He had survived many near-death experiences in the wild, and these experiences made him a "stone"

We geologists are like “doctors” who treat the Earth, ensuring its healthy development by analyzing its symptoms and medical history.

——Li Sanzhong, Professor of the School of Marine Geosciences, Ocean University of China

Not long ago, after learning that he had won the "Li Siguang Geological Science Award", Li Sanzhong, a professor at the School of Marine Geosciences of Ocean University of China, immediately told his father, who is nearly 80 years old, the good news. His father said: "Although you have never met Li Siguang, you have been inspired by him all the way."

Li Sanzhong is showing the rocks he collected from the wild. Photo by Liu Banghua

Li Sanzhong's fate with Li Siguang, the pioneer of modern Chinese geology, began when he was in school. Li Sanzhong not only studied at the school founded by Li Siguang, but also persevered in practicing the "Li Siguang Spirit" - scientific innovation, love for the motherland, and courage to create...

"I never thought I could win this award. I am just an ordinary geoscientist." Looking back on his academic career, Li Sanzhong told the Science and Technology Daily reporter, "We geoscientists are like 'doctors' who treat the earth. We ensure its healthy development by analyzing its symptoms and medical history."

Clearing away the “dark clouds” of traditional plate tectonic theory

In 1986, with a curiosity about geology, Li Sanzhong came to Changchun Institute of Geology (now Jilin University) and started his ten-year study career. In college, he showed extraordinary talent in sketching and drawing.

"At that time, the seniors liked to take Li Sanzhong with them when they went out to the field. He was hardworking and his field geological sketches were very beautiful." Liu Yongjiang, Li Sanzhong's senior and deputy supervisor of master's students, professor of the School of Marine Geosciences at Ocean University of China, and executive deputy director of the Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Exploration Technology of the Ministry of Education, said that long-term field training has trained Li Sanzhong to have a keen observation ability. "He can detect subtle differences in the appearance of stones, such as color and thickness, and he not only grasps them accurately, but also draws them quickly."

In his later scientific research, Li Sanzhong also compared and studied the geological conditions of Mars, Venus and Europa, analyzed the element content, isotope composition and geological age of a stone, and carried out deep-water energy exploration in the South China Sea and the East China Sea...

In 2018, with this persistence, Li Sanzhong ushered in his "highlight moment" - establishing a new principle of microplate tectonics.

The plate tectonic theory, which was born in the last century, is often used to explain the causes of the movement of the earth's crust. According to this theory, the surface of the earth is covered with relatively stable plates, which move at a speed of 1 to 10 centimeters per year. However, the academic community generally believes that there are three "dark clouds" suspended in the "sky" of this theory, that is, it cannot explain the three major problems of plate origin, intra-plate deformation and plate dynamics.

Therefore, in order to clear away the "dark clouds", Li Sanzhong divided the global plates into more than 1,000 micro-continental blocks, micro-oceanic blocks and micro-mantle blocks, established the theoretical framework of micro-plate tectonics, systematically reconstructed the new pattern of ancient land and sea over the past 2.5 billion years, and revealed a new model of multi-layer coupling basin formation in the ocean-continent transition zone basin group.

Professor Folger of Durham University in the UK and an internationally renowned geophysicist commented on the achievement: "This is an innovative and challenging work that will surely bring a new look to global tectonic research."

A near-death experience during field research

The new pattern of dividing the earth's plates is only part of Li Sanzhong's academic achievements.

After working for several years, he has published more than 600 papers, including more than 340 high-quality SCI papers, and has been selected into the list of highly cited scientists in the field of earth sciences many times. In 2014, he won the second prize of the National Natural Science Award...

Behind this is Li Sanzhong's extraordinary efforts.

"He is like a spring that is always tightened and never loosens for a moment." Colleagues all say that Li Sanzhong is a well-known "workaholic" in the unit.

"Teacher Li can stay in his office for a whole day without anyone reminding him. He even forgets to drink water or eat." Suo Yanhui, an associate professor at Ocean University of China and a student of Li Sanzhong, said that she admired and felt helpless about her teacher's "forgetting to eat and sleep". "Before the holidays, we would buy a box of instant noodles for Teacher Li because he would stay in the office during the holidays and instant noodles would be his lunch."

In 2013, 45-year-old Li Sanzhong successfully applied for the National Outstanding Young Scientist Fund Project, which was his seventh application. Suo Yanhui still remembers the sprint time before the last application.

