Gombosuren Badarch, Deputy Director of the Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Lecturer at the Technical University of Ulaanbaatar, coordinator of many international collaborative projects, and organiser of the Second International Workshop of IGCP-480 which was going to be held in Mongolia, passed away on 17 June 2006, after a long struggle with cancer.
As one of the leading tectonicians in Mongolia he was engaged for many years in studies of the structure of accreted island arcs and back/forearcs in southern Mongolia which resulted in his PhD thesis entitled Tectonics of the South Mongolian fold belt and numerous publications known to many geologists. In these publications can be found many ideas and data completely new for Mongolian geology. One of those is the Onch Hairhan metamorphic core complex of Cretaceous age in Southern Mongolia that was formerly considered to be a Precambrian block based on its metamorphic grade. Later, a similar metamorphic core complex was also reported by him and his co-authors in northern Mongolia. In his PhD thesis (1990) he elaborated a model for the origin and development of island arcs and back/forearc basins in the South Mongolian orogenic belt which still has not lost its significance.
His scientific interest was not limited to southern Mongolia. His ability, knowledge and accomplishments covered the entire territory of Mongolia, and he presented the first A new tectonic subdivision for Mongolia to the geological community. More than 200 publications, both in Mongolian and international geological journals, cover different aspects of geological problems including tectonics, stratigraphy, magmatism, sedimentology and metallogeny of Mongolia. He was a co-author of many general geological works on the entire territory of Mongolia such as The Geology Map of Mongolia at a scale of 1:1,000,000, and a Mongolian terrane map at a 1:5,000,000 scale. He lectured in structural geology, tectonics and geodynamics at the Geology-Geography Department of the Mongolian National University where he supervised many PhD and MSc research students.
For his outstanding achievements in geological sciences, he was awarded the medal for the Mongolian Best Geologist in 1999, a Governmental award Order of The North Star for outstanding achievements in science in 2001, and a medal for Mongolian Best Science Researcher in 2003.
He was the first president of the Mongolian Geological Society (1996-1999), a member of the Mongolian Stratigraphic Commission, a board member of the Ministry of Agriculture and Industry, a member of the Geological Science Committee of the Mongolian University and Science Technology, and a member of numerous international societies, such as the Society of Economic Geologists, the Geological Society of London, the Geological Society of America, the International Association of Structural/Tectonic Geologists and Society for Sedimentary Geology. Indeed, he was an initiator and a leader in Mongolia of many collaborative research projects involving scientists from Mongolia, USA, Germany, UK, France, China and Korea. He was a visiting professor of Stanford University in the USA, Leicester University in the UK, and many other foreign scientific institutions.
Gombosuren Badarch was not just a geologist, he was an excellent organizer, and a sincere, trustworthy friend, as everybody knows who worked with him and befriended him. In appreciation of his everlasting contribution to the geological knowledge of Mongolia, the leaders, organizers and participants of the Second International Workshop for IGCP-480 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on 28 July 2006 dedicated the conference to the memory of this unique scientist.
D.Tomurhuu