M. Qasim Jan is a geologist and research scientist from Pakistan. He has been the vice-chancellor of three Pakistani universities. His research has been in geology, mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry, and tectonics. He has authored or edited a dozen books, and has published numerous papers on geology and tectonics of the North-West Himalayas. Presently, he is Professor Emeritus at the National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar. Jan is also currently the Secretary General of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, and of the Association of the Academies of Sciences in Asia. He is also a fellow of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS).
Life and education
Jan was born in Hangu, Pakistan in 1944. He received his elementary and secondary education from various places in northern Pakistan. In 1964, he received a BSc, with First Class Honours in geology, from the University of Peshawar (UoP). He went to the United States to attend the University of Oregon, from where he received a M.S. in 1967. He became a lecturer in UoP in 1968. In 1970, he was promoted to assistant professor at the university. Later, he went to the United Kingdom to pursue his PhD at the University of London King's College. In 1977 he was awarded a PhD in geology, writing his thesis on The mineralogy, geochemistry and petrology of Swat Kohistan, N.W. Pakistan, under the supervision of the mineralogist Robert A. Howie. After his PhD, he returned to Peshawar, where he became Associate Professor in 1979, full Professor in 1983, and Dean of Natural Sciences faculty in 1997.
He performed post-doctoral research at Dartmouth College (1985), University of Leicester (1981, 1989), and University of Oklahoma (1987–88). He was awarded prestigious Fellowships, such as Royal Society, Fulbright, and NERC. He paid visits to many institutions and delivered talks on the geology of the North-West Himalayas in Europe, the USA, and Australia. In 1980, he joined the newly founded government-based organisation, the National Centre of Excellence in Geology, where he later served as its Director. He was a visiting Professor at the University of Oregon, USA, in 1994–95. From 1997 to 2000, he was Vice-Chancellor, University of Peshawar, and from July 1, 2001 to December 2003, was founder Vice-Chancellor of the Sarhad University of Science and Information Technology, Peshawar. In February 2004, he was selected as Distinguished National Professor of the Higher Education Commission, and from October 2005 to February 2010 was Vice-Chancellor of Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. Jan remained actively engaged in studying various aspects of the geology of the northeast Himalayas and Karakoram, and published a large number of papers both nationally and internationally.
Research papers and publications
AH Kazmi & MQ Jan 1997. Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan. Graphic Publishers, Karachi, 554 pp.
M Gaetani, JP Burg, A Zanchi & MQ Jan 2004. A geological transect from the Indian plate to the east Hindu Kush, Pakistan. Field-trip Guide Book − PR01; International. Geological Congress Florence, Italy. Italian Agency for Environmental Protection & Technical Services, Rome, 56 pp.
RAK Tahirkheli & MQ Jan (Editors), 1979. Geology of Kohistan, Karakoram Himalaya, North Pakistan, 187 pp. NCE Geology, University of Peshawar.
RAK Tahirkheli, MQ Jan & M Majid (Editors), 1980. Proceedings of the Internatl. Committee on Geodynamics.
Group 6 Mtg. Peshawar, 213 pp. NCE Geology, Univ. of Peshawar.
MQ Jan, MJ Khan & S Hamidullah (Editors), 1988. Tectonic Evolution of Collision Zones between Gondwanic and Eurasian Blocks, 239 pp. NCE Geology, Univ. of Peshawar.
M Majid, MQ Jan & MJ Khan (Editors), 1990. Proceedings of the 2nd Pakistan Geological Congress, Baragali; Part 1, 260 pp. Dept. of Geology, Univ. of Peshawar.
M Majid, MQ Jan & MJ Khan (Editors), 1991. Proceedings of the 2nd Pakistan Geological Congress, Baragali; Part II, 237 pp. Dept. of Geology, Univ. of Peshawar.
S Hamidullah, RD Lawrence & MQ Jan (Editors), 1998. The 13th Himalaya – Karakoram –Tibet International Workshop, Peshawar; (Abs. vol.), 232 pp. NCE Geology, Univ. of Peshawar.
