We are pleased to announce that the winners of the 2024 Gao Shan Young Scientist Award are Dr. Xuyang Meng and Dr. Shuo Chen. Established in 2018, the Gao Shan Young Scientist Award is one of the most prestigious honors for early-career researchers in solid Earth sciences. Each year, the award recognizes up to two outstanding young scientists (aged 35 or under) who have made exceptional contributions to advancing the field.

Presented annually by the Gao Shan Young Scientist Award Foundation at China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), the award reflects the Foundation’s commitment to fostering excellence in solid Earth science research and supporting the next generation of scientific leaders. This year's selection process involved fifty-eight distinguished Earth scientists who evaluated and voted for the candidates.

We are proud to present this year’s winners:

Dr. Xuyang Meng

China University of Geosciences (Beijing)

Dr. Meng has significantly advanced our understanding of the genesis of ore deposits containing critical minerals. From a global perspective, he has made internationally influential contributions to the spatial and temporal distribution of magmatic-hydrothermal Cu-Au-Fe deposits. He finds that oxidized sulfur-rich magmas favorable for porphyry copper deposit formation have formed under subduction conditions during the Archean. By identifying the genesis of several Paleoproterozoic porphyry copper deposits and the nature of the ore-forming magmas, he proposed that similar tectonic-magmatic conditions for Phanerozoic porphyry copper deposits operated during the Precambrian. He has also clarified the relationship between tectonic-kinematic conditions and the formation of porphyry copper and iron oxide-apatite ore systems.

Dr. Shuo Chen

Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Dr. Chen has focused his research on the processes and mechanisms of seafloor subduction and material cycling and has conducted in-depth studies on mid-ocean ridge basalts and high-pressure metamorphic rocks in subduction zones using stable metal isotope approaches. He has made two important achievements: First, he elucidated the mechanism of Mo isotope fractionation during magma evolution and subduction process, which facilitates the development of its tracing principles in high-temperature geological processes and a new model for controlling subduction fluid flux and oxygen fugacity by means of subducting slab serpentinite dehydration. Second, he recognized the Mo-Fe isotope heterogeneity of mid-ocean ridge basalts, offering important new evidence for the recycling of seafloor lithosphere in subduction zones and a new view on the origin of the Fe isotope composition of the silicate Earth.

Details of the ceremony will be announced separately.

Gao Shan Young Scientist Award Foundation

February 3^rd, 2025