, 2019.
  5. ↑ Ludden, John; Hynes, Andrew (April 2, 2000). "The Lithoprobe Abitibi-Grenville transect: two billion years of crust formation and recycling in the Precambrian Shield of Canada". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 37 (2–3): 459–476. doi:10.1139/e99-120 – via CrossRef.
  6. ↑ Ludden, John N.; Thompson, Geoffrey (January 1, 1979). "An evaluation of the behavior of the rare earth elements during the weathering of sea-floor basalt". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 43 (1): 85–92. Bibcode:1979E&PSL..43...85L. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(79)90157-2 – via ScienceDirect.
  7. ↑ "123 Initial Reports Table of Contents". www-odp.tamu.edu.
  8. 1 2 "International Association of Geochemistry - Governance". www.iagc-society.org.
  9. 1 2 "Professor appointed President of global geoscience organisation". www.hw.ac.uk. October 30, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Introduction by Prof. John Ludden". Archived from the original on 2019-10-19.
  11. ↑ "Birthday Honours lists 2016". GOV.UK.
  12. ↑ "Professor John Ludden". Royal Society of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2024-01-24.


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