Michael Solomon was one of the key geoscientists who provided the link between the older descriptive Economic Geology and the modern field of deposit genesis studies, with its emphasis on the physical and chemical properties of fluids, understanding of processes and development of quantitative models of ore-forming systems.
His desire and ability to test the limits, led to new ways of thinking and advances in understanding. His paper on ‘The Formation of Massive Sulfide Deposits on the Seafloor’ (co-authored with John Walshe) predicted ‘black smokers', discovered on the modern seafloor in 1979. His book 'The Geology and Origin of Australia’s Mineral Deposits' (co-authored with David Groves) remains one of the premier overviews of Australian mineral deposits.
Vic Wall (1944 – 2017)
Vic's career encompassed the life of university researcher and teacher, company geologist, consultant and entrepreneur. To all these endeavours he brought a razor sharp intellect, deep knowledge of the physical and chemical processes controlling mineral systems, astute powers of observation in the field and capacity to absorb and interpret diverse data sets across a wide range of scales. These skills made him a formidable advocate and practitioner of mineral system science in mineral exploration. A legacy is the Thermal Aureole Gold (TAG) Model that links orogenic, intrusion-related and deep porphyry deposits to common processes of granite petrogenesis, magmatic and metamorphic fluid evolution.