"At that time, we stayed up all night with Teacher Li to write materials, from 8 pm to 8 am the next day. He was the only one who remained awake, revising word by word and communicating with us, while we were already so sleepy that we were lying down." Suo Yanhui recalled.

"That application was a test," Li Sanzhong said. "I am different before and after the application. This process is a valuable asset."

This hard work comes from the tenacity of Li Sanzhong's character. He joked that he had "escaped death" many times in the wild, and these experiences had worn him into a "stone". When he was out in the wild, he once fell off a mountain road to a steep cliff, and had his hand pierced by a tree stump as thick as a finger.

The most dangerous time was when Li Sanzhong was out in the wild in a primeval forest in the northeast and was bitten by a tick, leaving a toxin in his body that would accompany him for the rest of his life.

To achieve scientific research results, field practical exploration is needed as well as deep theoretical accumulation.

Walking into Li Sanzhong's office, you will see books everywhere. Books are piled on the desk, in the drawers, and under the chair. Wherever he goes on a business trip, Li Sanzhong always carries a backpack with a computer and books in it. "I feel uneasy if I don't carry my backpack." In order to compile the series of books "Submarine Science and Technology", he referred to more than 2,000 domestic and foreign monographs and read the latest international professional books.

Use "innovative questioning" to urge students to make progress

"Li Sanzhong is a strategic scientist." This is the consensus of many people.

In 2016, the State Council issued the "13th Five-Year National Science and Technology Innovation Plan", which proposed to strengthen the strategic high-tech deployment in the four fields of deep sea, deep earth, deep space and deep blue. As early as 2010, Li Sanzhong, who was visiting the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, proposed the prototype of the "four deeps".

"When I was studying and visiting Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other universities in the United States, I found that their research focused on the destiny and future of mankind, and the pattern was very different from that in China." Li Sanzhong said that at that time, in order to further understand foreign research concepts, he took the initiative to contact high-level scholars and universities for visiting studies and tried to establish exchange and cooperation relationships.

"GPlates (plate tectonic interactive visualization software) is the software promoted in China by Li Sanzhong after his exchange trip to Australia. At that time, few people in China knew how to use it, so after he returned to China, he immediately sent students to Australia to study." Liu Yongjiang said that many of the unit's advanced technologies and experiences were brought back by Li Sanzhong from abroad.

In 2016, Li Sanzhong began to serve as the director of the Key Laboratory of Submarine Science and Exploration Technology of the Ministry of Education, seeking breakthroughs in talent introduction and training, research innovation and paradigm change. In the past three years, he has introduced more than a dozen high-level domestic marine geological talents. The laboratory's research team has achieved major breakthroughs in the development of submarine visualization TV grabbers, marine magnetotelluric detection systems, and large-scale seismic processing software, and has achieved internationally influential results around the basic submarine science issues of the "two oceans and one sea".

"A broad scientific research vision and a solid theoretical foundation can help young people understand their profession more deeply and better serve the country in the future." In 2020, Li Sanzhong took the initiative to contact the Academic Affairs Office to open a general course "The Great History of the Ocean" for undergraduates to broaden students' horizons and help them develop critical thinking skills.

Every weekend, Li Sanzhong would go to the laboratory to check on students' research progress and ask them "what innovations they have made recently." "Teacher Li's supervision is like a pair of powerful hands, pushing us to think and make progress," said Li Sanzhong's students.

This famous "innovation questioning" is what Li Sanzhong learned from his teacher. Since Li Sanzhong was a postdoctoral fellow until now, his teacher, Zhang Guowei, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has often asked him this question. "It forces me to think deeply and not stop," said Li Sanzhong.

Talking about the future, Li Sanzhong said that the past five years have been a period of opportunity, and he will lead his team members to do two things. The first is to focus on the country's "dual carbon" strategy, build the relationship between the earth's inorganic carbon cycle and structure, and innovatively develop the "carbon structure" with the concept of earth system science; the second is to focus on the main battlefield of the national economy, use digital twin technology to develop digital prediction and intelligent exploration, and promote the dual transformation of the twin earth digital revolution and exploration and research paradigms.

Source: Science and Technology Daily

Original title: "Li Sanzhong: A new pattern for dividing the earth's plates"

Author: Wang Yanbin, Science and Technology Daily correspondent Wang Hongmei