Emeritus Professor

University of Toronto
Department of Geology

22 Russell Str., Toronto
Ontario, Canada M5S 3B1

Tel.:  416 978 5424

Fax.: 416 978 3938

e-mail: scottsd@geology.utoronto.ca 
 

Research Interests

Steve Scott is the Dr. Norman B. Keevil Professor Emeritus of Ore Genesis Geology, McRae Quantec Emeritus Professor of Geology, past Chair of Geological and Mineral Engineering (now Lassonde Program in Mineral Engineering), past Chair of the Department of Geology and Director of the Scotiabank Marine Geology Research Laboratory. He studies present-day geological processes on the modern ocean floor and relates these to ancient features that are now on land. A primary, but not exclusive, focus is comparative studies of modern and ancient deposits of base and precious metal sulfides and other hydrothermal products.  Being retired, he no longer supervises graduate students but collaborates with postdoctoral fellows and sabbatical visitors.

He and his research teams have worked in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans and on ore deposits of five continents. The scope of his award winning research ranges in scale from regional tectonics to high-resolution electron microscopy and commonly has an emphasis on geochemistry and mineralogy. A current focus is the role of magmatic fluids in the formation of modern and ancient volcanic-hosted massive base and precious metal sulfide deposits on the ocean floor. He is developing a new analytical technique for this research using Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) analyses of melt inclusions that store miniscule samples of magmatic fluid in phenocrysts of volcanic rocks.

Professor Scott was educated at the University of Western Ontario (BSc and MSc) and the Pennsylvania State University (PhD). He holds an honorary doctorate from the Université de Bretagne Occidentale in Brest, France and an Honorary Professorship from the China University of Geosciences in Beijing. His research awards include the Michael J. Keen Medal from the Marine Geosciences Division of the Geological Association of Canada, the Duncan R. Derry Medal from the Mineral Deposits Division of the Geological Association of Canada, the Charles L. Hosler Alumni Scholar Medal from Penn State University, the Lindgen Award and Silver Medal from the Society of Economic Geologists, the Past Presidents Medal (renamed Peacock Medal) of the Mineralogical Association of Canada, the inaugural Dr Werner Petersen Foundation “Excellence Professor” in Germany, a Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum distinguished lectureship, the Haddon Forrester King Medal of the Australian Academy of Science and the Moore Medal of the International Marine Minerals Society. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Professor Scott is a consultant to the marine mining industry. He and his wife, Joan, live in Toronto and on the Brittany seacoast of France.

• Selected Publications