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’11EuroGeoSurveysAnnuAl REpoRt
page 2 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Pioneering research for Society’s benefit since 1971
A workforce that includes thousands of geoscientists at the service of European citizens
33 Geological Survey organisations from across Europe
page 3 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Content Executive Summary 4
EGS in Brief 5
Conversation with Marko Komac 7
Key people 8
EGS exceeds all boundaries and strengthens its role 13
Celebrating 40 years of activity 17
Earth moving 22
the shape of our business 31
Integrating expertise 102
publications 133
there’s more 136
page 4 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Executive SummaryThe year 2011 has marked the 40th Anniversary of
EuroGeoSurveys, which has allowed us to look
back at our past and the steps made during four
decades. This way the Geological Surveys of Europe
could confront with the dramatic transformation our
organisation has gone through during this period.
It has progressively evolved from a network for
Geological Surveys Directors to a melting pot of
joint research and exchange of scientific
competences, up to the current umbrella
organisation regularly advising the EU institutions
and at the service of the 33 members to facilitate
large pan-European actions.
Such a transformation has significantly accelerated
during the past few years, especially driven by
the increasing demand by EU institutions for both
independent advice and geological data and
information. In particular, the increasing importance
of the raw materials supply policy and the attention
given to emerging research needs, such as in the
field of unconventional fossil fuels (e.g. shale gas),
have been major drivers for increasing the
importance and recognition of EGS as a major EU
institutions partner.
2011 has also shown that the transition phase has
not concluded, having seen the EGS members
actively engaged in the definition of a new
multiannual Strategy Action Plan, and in high-level
debates on how to better serve the needs of the
EU. The discussions lead to the conception and
submission of an ambitious proposal to carry out
a feasibility study on the creation of a European
Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI).
This phase has also witnessed the set up of a Task
Force on International Cooperation and Development
and of a Task Force on Superficial Deposits, as a
continuation of the trend to make the EGS Expert
Groups role increasingly significant for the operation
of our organisation. During 2011 they have even
more than previously acted as the operational arm
of EGS, integrating their work under the leadership
of the Chairpersons and the horizontal coordination
of the Spatial Information Expert Group.
A large project involving all the EGS members was
also kicked off: PanGeo, a GMES service enabling
access to geological information that will provide
free access to geohazard information for many of
the largest cities in Europe.
Unfortunately 2011 brought also some bad news.
The worst of all from a geological point of view was
certainly the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
The world was shocked by the disastrous events
on 11 March 2011 which severely hurt the Fukushima
nuclear power plant and killed hundreds of people.
The tragedy reopened the issue of tsunami hazard
in Europe, where the risk is significant particularly
for countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
Although earthquakes of a magnitude comparable
to that of the recent earthquake in offshore Japan
are not expected in Europe, tsunami waves with
devastating energy may reach similar heights
(>10m). Historically several destructive tsunamis
occurred in the Mediterranean basin. In 1908 one
single event caused about 80,000 casualties along
the Eastern Sicily and Southern Calabria coastlines.
page 5 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
EGS in Brief EuroGeoSurveys (EGS) is a non-profit organisation working solely for the public interest, which represents 33 national geological surveys in Europe and an overall workforce of several thousand specialists.
The EGS mission is to provide public Earth science knowledge to support the EU’s competitiveness, social well-being, environmental management and international commitments. Therefore our actions underpin European policies and regulations for the benefit of society.
WE ARE ACTIVE IN :
Marine Geology• Marine Geology database
• Sedimentological, geochemical, geophysical and paleontological information of the ocean floor and coastal areas.
• Exploration for energy and mineral resources
• Enviromental protection
• Marine geological information as a basis for marine spatial planning
Earth Observation - GeoHazards • Satellite, airborne and ground-based Earth
observation for geoscience
• Mapping, characterising and monitoring areas exposed to geohazards
• Geoscience contributions to EC Global Monitoring for Environment & Security
• Global Earth Observing System of Systems for Disasters, Energy & Geo-resource
Geochemistry• Distribution of natural backgrounds and anomalies
in rocks, sediments, soil and water
• Exploration for energy and mineral resources
• Support to land-use planning and public health policies
GeoEnergy• Exploration and assessment of fossil energy
sources
• Development of renewable geothermal energy
Water Resources• Characterisation of Groundwater bodies
and their recharge area
• Groundwater resources exploration, exploitation, management and protection
• Pollution mitigation and remediation
Mineral Resources• Exploration, characterisation and exploitation of
mineral deposits
• Mineral economics and statistics
• Environmental protection around mining site and post-closure mitigation
Climate change and Carbon Capture and Storage
• Paleoclimates and paleogeography
• Storage of CO2 in geological formations
• Impacts of climate change
Spatial Information - INSPIRE• Provide with a clear technical strategy to
guarantee the adequacy of the developments of its infrastructure in the context of global spatial
information infrastructure 5 INSPIRE, GEOSS, One Geology…)
• Focus on the global consistency of the way spatial information has to be defined, managed and delivered to provide harmonized services at the European scale.
International Cooperation and Development
• International cooperation focus on Africa: European data available for the African Geological Surveys
• Future collaboration with Latin-southern America
Soil Resources - Superficial Deposits • Exploration and integration of existing experiences
and datasets on the distribution, properties and weathering behavior of exposed rocks and superficial deposits
• Harmonization of existing parent material information, and integration of it towards a European-wide new geological data layer: a soil parent material map of Europe
Cities and Geoheritage• Engineering geology for safe construction
• Use of subsurface space for infrastructure and storage
• Waste disposal
• Protection of heritage made of natural stone
• Geoparks and geoturism
page 6 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
page 7 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Respected reader,
Conversation with Marko Komac DIRECtOR Of GEOlOGICal SuRvEy Of SlOvENIa - EuROGEOSuRvEyS PRESIDENt 2011-2012
The Year 2011 was special for EuroGeoSurveys
(EGS). Fourty years ago, in 1971, directors of
several Geological Surveys from north-western
Europe met and agreed on the enhancement of
future cooperation. What at the beginning was a
gentlemen club with no written rules and no formal
or semi-formal structure, it has evolved and grown
in proceeding decades into today’s form of legal
organisation with 33 Members - National
Geological Survey Organisations (NGSO) -
with a staff of more than 10,000 and a Secretariat
in Brussels with a permanent staff of five that has
a continuous back-office support of numerous
experts in different geoscientific or related fields.
Despite the fact that fourty years does not
represent more than an instant in time for
geologists, it is still a proof that geological surveys
of Europe knew far ahead (in human time
perception) of many politicians that geology does
not acknowledge the political boundaries. If one
wants to effectively manage geology related
challenges or problems these have to be tackled
with a holistical approach and in a transboundary,
regionally or in pan-European scale. Today EGS
itself or by its members proves to be one of the
pillars of successful environmental, mineral
resource, energy and geo-IT European policies
and processes.
Europe is facing tough times. Effective tackling
of Europe’s present financial, demographic and
resource challenges will bring advances in
economy, technology and society. These are
important issues for Europe’s competitiveness
on a global scale especially with new economic
powers emerging. It’s no secret geosciences and
consequentially NGSOS jointly under the umbrella
of EGS are already playing and will keep playing an
important role in the process of overcoming future
obstacles the European continent is confronting.
With our knowledge, expertise, tradition, through
centuries collected data, stored in vast archives
and long lasting experience of transnational
cooperation we, the EGS members have the will,
the ability, the social commitment and the
know-how to step into these big shoes of
responsibility to the European taxpayers to ensure
their better tomorrow.
The EGS Annual report 2011 that you’re holding in
your hands is an excellent proof that the words
above are not just letters on a paper but a reality.
I recommend a thorough reading of it. If you’re a
geologist you might find some good ideas for your
future work. If you’re not, you’ll learn that geology
is not only dull at all and that it spreads from micro
to macro scale, from laboratory to field work, and
from distant past to future events. Just turn to the
next page... And enjoy!.
Marko Komac
page 8 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Expert knowledge at the disposal of all European
citizens, institutions, companies, media, universities, …
tHE ExECutIvE COMMIttEE
is the primary decision-making body. It implements
the strategy formulated by the General Assembly
of Members and makes proposals for future actions.
BOaRD Of DIRECtORS
tHE SECREtaRy GENERal
is responsible for the day-to-day operational
management and administration of EGS, contacts
with the European Commission and other third
parties, managing the budget and carrying out
the activities agreed by all Members.
Secretary General Luca DemicheliGeological Survey of Italy - ISPRA
PresidentMarko Komac Geological Survey of Slovenia - GeoZS
vice-PresidentJohnny Fredericia Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland - GEUS
MemberOlivier LateltinGeological Surveys of Switzerland - SWISSTOPO
Key people WORkING tOGEtHER tO REaCH OuR GOalS
ExPERt GROuPS
NatIONalDElEGatES
SECREtaRy GENERal
BOaRD Of DIRECtORS ExECutIvE
COMMIttEE
Adil Neziraj Albanian Geological Survey - AGS
Michiel Dusar Geological Survey of Belgium - GSB
Eleni Georgiu-Morrisseau Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environments Geological Survey Department - GSD - Cyprus
Peter Seifert Geological Survey of Austria - GBA
Josip Halamic Geological Survey of Croatia - HGI-CGS
Zdenek Venera Czech Geological Survey - CGS
treasurerPeter Seifert Geological Survey of Austria - GBA
Todor Dimitrov Ministry of Environment and Water - Directorate of Subsurface and Underground Resorces - MEET- Bulgaria
page 9 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Johnny Fredericia Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland - GEUS
Olafur Florenz Iceland Geological Survey - ISOR
Branislav Zec State Geological Institute of Dionyz Stur - SGUDS - Slovak Republic
Elias Ekdahl Geological Survey of Finland - GTK
Claudio Campobasso Geological Survey of Italy - ISPRA
Mart J. van Bracht Geological Survey of the Netherlands - TNO
Hans-Joachim Kümpel Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe - BGR
Robert Maquil Service Geologique Du Luxembourg - SGL
Jan Magnusson Sveriges Geologiska Undersokning - SGU
Aivar Pajupuu Geological Survey of Estonia - EGK
Patrick O’ Connor Geological Survey of Ireland - GSI
Bernardo De Bernardinis President Institute for Environmental Protection and Research - ISPRA - Italy
Marko Komac Geological Survey of Slovenia - GeoZS
Jean-François Rocchi Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières - BRGM
Jouzas Mockevicius Geological Institute of Lithuania - LGT
Morten Smelror Geological Survey of Norway - NGU
Rosa de Vidania Instituto Geológico y Minero de España - IGME
Kostas Papavasileiou Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration - IGME - Greece
Anthony Rizzo Malta Resources Authority - MRA
Stefan Marincea Geological Institute of Romania - GIR
Teresa Ponce de Leão President Laboratorio Nacional de Energia e Geologia - LNEG - Portugal
Olivier LateltinGeological Surveys of Switzerland - SWISSTOPO
Eduard Sravytskiy State Geological and Subsurface Survey of Ukraine - SGSSU
Panagiotis Mitropoulos Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration - IGME - Greece
Oleg Petrov A.P. Karpinsky all Russia Geological Research Institute - VSEGEI
Mário Rui Machado Leite Laboratorio Nacional de Energia e Geologia - LNEG - Portugal
John Ludden British Geological Survey - BGS
Sergiy Goshovskiy Ukrainian State Geological Research Institute - UkrSGRI
László Kordos Geological and Geophysical Institute of Hungary - MFGI
Key people
BOaRD Of DIRECtORS (continued)
Jerzy Nawrocki Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute - PGI-NRI
page 10 I EGS 2011 Annual ReportKey people
NatIONal DElEGatES
They represent the National contact points of each Geological Survey.
albania AGS Arben Pambuku
austria GBA Hans-Georg Krenmayr
Belgium GSB Cecile Baeteman
Bulgaria MOEW Valeri Trendafilov
Croatia HGI-CGS Josip Halamic
Cyprus GSD Stelio Nicolaides
CzechRep CGS Ivana Svojtkova
Denmark GEUS Jens Stockmarr
Estonia EGK Jaan Kivisilla
finland GTK Mika Räisänen
france BRGM Jacques Varet
Germany BGR Birgit Kuhns
Germany State-Hamburg Renate Taugs
Greece IGME Nikolaos Arvanitidis
Hungary MFGI Annamária Nádor
Iceland ISOR Ingibjorg Kaldal
Ireland GSI Patrick O´Connor
Italy ISPRA Claudio Campobasso
Italy Region Emilia-Romagna Michela Grandi
lithuania LGT Juozas Mockevicius
luxembourg SGL Robert Maquil
Malta MRA Julie Auerbach
Netherlands TNO Tirza Van Haalen
Netherlands TNO Paul Bogaard
Norway NGU Jan Host
Poland PGI-NRI Ilona Smietanska
Portugal LNEG Maria Luísa Duarte
Portugal LNEG Rita Caldeira
Romania GIR Marcel Maruntiu
Russia VSEGEI Oleg Petrov
Slovakia GSSR Alena Klukanova
Slovenia GeoZS Marko Komac
Spain IGME Manuel Regueiro
Spain Region Catalonia IGC Xavier Berastegui
Sweden SGU Lisbeth Hildebrand
Switzerland SWISSTOPO Peter Hayoz
ukraine UkrSGRI Boris Malyuk
united kingdom BGS Nick Riley
united kingdom BGS Vicky Hards
page 11 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
ExPERt GROuPS CHaIRS
Marine Geology : Henry Vallius Geological Survey of Finland - GTK
Spatial Information (INSPIRE) : François Robida Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières - BRGM
Geochemistry : Clemens Reimann Geological Survey of Norway - NGU
International Cooperation and Development : Marek Graniczny Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute - PGI-NRI
Water Resources : Hans Peter Broers Geological Survey of the Netherlands - TNO
Earth Observation - GeoHazards : Stuart Marsh British Geological Survey - BGS
Carbon Capture and Storage - EGS.CO
2 :
Kris Piessens Geological Survey of Belgium - GSB
GeoEnergy : Peter Britze Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland - GEUS
Soil Resources - Superficial deposits : Rainer Baritz Bundesanstalt für Geowissenshaften und Rohstoffe - BGR - BGR
Mineral Resources : Slavko V. Šolar Geological Survey of Slovenia - GeoZS
Key people
page 12 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
page 13 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
2011 is marked by intense networking activity
culminated in the signature of several important
agreements. The efforts made involved not only
Europe with the agreement of the European
technology Platform on Sustainable Mineral
Resources (ETP-SMR) but also the rest of the
world with agreements with the Organisation of
African Geological Surveys (OAGS).
uNlOCkING tHE GEOlOGICal Data ON afRICa
In the last few years the necessity to establish
closer ties with Africa has become increasingly
evident. Europe is no longer able to cope with the
demand for raw materials and to recover the loss
of competitiveness so it needs to go beyond its
borders. And at the same time Africa needs to
develop their mineral resources, have the facilities,
the infrastructures and the human capacity.
In this framework EGS produced concrete results in
terms of guiding the European cooperation efforts
with Africa on geological knowledge and skills . The
strengthening of the capacity of the Organisation of
Africa Geological Surveys is a pre-requisite for this
co-operation. EuroGeosurveys’ expertise and its
public status represent the main impetus for the
Africa geological Surveys in their efforts
tostrengthen geological mapping capacity, develop
common trans-boundary cartography at regional
level , harmonise data collection and ensure the
interoperability of data sets.
The Organisation of African Geological Surveys
(OAGS) is a relatively in it’s infancy and
EuroGeoSurveys can offer very strong support. In
particular EuroGeoSurveys has established a good
relation with several African Survey Directors
based on the proposal to help unlock the geological
data on Africa held by European Geological
Surveys. This evolved into the proposal to make
European data on Africa available to the Organization
of the African Geological Surveys (OAGS) members.
This was done to strengthen the cooperation with
OAGS countries and form a good platform for joint
actions. The co-operation has already started with
exchange of experts and with workshops . The
mineral resources in Africa are immense, but the
decision makers should choose them as a priority,
and this is easier with the help of Europeans, that
could create a win-win situation for both parties.
(Check with Luca about this sentence because we
need to be very careful how we present this)
EGS established a specific task force called the
« International Cooperation and Development Task
Force » to guarantee the development of this
agreement.
MODERN SOCIEty IS INCREaSINGly DEPENDENt ON RaW MINERal RESOuRCES
The EU faces a number of major societal
challenges from the availability of critical and
essential raw materials from primary and
secondary sources to the availability of jobs,
skills and technological competences. Addressing
these challenges requires that the appropriate
technologies, processes and products are in place,
along with adequate policies to implement and
stimulate the required changes.
The European Technology Platform on Sustainable
Mineral Resources (ETP SMR) is nowadays the
right answer to those challenges, established in
2005 and officially recognized in September 2008,
unites many stakeholders from mining industry,
the research community, regulators, consumers
and civil society to reach a competitive and
sustainable European economy.
The ETP SMR presently consists of the High Level
Group (HLG), the Steering Committee, and the
Secretariat. From the 1st of July 2012 the ETP SMR
commissioned EGS the responsibility
of running the ETP SMR secretariat. In this
framework EGS provides both administrative
and technical support to the Platform and assists in
the implementation of its Work Programme under
the guidance of the Steering Committee.
The ETP SMR focuses its activities on access to
essential and critical mineral raw materials
(exploration, mining, smelting, recycling and
metallurgical recovery and refining, including the
highly innovative enabling technologies and
equipment industry) through innovation point of
view, perfectly in line with the European Innovation
Partnership on Raw Materials proposed by EU,
based on 3 pillar: fostering sustainable supply
EGS exceeds all boundaries and strengthens its role
page 14 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
within the EU and boosting resource efficiency and
recycling.
The ETP-SMR aims to develop innovative
technologies/solutions along the entire value chain
for cost effective, safe, environmentally and
socially sound raw materials, including primary
and secondary sources. The main objective is to
propose specific issues for demonstrating ten
innovative pilot plants for raw materials extraction,
processing, and recycling, within the Innovation
Partnership on Raw Materials.
Today, the deepest European underground mines
operate at about 1,000 to 1,500 meters below
surface. Within the next 20 to 30 years, several of
those mines will operate at depths far below
1,500 meters.
These depths will require the development of new
mining methods to maintain safe working conditions,
increase productivity and production rates, and
reduce waste and tailings as well as mining costs to
maintain competitiveness on international markets.
In the framework “invisible, zero-impact mine”
this will only be possible by moving installations
from the surface to underground and implementing
a complete new layout of the mines of tomorrow.
By 2020, ETP SMR will provide to EU a comprehensive
overview about available intra-EU geological
mineral resource and metal potential (primary
resources) and of the mineral resource and metal
potential in the “urban mine” (secondary sources).
ETP SMR will have developed new, advanced
exploration technologies for land and sea-based
exploration as well as tools to assess the resource
potential in technical infrastructure and products
put on the market, giving the opportunity to EU to
maintain and develop further technological leadership.
In the framework of mineral processing the ETP
SMR will identify new ore and concentrates
processing technologies that will allow steep
changes in energy, water and emissions intensity
and will allow treating more complex (primary and
secondary) mineral resources. These technologies
will pave the way for expanding European business
and future advanced jobs.
EGS exceeds all boundaries and strengthens its role
The whole value chain covering from raw materials extraction to marketed products. The metals life cycle starts with exploration and mining to provide first hand access and bring materials from the geosphere into the technosphere. From then on the basic concept is simple: extract metals at high rates from the ores, use them as efficiently as possible in the manufacturing process of products, avoid dissipation during the use and End of Life (EoL) phase and minimise losses of metals into residues during all phases of the life cycle. By doing so metals can be reused to a high percentage for a second, third etc. life cycle.
page 15 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Moreover Europe will be able to maintain its
advanced technology in metals production and
develop further its know-how in order to be able to
process even lower grade and/or complex (primary
and secondary) materials in the most sustainable way.
But all these actions are not sufficient if the EU will
not become the leading continent with regard to
recycling of critical and essential raw materials.
The future of metals recycling is under great threat.
The competitiveness of this industrial activity is
rapidly deteriorating due to excessive regulatory
constraints and international trade and competitive
distortions.
To make recycling of raw materials or raw material-
containing products more efficient, it is necessary to:
• mobilize End of Life (EoL) products with critical
raw materials for proper collection
• improve overall organization, logistics and
efficiency of recycling chains focus on interfaces
and system approach
• prevent illegal exports of EoL products containing
critical raw materials and increasing
transparency in flow;
• promote research on system optimisation
and recycling of technically challenging products
and substances.
By 2020, the recycling rates of critical and technology
metals will be at least above 10% in the EU and by
2050, the recycling rates of critical and technology
metals will be at least above 25% and an overall
10% increase in recycling rate is reached for all
other metals.
This gives the opportunity to improve the extraction
from secondary sources increasing the overall
availability of resources for the EU economy.
In the framework, training and education became
an essential part to foster innovations in the raw
materials sector.
Besides innovations in technology, we also need
social innovations to develop skills and transfer
knowledge and understanding within and beyond
current practice.
A secure access to raw materials also requires
capable human resources. The EIP on RM hence
has to play an important role to raise awareness
among young people for the significance of the
sector as a corner stone in the sustainable
development of Europe and to attract more
students to engage in related fields.
EGS exceeds all boundaries and strengthens its role
page 16 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
page 17 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
In 2011 EuroGeoSurveys celebrated 40 years of
activity. During those years EGS has become more
and more a formal organisation within the EU
system, a reference point for each national geological
Surveys of the continent, a European geoscientific
data repository and center for geological
intelligence integrating different policies .
