State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research (Nanjing University)

Historical Background

The State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research (Nanjing University) is affiliated with Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University. This laboratory started to construction in 1991 with the financial support of 1.2 Million US dollars provided from the World Bank. In October 1995, this laboratory has been approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China to become the first and only State Key Laboratory in the filed of mineral deposits research. In the year 2000 and 2005, this laboratory has passed two times of evaluations organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.

Staffs

Present director of the State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research (Nanjing University)is Prof. Dr. Shao-Yong Jiang, and the present chairman of the Scientific Committee of the laboratory is Academician Prof. Yin-Fu Chang. The laboratory has now 46 permanent staffs, among which there are 1 Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 4 laureates of the National Science Foundation for Outstanding Young Scientists, 4 laureates of the Changjiang Scholarship Professors, 3 laureates of the Outstanding Youth Researcher of the Ministry of Education of China, and 1 laureate of the Program for 100 Outstanding Scientists of the Ministry of Personnel of China. The laboratory consists of 1 post-doc research workstation of geology, 2 national key disciplines of Mineralogy-Petrology-Economic Geology and Structure Geology, 1 provincial key discipline of Geochemistry. The scientific committee of the laboratory includes 18 members who are all outstanding scientists all over the country including 3 Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 laureates of the National Science Foundation for Outstanding Young Scientists.

Research Strategy

The research aim of the laboratory is to understand the evolution of the Earth's geo-spheres, particularly its mantle and crust, and the ore-forming processes related to crust-mantle evolution and interaction, with a special emphasis in the geology of south China and its surrounding areas. The predicted targets are to build this laboratory into a first-class state-of-the-art laboratory dedicated to research on crust-mantle evolution and mineralization not only within China but also in the international Earth science community, and in this way, to make significant contributions toward solving key scientific problems related to study and exploration of mineral resources in China. It is also aimed to make a great contribution for higher education for training MSc and PhD students who will become leading geologists and geochemists.

Major Research Orientations

The researches carried out in the laboratory are mainly focused on the following three aspects:

1. Study of distribution of mineral deposits, ore geneses and mineral exploration, in particular for those metal resources that are urgently needed or are most abundant in China. Currently our research emphases are on geo-fluids and the large-scale mineralization and formation of giant ore deposits.
2. Study of composition, structure, and evolution of the Earth related to mineralization. Current research emphases are on the crust-mantle evolution and petrogenesis of granite and volcanic rocks, in particular in south China and its surrounding areas.
3. Study of the Earth's geo-sphere evolution and interaction, with emphasis on the geological events and global environmental changes and their affects in the formation of mineral resources in the Earth history.

In addition, many other multiple discipline research activities are also carried out by staffs of the laboratory, such as loess geochemical study, mining pollution, marine geochemistry, geomicrobiology, and mineral material sciences.