MA Khan, PJ Treloar, MP Searle & MQ Jan (Editors), 2000. Tectonics of the Nanga Parbat Syntaxis and the western Himalaya. Geol. Soc. London, Special Publication, 170, 485 pp.
MonaLisa and MQ Jan (Editors), 2008. Earthquake hazards Pakistan: Post-8 October 2005, Muzaffarabad Earthquake Senario. Jour. Himalayan Earth Sciences, vol. 41, 87 pp.
Authored many academic/technical reports; and over 240 publications, including:
DRC Kempe & MQ Jan 1970. An alkaline igneous province in the North-West Frontier Province, West Pakistan. Geol. Mag., 107, 395–398. (UK)
MQ Jan, DRC Kempe & RF Symes, 1972. A chromian tourmaline from Swat, West Pakistan. Mineral. Mag., 38, 756–759. (UK).
MQ Jan & DRC Kempe1973. The petrology of the basic and intermediate rocks from Upper Swat, Pakistan. Geol. Mag., 110, 285–300. (UK)
AA Qureshi & MQ Jan 1977. The ultramafic and high grade metamorphic rocks near Jijal, Indus Kohistan, Swat, NW Pakistan. Rend. Acad. Naz. Lincei, Ser. VIII, 68, 259–268. (Italy)
MQ Jan 1979. Topaz occurrence in Mardan, NW Pakistan. Mineral. Mag., 43, 175–176. (UK)
MQ Jan & RA Howie, 1980. Ortho- and clinopyroxenes from pyroxene granulites of Swat Kohistan, northern Pakistan. Mineral. Mag., 43, 715–726. (UK)
MQ Jan & RA Howie, 1981. The mineralogy and geochemistry of the metamorphosed basic and ultrabasic rocks of the Jijal Complex, Kohistan, NW Pakistan. Jour. Petrol., 22, 85–126. (UK)MP Coward, MQ Jan, D Rex, J Tarney, M Thirlwall & BF Windley, 1982. Structural evolution of a crustal section in the western Himalaya. Nature (London), 295, 22–24. (UK)
MP Coward, MQ Jan, D Rex, J Tarney, M Thirlwall & BF Windley, 1982. Geo-tectonic framework of the Himalaya of N. Pakistan. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, 139, 299–308. (UK)
MQ Jan, BF Windley & RN Wilson, 1984. Chromian andradite and olivine-chromite relations in chromitite layer in dunite… Jijal complex, …Pakistan. Canadian Mineral., 22, 341–345. (Canada)
MQ Jan, BF Windley & A Khan, 1985. The Waziristan ophiolite, Pakistan: General geology and chemistry of chromite and associated phases. Econ. Geol., 80, 294- 306. (USA)
MP Searle, BF Windley, MP Coward, DJW Cooper, AJ Rex, D Rex, Li Tingdong, Xiao Xuchang, MQ Jan, VC Thakur & S Kumar 1987. The closing of Tethys and the tectonics of the Himalaya. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., 98, 678–701. (USA)
MQ Jan 1987. Phase chemistry of blueschists from eastern Ladakh, NW. Himalaya. Neus Jahrb.Geol. Pal., 613–635. (Germany)
MQ Jan 1988. Geochemistry of amphibolites from the southern part of the Kohistan arc, Pakistan. Mineral. Mag., 52, 147–159. (UK)
MA Khan, MQ Jan, BF Windley, J Tarnery & MF Thirlwall, 1989. The Chilas..complex;..roots of Kohistan.. in the Himalaya of…Pakistan. Geol. Soc. Amer. Spec. Paper 232, 75–94. (USA)
MQ Jan & BF Windley, 1990. Chromian spinel-silicate chemistry in ultramafic rocks of the Jijal Complex, NW Pakistan. Jour. Petrol., 31, 667–715. (UK)
MQ Jan 1991. High-P metamorphic rocks from the Himalaya and their tectonic implication—A review. Phys. & Chem. Earth, 18, 329–343. (Netherlands)
MQ Jan, MA Khan & BF Windley, 1992. Exsolution in Al-Cr-Fe3+- rich spinels from the Chilas mafic-ultramafic complex, Pakistan. Amer. Mineral., 77, 1074–1079. (USA)