GEOSCIENCE COOPERatION IN EuROPE: 40 yEaRS Of aCHIEvEMENt a success story told by Dr. Peadar Mcardle, former Director of the Geological Survey of Ireland
The blustery weather of September 2010 did not
dampen the enthusiasm of the representatives of
30 geological surveys gathered in Copenhagen.
In two days of presentations and discussions,
they reviewed the key issues facing geological
surveys at the European level, monitored progress
among their internal thematic working groups,
interacted with a variety of guests, and dealt
with a wide range of organisational issues.
They then set off to experience Denmark’s varied
landscapes and appreciate examples of how
geoscience contributes to Danish society - from
the educational and tourism value of Mons Klint
Geo Center to the use of chalk in the paper industry
and the management of drinking and waste water
in the city of Odense. This group of Eurogeosurveys
Directors, National Delegates and partners were
participating in a distinguished tradition based
on a 40 year history of cooperation and
achievement in European geoscience.
The first network of European geological surveys
was established in Orleans in 1971 with the birth
of WEGS (Western European Geological Surveys).
This was an informal discussion group comprising
the Directors of its member organisations:
the cluster of national geological surveys of
Western Europe and Scandinavia, as well as
Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. West Germany, rather
than Germany, was a member and it was joined
by a representative of the geological surveys of
the Lander. At the time Greenland had a geological
survey which was separate from that of Denmark.
Many WEGS participants referred to their
organisation as a Club: it had a stable membership
with relatively few staff other than Directors
attending. Its relaxed atmosphere belied the fact
that it had well established but unwritten rules.
Decisions were taken only by consensus and the
position of Chairperson rotated among all members
on an annual basis. The annual meeting in early
September had a well-tried formula of social
events, business meeting and excursion. A high
proportion of partners attended, providing stability
to the network and enhancing its social dimension.
One couple was very important in establishing its
culture and continuity: the Secretary, Alan Archer,
and his wife, Jane, who served in an unpaid
capacity from 1971 until about 1998. Fastidious and
attentive, Alan ensured new Directors were swiftly
absorbed into the group, he enforced a careful
balance regarding hospitality (anything excessive
was not appreciated) and he devoted much
attention to drafting and revising the minutes of the
business meetings.
WEGS Directors saw considerable value in
maintaining this valuable network. Gradually they
established a number of thematic working groups
which encouraged staff to share experience and,
on occasion, to develop joint projects. However
there is no doubt that WEGS would have had a
limited impact on European institutions and
national governments. This was about to change.
In 1992, after 20 years of networking, WEGS
published its first coordinated and comprehensive
statement (Lumsden 1992) on behalf of its
21 members. Entitled “Geology and the Environment
in Western Europe”, it was intended to demonstrate
the types of issues to which geological surveys
might contribute at the national and European
scales. It succeeded in showing how geological
surveys interact with government, industry and
academe. Despite an admittedly technical treatment,
the book did in practice reach an audience that
extended beyond the limits of the Geoscience
Community and, in so doing, can be regarded as
the first brave step by geological surveys in
demonstrating their relevance to society at large.
Even as WEGS took increasing notice of its political
environment so that very environment itself began
to change. The collapse of the Soviet system in the
late 1980s had a major impact on the practice of
Celebrating 40 years of activity
Front Cover of the book Geology and the Environment in Western Europe
page 18 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
geoscience across Europe. Geological surveys in
western and central Europe took a greater interest
in each other’s activities, wished to share
experiences and aspired to cooperating with each
other. Many far-sighted geologists and Directors
helped this process. For example, Gabor Gaal,
a Hungarian geochemist who worked in a senior
position in the Geological Survey of Finland,
returned as Director of his homeland’s survey for
a time and his influence was very positive.
This effectively led to the transformation of WEGS
into the Forum of European Geological Surveys
(FOREGS), with the latter established by 1993.
WEGS morphed into FOREGS without fanfare in
the twelve months following the September 1992
meeting of Directors. While FOREGS reflected the
geographic expansion of membership there is no
doubt that it also characterised some changes in
the way the organisation functioned. Now it had more
members, they came from more diverse backgrounds
(both scientifically and culturally) and their
Directors tended to have shorter periods of tenure.
The “Club” atmosphere of WEGS diminished and,
in any event, many felt that a more business-like
approach was appropriate. There were varied
expectations of the benefits of membership -
but undoubtedly Directors sought to derive tangible
value. Part of the dividend was the richer diversity
of experience and skill which became available in
the larger FOREGS membership and this largely
overshadowed any sense of regret at the passing
of WEGS.
The membership of FOREGS increased to over 30
by the mid-1990s, this rapid growth reflecting the
desire of surveys in central and Eastern Europe to
affiliate. A survey of these new members in 1995
indicated that they were pre-occupied with providing
a comprehensive and balanced service at a time of
diminishing resources and reducing staff members.
They looked to FOREGS networking to increase
the exchange of experience and ideas, as well as to
participate in collaborative projects that might
attract European funding. Many looked to FOREGS
to promote the value of geological surveys,
thereby enhancing their reputation and influence,
as well as staff morale. But above all, new
members wanted to participate in specialist
working groups, with their potential for establishing
and maintaining international standards. Most
urgent in this regard was the need to transit to
digital databases. In addition to information
management, FOREGS had active working groups
in remote sensing, geochemical mapping, marine
and industrial minerals.
However transitions are rarely painless and not all
Directors were equally pleased with the progress
of FOREGS. Already work had started on the
formation of Eurogeosurveys which would focus on
the need of European institutions and would
effectively be limited to members of the European
Union. Many felt that the evolving parallel bodies
of FOREGS and Eurogeosurveys would lead to a
“two-speed” Europe, the members of the latter
being in the fast lane. So perhaps inevitably
FOREGS would have a short life but it did provide a
useful transitional vehicle.
FOREGS had a relatively simple structure. Its
Board consisted of the present, past and future
Chairmen (for they were all male!). It met annually
in June to conduct the business of FOREGS, which
principally consisted of preparing the agenda for
the Annual Meeting of Directors in September.
FOREGS had a number of thematic working groups
and these would report annually to the meeting
- often their presentations formed the major part
of the agenda.
Eurogeosurveys, the Association of the Geological
Surveys of the European Union, was established
Celebrating 40 years of activity
Photo of the FOREGS Family taken in Dublin Castle, September 1995.
page 19 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
on 3 September 1995 in Dublin when its members
signed its Statutes. This set out the objectives of
the 16 constituent geological surveys as follows:
• to jointly address European issues of common
interest
• to promote the contribution of geoscientists to
EU affairs and action programmes
• to assist the EU to obtain technical advice from
members
• to provide a permanent network between
members and a common, but not unique, gateway
to each member and their national networks.
These have changed but little over the intervening
years.
A national geological survey, or equivalent body, of
an EU member state was entitled to full
membership while those of EFTA (European Free
Trade Area) were eligible for associate status
without voting rights. Over time a number of
regional and provincial geological surveys also
became affiliated. Members committed themselves
to work together in a cooperative, transparent and
professional manner. In due course members
would commit themselves to Internal Rules and a
Code of Conduct in addition to Statutes. A schedule
of membership fees was agreed, including detailed
mechanisms for deciding the level for each member.
A General Meeting of Directors, the governing
body of EGS, would be held at least once per year
to approve the financial accounts and report of
activities, as well as the budget and work
programme for the following year. An Executive
Committee would oversee the implementation of
decisions made at General Meetings and represent
EGS in dealings with third parties. The Executive
Committee currently comprises the President,
Vice-President, Treasurer and one additional
member (the last mentioned belonging to an EFTA
member state). They are elected for a term of
three years by the General Meeting based on
nominations submitted by a Selection Committee.
In a new departure, EGS appointed a full-time
Secretary General with responsibility for managing
its affairs under the supervision of the Executive
Committee. The Secretary General is appointed for
a term of four years and based in the Brussels
Bureau of EGS. Secretaries General have been
extremely influential in managing EGS affairs and
guiding the organisation’s evolution. They have
had a particular mandate to develop good relations
with European institutions, especially the European
Commission. In chronological sequence they
comprise Richard Annels (1996-1999), Emile
Elewaut (1999-2004), Patrice Christmann
(2004-2009) and Luca Demicheli (2009 to date).
The pace of European integration accelerated
the EGS agenda after the Millennium, so that in
practice the fears that new FOREGS members
had of being excluded from the fast lane did not
materialise. Eurogeosurveys membership rose
gradually to over 30 members at one point and the
FOREGS organisation, with its membership now
served satisfactorily by the newer organisation,
was allowed to lapse.
The new organisation quickly found its feet.
With shorter meetings and quicker decision
making, many saw improved benefits in participating.
Once more thematic working groups were
established and they were effective in bringing
together the experts from the various surveys.
Groups tended to focus on the implementation of
specific European Directives, such as the Water
Framework Directive, the Mine Wastes Directive
and the Directive on Geological Storage of Carbon.
Others were established for the specific projects of
undertaking projects funded from European funds
(such as in geochemical and seabed mapping).
All of this brought cooperation to a higher level
with individual surveys gaining important benefits. Map showing the membership of WEGS (1970s) in blue and
EuroGeoSurveys (2010) in green.
Celebrating 40 years of activity
page 20 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
While European Geological surveys can take
considerable pride in their joint achievements over
the past four decades, there is little room for
complacency. With budgetary difficulties
widespread across Europe in 2010, there was an
acknowledged need to sustain investment in
Geoscience in order to reap its long term benefits.
The Eurogeosurveys ambition is to become the
recognised voice of European geoscience in
matters of policy formulation, regulatory practice
and problem solving.
Celebrating 40 years of activity
page 21 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
page 22 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Earth moving MaIN GEOlOGICal EvENtS IN EuROPE
SPaIN the El Hierro Island and the 2011 submarine eruption Volcanic oceanic islands are usually formed by the
construction and destruction of successive edifices.
The formation of rift zones where fissure eruptions
occur is common in such islands. Fissure eruptions
occur when magma propagates from a reservoir
to the surface through planar conduits called dykes.
The dykes propagation front is not linear but lobed,
with several fingers that moves up to the surface.
When sever al fingers reach the surface, they form
a fissure eruption in which several vents (one of
each related to a dyke finger) are aligned following
the dyke trend. The volcanic edifice usually grows
until it becomes unstable and partially collapses
forming landslides valleys.
El Hierro Island is a natural laboratory where these
processes can be deeply studied. It is the
westernmost and youngest of the Canary Islands,
being around 1.12 Ma old. Its geology consists on
two old volcanic shield edifices (Tiñor and
El Golfo- Las Playas), and three recent volcanic rifts
trending NE, S and W. Between the rift axes several
large scale landslides have occurred forming
El Golfo, El Julan and Las Playas valleys.
There are not clear evidences of historic subaerial
eruptions taking place in El Hierro. Some authors
suggest that an eruption took place in 1793 in the
Northwest. However, it is not well documented.
The submarine eruption located to the south of
La Restinga that took place on October 10th in the
submarine extension of the south rift is the only well
monitored historic eruption in El Hierro and the
Canary Islands. This eruption was preceded by three
months of seismic activity, ground deformation and
gas anomalies.
Initially a volcanic vent was located two kilometres
far from the south coast of the island, at a rough
depth of 150 m. The first products of the eruption
were observed three days later as floating stones,
although a big stain on the sea surface was the first
visual evidence of the eruption. Several times more,
new volcanic samples emerged from the submarine
volcano as basaltic lava balloons during the eruption
that lasted until March 5th, 2012.
Although it was a submarine eruption, it was similar
to the subaerial eruptions that have previously
occurred in El Hierro. These eruptions are fissure
type and are oriented following the rifts trending.
The length of these fissures ranges between tens
of metres to few kilometres. Subaerial fissures are
usually formed by less than 10 vents. Similarly,
the El Hierro 2011 submarine eruptive fissure is
more than 600 meters long and is formed by several
vents aligned along a NNW-SSE direction, following
the South rift trending.
The Spanish Geological Survey has published the
geological map of El Hierro at 1:25.000 scale, and
has been conducting research projects and a PhD
Thesis focus on geologic hazards since 2008.
Preliminary results include a geodatabase for
volcanic hazard analysis that incorporates
stratigraphical, petrological, geochronological and
volcano-structural data. Part of these data has been
used to develop a preliminary volcanic susceptibility
map in collaboration with the “Istituto Nazionale di
Geofisica e Vulcanologia” of Italy. This map shows
La Restinga as the area with highest probability of
hosting a future eruption, being in agreement with
the location of the 2011 eruption location. During the
volcanic unrest, the Spanish Geological Survey
issued a report on the rock falls that occurred in the
El Golfo valley that previously had caused the
eviction of some people and the closed the main
road access to the El Golfo area.
Studies in El Hierro have not only focused onland,
a geophysical and hydroacoustic exploration survey
was carried out offshore in November-December
2011 in the volcanic eruption area aboard the RV
“Sarmiento de Gamboa”. Different geophysical
techniques were used: multichannel seismic
reflection and wide angle reflection, gravity
measurements and parametric sounding, together
with high resolution multibeam bathymetry
mapping. The broad frequency range of the acoustic
systems used allows imaging the injection of
buoyant volcanic plumes driven by gas bubbles
exsolved from magma during the long lasting
eruption of the submarine volcano.
page 23 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Earthquake in lorca (Murcia)
On May 11, 2011 at 18:47 (local time) a catastrophic
low-sized earthquake (Mw 5.1) took place in Lorca
(Murcia) south-eastern Spain. A few hours after the
event, a group of specialists in earthquake geology
from different institutions: Geological Survey of
Spain (IGME), Group of Active Tectonics,
Paleoseismicity and related risk (UCM), Universidad
Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) and the Universidad
Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid (URJC), travelled to the
epicentral area in order to compile all available field
data related with ground effects associated with
rupture and shaking, and damage of buildings.
The team used the instrumental data recorded by
the IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional) and
geological data from previous studies.
The preliminary study included a description of the
first geological data related to the possible geologic
source of the earthquake, the seismotectonic
characteristics of the seismic series, and the
earthquake effects, related to the damage of
buildings and the surface geological effects.
The main conclusions of the study pointed out that:
1. The Alhama-Murcia Fault (FAM) is the fault with
greater evidence of Quaternary activity in the
area, with evidence of paleoseismic activity
(M > 6.0) over the last 1000 years, associated with
thermal springs and a well-recognized surface
trace. There was destructive historical seismicity
located along the trace during the XVII, XVIII and
XIX centuries. FAM has a clear geomorphological
expression in this area and whose trace is parallel
to one of the nodal planes of focal mechanisms
obtained for the earthquakes of May 11, 2011.
The sinistral strike-slip movement of the fault is
consistent with the focal mechanism solution.
2. The high seismic intensity experienced by the
town of Lorca (intensity VII EMS-98 scale, data
IGN) associated with a magnitude 5.1 Mw, may
be due to the earthquake spread from the Sierra
de la Tercia (epicentral area) to the SW. The lack
of geological effects towards the east of the
epicentre supports this possible directionality
of propagation.
3. The wave propagation supports the directionality
of the FAM rupture spread from the epicentral
area, crossing the city of Lorca. This reason
associated with the shallowness of the
earthquake, would explain the high seismic
intensity and peak accelerations of 0.36 g
(IGN data) recorded in the accelerometer of the
old prison of Lorca (located in the downtown).
4. The increasing in static stress (Coulomb
Stress-Transfer Model) on the segments of the
Alhama-Murcia Fault (FAM) generated by the
main earthquake may have increased the
likelihood of earthquake occurrence in these
areas. However, it is not possible specify
temporary occurrence of these earthquakes.
5. The orientation of the principal axe of the strain
ellipsoid (ey), obtained from the archaeo-
seismological study is NW-SE, is consistent with
the regional tectonic stress field and focal
mechanism of the main earthquake and also with
the epicentral location.
6. The Archaeoseismological data (more than a
hundred values) suggest an origin of the
deformation associated with a nearby seismic
field, implying that most of the main earthquake
rupture occurred beneath the historic city of
Lorca because the faulting subsurface rupturing
runs below the Lorca village.
With these data and their inclusion in the
Environmental Seismic Intensity Scale ESI-
07, this preliminary geological report will improve
the information of historical earthquakes and
epicentral location and the knowledge of the seismic
process in Spain.
Italy
Catastrophic flashfloods in Cinque terre and lunigiana, north-western Italy (October 2011)
In the night between 24 and 25 October intense and
persistent rainfall affected north-western Italy and in
particular the Cinque Terre (Eastern Liguria) and
Lunigiana (NW Toscana) areas. The maximum
rainfall (472 mm in 6 hours) was recorded at
Brugnato (La Spezia).
This extreme rainfall event over a mountain area
caused the occurrence of several flashfloods that
Earth moving
page 24 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
killed 8 people, caused the evacuation of thousands
of inhabitants and extreme damages to numerous
settlements.
In the territorial municipalities of Aulla and Mulazzio
(Massa), the Magra river overflowed the embankments
and a 6 m high water flow (mixed with mud)
submerged the villages as well as farmed fields.
Huge mud-flows and debris-flows affected also
several villages in the Cinque Terre area (Vernazza,
Monterosso and Borghetto di Vara). About
300 landslides were surveyed only at Vernazza
and more than 170 landslides at Monte Rosso.
In particular at Vernazza, more than 2 millions of
cubic meters of floods have buried the historical
village (3-4 meters of mud and debris). These
villages were tipically located at the end of small
basins characterized by high slopes and very short
run-off times.Destructive flood in the Genoa urban area (4 November 2011)
On 4 November, very intense rainfall hit the area of
Genoa (about 400 mm fall between 9.30 and 14.30),
causing the overflowing of Rio Fereggiano and
Torrente Bisagno.
The flood was particularly evident in the Genoa
urban area where the effects were enhanced by
the occlusion of hydraulic sections in sectors were
the natural riverbed was completely buried. As a
consequence, a huge amount of mud and debris
was carried by the flood that crossed some quarters
of Genoa (e.g. Corso Sardegna). The Torrente
Bisagno flooded also downstream between the
Brignole station and the river mouth.
This flood caused 6 casualties, the evacuation of
more than 160 people and strong damages to
buildings and infrastructure (economic loss was
estimated equal to 652 millions €).
Earth moving
Vernazza (Cinque Terre, Liguria). Left: 3-4 meters of mud and debris had completely buried the first floor of the sediments. Right: an isolated building along the Vernazzola Stream was entirely covered by debris
Map of areas characterized by erosion (in blue) and deposition (in red) during the October 2011 event (source: www.protezionecivile.fvg.it)
Hyetograph and cumulate rainfall at the University of Genoa rainfall station
page 25 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Other minor landslides and floods with relevant impact
In 2011, several other landslides and floods affecting
the Italian territory had a relevant impact in terms of
dead toll and damages to buildings and
infrastructures. Among them:
• 1-3 March: intense rainfall in Marche and Abruzzo
(about 270 mm in 24 hours) caused widespread
occurrence of flooding and landslides, killing
3 people
• 18 March: a large landslide (300 m3) between
Ceprano and Frosinone (Latium) has hit the
highway A1 “Milano - Napoli” (km 633) causing
one dead and two injuries
• 7 July: slope movement along the western coast
of the Como Lake (Lombardia) has interrupted a
primary road (SS340 Regina) and largely covered
the Brienno village with mud and debris. Some
buildings and a Romanic bridge were destroyed.
About one hundred people were evacuated
• 31 August: a large rockfall in high mountain area
(Mt. Pelmo, Veneto, about 2,900 m in elevation)
has killed two rescuers of the Dolomiti Bellunesi
Alpine Rescue;
• 7 October: in the Salerno province, a small village
(Teglia) was hit by a debris flow, that affected about
50 buildings. The families living there were evacuated;
• 20 October: very intense rainfall (about 130 mm in
two hours) in Roma metropolitan area has caused
widespread flooding that killed one person in a
underpass, caused large damages (about 2 M €)
and stopped the public transport for many hours;
• 22 November: intense and persistent rainfall in the
Messina and Reggio Calabria territorial provinces
(hour rainfall ranging between 60 and 100 mm),
promoted the occurrence of a debris flow the hit
Scarcelli, a small village near Saponara (Messina),
killing three people.
Earth moving
On 7 July 2011, a debris flow hit the Brienno Villlage on the western coast of the Como Lake (Lombardia)
Some effects caused by the Rio Ferreggiano flood in the Genoa urban area (Corso Sardegna and Brignole).(source: www.meteoweb.it)
page 26 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
POlaND
the first Polish report dedicated to assessment of environmental impact of shale gas exploration.
Does exploration for shale gas resources create risk
for natural environment? In 2011 that question was a
hot issue throughout the Europe, from England to
Bulgaria. The largest controversies were raised
around hydraulic fracturing showing quickly growing
demand for hard data on actual impact of such
treatments under local conditions. In Poland, first
treatments of that type were conducted in August
2011 on the in the Lebien LE-2H exploratory well
made by the Lane Energy Poland company of the
3Legs Resources Group in the Koszalin area, close
to the Baltic coast (NW Poland). The Polish
Geological Institute- National Research Institute
(PGI-NRI) used that opportunity to assess impact of
the treatments by monitoring environmental
conditions before (baseline data), during and after
the hydraulic fracturing. The research team led by
the PGI-NRI have found that the hydraulic fracturing
as a stimulating treatment which opens access to
shale gas reserves does not bear any long-standing
influence on the environment, providing that it is
appropriately performed, in accordance with the
best professional knowledge and all the legal
regulations and norms. Short-lasting influence (such
as noise level, heavy traffic of vehicles, waste from
technological fluids) may be minimized by the use of
appropriate procedures and issuing adequate
administrative decisions.
