1975 Macelwane Award, American Geophysical Union
1976 Fellowship of the Royal Society
1977 Harold Jeffreys Lecturer, Royal Astronomical Society
1977 Honorary Member, Geological Society of France
1978 Hopkins Prize of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
1980 A G Huntsman Award of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Canada
1981 Balzan Prize of the International Balzan Foundation (with Fred Vine & Drum Matthews)
1983 Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society of London
1983 Wegener Medal of the European Union of Geosciences (with Jason Morgan)
1984 Best paper award of the Organic Geochemistry Division of the Geochemical Society of America
1985 Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy
1988 Rutherford Memorial Lecturer of the Royal Society
1988 Foreign Associate, US National Academy of Science
1989 Arthur L Day Medal of the Geological Society of America
1989 Honorary Member, European Geophysical Society
1990 Japan Prize, Science and Technology Foundation of Japan (awarded jointly with Jason Morgan & Xavier Le Pichon)
1991 Royal Medal, Royal Society
1992 Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal
1993 Jardetzky Lecturer, Lamont Geological Observatory
1996 Royal Society Research Professor [1996-2006]
1997 Raman Professor of the lndian Academy of Science
1997 Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society of America
1999 Honorary Fellowship, Geological Society of India
2000 Honorary Professor, South China lnstitute of Oceanology, Guangzhou
2001 William Bowie Medal of the American Geophysical Union
2002 Crafoord Prize, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
2003 Order of the Companions of Honour by Queen Elizabeth II
2017 William Smith lecturer, Geological Society of London