MA Khan, MQ Jan & BL Weaver, 1993. Magmatic evolution of the lower arc crust in Kohistan, N.Pakistan: temporal arc magmatism through early, mature and intra-arc rift stages. In: Himalayan Tectonics. Geol. Soc. London, Spec. Publ. 74, 123–138. (UK)
MQ Jan & A Karim,1995. Coronas and high-P veins in metagabbros…Kohistan….Pakistan: evidence for evidence for crustal thickening during cooling. J. Metam. Geol., 13, 357–366. (UK)
PJ Treloar, MG Petterson, MQ Jan &. MA Sullivan, 1996. A re-evaluation of the stratigraphy and arly evolution of the Kohistan arc sequence, Pakistan Himalaya: implications for magmatic and tectonic arc building processes. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, 153, 681–693. (UK)
MQ Jan, M Arif & BF Windley,1998. High-pressure rocks from the Naga Hills ophiolite,NE India.Geol. Bull. Univ. Peshawar, 31, 87–88. (Pak)
MP Searle, MA Khan, JE Fraser, SJ Gough & MQ Jan 1999. The tectonic evolution of the Kohistan-Karakoram collision belt,… N. Pakistan. Tectonics, 18, 929–949. (USA)
PJ O’Brien, N Zotov, R Law, MA Khan & MQ Jan 2001. Coesite in Himalayan eclogite and implications for models of India-Asia collision. Geology, 29, 435–438. (USA)
PK Zeitler, PO. Koons, MP Bishop, MQ Jan and others, 2001. Crustal reworking at Nanga Parbat, Pakistan: metamorphic consequences…Tectonics, 20, 712–720. (USA)
I Ahmed, MQ Jan & J DiPietro, 2003. Age and tectonic implications of the granitoid rocks form the Indian plate of northern Pakistan. Virtual Explorer, 11, 21–28. (Australia)
MQ Jan & BL Weaver, 2005. Petrology of the ultramafic-mafic Tora Tigga complex, Kohistan magmatic arc, northern Pakistan. Geologie Alpine, Mem. 44, 90–91. (France)
M Arif & MQ Jan 2006. Petrotectonic significance of the chemistry of chromite in ultramafic-mafic complexes in Pakistan. Jour. Asian Earth Sciences, 27, 628–646. (UK)
MQ Jan & M Rafiq, 2007. Petrology of chloritoid-ilmenite-rich rocks in the Indus Suture melange of Pakistan: Implications for the Cretaceous paleolatitude of Kohistan. Jour. Asian Earth Sci., 29, 361–368 (UK).
MonaLisa, AA Khwaja & MQ Jan 2008. 8 October 2005 Muzaffarabad Earthquake: Preliminary seismological investigations and probabilistic estimations of peak ground acceleration. Current Sci., vol. 94, pp. 1158–1166. (INDIA)
MonaLisa, AA Khwaja, MQ Jan, RS Yeats, A Hussain & SA Khan, 2009. New data on the Indus Kohistan Seismic Zone and its extension into the Hazara- Kashmir Syntaxis, NW Himalayas of Pakistan. J. Seismology, vol. 13, pp. 339 –361. (USA)
Awards and honours
Honorary Fellow, Nepal Geological Society (2007)
Emeritus Fellow, Mineralogical Society of Great Britain (2009)
Hilal-i-Imtiaz, (2010)
Sitara-i-Imtiaz, (1999)
Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (1993)
National Book Foundation award for Best Book in Pakistan in Natural Sciences for 1995–1999
Presidential award, Izaz-i-Fazeelat, 1993
Gold Medals by Pakistan Academy of Sciences(1980, 1996 and 2009)
Ministry of Science and Technology Prize for Best Paper, 1996
National Book Foundation Scientist of the Year, award (1990)
Pakistan Academy of Sciences Distinguished Scientist of the Year (2009) award
National Book Foundation Earth Scientist of the Year (1986) award