The results were compiled in the report
“Environmental Aspects of Hydraulic Fracturing
Treatment Performed on the Łebień LE-2H Well” in
November 2011 and placed at PGI-NRI website:
[www.pgi.gov.pl/pl/instytut-geologiczny-informacje-
prasowe/4091-raport-z-lebienia-materia-prasowe.html]
The experience gained from the performed studies
showed that it would be highly desirable to use the
gathered experience in monitoring the next sites
where shale gas prospection and searching works
will be conducted.
SlOvakIa
Emergency landslides in Slovakia in 2011
Slope failures, especially landslides represent one of
the most important geodynamic phenomena in the
SlovakRepublic. The 21 190 slope deformations
registered up to now cover 2 575.912 km2 which
correspond to 5.25% of the total area of Slovakian
territory. A lot of new slope failures evolved after
heavy rainfalls in the year 2010. Their total number
in the Eastern Slovakia achieved 577.
In the course of 2011, mayors of municipalities
reported 34 landslides to the Ministry of
Environment SR, or directly to the State Geological
Institute of Dionýz Štúr, which jeopardized, or even
damaged residential and other buildings,
Earth moving
Lebien LE-2H well. Line of pump aggregates ready for fracturing operations (photo PGI-NRI)
The Łebień LE-2H well site during gas tests (photo PGI-NRI)
The Łebień drill pad viewed from the east; Rekowo Lęborskie, June 2011 (photo PGI-NRI).
page 27 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
engineering networks and the population. In some
cases these were landslides documented in 2010,
with the activity re-occurring in the year 2011.
Site krupina (8)Landslide area is located within the residential area
of the town Krupina on the left bank of the Krupinica
River near the street Nad Kotlom. The landslide
originated at the turn of the months of May and
June in 2010 and posed a threat for several houses.
Its reactivation which occurred at the turn of 2010
and 2011, called for declaration of "emergency
situation".The State Geological Institute of Dionyz
Stur was entitled to realize engineering geological
investigation and emergency remedial measures,
which consisted of implementation of two stabilizing/
draining ribs.
Site vinohradynadváhom (19)Re-activated landslides in the Vinohrady nad Váhom
again are components of a wider landslide territory
between Hlohovec and Sereď. This 18 km long strip
of landslides is known especially thanks to the
extensive engineering geological survey in
connection with the projected Water Works Sereď
- Hlohovec.
During the April 2011 registration we have
concluded, the inappropriately targeted anthropogenic
activities were one of the main factors that
contribute to the destabilisation of the territory.
This was in particular the creation of illegal landfills in
the areas of head scarps of the potential slopefailures.
The residents of the village hadadopted the ill
practice of waste deposition in the vicinity of local
communication in order to prevent its destruction.
Moreover, in the territory of interest also intensive
construction of family houses has taken place.
The constructions themselves represent a surcharge
to the slope, attenuated by backfilling of the
depressions and other earthworks.
Earth moving
Remedial works: A - digging of the stabilizing/draining rib B - installation of drainage tube C - situation after remedy measures realization in June 2011.
Family double-house endangered by the landslide in Vinohrady nad Váhom - part Kamenica. A - recorded on 28th April 2011
B - recorded after Declaration of Emergency Situation, 22nd June 2011
Situation of newly-evolved landslides registered by SGIDS at the territory of Slovakia in 2011. I - Core Mountains Region, II - Region of Carpathian Flysch, III - Region of Neovolcanites, IV- Region of Neogene Tectonic Depressions, 1 to 21 - landslide sites
Landslides in Lipovany village (number 10 in the map)
page 28 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Another cause is inappropriate or insufficient
drainage of surface and waste waters. In the local
part the public sewerage is missing, therefore
sewage and draining within the local part Kamenica
is dealt individually, usually by means of a cesspit, or
low-capacity biological treatmentplants.
Family double-house endangered by the landslide in
Vinohrady nad Váhom - part Kamenica. A -
recorded on 28th April 2011, B - recorded after
Declaration of Emergency Situation, 22nd June 2011
In a very short time in the most affected part of the
Kamenica landslide the works were launched aimed
at draining the slope under the supervision of SGIDS.
With the assistance of the Army of the SlovakRepublic
6 surface drainage ditches were manually excavated
through the inaccessible terrain reaching a total
length of 428 m and a depth of 0.5 m. Through these
ditches a substantial part of the waters in the
landslide territory was channelled out of the landslide
into the alluvial plain deposits of the VáhRiver.
The biggest problem was the rescue of the family
double-house, which is found directly on the head
scarp of the landslide. After the implementation of
the engineering geological survey there was
designed and implemented anchored micro-pile
wall. The groundwater table level was drawn down
by subhorizontal drainage borehole V-8 directly
below the double-house at a depth of about 7 m.
Earth moving
Remedial works aiming on the rescue of the family double-house No. 711 a 712 (construction of the anchored micro-pile wall)
page 29 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
page 30 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Earth Observation (EO) Expert Group
1. Executive summary
EOEG provides a forum for EO experts in member
surveys to share knowledge and skills, elaborate
common methodologies and spread best practice.
It networks EGS participants in existing EGS
projects and initiatives concerning EO, particularly
those related to GEO, the intra-governmental
Group on Earth Observations (AEGOS, EGIDA,
EO-MINERS...), and to GMES, the EC and ESA
initiative on Global Monitoring for Environment
and Security (EVOSS, PanGeo, SubCoast,
Terrafirma...). This helps join the EGS EO
community together and thus positions EGS to
make stronger, EO-related contributions to policy
initiatives and FP bids in future. It should also
enable EGS members who are currently less
engaged in these EO programmes to start to
contribute and to get involved. A focus on EO
science is appropriate because of current European
opportunities and global activities in the topic, but
the EOEG also recognises that its primary mission
is to use EO as a tool to help EGS members deliver
their programmes across the geosciences.
2. Mission and vision
2.1 Mission
EOEG exists to increase the quality, efficiency and
cost-effectiveness of EGS members' science
delivery and to capitalise on European and
International Earth Observation science opportunities.
It will do this by ensuring that members:
• share their EO expertise and research
• utilise state-of-the-art in-situ, airborne and
satellite EO techniques and datasets
• pool their EO expertise, experience, resources
and facilities
EOEG will pursue specific opportunities related to:
• GEO, through the FP7 ENVIRONMENT Theme
• GMES, through the FP7 SPACE Theme
• other appropriate EO topics
2.2 vision
By fulfilling this mission, over the next 5 years,
EOEG will see that EGS:
• becomes the European centre of excellence for
geological applications of Earth Observation
• plays a significant role in helping the Group on
Earth Observations (GEO) create a Global Earth
Observing System of Systems (GEOSS)
• takes the lead in validating EO with in-situ data
• delivers geological research and geo-information
services in the EC Global Monitoring for
Environment and Security (GMES) initiative.
3. Scope and focus
The full scope of the EOEG is therefore the full
range of EO tools (optical, hyperspectral, thermal,
radar) from various platforms (satellite, airborne,
in-situ) applied to geological mapping, resource
assessment (oil, gas, geothermal energy, minerals
and groundwater), waste management (mine
pollution, nuclear, CCS, landfills) and geohazard
mitigation (earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides,
subsidence and flooding).
At the request of the Executive Committee, EOEG’s
initial focus has been on geohazard applications,
reflecting the initial focus of EO in GEO (Disasters
Societal Benefit Area, Geohazard Community of
Practice) and GMES (Land, Marine and Emergency
Response Core Services, Terrafirma, SubCoast,
EVOSS, Sentinel 1 SAR mission). Over time,
this is expected to evolve; the second, emerging
theme is resources, to support and contribute to
the EC’s Raw Materials Initiative (RMI), underpin
AEGOS, EO-MINERS, ImpactMIN and related
projects and capitalise on the emergence of
geo-resources as a higher profile application area
in GEO.
the shape of our business
page 31 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
4. strategic considerations
GEO has one overarching objective; to build the
Global Earth Observing System of Systems.
This includes component systems coming from
the geoscience community, including the Global
Seismic Network, the Global Geodetic Observing
System and various other satellite, airborne and
in-situ observing systems. It is therefore both a
duty upon and in the self-interest of the geological
survey community to engage and contribute to this
initiative. Along with IUGS, EGS is a Participating
Organisation in GEO and the EOEG Chair is
Co-Chair of one of the three GEO Implementation
Boards; the one concerning science and technology,
users and capacity building. In addition to these
international relationships, GEO offers a significant
funding opportunity for EO and geoscience projects
through the FP7 Environment Theme.
GMES is Europe’s main contribution to GEO and a
global observing system for the environmental
sciences in its own right. It is a flagship initiative of
both the European Space Agency and the EC.
It develops the European elements of the global
observing system and, as well as satelite sstems
delivered by the space agency, includes the
important in-situ elements that often fall within the
remit of geological surveys, related institutes and
their initiatives such as the European Plate
Observign System and EGS’s own EGDI.
The European geological surveys therefore need to
engage and contribute to shaping and delivering
this initiative and EGS has been at the forefront of
this effort in recent years, through both lobbying
and associated FP7 and ESA funded projects,
the result of a second strand of EO and geoscience
funding through the FP7 Space Theme.
EOEG members now have a strong portfolio of
GEO and GMES projects that address geohazards,
including co-Chairing GEO’s Geohazard Community
of Practice (GHCP). In an effort to capitalise on this,
the EOEG and associated partners in academia
developed a GHCP Roadmap, which is in the
process of being adopted by GEO. A small but
growing portfolio of FP7 projects underpins this
involvement (AEGOS, EGIDA, EO-MINERS).
In GMES, this activity includes the ESA-funded
GMES Service Element Terrafirma and a suite of
EC-funded GMES Downstream projects on
geohazards in the coastal zone (SubCoast, led by
TNO), landslides (DORIS, with ISPRA involvement),
volcanoes (EVOSS, with BGS involvement) and
urban geohazards (the new start, PanGEO, for
which EGS has federated the geological survey
input). The latter builds on the OneGeology
infrastructure, is the only EGS FP7 project to
feature every EGS member survey and is therefore
of great strategic value to EGS.
5. activity report
EOEG held no formal meeting in 2011, having
recently met in December 2010. The emphasis has
been placed on working within the FP7 projects
secured to address various GEO and GMES
objectives. Individual members have also engaged
with the EC on various topics, including GEO,
GMES and the Raw Material Initiaitive. In terms of
meetings, members came together at a range of
GEO, GMES and project meetings for informal
discussions. EOEG activities concerning the
PanGeo project were also reported in an EGS
Newsletter article.
EGS and members of EOEG attended the 2011 GEO
Plenary in Istanbul, with the Secretary General
speaking in the Plenary to raise the profile of EGS
and members’ GEO activities and contributions.
These included the African-European Geo-resources
Observation System (AEGOS), OneGeology, which
is the geological layer in GEO’s Global Datasets
Task, and EO-MINERS, our new GEO European
Project on EO and its contribution to teh European
Technology Platform on Minerals. EGS also
operated a booth in the large EC stand at the GEO
Exhibition, showcasing these projects and a number
of others, which further cemented our realtionship
with the EC FP7 Environment Theme. New this year,
EGS held a side meeting on EGS GEO projects, which
was well attended and at which several EOEG members
gave presentations on their GEO-related projects.
This achieved a high profile for EGS at the event.
The Ministerial was the culmination of considerable
EOEG activity through 2012. EOEG Members
attended the 5th GEO European Projects Workshop
in London in February 2011, hosted by UKGEO/
BGS, with the Chair of EOEG making presentations
on the subject of subsurface observations and on
minerals. The Chair then attended the GEO Work
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page 32 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Plan Symposium in Geneva in May 2011, where
we pressed home the case for minerals to have a
place in the GEO structure. This has also been
pursued through EGS Co-Chairing the GEO Science
& Technology Committee. The issue was followed
up by written submissions to the GEO Secretariat
by the EOEG Chairman that resulted in a successful
outcome reported in section 6.
On Geohazards, the EOEG Chairman and its
members contributed to the development of three
FP7 bids, co-ordinated by the European Plate
Observing System, to host Supersites (or natural
laboratories) as a European contribution to GEO’s
activities in this area. All three outline bids in this
two-stage process were invited to prepare full bids
at the end of 2011, for an early 2012 deadline.
This should provide another way for some
European surveys to become more involved in
GEO during 2012; in total, Euro18M is on offer and
upto three sites will be funded.
As noted above, EOEG, EGS and its members
have a strong portfolio of GMES projects funded by
both the European Space Agency and the EC FP7
SPACE Theme. These continued to be active in
2011. Particularly pleasing during 2011 was the
increase in joint activity and cross-working seen for
these projects. Terrafirma and SubCoast held a
joint meeting in June 2011, hosted by GEUS with
EEA in attendance. This will be the first of several
joint meetings; the latter half of 2011 was spent
planning a May 2012 conference of all relevant
GMES projects, reported under section 7.
6. Results and impacts
In GEO, EOEG activity supported by both the
AEGOS and EO-MINERS GEO FP7 projects led to
one significant result for the geosciences with a
high potential impact in the coming years. Several
years of lobbying activity and demonstration of the
science case led to the incorporation of minerals
within the GEO Work Plan for the first time.
Previously, no GEO Societal Benefit Area covered
mineral resources issues, with the closest one
being the Energy SBA. Whilst the latter did include
energy minerals, it did not include other mineral
resources. The new GEO Work Plan 2012-15
adopted by GEO Plenary in November 2011 now
has a Task under Energy, EN-01, called Energy
and Geo-resources Management that fully includes
minerals. Several EGS members are lead
contributors to this Task.
However, the outcome is better than that. EN-01
covers mineral exploration and exploitation issues.
A second Task, SB-05, has been established on
Human Impacts; this includes a component on
impacts of mining activity that maps directly onto
the EO-MINERS project. This component is likely
to be coordinated by BRGM. So, the profile of
geoscience in general, minerals in particular, EGS
and its members has never been higher in GEO.
Inclusion of minerals in the work plan is a first step
to additional FP funding from future EC calls.
7. future activities
Plan for EOEG activity in 2012
• Capture strategic considerations (section 4) in a
formal Position Paper (now in draft)
• Write EGS Newsletter article on EOEG activity
and Position Paper in first half of 2012
• Contribute to EGS Annual Meetings on 27th
February in Brussels
• Hold a large, joint meeting of DORIS, EVOSS,
SubCoast, PanGeo and Terrafirma under the
auspices of the European Space Agency in May
2012; the “International Forum on Satellite EO for
Geo-Hazard Risk Management”, 21st - 23rd May
2012, Santorini
• EO-MINERS, EOEG and the EGS Minerals Expert
Group will organize a Workshop on “Minerals and
GEO” in Ljubljana in July 2012, to capitalize on
the new GEO Work Plan
• Contribute to relevant Symposia at IGC34, with
strong participation from e.g. AEGOS
• Hold second EOEG meeting, later in 2012,
themed on potential new topics such as minerals
• Additional GEO and GMES FP7 opportunities
called in 2012 will be pursued as appropriate
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Water Resources Expert Group
1. Executive summary
The Water Resources Expert Group focuses on
groundwater management and protection of
groundwater resources. Its main activities are the
support and advice to DG-ENV, the identification of
knowledge gaps for the EU research agenda and
the sharing of experiences of member states in
implementing EU Directives related to groundwater.
The activities in 2011 focused on specific advice on
the topic of climate changes on groundwater and
the 2013 review of the Groundwater Directive.
2. Mission and vision
The focus of the Expert Group on Water Resources
is on groundwater management and protection in
general, and more specifically related to the
groundwater aspects of the Water Framework
Directive (WFD), the Groundwater Directive (GWD
2006) and the Common Implementation Strategy
(CIS) of both directives. The main activities are:
• Support and advise to DG-ENV on technical and
policy-related issues
• Indentify knowledge gaps for the EU research
agenda
• Sharing experiences between member
organizations in WFD and GWD implementation.
3. Scope and focus
The scope of the expert group on water resources
(EGWR) has been related to the groundwater
aspects of the water framework directive (WFD,
2000) and on the negotiations of the groundwater
directive (2006) and its subsequent implementation
through the common implementation strategy (CIS).
Between 2003 and 2006 Eurogeosurveys actively
contributed to discussions on the definition of the
draft groundwater directive and the implementation
of the water framework directive (WFD).
Eurogeosurveys representatives were involved in
support and advise to DG-ENV on technical and
policy-related issues in the expert advisor forum
and the EU working group C, which is part of the
common implementation strategy of the WFD.
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1.1 Issues tackled by the WFD (2000) and GWD (2006)
1.2 The GWD and WFD involve an new paradigm in protection of groundwater, with increased emphasis on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and on the mutual influence of groundwater on surface waters.
page 34 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Since 2006, after the GWD was enacted,
Eurogeosurveys has played an active role in the
overall discussions within Working Group C and in
the implementation process by leading and
participating in drafting groups for Guidances.
Moreover, the Expert group took initiatives in order
to influence the EU research agenda in order to
close knowledge gaps that were identified.
This resulted in two concept notes on Groundwater
research needs under FP7, one in 2007 and one in
2010, which were discussed intensively with EU
policy and scientific officers. In 2008 this lead to
a dedicated Groundwater Systems topic in the
second call of FPVII.
4. the European dimension
The EGWR is very active in the EU Working Group
C on Groundwater. Since 2006, when the GWD
was enacted, Eurogeosurveys has played an active
role in leading drafting groups, writing guidances
for the implementation of the GWD, contributing
and chairing and co-chairing drafting groups on
• guidance on groundwater status and trend
assessment no. 18 (chair/co-chair, 6 EGS
members contibuting, guidance endorsed 2009)
• guidance on groundwater monitoring (4 EGS
members, endorsed 2007)
• guidance on groundwater aspects of protected
areas (4 EGS members, endorsed 2008)
• guidance on direct and indirect inputs to
groundwater (2 EGS members, endorsed 2008).
These four guidances form the heart of the
common implementation strategy of the
Groundwater Directive.
The work in the period 2009-2012 focused on the
preparation of the official review of the GWD in
2013. EGWR members Rob Ward and Ariane Blum
(BRGM) have co-chaired this activity which leaded
to the EU Document “Recommendations for the
review of Annexes of the Groundwater Directive”.
Another important WGC activity was chaired by
EGWR Chair Hans Peter Broers, who organized a
EU workshop on ‘Climate Change Impacts on
Groundwater’ in Warsaw which aimed to bring
scientists and policy makers together on this topic.
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1.3 Overview of the position of EU Working Group C in the Common Implementation Strategy for the WFD and GWD
page 35 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
5. activity report
Input to the review process of the Groundwater Directive
2011 Rob Ward, Ariane Blum
Meeting with bottled water industry to discuss the Eurogeosurveys Bottled Water book
21 Jan 2011 Hans Peter Broers, Luca Demichelli
Input for the Hungarian EU Presidency report Hans Peter Broers,
June 7th 2011 Hans Peter Broers, Luca Demichelli
Attending EU Working Group C meetings in Budapest and Warsaw
April, Oct 2011
Many members
Organisation of EU Workshop ‘Climate Change Impacts on Groundwater’, Warsaw
Oct 12th 2011 Hans Peter Broers, Klaus Hinsby, Ronald Kozel
Presentation Manifest Workshop CC & GW to DG-Research and DGENV
Nov 16th 2011
Hans Peter Broers, Klaus Hinsby, Ronald Kozel
Organisation of workshop on Groundwater Body Delineation, Berlin
Dec 16th 2011
Wilhelm Struckmeier et al.
Commenting the draft FPVII 2012 call to highlight groundwater
Dec 2011/Jan 2012
Hans Peter Broers, Klaus Hinsby, Rob Ward, Nathalie Dorfliger and others
6. Results and impacts
• There is a great appreciation by the EU for the
support and advice of Eurogeosurveys, which is
illustrated by the fact EG Water members chair
two of the three EU activities in the WFD Common
Implementation Strategy in the field of Groundwater.
The DGResearch officials also showed much
appreciation for the Eurogeosurveys input for
future FP7 calls.
• The Manifesto of the CC&GW workshop was
endorsed by the Working Group C and pleas for
specific research on Climate Change Impacts on
Groundwater, especially focused on the indirect
secondary effects of CC. The Manifesto is
Attached to this document
• Groundwater is now specifically mentioned in
some of the draft calls of FPVII, for example the
calls on water management and emerging
pollutants.
7. future perspectives
Future groundwater resources management
requires sound knowledge of groundwater systems
and the Eurogeosurveys Water Resources Expert
Group identified a number of issues that should be
addressed in future research programs.
The groundwater research needs that we identified
are especially related to the implementation of
the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the
Groundwater Directive (GWD) but also related to
EU policy initiatives on ‘Water Scarcity and
Droughts’ and ‘Climate Change Adaptation and
Mitigation’. For example, the second and third
River Basin Management Plans for the WFD and
GWD are supposed to be fully climate-resilient by
2015. Moreover, different policy objectives may
have contradictory effects; implementing the EU
policy on renewable energy by introducing
subsurface thermal energy storage, the storage of
CO2 for example or the increased exploration of
unconventional fossil fuel reservoirs, might have
adverse effects on the protection of groundwater
systems, which asks for a balanced groundwater
management approach.
