Lithos, 30 (1993) 191 191 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam

Preface

The Evolving Earth Special Issue of Lithos is a collection of papers presented at a symposium of the same name held at Okazaki, Japan between 20 and 23 August 1992. The symposium was organised by Professor Shigenori Maruyama and was generously sponsored by Mr Ito.

The volume is dedicated to the memory of Rob- ert I. Hill, who was to have been an invited speaker at the conference but died suddenly on 25 July 1992. Robert's undergraduate training was in the Geology Department of the Australian National University where he obtained a first-class honours degree in 1976. On the recommendation of Professor Bruce Chappell he went to Caltech to work with Professor Lee Silver. He obtained his PhD from Caltech in 1984. He then moved to Cambridge where he worked as a research associate on He isotopes in crustal fluids with Professor Keith O'Nions. His initial appointment at the Australian National Uni- versity was as a research fellow in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics and he subsequently became a founda- tion member of the Ore Genesis Group. After five years at the ANU he was awarded a prestigious

Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship. A scientist is remembered for his significant con-

tributions to his science. Robert's two best papers were published in Earth and Planetary Science Let- ters in 1991 and in Science in April 1992. The Earth and Planetary Science paper provided the first con- vincing explanation of the relationship between mantle plumes and continental break-up. His Sci- ence paper suggested that many of the features found away from plate boundaries, including rifting, metamorphism and crustal melting, may be due to mantle plumes ascending beneath the continental crust. The impact that these papers will have on the Earth Sciences in the coming years will stand as his memorial. Robert's final paper, completed shortly before his death is published in this volume. He will be sadly missed by his colleagues at the Australian National University, Caltech and Cambridge, and by his friends around the world.

Ian Campbell Malcolm McCulloch

(Canberra, March 1993 )

0024-4937/93/$06.00 © 1993 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved.