Michael Paul Searle
The 2026 Arthur Holmes Medal & Honorary Membership is awarded to Michael Paul Searle for conducting influential work in structural geology, especially contributions to understanding the orogenic processes involved in mountain building, channel flow in the crust, and ophiolite obduction.
Michael Paul Searle is an accomplished structural geologist who has made exceptional contributions to tectonics and the evolution of the continental crust in active and recent mountain belts. He has studied various orogenic systems around the world, particularly in the Tethyan domain. His research has greatly enhanced our understanding of collisional orogens, ophiolite formation and exhumation, and crustal-scale strike-slip systems.
The geological field work on which Searle's research is based has been carried out in regions that are often remote and difficult to access, for example at elevations up to 8000 m in the High Himalaya and Karakoram, and in the desert of Oman. Additionally, he has carried out laboratory studies linking metamorphism and pressure-temperature-time paths with deformation. His analyses incorporate data from a wide range of Earth Science disciplines, such as palaeogeography, geochronology, petrology, geochemistry, geophysics, and geodynamics. Searle has used meticulously prepared maps to develop tectonic models consistent with laboratory-derived pressure, temperature and time constraints. As a result, he has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of some of the most complex and difficult tectonic problems on the planet. His data and ideas are widely respected, and he has succeeded in establishing consensus on many very complex and difficult issues.
The collective impact of Searle's contributions to tectonics has been immense and is widely appreciated by the geoscience community. He has documented his work with an impressive number of articles in peer-reviewed journals. His scientific articles and books have met with great interest. In addition, he has produced 20 geological maps and has written or edited several books on geology and tectonics. His scientific output is remarkable. He is one of the most highly cited geologists in the world. Searle has also played an important role in public outreach, presenting four geological TV documentaries, and proposing 50 new sites in Oman for geo-conservation. Moreover, he started and supports a charity to rebuild a village in Nepal, complete with school, hospital and water supply, that had been devastated in the 2015, 7.9 magnitude, Nepal earthquake.
In summary, Michael Paul Searle is an outstanding geologist whose influence extends well beyond his specialty of structural geology. He has greatly advanced our understanding of orogenesis and has inspired new research directions. He fully merits the award of EGU's prestigious Arthur Holmes medal.