In its 2010 concept note, Eurogeosurveys
highlighted five priority areas for further research
in order to scientifically support the implementation
of the Water Framework Directive, the Groundwater
Directive: and EU policy initiatives on water scarcity
and droughts and climate change adaptation and
mitigation.
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page 36 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
These include:
1. Developing predictive tools and monitoring
systems to evaluate the effects of subsurface
CO2 storage on groundwater systems and
groundwater receptors above storage facilities
2. Develop methodologies to understand, evaluate
and predict the impacts of climate change on
groundwater resources and interlinked surface
waters and ecosystems in order to eventually
define climate-robust set of measures
3. Developing tools to facilitate management
strategies for multiple uses of groundwater in
urban areas. predictive tools and monitoring
systems
4. Developing tools for relating response of
Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems to the
condition of groundwater systems, and to
improve assessment of climate change and
restoration/protection measures
5. Developing strategies to deal with the impacts
of emerging pollutants in groundwater
management and protection.
Some of these topics are now included in the
European research agenda, but many still require
attention. In supporting the European Commission
in these fields, Eurogeosurveys now chairs an ad
hoc activity for EU Working Group C on Groundwater
and Climate Change, which in 2012 will focus on
concrete recommendations for climate proof
groundwater management. EGWR members will
also join the 2012 USGS study tour on Shale gas
exploration to cover the topic of groundwater
protection.
The Working Group C will discuss its 2013-2015 in
March 2012, and Eurogeosurveys will proactively
highlight important topics and will take the lead in
organizing WGC tasks where convenient and
feasible.
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page 37 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Manifesto from the Workshop Climate Change Impacts on Groundwater
Eu Working Group C workshop October 12th, Warsaw
A workshop on Climate Change Impacts on
Groundwater” was held in Warsaw under the
umbrella of the CIS Working Group C on
Groundwater. The meeting was used to share
information and exchange views between member
states, stakeholders and scientists and aimed to
establish the knowledge base on groundwater
aspects of climate change as a basis for climate
resilient river basin management plans (RBMPs)
and to identify the needs for future work in climate
change impacts on groundwater, both from policy
and scientific perspectives. It was decided to move
forward in two complementary ways:
1. to support the policy process by making
concrete recommendations for 2nd round of
RBMPs on the basis of th e established
knowledge base, and
2. to promote further research based on the
inventory of knowledge gaps, which should
establish an improved understanding of climate
change impacts on groundwater, which may
eventually be applied in the 3rd or 4th RBMPs.
Important outcomes of the workshop were that
the impacts of climate change on groundwater are
not limited to water scarcity in southern European
countries, but also result in significantly changed
seasonal regimes of snowmelt, in wetter winters,
dryer summers and prolonged periods of droughts
in other parts of Europe. It also appeared that
secondary impacts of climate change, caused by
human adaptations in energy and water policies
have potentially large impacts on groundwater
resources. However, there is a lack in understanding
of how this will affect groundwater itself, as well as
the receptors of groundwater such as ecosystems,
surface waters and drinking water abstractions.
The EU Working Group C on Groundwater adopted
the following manifesto, advocating for action and
a plea for further research to establish an improved
understanding of climate change impacts on
groundwater, because groundwater is a precious
resource which is only slowly replenished and
which is of great importance to the European
society by providing drinking water, irrigation
water and ecosystem services.
Identified knowledge Gaps
Since 2006, the combination of WFD and GWD
involves a new paradigm in protection of
groundwater, with increased emphasis on aquatic
and terrestrial ecosystems and on the mutual
influence between groundwater and surface
waters. Up to now groundwater and surface
water research was often performed in ‘separate
worlds’ and really integrated research on
soil-groundwater-surface water relations, including
integrated modelling, monitoring and evaluation of
measures is scarce. Moreover, pressures on
groundwater systems tend to increase, partly as
a result of the effects of climate change and
associated human induced changes of surface and
subsurface water management. Especially,
secondary impacts of climate change, resulting
from human intervention in water systems, are
expected to have large short-term effects on
groundwater resources. Examples of secondary
impacts are:
• increasing groundwater abstractions especially
for irrigation due to longer dry periods and higher
water demand of crops leading to falling water
tables and salt water intrusion, especially in
periods of extreme hydrometeorological events
• changing land use practices, including an
increase in the production of energy crops, which
already led to increasing nitrogen concentrations
in groundwater due to increased use of fertilizers
in some areas in Europe. Negative effects on
pesticide concentrations and increased water
demands affecting water quality and quantity
• more intensive use of the groundwater bodies in
relation to energy policy, for example by a sharp
increase of aquifer thermal energy storage
facilities in Europe and the search for
unconventional fossil fuels which has potentially
large adverse effects of groundwater quality
• storage of CO2 in deep aquifers or gas fields for
CO2 mitigation, which may affect the quality of
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page 38 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
groundwater resources and groundwater
receptors, depending on the local
hydrogeological situation.
Although climate change impacts on surface water
systems are relatively well studied in relation to
flooding risks and prolonged droughts, the primary
and secondary impacts of climate change on
groundwater systems are relatively unknown.
Only a number of very recent studies give some
information of the changes in groundwater
recharge rates and renewal, the fluxes towards
ecosystems and surface water receptors and
related changes in groundwater and surface water
quality. Very few of them include an evaluation of
societal changes in reaction to climate change
prognoses and consequences for biodiversity.
There is a clear need for further research in order
to better understand how climate change impacts
affect groundwater, in order to eventually
scientifically support the implementation of the
Water Framework Directive, the Groundwater
Directive and EU policy initiatives on ´Water
Scarcity and Droughts’ and ‘Climate Change
Adaptation and Mitigation with respect to
groundwater. A key research theme that we
identified is the need to: “Develop methodologies
to understand, evaluate and predict climate change
impacts on groundwater resources and interlinked
surface waters and ecosystems in order to
eventually define climate-robust set of measures”
The focus should be on both monitoring systems,
which support signalling the effects of primary and
secondary climate change impacts on groundwater
resources and on developing methodologies and
modelling tools to understand and predict the
effects of both types of impacts.
The methodologies should be able to assess the
effects of local and regional measures and to
produce scenario analyses, which help to select
effective sets of counter effective measures,
including scenarios for the conjunctive use of
groundwater and surface waters and the
assessment of favourable locations for artificial
recharge of groundwater. A concrete proposal for
EU funded research under the FPVII or FPVIII
umbrella is attached in the Appendix.
appendix: a concrete proposal for research under fPvII/fPvIIIunderstanding the Impacts of Climate Change on Quantity and Quality of Groundwater Resources
Introduction
The potential impacts of climate change on water
resources have long been recognised, but still
there has been comparatively little research
related to groundwater, although it represents the
major part of the exploited water resources in
many EU member states. Moreover, the main
focus of climate change research regarding
groundwater has been on quantifying the likely
primary impacts of changing precipitation and
temperature patterns on water quantity in small
localised catchments. However, other secondary
impacts including an increase in water demands
and changes in agricultural practices may have
even stronger effects on the sustainable
management of groundwater systems.
Global warming is likely to have substantial direct
and indirect impacts on both groundwater quantity
and quality across Europe. In Denmark and in
many other EU member states increasing winter
precipitation may result in increasing nutrient
leakage, and hence work against measures
planned in order to assure compliance with the
Water Framework and Groundwater Directives and
decrease the nutrient loads to associated aquatic
ecosystems (Andersen et al., 2006). In southern
Europe, where water resources are predominantly
groundwater based, global warming is likely to
reduce overall water availability with warmer and
drier summers and more extreme rainfall events
year round.
The EU workshop revealed that climate change is
expected to impact groundwater significantly in the
rest of Europe too. Even for moderate climates
relevant shifts in the length of the recharge season,
the snowmelt period and the occurrence of
prolonged droughts are predicted to occur, which
may well lead to an overall reduction of groundwater
recharge (Goderniaux et al. 2009) and water
scarcity at the end of the summer period (Huss et
al. 2010) or to increased transfer of nutrients from
groundwater towards lakes and estuaries
(Roosmalen et al. 2011).
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page 39 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Regarding the primary impacts of climate change
on groundwater, much is still unknown about:
• the effects of extreme hydrometeorological
events, including the propagation of floods and
meteorological droughts towards groundwater
• changes in temporal patterns of groundwater
recharge
• the impacts of the quality of groundwater renewal
• possible increased or altered risk for leaching and
transport of contaminants and nutrients and its
effects on groundwater ecology
• the impact on groundwater and stream water
and contaminant fluxes towards aquatic and
terrestrial ecosystems
• changes in patterns of groundwater-surface
water interactions which also affect the WFD and
GWD risk assessments related to the chemical
and quantitative status of surface water and
groundwater bodies.
However, the largest short term effects of climate
change might be due to human actions that react
on the actual and predicted changes in precipitation
and temperature patterns. Examples of such
secondary impacts are the increase of water
demands and abstractions of groundwater for
irrigation due to higher evaporation which may
lead to falling water tables and salt water intrusion
(Oude Essink, 2010). Worldwide there is a large
increasing trend in groundwater abstractions and
groundwater depletion (Wada et al. 2011) which
may amplify as a result of climate change.
Other secondary impacts are related to
adaptations of Europe’s energy policies, including
the increased production of energy crops which
may change groundwater quality by increasing use
of fertilizers and pesticides and increased water
needs, the storage of heat and CO2 and nuclear
waste and the search for unconventional fossil
fuels. Studies which try to understand the effects
of these adaptations are few.
Moreover, little is yet done on monitoring of the
long term effects of climate change in groundwater,
which makes it difficult to distinguish between
natural and manmade changes to groundwater
systems. For example, long term monitoring of
water tables, spring discharge and runoff is very
scarce. There is a need to systematically assess
historical monitoring data in order to understand
the response of the groundwater to climatological
changes in the past by developing techniques such
as hindcasting, but also to develop methods to
design improved and integrated monitoring and
modelling of groundwater and surface water.
Eventually, properly designed monitoring systems
should enable us to record future changes related
to primary and secondary effects of climate
change, for example by the monitoring of spring
discharges and groundwater recharge rates and
quality, by systematically applying groundwater
age tracers and dating techniques.
Research topic
Develop methodologies to understand, evaluate and predict the impacts of climate change on groundwater resources and interlinked surface waters and ecosystems
The focus of the proposed research should be on
Europe wide assessment of the primary and
secondary impacts of climate change on
groundwater resources and groundwater
receptors. This includes both the quantitative
aspects (e.g. changes in temporal and spatial
recharge patterns and increased water use), the
chemical aspects (e.g. changes in transformation
and degradation of chemicals, changing pathways
of pollutants and groundwater-surface water
interaction) and the ecological aspects (e.g. changes
in groundwater ecology and derivation of threshold
values to protect ecosystems). By assessing the
potential impacts, the research should also clarify
what consequences are expected for reference
conditions, such as baseline shifts which may
impact on groundwater.
The research should include an evaluation of
societal changes in reaction to climate change
prognoses, both related to water and energy
policies. It should develop methods to understand
the possible adverse effects of CCS practices,
thermal heat storage and the search for
unconventional fossil fuels on future groundwater
uses and ecosystem services. It should also
highlight the opportunities for using bio-indicators
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page 40 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
in groundwater as an early warning and evaluation
technique to deduce the effects of extreme
hydrometeorological events on groundwater and
associated ecosystems.
The research should improve the predictive
assessments of climate change impacts.
This includes the development of fully coupled
soil-unsaturated zone-saturated zonesurface water
models capable of simulating long term behaviour
of hydrological systems, but with a very high
temporal resolution which enables us to see the
changes in seasonal patterns on water table
depths, water quality and fluxes towards surface
water and groundwater dependent ecosystems..
There is need to assess the uncertainty of the
predictions by integrating the newest research
results on contaminant fate and progress made in
climate research, using the results of project like
ENSEMBLES and PRUDENCE. The predictive
methodologies should be able to produce scenario
analyses, which help to select effective sets of
counter effective measures, including scenarios for
the conjunctive use of groundwater and surface
waters and the assessment of favourable locations
for artificial recharge of groundwater.
However, we should also invest in underpinning
research based on collection of field data, because
spatial heterogeneity in climatic, hydrogeological
and hydrogeochemical conditions leads to
uncertainties, which should be understood before
proper modelling can reveal realistic scenarios of
changes. The opportunities of Earth observation
methods, such as GRACE and HOBE, should also
be investigated in order to reduce uncertainty
and may help to extrapolate monitoring and
modelling results (link with GEO), and downscale
from global to local models. The research should
set the basis for a Europe wide system of
groundwater monitoring focused on long term
records of recharge rates, water table depths,
spring discharges and water quality, which will
enable future signalling of unexpected changes
and the evaluation of measures that aim to reduce
the effects of global and manmade changes.
Expected Impact
The understanding obtained through the proposed
research will help EU member states to properly
identify probable climate change impacts on
groundwater systems and help to focus measures
in the third and fourth River Basin Management
Plans. The research will help to identify primary
and secondary climate change impacts on water
demands and water supply over Europe, to
develop smart and integrated monitoring and
modelling programmes and to design tailor-made
programmes of adaptation measures to avoid or
counteract these impacts. The predictive models
that will be developed will enable to understand
the effects of local and regional measures and to
run robust scenario analyses, which will help to
select effective sets of adaptation measures.
Eventually the research will help to make the
RBMP climate proof and groundwater and surface
water management climate resilient.
References
- Andersen et al. 2006, Sc. Total Env. 365:223-237
- Goderniaux et al. 2009, J. of Hydr. 373:122-138
- Huss et al. 2007, Hydr. Process. 22:3888-3902
- Roosmalen, L. van et al. 2011, Vadose Zone J.
10:136-150
- Wada Y. et al. 2009, Geophys. Res. Letters 37:
L20402
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page 41 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Expert Group on CO2 storage
1. Mission and vision
CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) can be a vital
technology in the mitigation of climate change over
the next few decades and a rapid implementation
is required to reduce CO2 emissions in time.
The acceptance and technical success of CCS relies
largely on the safe and permanent geological
storage of CO2. To achieve this objective, proper
legislation, objective evaluation of projects, and
expertise and quality data on the deeper
subsurface are required. The Geological Surveys
have the relevant data, expertise and objectivity,
facilitating their meaningful contribution to a
successful implementation of the emerging
technology.
The expert group EGS.CO2 directly groups the
expertise of 16 Geological Surveys and is the
official voice of the Geological Surveys of Europe
on CO2 Capture and Storage. Its mission is to
engage in a dialogue with the relevant European
institutes, and use its own expertise to interface
between European and national policy levels.
As such its agenda is closely linked to the
transposition, evolution and interpretation of the
CCS directive. EGS.CO2 offers a unique platform
to monitor national and European activities at first
hand and to take up the challenge to play a very
significant role in the future development, evolution
and deployment of CCS in Europe and beyond.
2. Scope and focus
Historically, Geological Surveys have fuelled the
thriving European economies by providing
knowledge about coal, oil and natural gas
resources in the continent and further afield.
In the process the Surveys have built up a profound
understanding of the Earth’s subsurface and have
become the caretakers of huge amounts of
geological information. EGS.CO2 wishes to ensure
that this expertise is applied to the correct, reliable
and flawless implementation of CCS, and on
storage projects in particular.
Societies throughout the world are engaged in a
largely cooperative race to decarbonise the global
economy. Europe stimulates this process and it is
demonstrating that a continent can successfully
set and meet emission and renewable technology
targets. CO2 Capture and geological Storage (CCS)
is projected to become an essential part of this
process in the near future. It has the potential to
reduce the overall cost of climate measures in very
low emission scenarios and offers the potential to
achieve even deeper and earlier CO2 reduction
targets. Decarbonisation of the power sector is
often cited, but CCS is also the only solution for
drastic emission cuts in sectors such as iron and
steel, cement, petrochemistry, etc. for which in
contrast to the power sector, no ‘renewable’
alternatives exist.
Geological storage of CO2 forms the key element in
the CCS scheme. CO2 needs to be stored
permanently in geological formations in order to
turn CCS into a technological success. In spite of
the complexity and uniqueness of each storage
project, society is not likely to accept failure of the
projects that seek to demonstrate the viability,
and safety and security of this technology.
EGS.CO2 recognises the ambitious climate goals
that society is faced with, and the benefits that
CCS offers in this respect. As such, CCS should be
considered as a necessary mid-term portfolio
option because of the way it facilitates meeting
substantial climate change targets. At the same
time it is sufficiently expensive to result in a
reduced use of fossil fuels in the long-term thus
facilitating a transition towards other less carbon
intense energy resources, including
renewable,sources.
However, EGS.CO2 is very well placed to see that
CCS is currently at a tipping point. A successful
demonstration of CCS projects in Europe, especially
of the geological aspects, will lead to wide-scale
deployment of this technology driven only by the
ETS price of CO2 when this attains the expected
and commercially viable levels. We envisage that
there will be a commensurate rapid increase in
demand for private, project related expertise, but
equally for governmental competence because
national Competent Authorities will become
responsible for approving, follow-up and aftercare
of storage sites, especially for safety control and
verification.
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page 42 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
The Geological Surveys need to play their role to
prevent a potential vacuum in expertise vital to
servicing all of these requirements.
There is also the risk that the situation may tip in
the opposite direction. Geological Storage of CO2
holds very little direct risks to man or nature.
Nevertheless, the perception is such that even a
minor geotechnical failure may be perceived as
sufficient proof that the technique should not be
deployed on a large scale. The geological community,
led by the Geological Surveys, therefore carries the
responsibility to ascertain the highest possible level
of quality of the projects. Geological Surveys may
also use their environmental expertise to
implement the monitoring plans that need to detect
potential leakage at the earliest possible stage.
EGS.CO2 therefore promotes, depending on the
national context, the active participation of national
Surveys in such projects, or alternatively
encourages them to assume the role of the
attentive and objective observer. EGS.CO2 takes
upon itself the role of watchdog and communicator
with open channels to European and National
policy levels.
3. trends in 2011 and the response of EGS.CO
2
After 2010, which was a labor intensive year
focused on the review of the Guidance Documents
that assist the CCS directive, 2011 was largely a
year that was used to refocus the group. 2011 was
also a year which put CCS less optimal conditions,
with the economic crisis limiting investments and
resulting in a low ETS price, and the Fukoshima
incident which increased the risk aversion of the
general public, including that towards the relatively
unknown concept of geological storage. A result of
this drastically changed context is that fewer than
expected demonstration projects will be realized.
This trend has increased the importance of the
geological surveys in the development of CCS.
Industry, and in future possibly also other research
institutes, may reduce their efforts to take CCS
forward, which may endanger the realization of
climate targets. The new agenda of EGS.CO2
specifically targets at assisting CCS initiatives, and
especially those related to CO2 geological storage.
The 2011 annual meeting of EGS.CO2 was
organized using a new format which was positively
received by its members, and consisted of two
parts. During one day, a face to face meeting was
organized to which a limited number of partners
assisted for in-depth discussion of the meeting
agenda. On the following day, a skype debriefing
was organized, with a slide show acting as draft
meeting report, for those partners that could not
attend. This format ensured that the budget
restrictions for travelling do not affect the joined
actions of the group.
4. future perspectives
EGS.CO2 is working on a topic where numerous
actors are active, and its experts are typically
involved in several comparable groups (each with
its own, but nevertheless overlapping scope).
This requires a proper profile: EGS.CO2 puts
emphasis on issues typically important for Geological
Surveys. Further this requires a considered use of
efforts, especially where potential activities can, or
are already framed, in a context where funding is
available. EGS.CO2 therefore takes an observing,
but not necessarily passive approach, and will first
of all stimulate/support activities or point out
missing activities (catalyst, connecting the dots).
Only when required, will non-financed practical
work be initiated.
In view of networking activities, the annual meeting
decided on the following, which needs to be
formalised in 2012: ‘EGS.CO2 recognises the value
of CGS Europe (now as a project, in the future as
an association - expansion of the CO2GeoNet
membership), and chooses to support their
activities rather than duplicate them or compete in
any other way’, as well as listing the differences
between CGS Europe and an ad-hoc network of
geological surveys.
Regarding websites and communication, it was
agreed that other groups are better placed to take
specific actions regarding public communication,
although individual members are encouraged to
do so. On the other hand, communication to
government officials is retained on the action list.
EGS.CO2 considers it important that a web-portal
for data on CO2 geological storage is established.
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page 43 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
After contacts with the leading surveys, it was to
take action in case the proposal CO2StoP would
not be approved. In mean time, this project has
been approved and is supported by
EuroGeoSurveys. Parallel activities such as those
in IEA-RoadMap are being followed.
This allows focussing on another priority topic,
which is referred to as basin-scale models. It is
essential that geology in general, and geological
reservoirs in specific, are being evaluated at basin
level instead of national level. These transboundary
issues will be initiated and brought to the attention.
As in 2011, EGS.CO2 will assist to the Information
Exchange Meetings of the European Commission.
On the other hand, the efforts to come to an
exchange of experience regarding legal issues
(transposition of the CCS directive, permitting
issues…) will be intensified.
Lastly, cross-over initiatives with other expert
groups within EuroGeoSurveys are foreseen,
with concrete plans to establish a common vision
on the potential for conflicts of interest for CCS and
geothermal projects.
