La Società Geologica Americana (GSA) ha conferito al Socio Vittorio Dal Piaz il Florence Bascom Geologic Mapping Award 2023 per la cartografia geologica con la seguente motivazione:
“Since the early stages of his career as a geologist, moving from the Institute of Geology of Padua to the one in Turin (northern Italy), Giorgio Vittorio Dal Piaz was devoted to mapping and unravelling the most hidden secrets of the Alps, improving the long tradition of Swiss geologists such as Emile Argand and many others. His tireless work over more than 60 years has provided fantastic improvements in the understanding of one of the most studied and complicated orogens in the world: he mapped several areas in the core of the western Alps, deciphering the fundamental processes governing the subduction of the oceanic Tethyan basin and the related Mesozoic passive continental margins and the variscan basement, until the collision between the Adriatic and the European plates. Giorgio Vittorio has also been the soul of the “Structural Model of Italy”, an extraordinary mapping effort supported by a long list of Italian authors who were galvanized by his energy and enthusiasm. This incredibly useful and updated geological map covering the Alps, the Apennines, the external Dinarides, and the central Mediterranean seas, is a fundamental basis for any student and professional scientists working in this tectonically puzzling part of the world. In a world where fewer geologists aim to work in the field, preferring numerical modelling or writing papers without adequate direct knowledge of the area, Giorgio Vittorio remains rooted in geology entirely relying on observational data from the ground, collecting samples in the backpack, doing thin sections in the lab, to be later carefully scrutinized at the microscope, and then finalizing the geological map. Having this attitude, Giorgio Vittorio fundamental contribution spans from the discovery of continental lithosphere subduction and the related high-pressure-low-temperature metamorphism of slab exhumation slices through detailed mapping, to the description of innovative cross-sections across the Alps. Giorgio Vittorio Dal Piaz is part of a family tradition of outstanding geologists, from its grandfather Giorgio, and his father Giambattista, to his son Giovanni. His scientific work shed fresh new light on the structure of the alpine orogen and the geodynamic evolution of the Mediterranean area: the Florence Bascom Award couldn’t be more deserved”.