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