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page 44 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Geochemistry Expert Group
1. Executive summary
The EuroGeoSurveys Geochemistry Expert Group
was very active during 2011 with (a) the final
editing and publication of the book “Mapping the
Chemical Environment of Urban Areas”, (b)
assessing the quality of new GEMAS analytical
results [total C and S, total organic carbon (TOC),
cation exchange capacity (CEC), XRF, pH, and
particle size distribution (PSD) analysis] and the
writing of the relevant report, (c) the release of
GEMAS national data sets for processing and
interpretation, and whole data sets to people
responsible for the interpretation of European wide
geochemical patterns on specific elements,
(d) presentation of project results at conferences,
symposia, seminars and workshops, (e) writing of
papers for publication in journals and books,
(g) writing of articles for the EuroGeoSurveys
newsletter and annual report, and (h) production of
PowerPoint material for the GEO (Group on Earth
Observations) Ministerial Summit.
The annual meeting of the Group was held in
October 2011, and was hosted by the Geological
Survey of Finland. Apart from discussions on
ongoing projects (GEMAS and URGE), there were
many interesting presentations on both projects,
but also food for thought with respect to the
interpretation of new FOREGS Geochemical Atlas
of Europe data on fluoride, chloride and bromide.
2. Introduction
The Geochemistry Expert Group has at present
56 official members. In addition, there are 43 associate
members from geological survey and non-survey
organizations that participate in the GEMAS and
URGE projects, which are scheduled to be
completed in 2013 and 2015, respectively, and
another 65 contributors to the Urban Geochemistry
Book project, which was completed in April 2011
with the publication of the book “Mapping the
Chemical Environment of Urban Areas” (Johnson
et al., 2010).
3. Mission and vision
3.1. Mission
The mission of the EuroGeoSurveys Geochemistry
Expert Group is to provide high quality geochemical
data of near-surface materials, to develop
harmonised databases for multi-purpose use, and
to offer independent expert advice to the European
Commission.
To achieve this mission, systematic geochemical
data for the whole of Europe are generated by
harmonised methods of sampling of near-surface
materials (soil, stream or floodplain sediment,
water), sample preparation, chemical analysis,
quality control, data processing, and presentation.
The systematic geochemical information is
published in the form of geochemical atlases, which
are freely available, and can be used for (a) state
of the environment reports, (b) mineral exploration,
(c) agriculture, (d) forestry, (e) animal husbandry,
(f) geomedicine or medical geology, (g) determination
of natural background values for environmental
risk assessment, etc.
Why are Geochemical Atlases important? The answer is given by Darnley et al. (1995, p.X; [www.globalgeochemicalbaselines.eu/files/Blue_Book_GGD_IGCP259.pdf]): ‘Everything in and on the earth - mineral, animal and vegetable - is made from one, or generally some combination of, the 86 naturally occurring chemical elements. Everything that is grown, or made, depends upon the availability of the appropriate elements. The existence, quality, and survival of life depend upon the availability of elements in the correct proportions and combinations. Because natural processes and human activities are continuously modifying the chemical composition of our environment, it is important to determine the present abundance and spatial distribution of the elements across the Earth’s surface in a much more systematic manner than has been attempted hitherto’. Systematic geochemical mapping is considered, therefore, as the best available method to document changes in the levels of chemical elements in materials occurring at or below the Earth’s surface.
3.2. vision
The EuroGeoSurveys Geochemistry Expert Group’s
aim is to be regarded as the body that provides
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page 45 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
high quality harmonised geochemical data of
near-surface materials to support European policy
and decision makers, but also to supply sound
background data to scientists for their research,
and to the public, in general, for education and
other purposes.
4. focus and scope
The focus of the EuroGeoSurveys Geochemistry
Expert Group is to produce high quality harmonised
geochemical data sets of near-surface materials
for multipurpose use. The scope is to bring under
the same umbrella applied geochemists from all
EGS member institutions, and to act as a forum for
the exchange of expertise and to work together in
order to deliver good quality professional products
and services to European Union countries.
Innovation can include, but is not limited to,
the following:
• To develop creative collaboration between EGS
member surveys in the field of applied geochemistry.
• To incorporate new innovative technologies in
applied geochemical investigations, e.g., stable
isotopes, Mid-InfraRed spectroscopy (MIR),
Mobile Metal Ion analysis (MMI), etc. in order to
improve and expand data interpretation and,
thus, improve the service to end-users.
• To introduce new outreach services for the
benefit of end-users.
• To test new ideas in order to improve products
and services.
• To continuous redefine the role of the Expert Group
to meet new challenges.
• To develop processes that encourage effective
organisational innovation.
• To find new ways of making geochemical data
sets more useful to end-users.
• To discover unmet end-user needs.
The EuroGeoSurveys Geochemistry Expert Group
publishes original research, reports on innovative
practices and case studies, and publishes books
and atlases. It also disseminates its work findings
and experience through participation in conferences,
seminars and workshops.
5. the european dimension
Table 1 summarises European Commission (EC)
Directives that require European wide harmonised
geochemical data. In the sections of the different
on-going projects during 2011, the relevant EC
Directives are given. It is noted that all projects are
INSPIRE compliant (EC, 2007).
Table 1. Summary of some European Commission
(EC) Directives driving the demand for
harmonised geochemical background data
across political borders (modified from
Johnson and Demetriades, 2011, Table 2.3,
p.22)
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page 46 I EGS 2011 Annual Reportthe shape of our business
EC Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC)
This requires Member States to meet a good ecological status for water quality objectives (except where deviations from the standard are justified); and to identify basic and supplementary measures to deal with point source and diffuse pollution. The directive will be managed on the basis of River Basin Districts (one or more drainage catchments).
Geochemical background data for low order streams produced by the European Geochemical Atlas project can provide information about surface water quality for farmers and those who manage land. In addition, the data produced by the project on Ground water Geochemistry using bottled water as ‘proxy’ can be used to assess the quality of ground water, but also bottled water with respect to inorganic constituents. Regulatory bodies and administrators can use these data to determine guideline levels for elemental concentrations.
EC Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive (IPPC) (2008/1/EC), it replaces Directive 96/61/EC
It has been formulated to implement the EC Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive (96/61/EC). Its objective is to control pollution from industry.
Geochemical background data can be used by both industry and regulators to assess the impact of polluting industries on the environment. The geochemical background data provide a reference point against which changes can be measured.
EC Sewage Sludge Directive (86/278/EEC) This directive seeks to encourage the use of sewage sludge in agriculture, but regulates its use in order to protect the environment from its harmful effects.
Geochemical background data can be used to monitor and model the impact on the environment of sewage sludge.
Proposed EC Soil Directive Directive under consideration. The European Union included in the 6th Environmental Action Programme the ‘Thematic Strategy on Soil Protection’ that will lead in the future to an EU soil protection Directive.
Geological Surveys are the only organisations systematically sampling soil from urban areas, and can establish the urban geochemical background in order to assess the impact of human induced pollution. Geological Surveys are, in fact, the only organisations in Europe that have the necessary experience for carrying out continental scale geochemical mapping and monitoring projects.
EC Mine Waste Directive (2006/21/EC) This proposed directive is seen as a supplementary measure to the WFD to minimise the adverse effects on the environment, caused by waste from the extractive industries.
Geochemical background data can be used to monitor and model the impact on the environment of mine waste.
EC Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) This directive is concerned with the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora.
Climatic or anthropogenic changes to the geochemistry of the surface environment that may impact on fauna and flora can be monitored using geochemical background data of the surface environment.
EC Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC) The Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations of 2002, implement the EC Landfill Directive, which aims to prevent or reduce the negative environmental effects of landfill.
Geochemical data can be used to monitor and model the impact on the environment of landfills.
INSPIRE Directive (2007/2/EC) Establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Union for making available relevant, harmonised, and quality geographic information to support formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies and activities that have a direct or indirect impact on the environment.
Harmonised geochemical background data for the whole of Europe are needed in order to assess impacts on the environment.
REACH Directive (EC 1907/2006) [Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of CHemical substances] - The new law entered into force on 1 June 2007
The aim of REACH is to improve the protection of human health and the environment through the better and earlier identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical substances. There is a need to fill information gaps to ensure that industry is able to assess hazards and risks of the substances, and to identify and implement the risk management measures to protect humans and the environment.
Geochemical background data are needed to establish the variable geochemical background across Europe, and the local maximum threshold values, against which any future changes can be monitored.
page 47 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
5.1. agricultural and Grazing land soil geochemistry
The Agricultural and Grazing land soil geochemistry
project (GEMAS) fulfils requirements of the following
EU Directives, regulations, and communications:
(1) Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 18 December
2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation,
Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals
(REACH), establishing a European Chemicals
Agency, amending Directive 1999/45/EC and
repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 793/93
and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1488/94
as well as Council Directive 76/769/EEC and
Commission Directives 91/155/EEC, 93/67/EEC,
93/105/EC and 2000/21/EC (EC, 2006a, 2007);
(2) Directive 2004/35/CE of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004
on environmental liability with regard to the
prevention and remedying of environmental
damage (EC, 2004);
(3) European Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on
Classification, Labelling and Packaging of
Substances and Mixtures (CLP Regulation),
adopting in the EU the Globally Harmonised
System (GHS) (EC, 2008a), and
(4) Communication from the Commission to the
Council, the European Parliament, the European
Economic and Social Committee, and
the Committee of the Regions: Thematic
Strategy for Soil Protection (EC, 2006b).
The administration of REACH (Registration,
Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals),
the new European Chemicals Regulation adopted
in December 2006 (EC, 2006a, 2009), and the
pending EU Soil Protection Directive (Van Camp et
al., 2004; EC, 2006b), require additional knowledge
about “soil quality” at the European scale. REACH
specifies that industry must prove that it can
produce and use its substances safely. Risks, due
to the exposure to a substance during production
and use at the local, regional, and European scale,
all need to be assessed. In contrast, to human-
made organic substances that do not occur
naturally in the environment, all industries dealing
with natural resources will face in the near future a
number of specific questions:
Most of their “products” occur also naturally - the natural background variation needs to be established, in addition to a methodology to differentiate the industrial impact from the natural geogenic background.What is the “bioavailability” of metals and other chemical elements in soil?What is the long-term fate of metals and other chemical elements added to soil?
Besides fulfilling the conditions of EC policy
documents, it satisfies other EU international
commitments, such as (i) the United Nations
Strategic Approach to International Chemicals
Management (SAICM) (UNEP, 2006), and (ii) the
OECD Work on Investigation of High Production
Volume Chemicals (OECD, 2009).
5.2. European Ground water Geochemistry (EGG-Project)
The ground water geochemistry project, using
bottled water as “proxy”, fulfils conditions of the EC
Directive 2000/60/EC (EC, 2000), and its results
should assist the European Commission in its
legislative work on bottled waters with respect to
inorganic constituents, e.g.,
(1) Directive 65/65/EEC of 26 January 1965 on the
approximation of provisions laid down by law,
regulation or administrative action relating to
medicinal products (EC, 1965);
(2) Directive 80/777/EEC of 15 July 1980 on the
approximation of the laws of the Member States
relating to the exploitation and marketing of
natural mineral waters (EC, 1980a)
(3) Directive 80/778/EEC. Council Directive of 15 July
1980 relating to the quality of water intended for
human consumption (EC, 1980b)
(4) Directive 96/70/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 28 October 1996 amending
Council Directive 80/777/EEC on the approximation
of the laws of the Member States relating to the
exploitation and marketing of natural mineral
waters (EC, 1996)
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page 48 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
(5) Directive 98/83/EC of 3rd November 1998 on
the quality of water intended for human
consumption (EC, 1998)
(6) Directive 2003/40/EC/16-5-2003/ establishing
the list, concentration limits and labelling
requirements for the constituents of natural
mineral waters and the conditions for using
ozone-enriched air for the treatment of natural
mineral waters and spring waters (EC, 2003)
(7) Directive 2008/32/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2008
amending Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a
framework for Community action in the field of
water policy, as regards the implementing
powers conferred on the Commission
(EC, 2008b).
Further, the information produced can also be used
in the national legislative procedure of European
Union member countries.
5.3. urban geochemistry
(1) Communication from the Commission to the
Council, the European Parliament, the European
Economic and Social Committee, and the
Committee of the Regions: Thematic Strategy
for Soil Protection (EC, 2006b)
(2) EC Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control
Directive (IPPC) (2008/1/EC) (EC, 2008c).
6. activity report
6.1. Continued work with the fOREGS data
• Alecos Demetriades (Hellas) is involved with
interpretation of new Au data. He will prepare a
publication that incorporates FOREGS and
GEMAS Au data and the GEMAS Pd, Pt data.
• Reijo Salminen (Finland) is working on the fluoride,
chloride and bromide data, and some interpretation
problems were discussed during the October
2011 Annual Group meeting in Espoo.
• Benedetto De Vivo (Italy) and the Italian
Universities team have been working on the new
data to model the effects of lower density sampling
and cost-benefit in geochemical surveys.
A manuscript has been submitted for publication
in the Journal of Geochemical Exploration.
• Maria João Batista (Portugal) is preparing a
manuscript on Sn data.
• Ignace Salpeteur (France) has published one
paper in French:
Salpeteur, I. & Maldan, F., 2011. Valeurs de
reference pour les teneurs en éléments traces
dans les sols et les limons d'inondation obtenues
dans le cadre du nouvel Atlas géochimique
européen (II) [French geochemical baseline
data for trace elements in top- and bottom-
soils and overbanks of the shield areas and
sediment covers: A low density survey in the
FOREGS Geochemical Atlas of Europe (II)].
Environnement, Risques and Santé, 10(4), 299-315.
• Clemens Reimann (Norway) and Manfred Birke
(Germany) will determine a way forward with the
perchlorate analyses performed on the topsoil
samples that had been received from the USGS.
It is noted that due to problems at the USGS
laboratories, not all samples were analysed.
However, enough results are available to plot
a map.
• Clemens Reimann reported that there is no
progress with MIR analysis on FOREGS samples,
but that all GEMAS samples were measured. It is
quite apparent that the FOREGS samples will not
be analysed, and arrangements should be made
for the return of the samples to the BGS sample
storage facilities.
• The Chinese have published an article about the
comparison of FOREGS results as analysed in
European and Chinese laboratories (Wensheng
Yao et al., 2011, Geoscience Frontiers 2).
6.2. European Ground water Geochemistry project (EGG)
A geochemical atlas presenting the results was
published in August 2010: Reimann, C. and Birke,
M. (Editors), 2010. Geochemistry of European
Bottled Water. Borntraeger Science Publishers,
Stuttgart, 268 pp. [www.schweizerbart.de/
publications/detail/artno/001201002#].
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page 49 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Papers on national interpretations and specific
themes were also published in a Special Issue of
the Journal of Geochemical Exploration, i.e., Birke,
M., Demetriades, A. and De Vivo, B. (Guest
Editors), 2010. Mineral Waters of Europe. Journal
of Geochemical Exploration, 107(3), 217-422.
Until the end of 2011, 910 copies of the
“Geochemistry of European Bottled Water” were
sold, The EGG project results were presented in 8
conferences and workshops, one paper was also
published and the EGG atlas received an unusually
high number (10 to date) of positive independent
external reviews in international and national
journals.
6.3. Geochemistry of agricultural and Grazing land soil (GEMaS)
The GEMAS project is running according to plan.
All analytical results have been received, and passed
quality control. The following quality control report
was written and is freely available from NGU’s
website: [www.ngu.no/upload/Publikasjoner/
Rapporter/2011/2011_043.pdf]
National data sets were made available to each
country for processing and interpretation, and
whole data sets to Group members that are
responsible for writing papers or book chapters on
specific elements for all Europe. SGS, a Toronto,
Canada, based commercial laboratory has
promised free mobile metal ion analysis (MMI) for
the Ap samples.
A number of papers have been written, but not yet
published (details shall be reported in the 2012
annual report). The GEMAS project results were
presented in 10 conferences and workshops
through more 28 oral presentations and 3 poster
sessions .
6.3.1. GEMaS project Website and Google Earth photo database
Paolo Valera (Italy) is working on GEMAS project
website, and. Edith Haslinger (Austria) on a
“GEMAS Google Earth photograph database”,
where it will be possible to click on the sample sites
and be able to download the field photographs
(Figure 1). The website will be hosted on the server
of the Geological Survey of Austria.
6.3.2. GEMaS project calendar
Following the success of the interactive pdf 2011
calender, Peter Hayoz (Switzerland) has produced a
very attractive “GEMAS Project Calendar for the
year 2012”, based on field photographs from the
project. The 2012 GEMAS project calendar was
printed, and the printing costs paid from the royalties
earned from the sales of the EGG Atlas. Peter has
also prepared an interactive pdf version. Copies of
the calendar were sent to all GEMAS participants
and the EuroGeoSurveys Brussels office.
6.4. urban Geochemistry
6.4.1. urban Geochemistry Book project
Chris Johnson, Alecos Demetriades, Juan Locutura
and Rolf Tore Ottesen have edited a book on
“Urban Geochemistry”, which was published by
Wiley-Blackwell, and first released in April 2011.
the shape of our business
Figure 1. (a) Agricultural soil, Norway, and (b) Grazing land soil (Cyprus).
page 50 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
6.4.2. Specialist session on urban Geochemistry
EuroGeoSurveys sponsored with 200 Euro a
specialist session on “Mapping the Geochemical
Environment of Urban Areas” at the SEGH 2011
International Conference on Environment and
Health and 28th European Conference on
Environmental Geochemistry & Health, which was
held at Edge Hill University (Edge Hill, United
Kingdom) from the 11th to 14th April 2011
[www.edgehill.ac.uk/segh2011/specialistsessions/
mapping]. The conveners of the session were
Chris C. Johnson (United Kingdom) and Alecos
Demetriades (Hellas). The following oral
presentations were delivered:
• Ottesen, R.T. and Langedal, M., 2011. Urban
geochemistry and health in Norway in the period
1994-2011. Keynote presentation. SEGH 2011
Book of abstracts, p.1.
• Demetriades, A., Tassiou, S., Kaminari, M. and
Vassiliades, E., 2011. Urban and suburban
geochemical surveys in Hellas. SEGH 2011 Book
of abstracts, p.2.
• Pfleiderer, S., 2011. Urban geochemistry of Vienna,
Austria. SEGH 2011 Book of abstracts, p.2-3.
• Scheib, C., Everett, P., Flight, D., Green, K.,
Knights, K., Lister, T.R., Nice, A. and Scheib, A.,
2011. London Earth: The chemistry of the surface
environment in the UK’s most populous city.
SEGH 2011 Book of abstracts, p.3-4.
• Scanlon, R. and O’Connor, P., 2011. Dublin
SURGE (Soil Urban Geochemistry) project -
Baseline heavy metals and persistent organic
pollutants in Dublin topsoil. SEGH 2011 Book of
abstracts, p.5.
• Johnson, C.C. and Demetriades, A., 2011.
Mapping the chemical environment of urban
areas: Current issues and future developments.
SEGH 2011 Book of abstracts, p.6-7.
Arrangements were also made with the conference
organisers for EuroGeoSurveys to have a desk in
the main hall on which EGS promotional material
was displayed and disseminated to participants
(e.g., leaflets, bag, etc. - see Figure 3). As part of
the promotion of EGS publications, special
arrangements were made with the publishers of
both books “Mapping the Chemical Environment of
Urban Areas” (Wiley-Blackwell) and “Geochemistry
of European Bottled Water” (Borntraeger Science
Publishers) to send leaflets for inclusion in the
participant conference bags, and to offer the books
at reduced price.
Finally, since the SEGH conferences award prizes
to the best student oral and poster presentations
on urban geochemistry, Wiley-Blackwell provided
two copies of the Urban Geochemistry book for
this purpose. The profile of EuroGeoSurveys was
promoted well during the conference, and many
people learnt of its existence and published material.
the shape of our business
Figure 2. Front and back cover of the book “Mapping the Chemical Environment of Urban Areas”, published by Wiley-Blackwell in April 2011. Note the EuroGeoSurveys logo.
Figure 3. EuroGeoSurveys desk at the SEGH 2011 International Conference on Environment and Health, Edge Hill University, Edge Hill, United Kingdom.
page 51 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
6.4.3. urban Geochemistry project (uRGE)
The URGE project’s objective is to compare the
urban geochemistry of several European cities
using the same sampling protocol and analytical
procedures. It has already started, and is led by
Rolf Tore Ottesen of NGU. More than 25 members
of the group volunteered to sample a city for the
project. The main problem, however, is financing
sample analyses. It was agreed to use a
commercial laboratory for the analytical work and
that each participating city/survey must cover the
analytical costs. Up to date the following cities
have been sampled: Acerra-Marigliano (Napoli),
Aschersleben, Dublin, Hämeenlinna, Idrija,
Karlstad, Kristiansand, London (transect), Napoli
and Sisak; Ajka (Hungary) Athens, Lisbon and a
Croatian city may follow in 2012.
This is an important project, because it is dealing
with the chemical environment of urban areas,
where most of us live and work. Geological
Surveys are the only institutions that can map
systematically urban areas, and in a harmonised
manner to produce comparable data sets across
Europe, and have the know-how to distinguish
between the natural and urban (anthropogenically
modified) geochemical background. Furthermore,
legislatively driven demand for geochemical data
from the urban environment is now an important
requirement in the challenge to produce healthier
and cleaner towns and cities. It is, therefore,
important that in 2012 further cities are added to
the project.
The following presentations on Urban Geochemistry
were delivered at the annual Geochemistry Expert
Group’s meeting, which was held at the premises
of the Geological Survey of Finland in Espoo from
the 5th to the 6th October 2011:
Urban Geochemistry Book project:
• Johnson, C.C., Demetriades, A., Ottesen, R.T.
and Locutura, J., 2011. Mapping the chemical
environment of urban areas: Status report.
URGE project:
• Glennon, M., Scanlon, R., O’Connor, P., Finne,
T.E., Andersson, M., Eggen, O., Jensen, H.K.B.
and Ottesen, R.T., 2011. Dublin SURGE Project:
Baseline survey of heavy metals and organic
contaminants in topsoil in the greater Dublin area.
• Tarvainen, T., 2011. The Finnish URGE town
Hämeenlinna.
• Birke, M. and Rauch, U., 2011. URGE Project:
Urban geochemical mapping of Aschersleben.
• Albanese S., Cosenza A., De Vivo B. and Lima
A., 2011. The geochemical atlas of the Acerra-
Marigliano suburban area (Napoli) in the
framework of the URGE project.
• Ottesen, R.T., 2011. Urban geochemistry in Europe:
Norwegian contribution City of Kristiansand.
• Flight, D. and Scheib, A., 2011. A geochemical
transect through Greater London: Precious
metals and URGE.
• Ottesen, R.T., 2011. Plans for the final URGE report.
• Gosar, M. and Špela, B., 2011. Introduction to
URGE project in Idrija.
One Geological Survey publication:
• Tarvainen, T., 2011. Hämeenlinnan
taajamageokemia (Urban geochemistry in
Hämeenlinna city). In Finnish with an English
abstract. Hämeenlinnan ympäristöjulkaisuja 17.
City of Hämeenlinna and Geological Survey of
Finland, 30 pp.
6.5. Material for EuroGeoSurveys publications and presentations
An overview of the EGS Geochemistry Expert
Group activities was written and published in the
2nd Issue of EuroGeoSurveys News (April 2011) -
see pages 10-16. Another report was written and
published in the EuroGeoSurveys 2010 Annual
Report (see pages 40-48). Finally, PowerPoint
material was produced for the GEO (Group on Earth
Observations) Ministerial Summit, which has held
in Beijing, China, from 3-5 November 2011.
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page 52 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
6.6. 2011 annual meeting
The annual meeting of the Geochemistry Expert
Group was held from the 5th-6th October 2011 at
the amphitheatre of Geological Survey of Finland
(GTK) in Espoo, Helsinki, and on the 7th October at
Radisson Blu Hotel, Espoo. The GEMAS Executive
Committee held a meeting on the 4th October 2011
at GTK. Twenty-seven people attended the meeting.
The group received a very warm welcome to
Espoo by Dr. Keijo Nenonen, Director of Southern
Finland Office. The first two days were devoted to
group activities, including the URGE project.
The third day was totally devoted to national
presentations of GEMAS project results.
6.7. Participation in International projects
Members of the working group are collaborating in
a number of EU-funded research projects:
Maria Joao Batista (Portugal), Alecos Demetriades
(Hellas) and Juan Locutura (Spain) are participating
in the ProMine project (Nano-particle products
from new mineral resources in Europe -
[http://promine.gtk.fi]), which is financed by the 7th
Framework programme (2009-2013).
Alecos Demetriades (Hellas) is participating in the
GS Soil project (Assessment and strategic
development of INSPIRE compliant Geodata-
Services for European Soil Data - [www.gssoil.eu]),
which is a financed by the eContentplus
programme (2009-2012).
Clemens Reimann (Norway) has a “Norwegian
Financial Mechanism” project (Biogeochemistry of
the Czech Republic) with the Institute for Landscape
and Ornamental Gardening in Pruhonice.
6.8. 2012 annual meeting
The next meeting of the geochemistry group is
scheduled for early October 2012 in Lisbon. This is
an important meeting for the GEMAS project will
be finalised and the publication of the atlas planned.
The URGE project should also be in a stage to plan
its final reporting.
7. Results and impacts
The EuroGeoSurveys Geochemistry Expert Group,
since its first mandate in 1985 by the Western
European Geological Survey Directors (WEGS),
and its subsequent by the Forum of European
Geological Surveys Directors (FOREGS), and
EuroGeoSurveys has produced an enormous
amount of results that have been published in
reports and publications. A list of products from
1989 to 2008 can be viewed at: [www.
globalgeochemicalbaselines.eu/publications.html].
Significant milestones are:
• 1998: Salminen, R., Tarvainen, T., Demetriades,
A., Duris, M., Fordyce, F.M., Gregorauskiene, V.,
Kahelin, H., Kivisilla, J., Klaver, G., Klein, P.,
Larson, J.O., Lis, J., Locutura, J., Marsina, K.,
Mjartanova, H., Mouvet, C., O’Connor, P., Odor,
L., Ottonello, G., Paukola, T., Plant, J.A.,
Reimann, C., Schermann, O., Siewers, U.,
Steenfelt, A., Van Der Sluys, J. & Williams, L.,
1998. FOREGS Geochemical Mapping Field
Manual. Geological Survey of Finland, Espoo,
Guide 47, 36 pp. The electronic version of the
field manual can be downloaded from:
[www.gtk.fi/foregs/geochem/fieldman.pdf].
The field manual is in the process of being
updated to include sampling instructions for
Karst, Desert, Tropical and Arctic terrains.
• 2005: Salminen, R. (Chief Editor), Batista, M.J.,
Bidovec, M., Demetriades, A., De Vivo, B.,
De Vos, W., Duris, M., Gilucis, A., Gregorauskiene,
V., Halamic, J., Heitzmann, P., Lima, A., Jordan,
G., Klaver, G., Klein, P., Lis, J., Locutura, J.,
Marsina, K., Mazreku, A., O’Connor, P.J., Olsson,
S.Å., Ottesen, R.T., Petersell, V., Plant, J.A.,
Reeder, S., Salpeteur, I., Sandström, H., Siewers,
U., Steenfelt, A. & Tarvainen, T., 2005. FOREGS
Geochemical Atlas of Europe, Part 1: Background
Information, Methodology and Maps. Geological
Survey of Finland, Espoo, 526 pp. Available
online at: [www.gtk.fi/publ/foregsatlas]
• 2005: The establishment of the Geochemical
Atlas of Europe Interactive Website [www.gtk.fi/
publ/foregsatlas] by the Geological Survey of
Finland, which was an innovative venture at the
time, and continues to be for the dissemination of
the data sets, maps, text, photographs, etc.
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page 53 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
• 2006: De Vos, W., Tarvainen, T., Salminen, R.,
Reeder, S., De Vivo, B., Demetriades, A., Pirc, S.,
Batista, M.J., Marsina, K., Ottesen, R.T.,
O’Connor, P.J., Bidovec, M., Lima, A., Siewers,
U., Smith, B., Taylor, H., Shaw, R., Salpeteur, I.,
Gregorauskiene, V., Halamic, J., Slaninka, I., Lax,
K., Gravesen, P., Birke, M., Breward, N., Ander,
E.L., Jordan, G., Duris, M., Klein, P., Locutura, J.,
Bel-lan, A., Pasieczna, A., Lis, J., Mazreku, A.,
Gilucis, A., Heitzmann, P., Klaver, G. & Petersell,
V., 2006. Geochemical Atlas of Europe. Part 2 -
Interpretation of Geochemical Maps, Additional
Tables, Figures, Maps, and Related Publications.
Geological Survey of Finland, Espoo, 692 pp.
Available online at: [www.gtk.fi/publ/foregsatlas].
• 2006: Production of the Geochemical Atlas of
Europe CD, which includes the text of the two
parts of the Geochemical Atlas, all the
geochemical maps, field manual, and all the data
sets. Up to now more than 2500 original copies
have been disseminated world wide. In 2008,
the Executive Committee of the IUGS/IAGC
Global Geochemical Baselines Task Group
decided to produce a DVD to honour its first
chairperson, Dr. Arthur G. Darnley. The DVD
includes all the material of the Geochemical Atlas
of Europe CD, the book by Darnley et al. (1995),
and all publications concerned with continental
scale mapping from 1989 to 2008. The DVD was
first distributed at the 1st Symposium in honour
of Arthur Darnley, which was held during
the 33rd International Geological Congress in Oslo
(Norway) as a special session on the 9 August
2008 with the title “Geochemical Mapping from
the Global to the Local Scale: The Arthur Darnley
Symposium”. Since, then more than 1000 copies
of the DVD have been distributed world wide.
• 2008: EuroGeoSurveys Geochemistry Working
Group, 2008. EuroGeoSurveys Geochemical
mapping of agricultural and grazing land soil of
Europe (GEMAS) - Field manual. Geological
Survey of Norway, Trondheim, NGU Report
2008.038, 46 pp. Available online at:
[www.ngu.no/en-gb/hm/Publications/
Reports/2008/2008-038]
• 2009: Reimann C., Demetriades A., Eggen O.A.,
Filzmoser P. & the EuroGeoSurveys Geochemistry
Expert Group, 2009. The EuroGeoSurveys
geochemical mapping of agricultural and grazing
land soils project (GEMAS) - Evaluation of quality
control results of aqua regia extraction analysis.
Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim, NGU
Report 2009.049, 94 pp. Available online at:
[www.ngu.no/en-gb/hm/Publications/
Reports/2009/2009-049]
• 2010: Reimann, C. and Birke, M. (Editors), 2010.
Geochemistry of European Bottled Water.
Borntraeger Science Publishers, Stuttgart,
268 pp. Available for purchase at:
[www.schweizerbart.de/publications/detail/
artno/001201002#]
• 2010: Birke, M., Demetriades, A. and De Vivo, B.
(Guest Editors), 2010. Mineral Waters of Europe.
Journal of Geochemical Exploration, Special
issue, 107(3), 217-422. Available for purchase at:
[www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-
geochemical-exploration/special-issues] and
[www.sciencedirect.com/science/
journal/03756742/107/3]
• 2011: Johnson, C.C., Demetriades, A., Locutura,
J. & Ottesen, R.T. (Editors), 2011. Mapping the
Chemical Environment of Urban Areas.
Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK, 618 pp. Available
for purchase at: [http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/
WileyTitle/productCd-0470747242.htm]
• 2011: Reimann, C., Demetriades, A., Eggen,
O.A., Peter Filzmoser, P. & the EuroGeoSurveys
Geochemistry Expert Group, 2011.
The EuroGeoSurveys GEochemical Mapping of
Agricultural and grazing land Soils project
(GEMAS) - Evaluation of quality control results of
total C and S, total organic carbon (TOC), cation
exchange capacity (CEC), XRF, pH, and particle
size distribution (PSD) analysis. Geological
Survey of Norway, Trondheim, NGU Report
2011.043, 90 pp. Available online at:
[www.ngu.no/upload/Publikasjoner/
Rapporter/2011/2011_043.pdf]
The material produced by the EGS Geochemistry
Expert Group had considerable impact not only in
Europe, but globally, because the results of the
geochemical atlases were produced for the first
time in a harmonised manner, beginning from
sampling, sample preparation, analysis, quality
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page 54 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
control and map production. The most significant
innovation is the harmonisation of all procedures,
and, most importantly, the analysis of the same
suite of samples in the same laboratory, because
this is the only way to produce continent wide
harmonised results for decision makers,
researchers and the general public.
8. future perspectives
Future perspectives include (i) the publication of
the GEMAS atlas results in a book form by
mid-2013, (ii) publication of a number of papers
on GEMAS results during 2012 and 2013,
(iv) publication of second book on urban geochemistry
using URGE project results, (v) updating of
Geochemical Atlas of Europe and GEMAS
websites, and (vi) development of new projects,
such as lithogeochemistry of Europe, and update
of the FOREGS stream water geochemistry etc.
The GEMAS project got 33 references in peer-
reviewed journals, reports and books.
The Annual Report for 2012 was compiled and
edited by Alecos Demetriades with the assistance
of all EGS Geochemistry Expert Group and associate
members. The final version for submission to the
EGS office was approved by Clemens Reimann.
Moreover the EGS Geochemistry Expert Group
and associate members have attended more than
10 conferences and workshops giving 18 oral
presentations and presenting in 8 poster sessions.
Finally outcomes of the project included 10 publications
in peer-reviewed journals and 4 publications in
conference proceedings.
Trondheim, 3rd February, 2012
Dr. Clemens Reimann - Chairman,
EuroGeoSurveys Geochemistry Expert Group
E-mail: [email protected]
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page 55 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Mineral Resource Expert Expert Group
1. Executive summary
Mineral Resource Expert Group (MREG) is a forum
of experts and scientists of EGS members.
The main aim of the MREG is to coordinate EGS
members on the EU level with regard to the EU
projects related to minerals and to establish the
European Mineral Intelligence Network or other
form within the EGS members in the core. MREG
is supporting EU commission in its activities related
to Raw Materials Initiative (such as European
Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials) and is
also cooperating with the Member states through
ERAMIN network and the minerals industry.
The latter is done with an active involvement in the
European Technological Platform - Sustainable
Mineral Resources (ETP-SMR) where the EGS
office and MREG is acting as ETP SMR Secretariat.
All activities in 2011 were focused in the areas
mentioned above.
•
2. Mission and vision
The mission of the EuroGeoSurveys Mineral
Resources Expert Group (EGS MREG) is to provide
the best available mineral expertise and information
based on the knowledge base of member geological
surveys, for policy, industry, communication and
education purposes on European level.
EuroGeoSurveys Mineral Resources Expert group
(EGS MREG) wishes to become the leading partner
within a European Mineral Information Network, or
other form of cooperation, that will be providing
tools and expertise to support the sustainable
minerals supply for Europe. Mineral information
provided by EGS MREG is based on globally
comparable standards of excellence for science
and expertise and these standards will be maintained.
The vision will be carried out collaboratively with
other organizations that have mineral information
and expertise, and with consumers of that
information.
3. Scope and focus
With the Communication on Raw Materials
Initiative (RMI) in 2008 minerals related topics
returned on the political and research agenda of
European Commission as well as in the Member
States. One of the outcomes is also an increased
number of calls for the minerals projects. Many
EGS members are involved in the implementation
of those projects, some of them act as project
coordinators (BRGM, TNO, GeoZS). This trend is to
continue in the 2012 and beyond and it is based on
the Communication on Raw Materials in February
2011 and an expected adoption of the European
Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials (EIP RM).
The RMI communications created a historic
opportunity to establish the European Mineral
Intelligence Network (eMINEnt) on European
Union level. eMINEnt would be built on existing
national / member states capacities and other
international ones.
The focus of MREG is on two main areas:
•
• Information about and coordination of EU
projects related to minerals among all members
of EGS, especially those related EIP RM,
•
• Establishing European Mineral Intelligence
Network or other form within the EGS members
in the core,
Main features that are supporting the main activity
areas of MREG program are:
•
• To strengthen the EGS MR EG group and
relations with other relevant bodies or institutions
by improved communication and coordination,
•
• To focus on priorities:
•
• Communication on Raw Materials Initiative -
RMI and supporting actions (such as European
Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials)
•
• EU minerals projects (past & ongoing)
•
• Cooperation with the ERAMIN network and the
European Technological Platform - Sustainable
Mineral Resources (ETP-SMR)
•
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page 56 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
4. the European dimension
All MREG activities have an European dimension.
The Expert Group does not interfere on EGS
member state / geological survey level. MREG has
good contacts with the representatives of
European Commission (DG Enterprise, DG
Research and Innovation), as well as with the EU
mineral resources associations (Euromines,
UEPG, IMA-Europe). Chair of MREG is acting as
Executive Secretary of European Technological
Platform - Sustainable Mineral Resources
(ETP-SMR) Secretariat that is placed at EGS office.
5. activity report
The annual MREG meeting took place in May 2011
in Brussels. At the meeting major topics were
discussed and coordination among the MREG
members was improved.
The minerals projects (Promine, EuroGeoSource,
AEGOS, EOMINERS, SARMa) with the EGS
members were promoted at the EU Commission
level. MREG Chair made presentations also at the
EGS Strategic Workshop in Ljubljana (September
2011) and the EU Africa Conference in Brussels
(January 2012).
MREG Chair is/was a member of Advisory Board of
two projects and he attended project meetings:
• EUROGEOSOURCE - Budapest - March 2011
• AEGOS - Dakar - April 2011
Some MREG members attended the first ERAMIN
network meeting in November 2011 in Brussels,
and some a meeting of the exploration geology /
ore deposit geology scientists and experts in
Grenoble (October 2011) where an initiative (entitled
EODI) for the joint actions /research between public
institutions (academia, geological surveys,
institutes) and extractive industry was created.
The ETP SMR related activities involved several
meetings of the Steering Committee in Brussels
(September, November, December 2011 / January
2012) as well as the High Level Group meeting in
June and October 2011.
Some MREG members were acting as technical
assistance for the EU Commission at the EU -
Greenland workshop in Copenhagen (January
2012) where Greenland’s programme for mineral
exploration and infrastructure in Greenland was
presented.
•
6. Results and impacts
All activities of the MREG have been supporting the
ongoing EU Commission efforts related to RMI,
especially at the drafting of the relevant documents
(from non-papers to proposals, tenders and calls).
The project proposals of members of MREG group
resulted in the proposed call for the minerals
supply network as Coordination Action. The MREG
minerals network proposal was delivered to the
Commission as a ETP SMR proposal for action
within one of the EIP RM work packages (WP 3).
Impacts of the last year activities of MREG are hard
to measure, because actions and related impacts
are not clearly linked. However, it should be
exposed that almost all minerals related activities
on EU level are influenced by at least one of MREG
member, if not as MREG or EGS.
•
7. future perspectives
The first half of the year 2012 adoption of Innovation
Partnership (IP) on raw materials is expected, and
this will trigger several activities of which some are
already in the preparation phase. One of major
ones is a formulation of Knowledge and Innovation
Community (KIC) on Raw Materials. In this period
few important conferences and meetings are
planned, among them Brussels MREG meeting in
March (in conjunction with ICTF), GUES planes to
organize the Minerals conference in frame of
Danish Presidency, ETP SMR Stakeholders Forum
will take place ..etc. Beside that several tenders are
expected from DG Enterprise as well as the FP 7
call in summer (NMP, Environment).
Most EU minerals projects with EGS members are
in the stage that can present some results, and
their importance and impacts are growing within
the EU minerals community. MREG members will
stay active within the ERAMIN project (network or
mineral funding member state research agencies)
in order to prepare joint (coordinated among
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page 57 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
members states and EU Commission) minerals call.
MREG will stay active in the preparation of the
European Geological Infrastructure proposal with
its European Minerals Network (eMINEnt) proposal.
MREG and EGS office will run the ETP SMR
Secretariat throughout the whole year where a
further expansion of Secretariat is expected (a legal
entity, an increased amount and intensity of
activities).
Beside foreseen activities described above the
“regular” MREG activities need to happen as well.
These activities are: (1) communication among
MREG members, (2) coordination among ongoing
EU projects, (2) cooperation with other Expert
Groups / Task Forces (EOEG, ICTF ...), (4) active
cooperation with other organizations (cooperation
with USGS?) and activities (Raw Materials Group,
EU minerals related conferences, etc..).
Looking at the past and future report’s conclusion
should be:
there is a need for more capacity and synergy among the MREG members,
EGS Expert groups and EGS members!
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page 58 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Geoenergy Expert Group
This has been the second year with the
EuroGeoSurveys’ GeoEnergy Expert Group (EGS
GEEG). This Expert Group was generated under the
encouragement of the EU DG ENER and was first
thought only to be engaged with fossil fuels. Later
in 2010 it was decided that the task force also
should cover geothermal energy. The GeoEnergy
Expert Group consists of 22 representatives from
14 of the EuroGeoSurveys’ member organizations.
The EGS GEEG Mission and Vision statements are.
1. vision
The EGS GEEG wishes to become a leading partner
within a European fossil fuel and geothermal
information network that will provide expertise to
support the geoenergy supply for Europe. Geoenergy
information provided by EGS GEEG is based on
public available and accessible information and
data, which are of globally comparable standards
of excellence for science and expertise. The EGS’
geoenergy expertise will be provided for the
European Society. The vision will be carried out
collaboratively with other organizations that have
GeoEnergy information and expertise, and with
consumers of that information.
2. Mission
The EGS GEEG shall provide impartial, scientifically
robust information to advance the understanding of
fossil fuel energy and geothermal energy (geoenergy)
resources in Europe, to contribute to plans for a
secure energy future, to facilitate evaluation and
responsible use of energy resources, and to
analyse future geoenergy resources of Europe and
possibilities of their sustainable use.
The EGS GEEG research portfolio is responsive to
the EU Commission policies and priorities, either
established through legislative forms or not, internal
strategic planning, important and unanticipated
global events, customer surveys and needs,
and the guiding principles of objective and
impartial science.
3. the European dimension
The EGS GEEG was generated as a response to
a request from EU DG ENER. The request was
originally formed as a demand for an impartial
mapping and resource evaluation of the EU coal.
EGS decided that this request had merit for the
generation of a new Task Force - The EuroGeoSurveys
Fossil Fuels & Geothermal Energy Task Force.
The Task Force has within the last year developed
into an Expert Group - The EGS GEEG. As stated in
the vision the Task Force research portfolio will be
responsive to the EU Commission policies and
priorities, which will follow the guiding principles of
objective and impartial science.
4. activity report
Since May 2010 EGS GEEG has been a member of
the Berlin Forum Indigenous Fossil Fuels Working
Group under DG ENER.
5. Results and impacts
Due to the work carried out in the Berlin Forum
Indigenous Fossil Fuels Working Group the EGS
GEEG is by the DG ENER considered as their
independent experts and advisors on geological
matters with regards to geoenergy.
6. future perspectives
Eu unconventional PlaysThe task force will try starting a pilot study on a
study of gas potential of the Lower Paleozoic
shales in the Baltic Basin together with USGS.
It includes on- and offshore areas in the following
countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kaliningrad (Russian
enclave), Poland and Germany. The main reason
for such a corporation is that while the European
geological surveys has the data and knowledge on
the specific shale stratigraphy, sedimentology, and
petrography etc., USGS has built up, through their
work in the US, a vast experience in assessing the
shale gas potential.
The overall goal with this pilot study is to develop
the pilot into a study that covers the entire Europe,
financed by the Horizon 2020.
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Buchardt, Nielsen, Schovsbo, 1997
page 59 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Shale Gas Definitions on EGS web pageDuring discussions with DG ENER and DG ENV it
has become evident for EGS GEEG that there is a
need for a web site, where the public can get
objective information and definitions with regards
to Shale Gas. The EGS GEEG is planning to introduce
these information’s on the EGS web-site covering
a wide range of shale gas related issues e.g.
Conventional/Unconventional reservoirs, Shale Gas
in Europe, Potential environmental hazards, Casing
zones and cement, Horizontal Wells, Hydraulic
Fracturing, Micro seismicity, Fracture fluid.
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Fig. 2: Conventional/Unconventional reservoirs
page 60 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Spatial Information Expert Group
1. Executive summary
The implementation phase of the INSPIRE Directive
is critical for the success of the initiative to build the
European Spatial Data Infrastructure. EGS has
been very active in the INSPIRE process since its
inception in 2002, and is fully involved in the working
groups created by the Commission to prepare the
implementation rules. The role of the Spatial
Information Expert Group (formerly INSPIRE AND
Geographic Information Expert Group) as a
coordinating and supporting structure is therefore
important to guarantee that the impact of the Directive
for the surveys will be positive and to ensure that it
will contribute to build the European Geological
Data Infrastructure (EGDI), which is one of the main
strategic objectives of EGS, on the foundation of
the OneGeology-Europe distributed infrastructure.
The Expert Group is a pool of expertise of EGS
members to define, design, develop and maintain
the EGDI through the direct contribution of the
Geological Surveys and the support of European
funded projects.
2. Mission and vision
2. 1. Mission
The mission of the Spatial Information Expert
Group is to coordinate the efforts of the European
Geological Surveys to build the Geoscientific Spatial
Data Infrastructure, as a contribution to EGS
strategy. The Expert Group has a direct role to
contribute to the definition of the European policies
which aim at developing the European information
infrastructure (INSPIRE, SEIS, GMES). It is also a
place to share expertise between EGS members.
The current prime mission of the Spatial
Information Expert Group is to coordinate the
contribution of EuroGeoSurveys to the INSPIRE
implementation. In practical terms:
• to prepare the contribution of EGS to review the
INSPIRE implementing rules (IR), and to co-ordinate
with direct contributions from national surveys
experts involved in the Thematic Working Groups
• to share expertise between EGS members about
interoperability developments and implementation
• to prepare the maintenance of the INSPIRE
specifications and to co-ordinate relation
between EGS and standardization bodies
(IUGS/CGI, OGC,…).
As the other Expert Groups, the Spatial Information
Expert EG has also the mission to define and
propose projects that could be funded by the EC,
and could contribute to the global objectives of
EGS. In particular, the definition of the follow-up of
OneGeology-Europe to develop a common EGDI is
part of the current mission of the SIEG.
2. 2. vision
INSPIRE sets up a framework of data, technology,
policies, standards, and human resources,
necessary to facilitate the sharing and using of
spatial information. This broad and ambitious
objective has been recognized as strategic for the
Geological Surveys, giving the opportunity to
provide a better visibility, access and use to the
subsurface data, information and knowledge.
The development of the INSPIRE rules is therefore
very important to consider, as it will condition the
success and the efficiency of the implementation of
the European Spatial Data Infrastructure.
EGS has been involved in the design of the
Directive from 2003, and has been identified as a
very supportive and contributive community.
European projects, such as OneGeology-Europe
have demonstrated the capacity of EGS members
to develop and implement prototypes of INSPIRE
compliant infrastructures.
On a longer perspective, it is important to notice
the strong connection of INSPIRE with GMES and
with SEIS (Shared Environmental Information
System). SEIS aims at developing a comprehensive
European network of information services based
on the INSPIRE principles that could be used in
particular for reporting on environmental directives.
The maintenance of the INSPIRE specifications will
require a strong commitment from the communities,
and EGS will have to contribute.
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page 61 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Regarding the EGDI construction, it is important to
develop a shared vision of what will be this
infrastructure, how it will be managed, and how the
different contributions (both on the content and
technical dimensions) will be assembled in a
consistent manner. The capability of EGS to deliver
information services at the European scale to
respond to user needs will strongly depend on the
efficiency of this infrastructure.
3. Scope and focus
Spatial Information is really transverse in the
business of the Geological Surveys; it is an
important dimension of almost any information
managed by the surveys. Therefore, the SIEG has
strong connections will all the other EGS Expert
Groups that cover thematic areas, and which
contribute to the EGS information strategy in their
respective domain.
The SIEG focuses on the global consistency of the
way spatial information has to be defined, managed
and delivered to provide harmonised services at
the European scale. It also has to provide EGS with
a clear technical strategy to guarantee the adequacy
of the developments of its infrastructure in the
context of global spatial information infrastructures
(INSPIRE, GEOSS, SEIS, OneGeology…).
4. the European dimension
The INSPIRE process is divided into three phases
(the detailed roadmap is given in Annex):
• Preparatory phase (2004-2006)
• Transposition phase (2007-2009)
• Implementation phase (2009-2013).
The current phase of data specifications, which is
critical for the environmental information producers
(including the GSOs) will end in 2013. However,
the standardization process will not end and be
followed by an active maintenance activity that will
enhance and refine the harmonization of geospatial
information, and guarantee its consistency with the
requirements of the Environmental Reporting
obligations, and of the market needs.
The MOU signed between EGS and EEA formalizes
a part of the contribution of EGS to EU policy
through delivery of information services.
5. activity report
The SIEG had two physical meetings and a
teleconference in 2011:
• Brussels 30/01/2011 - 01/02/2011 - 25 participants,
objectives of the meeting :
- To share the information about the status of
development of the data specifications by TWGs
- To present an overview of the draft
specifications for the Geology, mineral
resources, energy, natural risk zones themes
- To collect the first comments and reactions on
this draft
- To organize the review, and testing of the
version that will be released in spring with the
contribution of the EGs and of the European
projects (Thermomap, Geoseas, Pangeo,
EuroGeoSource, Promine).
• Teleconference 09/05/2011
- Objective : follow-up on data specification
review process
• Edinburgh - 30/06/2011 - 20 participants (at the
occasion of the INSPIRE conference), , objectives
of the meeting :
- Define scope of EGS and projects contribution
to INSPIRE EC calls
- Identify contributions of GSOs and projects to
comments and testing of INSPIRE data
specifications for EGS related themes
- Identify leaders to coordinate the contributions
per theme
- Agree on an overall schedule for delivering the
EGS contribution.
Members of the SIEG were also invited to different
meetings:
• “EGS Strategy workshop” in Ljubljana : 02/09/2011
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page 62 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
• “EGS Directors meeting” in Warsaw : 20-21/09/2011
• “GE-MR TWG comment review meeting” in
Barcelona : 8-10/11/2011
• “GEO Plenary” in Istanbul - 16-17/11/2011 :
presentation of SIEG activities and projects,
participation to EGS booth
• “Inspire Comment Resolution Workshop” in Ispra
on 05-07 /12/2011
6. Results and impacts
6.1. Contribution to INSPIRE implementing rules
The main technical contribution has been related to
the INSPIRE data specification process. The EGS
experts (see list in annexe) have deeply contributed
to the TWGs work. It should be acknowledged that
the EGS experts have been the main contributors
for some data themes (including geology and
mineral resources), thus representing a significant
in kind contribution of EGS members to the
European process.
After the production of the V2.0 of the draft
specifications for annex II and III data themes, the
Commission issued two calls for reviewing and
testing these draft specifications.
The SIEG coordinated an EGS contribution to these
calls (EGS acting in its SDIC role).
Between July and end of October, 462 comments
were collected and consolidated from 15 geological
surveys (AUSTRIA, CZECH REPUBLIC,
DENMARK, FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY,
ITALY, POLAND, SPAIN, SWEDEN,
SWITZERLAND, THE NETHERLANDS, UK,
EMILIA ROMAGNA, CATALONIA).
This work has been conducted through the
coordination by different surveys for every data
theme relevant for EGS :
theme GSO CoordinatorGeology ISPRA Marco Pantaloni
Hydrogeology BGR Kristine Asch
Geophysics IGC Sara Figueras
Jordi Marturia
Natural Risk zones CZS Lucie Kondrova
Dana Capova
Mineral Resources SGU Lars-Kristian Stölen
Energy resources TNO Robert-Jan
VanLeeuwen
Coordinators of data specifications review per data
theme.
Contributions from the following projects were also
integrated: EuroGeoSource, Subcoast, Georg,
OneGeology-Europe, PanGeo, Promine,
Thermomap.
The GE-MR (Geology and Mineral Resources) TWG
received 1138 comments about Geology and 282
comments about Mineral Resources.
Every comment will receive a specific answer.
The Chai r of the SIEG was invited by the Commission
to the “Comment Resolution Workshop” in Ispra on
5-7 December 2011, EGS been invited to this
workshop as a major contributor to the process.
A draft V2.9 data specification is under preparation
by the TWGs and will be discussed soon with the
Commission before the final release of V3.0 in April.
6.2. EGDI development
After the decision of the EGS Directors to maintain
and develop the OneGeology-Europe infrastructure,
discussions about the content of its evolution and
the organization of the EGS data infrastructure was
discussed at different occasions (including the
January and June 2011 SIEG meetings).
Following the EGS meeting about strategy
(2nd September 2011 in Ljubljana), the SIEG was
asked to deliver a concept note to the Warsaw
General Meeting On 20-21 September. Given this
very short delay, a paper was prepared by a few
members of the SIEG and sent to the Directors and
to the SIEG members. It was the basis of the
discussion in Warsaw. The note proposed a work
plan, built as a project with work packages.
This document is a proposal to identify the different
objectives of development, and to structure the
work that has to be produced by the EGS members.
It addresses short term objectives which can be
achieved by a coordinated action of EGS (without
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page 63 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
external funding) and more long term and ambitious
objectives that require specific external funding.
As a first opportunistic attempt to attract external
funding, the “EGDI-Scope” proposal has been setup
by some EGS members and the EGS Secretariat in
November 2011, in response to an FP7 Infrastructure
Call. The answer to this proposal is expected in
March 2012.
The governance of the global EGDI initiative still
has to be decided by the EGS Directors, and the
role of the SIEG clearly defined.
6.3. Related projects
SIEG has shared information about the
development of some major projects developed by
EGS partners, as potential contributors of the future
EGDI : OneGeology-Europe Promine, AEGOS,
PANGEO, EuroGeoSource, Emodnet, GeoSeas,
Thermomap, GeoRG.
7. future perspectives
The finalisation of INSPIRE data specifications will
still mobilize the activity of our TWGs experts mainly
until April 2012 where they will deliver the V3.
The process of development of the data
specifications has indicated that the specifications
that will come in the legislation (with an obligation
to implement) will probably be more limited than
originally planned. A large part of the specifications
will therefore be published as recommendations
(no obligation to implement). This will give at the
same time more flexibility, and more control by the
communities. This means that EGS will have a key
role to play in the future to maintain and develop
those “extended” specifications.
EGS will have also to define its contribution to
the coming call for experts for the maintenance
of INSPIRE. The EGS position will be prepared by
the SIEG.
Regarding EGDI, the SIEG will contribute according
to the coming decision of Directors at the General
Meeting in March 2012.
SIEG will contribute to the EGS / EPOS partnership
that aims at facilitating the interoperability between
the two geo-infrastructures.
The SIEG will work on the necessary coordination
of EGS proposals to the next EC calls (FP7, ICT-PSP)
regarding development and implementation of
spatial data.
A face to face meeting of the SIEG is planned on
28th February 2012.
SIEG members will participate to the following
conferences:
• Eurogeo 2012 Conference in Bologna (INSPIRE
session) - June 2012
• INSPIRE 2012 Conference in Istanbul - June 2012
• IGC in Brisbane.(Session dedicated to the
development of the European geological
infrastructure) - August 2012.
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page 64 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
9. annexes
9.1. Detailed Roadmap of INSPIRE
adoption
the shape of our business
Milestone date Article Description
15-May-2007 - Entry into force of INSPIRE Directive
15-Aug-2007 22§2 Establishment of the INSPIRE Committee
14-May-2008 5§4 Submission for opinion of the INSPIRE committee of IR for
the creation and updating of metadata
03-Dec-2008 5§4 Adoption of INSPIRE Metadata Regulation
19-Dec-2008 21(4) Submission for opinion of the INSPIRE committee of IR for
monitoring and reporting
19-Dec-2008 16 Submission for opinion of the INSPIRE committee of IR for
discovery and view services
15-May-2009 24§1 Provisions of Directive are brought into force in MS
05-Jun-2009 17(8) Submission for opinion of the INSPIRE committee of IR governing
the access rights of use to spatial data sets and services for
Community institutions and bodies
05-Jun-2009 21(4) Adoption of COMMISSION DECISION regarding INSPIRE
monitoring and reporting
19-Oct-2009 16 Adoption of INSPIRE Regulation on Network Services
(Discovery and View)
14-Dec-2009 9(a) Submission for opinion of the INSPIRE committee of Irs for the
interoperability of spatial data sets and services for Annex I spatial
data themes
14-Dec-2009 16 Submission for opinion of the INSPIRE committee of IR for
download services
14-Dec-2009 16 Submission for opinion of the INSPIRE committee of IR for
transformation services
29-Mar-2010 17(8) Adoption of Regulation as regards the access to spatial data sets
and services of the Member States by Community institutions and
bodies under harmonised conditions
17-Jun-2010 9(a) Submission for opinion of the INSPIRE committee of amendment to
Regulation for the interoperability of spatial data sets and services
for Annex I spatial data themes on code lists
23-Nov-2010 16 Adoption of amendment of Regulation (EC) No 976/2009 as regards
download services and transformation services
23-Nov-2010 9(a) Adoption INSPIRE regulation for the interoperability of spatial data
sets and services for Annex I spatial data themes
04-Feb-2011 9(a) Adoption INSPIRE amendment to Regulation for the interoperability
of spatial data sets and services for Annex I spatial data themes on
code lists
June 20121 16 Submission for opinion of the INSPIRE committee of IR for the
services allowing spatial data services to be invoked
October 20121 9(b) Submission for opinion of the INSPIRE committee of IRs for the
interoperability of spatial data sets and services for Annex II and III
spatial data themes
Implementation MAFI Ferenc Sikhegyi
Milestone date Article Description
15-May-2010 21§1 21§2 Implementation of provisions for monitoring and reporting
03-Dec-2010 6(a) Metadata available for spatial data sets and services corresponding
to Annex I and II
30-Jun-2011 15 The EC establishes and runs a geo-portal at Community level
19-Oct-2011 17(8) Implementation of Regulation as regards the access to spatial data
sets and services of the Member States by Community institutions
and bodies under harmonised conditions for new arrangements
09-Nov-2011 16 Discovery and view services operational
page 65 I EGS 2011 Annual Reportthe shape of our business
23-Nov-2012 7§3, 9(a) Implementation of Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010
of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability
of spatial data sets and services for Newly collected and
extensively restructured Annex I spatial data sets available
December 20121 16 Transformation services operational
December 20121 16 Download services operational
04-Feb-2013 7§3, 9(a) Implementation of Commission Regulation (EU) No 102/2011
of 4 February 2011 amending Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010
implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and
of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and
services for newly collected and extensively restructured spatial
data sets
19-Apr-2013 17(8) Implementation of Regulation as regards the access to spatial data
sets and services of the Member States by Community institutions
and bodies under harmonised conditions for existing arrangements
03-Dec-2013 6(b) Metadata available for spatial data corresponding to Annex III
December 20143 7§3, 9(b) Newly collected and extensively restructured Annex II and III
spatial data sets available
23-Nov-2017 7§3, 9(a) Implementation of Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010
of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability
of spatial data sets and services for other spatial data sets still in
use at the date of adoption
04-Feb-2018 7§3, 9(a) Implementation of Commission Regulation (EU) No 102/2011
of 4 February 2011 amending Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010
implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets
and services for other spatial data sets still in use at the date
of adoption
October 20191 7§3, 9(b) Other Annex II and III spatial data sets available in accordance with
IRs for Annex II and III 1 Date proposed by the commission3 Date depending on entry into force of measure
page 66 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
International Cooperation and Development task force (ICtf)
1. Executive summary
The need for improving the cooperation with the
African Geological Surveys was initially discussed
at the 66th EGS ExCom meeting in June 2010.
Soon the concept evolved into the proposal to
make European data on Africa available to
Organization of the African Geological Surveys
(OAGS) members. The idea was the outcome of
talks between EGS and several African surveys
Directors. After these talks, EGS has elaborated a
proposal which would make possible unlocking
geological data on Africa which are hold by individual
EGS members. This would lead to strengthening
cooperation with OAGS countries and form a good
platform for joint actions. As a further step
EuroGeoSurveys 70th Executive Committee Meeting
held 27th June 2011 in Orléans have established
International Cooperation and Development Task
Force (ICTF). The Chairmanship of this task force
was assigned to Marek Graniczny (PGI - NRI),
Membership of this task force is still open.
2. Mission and vision
Reasons to establish ICTF:
• High potential of European geological surveys to
provide substantial information and expertise and
advice on current key issues
• European geological surveys have large public
archives of relevant geoscientific data which may
help African countries in policy making and
sustainable use of mineral and non-energy raw
materials, groundwater and geothermal energy
• European geological surveys may help OAGS
members in studies and assessing risk and
climate impact, especially those resulting from
ongoing “traditional” exploitation of mineral raw
materials and groundwater, that is the most
important challenges for the XXI century
• European geological surveys may also help
OAGS members in staff training
• Growing demand for mineral resources in
EU Member States and secure access to specific
mineral resources, the bulk of which is located
outside Europe, which opens a chance for
mutually beneficial cooperation
3. Scope and focus
As it was mentioned before, it was felt necessary
to propose the establishment of a Task Force on
Africa. Discussion on this subject was continued at
the successive EGS meetings , during which
several delegations proposed widening the mission
of that new Task Force on other continents, like
Latin and Southern America or even selected
countries in Asia.
T
he question is still open, however at present EGS
International Cooperation and Development Task
Force (ICTF), have an initial main focus on Africa.
4. the European dimension
Presently, ICTF includes 19 members from
14 countries. It means that it counts about 50%
of the all EGS member states. We do hope that
membership of ICTF will grow, taking under
consideration the fact that newly established task
force started action in the second half of 2011
(see member list - 8).
5. activity report
• Preparation of the paper on the draft scope of
the Task Force.
• Distribution of the draft scope among the members
of the ICTF
• Participation of Marek Graniczny and presentation
of the scope and vision of EGS and ICTF in AU
Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral
Resources Development Second Ordinary
Session - Building a sustainable future for Africa’s
extractive industry: From vision to action,
12 - 16 December, 2011 - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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page 67 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
6. Results and impacts
• Collection views and opinions of EG members on
the draft scope of work of ICTF, important for
compiling presentation for the Addis Ababa
conference.
• The resulting EGS ICTF presentation focused on
the role of geological surveys in implementing
the African Mining Vision (AMV) at the
background of organization, activities and
external relations of the EGS. The reasons and
aims and proposed actions of the newly
established EGS ICTF were emphasized to put
forward the question whether or not Africa needs
a strong organization of the African geological
Surveys (OAGS), capable to advise the African
Union (AU) as EGS does for the EU. The answer
should be positive and certainly implementation
of the AMV needs to give OAGS a central role.
Finally, five recommendations were presented:
A. African national geological surveys should be
capable to make their governments more
independent of the private sector and other
organizations in supervising exploration and
sustainable use of the natural resources
of Africa.
B. The African geoscience knowledge base
needs to be strengthened and the geological
surveys’ capabilities to make new geological
maps needs to be upgraded.
C. Improvement of geological mapping and
geoscience knowledge base would be
extremely beneficial for both Europe and
Africa, boosting development and enhancing
social welfare and natural environment
protection in Africa. However, it can be
successful only when developed in the frame
of a LARGE (many countries) joint OAGS/EGS
initiative, involving also the academic system
and the private sector.
D. Tools may include: help to comprise capacity
building through the foundation of a
decentralized specialization school and other
trainings for African geologists, as well as
acquisition of special software and
instruments and know-how.
E. Existing successful initiatives, like AEGOS,
must be exploited. AEGOS should be
continued, extended in geographical
coverage, and become one key component
of the proposed joint initiative led by African/
European geological surveys to improve the
geological mapping and geoscience
knowledge base of the African continent.
On Wednesday 14 December, the EGS delegate
took part in the discussion on programme
cluster 2 - Geological infrastructure. During the
discussion the EGS delegate emphasized the role
of EuroGeoSurveys as one of the organizations to
be included as a responsible body and main actor
of the action plan.
Speaking on geological mapping in Africa,
he indicated the necessity to carry out correlations
in the cross-border areas. His remarks were taken
into account and inserted in the table 2 - Action plan.
the shape of our business
page 68 I EGS 2011 Annual Reportthe shape of our business
Expected accomplishment
Activities Time frame Monitoring indicatorsResponsible bodys
and main actors
Improved geological
and mining
information systems
to underpin
investment in
exploration and
mine development
Improve geological
mapping and
geoscience knowledge
base for boosting
other economic
sectors and enhancing
social development
and environment
protection
at national level• Enhance the capacity and role of national geological institutions;
• Improve resourcing of national geological survey institutions;
• Improve a geological information management system
• Increase regional mapping and exploration activities to upgrade
mineral inventories and geoscientific information base
• Reinforce and create synergy between the different geological and
mining related institutions (Ministries, Universities, Research
Centers, etc)
at sub-regional and regional levels• RECs to adopt and implement sub-regional mapping and mineral
inventory programmes including through the use of modern remote
sensing techniques;
• RECs to scale-up efforts to standardize geological information
management methods and approaches (e.g. stratigraphy, cadastre,
legends, etc)
• AUC to develop a continent-wide mapping and mineral inventory
programme with special attention on cross border areas in
coordination with the Organization of African Geological Surveys
(OAGS) and mobilize the necessary resources to implement it.
Reinforce and create synergy between the different geological and
mining related institutions (Ministries, Universities, Research
Centers, etc)
• Recognise and strengthen OAGS to make it relevant to the needs of
the continent
at the continental level• AUC to coordinate values geoscientific continental wide taking place
such as the Natural Resource Information Exchange (NRIE), AEGOS
and mining policy framework
MT
ST
ST
MT
ST
MT
MT
• Levels of improvement in geological knowledge and mineral
potential
• Numbers and types of functioning geo-scientific databases,
cadastres and infrastructure system.
• Number of consultations frameworks and Development of
joint projects
• Number of joint exploration programmes across member
States
• Types and format of harmonized geo-scientific data across
member States
MS
EU
EU Geo Services
Bilateral
RECs
AUC
UNCTAD
action Plan
page 69 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
7. future perspectives
In Addis Ababa, EGS delegate had a talk with
Lhacene Bitam, President of OAGS concerning
creation of the Pan - African geological mapping
project.
It was agreed that President Bitam will:
- open contact for EGS with individual OAGS
members through his secretariat in Pretoria
- contacts individual OAGS members to collect
information on actual needs and ideas
concerning compilation of maps jointly with
the EGS
- the collected information on needs and
interests of the respective geological surveys
will be used in compilation of a general scheme
of the project proposal.
The next stage shall include elaboration of the
project road map by the ICTF members.
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page 70 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Marine Geology Expert Group
1. Executive summary
The Marine Geology Expert Group includes
representatives from 22 of the EuroGeoSurveys
member organisations. In addition, associate
members from non-EGS member organisations
make a valuable contribution to the group’s
objectives (see section 9). During 2011, members
of the Marine Geology Expert Group (MGEG) have
continued to be active in several EC-funded
projects, both as groups of EGS members and as
individual participants. MGEG members are also
involved in discussions to develop new EC
proposals and ventures.
The main EC-funded project activity has been the
EMODNET-Geology Project. Several MGEG
members also participated in the Geo-Seas Project.
During 2011, several surveys have been involved
in the NAG-TEC (Northeast Atlantic Geoscience
Tectonostratigraphic Atlas) Project.
2. Mission and vision
The Marine Geology Expert Group (MGEG) aims to
deliver high-quality information and advice to inform
decision-makers responsible for the European
seas, and to lead in issues of global importance.
The group established a long-term strategy in
2004, when a document was submitted to
EuroGeoSurveys titled ‘Geoscience for European
Ocean Management - Outlook for the Next Decade’
in which emphasis was placed on cross-cutting
issues such as sustainable use of natural resources,
climate change, habitat mapping, natural hazards
and long-term maintenance of databases.
The underpinning factor of this strategy was the
need to establish a system that provides the
European Community with the geological
knowledge required to inform decisions that affect
the marine environment. The group promotes the
view that marine geological information and
interpretations are a fundamental requirement for
all activities that take place in the European seas.
For example, the definition of marine habitats as
required by the EU Habitats and Birds Directives
requires a basic framework in which to assess the
importance of any habitat.
Although the group focuses on work carried out
within the national geological survey organisations,
it is essential that we continue to look outwards to
develop collaboration between marine geologists
and the marine biological, oceanographic/
hydrographic and chemistry communities, who
together form the main providers of scientific
information for the European marine community.
We also consider that it is essential for the group to
expand its geographical scope whenever possible,
as the issues that affect the European seas are not
constrained by national boundaries.
The need to maintain collaboration between the
marine departments of the surveys has never been
greater. At national level, most, if not all, EU
Member States are introducing policies that ensure
better integration of marine science. The drivers
towards these policies are mainly EU Action Plans
and Directives (see section 3), and it is important
that EU Member State Governments develop
strategies in the marine environment that are
underpinned by cross-border collaboration.
In order to respond to the EC’s demands for
geological information in the marine environment,
it is important that a high-level of marine geology
expertise and information is visible within
EuroGeoSurveys, based on full support at national
level and active collaboration with other scientific
disciplines.
3. Scope and focus
Marine geology has been a common theme within
the geological surveys of Europe for many years.
The Expert Group therefore has a long track-record
of co-operation in both science and integration of
information. In the last decade, the group has led
projects that have brought more than €8.5 million
of EC funds to help deliver integrated databases
(EUMARSIN, EUROSEISMIC and GeoSeas projects)
and interpreted geological maps (EMODNET-
Geology).
The focus of the group is to continue to look for
ways to collaborate in order to make marine
geological information and advice available
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page 71 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
at a pan-European level. To meet this objective,
the group has focused on responding to EC-funding
calls and tender actions. The MGEG also recognises
the importance of participating in marine policy-
making at the EU level, which is done for example
through the Marine Observation and Data Expert
Group (MODEG - see section 5.2) established by
the EC to provide them with the scientific, technical
and operational expertise it needs to ensure that the
European Marine Observation and Data Network
(EMODNET - see section 3) best meets the needs
of its future users. The MGEG currently provides
three members to MODEG.
The group also recognises the need to establish a
long-term strategy that does not depend solely on
EC funding, but which fits with the overarching EC
strategy towards the use of the marine environment.
The group is therefore active in initiatives such as
the EuroGeoSurveys North Atlantic Group
(see section 4.2).
4. the european dimension
In 2007 the Commission presented its vision for
the Integrated Maritime Policy for the EU,
accompanied by an Action Plan [http://ec.europa.
eu/maritimeaffairs/pdf/ActionPaper/action_plan_
en.pdf] in which it set out the delivery of a new
vision for Europe’s oceans and seas based on the
consultation process that resulted from the Green
Paper on a Future Maritime Policy for the Union.
In this Action Plan, the Commission described a
new integrated governance framework for
maritime affairs that requires cross-cutting tools
to help policy makers and economic and
environmental actors to join up their policies,
interlink their activities and optimise the use of the
marine and coastal space in an environmentally
sustainable manner.
These tools, as set out in the Integrated Maritime
Policy Communication were to comprise:
the development of a more integrated network of
surveillance systems for European waters,
the development of maritime spatial planning,
assisted by a road map drawn up by the European
Commission, and an EU Marine Observation and
Data Network (EMODNET) to optimise and bring
coherence to the current fragmented initiatives
that gather data on oceans and seas. Following an
overwhelmingly positive response from stakeholders
to its proposal, the European Commission, in its
EU's Maritime Policy Blue Book, adopted in
October 2007 and welcomed by the European
Council in December 2007, undertook to take steps
towards EMODNET in order to improve availability
of high quality data. The Commission undertook to
prepare by 2009 an EU action plan to make
progress in this area on the basis of a road map.
It was proposed that the "proof of concept" of
EMODNET be tested through preparatory actions
that established portals for a number of maritime
basins for hydrographic, geological, biological and
chemical data as well as functional habitat maps.
As well as providing access to marine data of a
standard format and known quality and identify
gaps in coverage, the projects would identify the
main challenges in moving from a preparatory
ur-EMODNET programme to an operational
EMODNET. As a result of a tender action, a group
of surveys from the MGEG bid for and won the
contract to provide the geological information for
the EMODNET programme (see section 3).
An impact assessment will assess options for
moving towards a definitive EMODNET, both in the
intermediate period 2011-2013 and in the long
term after 2014. At the same time efforts will begin
to integrate other funding mechanisms. Given that
EMODNET is very much focused on a sea-basin
scale and given the impetus accorded to territorial
cohesion by the new Green Paper, discussions will
begin to determine whether cohesion funding could
support the initiative. Moves will begin to integrate
EMODNET with initiatives under the EU's Research
Infrastructure actions and the Common Fisheries
Policy Data Collection Regulation.
The ur-EMODNET has been operational
throughout 2010 and 2011, collecting feedback
from users on fitness for purpose and indicating
how the definitive EMODNET might be set up.
Should these prototypes prove to be successful,
efforts will be made to extend their geographic
range in order to cover all of the waters of EU
Member States for one or more sets of parameters
through Community instruments for territorial
cooperation. Preparatory actions are designed to
prepare proposals with a view to the adoption of
future actions. Based on the knowledge gathered
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page 72 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
during this exploratory ur-EMODNET a strategy
will be developed for moving ahead.
Underpinning the EC’s integrated maritime policies
are a number of directives that require input of
geological information and knowledge. These
directives steer the work carried out at national
level within the marine departments of the European
geological surveys, and help the MGEG members
to align their work such that they are well-placed to
respond to EC strategy. These include:
• Environmental Impact Assessment Directive
(June 1985), Directive 85/337/EEC
• Habitats Directive (May 1992),
Directive 92/43/EEC
• Water Framework Directive (October 2000),
Directive 2000/60/EC
• Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive
(June 2001), Directive 2001/42/EC
• Roadmap for Maritime Spatial Planning
(November 2006), COM(2008) 791
• Marine Strategy Framework Directive
(Adopted June 2008), Directive 2008/56/EC
• Marine Knowledge 2020 Initiative (
September 2010) COM(2010) 461
• Marine Spatial Planning in the EU, COM(2010) 771
• Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union
5. activity report
5.1 EC-funded Projects
5.1.1 EMODNET-Geology
In response to the EU Green Paper on Future
Maritime Policy, the European Commission
initiated the European Marine Observation and
Data Network (EMODNET). The overall objective is
to create pilot studies that assemble fragmented
and inaccessible marine data into interoperable,
contiguous and publicly available datasets for
whole maritime basins.
The EMODNET-Geology project is one of five
preparatory action projects that, in addition to
marine geology, bring together information on
marine chemistry, marine biology, hydrography
and physical properties. Each project defines the
processes, technologies and approximate costs of
implementing a fully functioning European Marine
Observation and Data Network. For the
EMODNET-Geology project, the project partners
have compiled data layers for the Baltic Sea,
Greater North Sea and Celtic Sea.
The delivery of the EMODNET-Geology data layers
is through the OneGeology-Europe (1G-E) portal
(Figure 4.1). The maritime map layers are being
delivered using the IG-E portal to allow the delivery
of both onshore and offshore geological
information via a single portal.
The geology data available includes:
• sea-bed sediments (Figure 1)
• sea-floor geology (see Figure 2)
• boundaries and faults
• rates of coastal erosion or accumulation
• geological events (submarine slides, earthquakes
etc.)
• minerals
The project started in July 2009 and will end in July
2012. The EMODNET-Geology Final Report was
submitted to the EC to deadline in July 2011 and
was subsequently accepted. The final year of the
project has been the ‘maintenance’ phase during
which the final GIS data layers are being
developed. Advice about the ‘real’ EMODNET
project which will start in 2013-14 was provided by
the project partners in conjunction with members
of the Marine Observation and Data Expert Group
(MODEG). These recommendations include:
• expand areal coverage of the EMODnet-Geology
maps (to include the Bay of Biscay and Iberian
coast, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Norwegian
Sea, Barents Sea, North East Atlantic, Eastern
Gulf of Finland)
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page 73 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
• highlight the significance of higher-resolution data
quality (particularly multibeam echosounder
bathymetry including backscatter)
• secure long-term updating of the geological maps
• improve the spatial resolution (sub-areas),
building on the existing work
• increase the resolution of classification, and
include different classification schemes for
different users of geological data (e.g. bespoke
particle-size analysis data for habitat mappers)
• to include coastal behavioural units in more detail
(cliffy coasts, sand dunes, estuaries etc..) and
incorporate temporal changes
• to compile maps of geomorphological features
• include processes related to geological data,
especially relevant to mobile sediments on the
sea floor and coastal units, and include time
series (4D, climate change)
• allow more dynamic updating of map layers
• include thematic maps for more users - i.e.
aggregate industry, renewable energy industry,
fisheries, defence, etc.
As the next phase of the project is expected to
expand into the regional seas not presently included
in the EMODNET-Geology project such as
the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas, partners from
the Mediterranean counties were invited to attend
the EMODNET-Geology Project meeting in Tallinn,
Estonia in November 2011 to hear about the project.
Project website: [www.emodnet-geology.eu]
5.1.2 Geo-Seas
Geo-Seas is implementing an e-infrastructure of
26 marine geological and geophysical data centres,
located in 17 European maritime countries (14 of
which are EGS Members). Users are enabled to
identify, locate and access pan-European,
harmonised and federated marine geological and
geophysical datasets and derived data products
held by the data centres through a single common
data portal.
The aims of Geo-Seas are aligned with European
directives and recent large-scale framework
programmes on global and European scales, such
as GEOSS and GMES, EMODNET and INSPIRE.
Geo-Seas is expanding the existing SeaDataNet
marine and ocean data management infrastructure
to handle marine geological and geophysical data,
data products and services, creating a joint
infrastructure covering both oceanographic and
marine geoscientific data.
Project website: www.geo-seas.eu
5.1.3 Other EC-funded projects
Members of the MGEG participate in a range of
EC-funded projects. These include:
• BLAST - Bringing Land and Sea Together.
BGS (UK). [www.blast-project.eu]
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Figure 1. Sea-bed sediment substrate map of the EMODNET geology study area.
Figure 2. The EMODNET-Geology sea-bed geology layer in the OneGeology-Europe information portal.
page 74 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
• PERGAMON. IGME (Spain), GEUS (Denmark),
BGR (Germany), [www.cost-pergamon.eu/index.
html]
• FINMARINET. GTK (Finland). [http://en.gtk.fi/
research2/program/seafloor/finmarinet.html]
• INFLOW. GTK (Finland), VSEGEI (Russia), GEUS
(Denmark) [www.bonusportal.org]
• EMODNET-Hydrography. LNEG (Portugal), GSI
(Ireland). [www.emodnet-hydrography.eu]
• WRECK Protect. GEUS (Denmark).
[http://wreckprotect.eu/home]
5.2 Industry/survey partnerships
5.2.1 NAG-TEC (Tectonic Development of the
North-east Atlantic)
EGS members from Denmark (Project Co-ordinator),
the UK, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands,
Iceland and Ireland in collaboration with Jarðfeingi
(formed by the merger of the Faroese Geological
Survey and the Petroleum Administration in 2005)
have started to produce a geological Atlas and GIS
of the North-East Atlantic conjugate margins.
The project is co-funded by industry and survey
partners. [http://nagtec.org/NAGTEC]
5.2.2 North African Petroleum Geological Atlas
(NAPGA)
Members of the Southern Permian Basin Atlas
Project, led by TNO, are currently working on a
new Atlas project, the North African Petroleum
Geological Atlas (NAPGA). The plans to raise funds
from the hydrocarbons industry, including national
oil companies, have been delayed by the political
situation in many of the North African countries
that the Atlas would include. When conditions allow
the project to be re-initiated, it is hoped that
NAPGA will provide easy and inexpensive access
to the accumulated knowledge held by several
organisations on the basins of the area and to help
gain a better understanding of the geology of North
Africa. The aim is to publish a comprehensive and
systematic overview of the results of over
100 years of petroleum exploration and research
in the North African region, including Morocco,
Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, in both paper and
digital (GIS) format.
5.3 annual meeting 2011
The annual meeting of the MGEG was held in Tallin,
Estonia on November 24th - 25th 2011, following an
EMODNET-Geology project meeting.
The meeting was hosted by colleagues from the
Geological Survey of Estonia, gratefully supported
by Tarmo All of the Ministry of the Environment
(KESKKONNAMINISTEERIUM), at the Ministry’s
offices at Narva mnt 7a, Tallinn. The meeting was
attended by 27 members from 16 countries.
5.4 Meetings and presentations by the MGEG Chair/Secretary
EuroGeoSurveys, 26th National Delegates Forum,
Brussels February 28th - Presentation; Stevenson:
MGEG Annual Report 2010.
Marine Geology Expert Group article by Henry
Vallius and Alan Stevenson was published in the
‘Message from the Expert Groups’ section of the
EuroGeoSurveys Newsletter
Henry Vallius (GTK) and Alan Stevenson (BGS)
attended a workshop on Seabed Mapping
‘Knowledge for a better understanding and use
of the marine resources: the case for mapping
the seafloor’ at the European Parliament on
7th February. The meeting was organised by
MEP Maria do Céu Patrão Neves, member of the
Committee on Fisheries and was attended by EU
Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs
Maria Damanaki. Henry Vallius spoke to support
the Commissioner’s aim to survey the entire
sea-floor of Europe by 2020 and to assure her that
the European geological surveys would do what
they could to support this objective. A report of the
workshop can be found at: [www.patraoneves.eu/
news_v.asp?id=3216&site=10]
5.5 National Marine Geology Programmes
Each of the MGEG members continue to pursue a
wide range of activities. Some of these are
highlighted in the following section.
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page 75 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
A more comprehensive list of MGEG partners’
activities is included in the minutes and reports of
the MGEG annual meeting, which are available
from the group’s Secretary ([email protected]).
• Belgium (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural
Sciences - Management Unit of the North
Sea Mathematical Models) - RBINS/MUMM
is responsible for the monitoring of all human
activities at sea with the main ‘marine geology’
activities relating to: (1) sand and gravel
extraction; (2) windfarms; and (3) dredging and
disposal of dredged material. A Special Issue on
Marine Sand and Gravel has been published.
MUMM is involved in Belgian Science Policy
Research projects addressing such as the
quantification of erosion and sedimentation and
tracing natural and anthropogenically induced
sediment dynamics. MUMM is responsible for
the implementation of the Marine Strategy
Framework Directive in Belgian waters related to
quantification of human pressures and mapping
physical damage to the sea floor.
• Croatia (Hrvatski geološki institut - Croatian
Geological Survey) - The Marine Geology
Programme of the Croatian Geological Survey
(HGI) consists of 10 geologists involved in
sedimentology, palynology, mineralogy and
tectonic studies. The survey works closely with
the Croatian Hydrographic Institute (HHI) who
have two research vessels, the Hidra and the
Palagruža. The HGI laboratories are equipped
with XRD mineralogy, laser granulometry and
magnetic susceptibility techniques as well as AAS
for analysis of the chemical composition of cores.
• Denmark (Geological Survey of Denmark
and Greenland) - GEUS activities in 2011 have
included a wide range of national and international
projects in Danish and Greenland waters focused
on climate change, habitat mapping and advisory
work in relation to offshore wind farms and
aggregates. In addition GEUS launched a new
marine seismic database. Research projects
include SEDIMICE (linking sediments with
ice-sheet response and glacier retreat in
Greenland); CLIMICE, which is a project under
the Marie Curie Action programme, which aims
to reconstruct late Holocene changes in sea ice
variability and regional sea surface temperatures
(SST) in the Labrador Sea; Pergamon (Permafrost
and Gas hydrate related methane release in the
Arctic and impact on climate change) and
Permagas to address central questions related to
the impact of ongoing global climate change on
permafrost and gas hydrates in and around
Greenland. Surveys have taken place to acquire
data for the Continental Shelf Project of the
Kingdom of Denmark. Habitat mapping has been
undertaken in the Inner Danish Waters for the
Nature Agency. GEUS also participate in a
number of EC-funded projects (see above).
• Estonia (Eesti Geoloogiakeskus - Geological
Survey of Estonia) - GSE have participated in
research into the geology around the possible
nuclear power plant area on Suur-Pakri Island
(Gulf of Finland, NW Estonia) and the Neugrund
impact structure area, and have participated in
the investigation of the impact of the gas pipeline
(Nord Stream) in the Gulf of Finland. Work
continued on the coastal monitoring sub-
programme that was established in 1994 for
observing, measuring and predicting possible
environmental changes in the Estonian coastline.
• Finland (Geologian tutkimuskeskus -
Geological Survey of Finland) - The activities
of the Marine Geology Group of GTK during 2011
were dominated by commissioned and co-
operative basis work/surveys and EU funded
projects (e.g. BONUS INFLOW). Marine
geological activities were coordinated through
two programs, the Seafloor Mapping Program
and Marine Geology and Global Change research
program. New data were collected as part of the
FINMARINET project in the Gulf of Finland, the
Archipelago Sea and in the Bothnian Sea. GTK
participated in the The Finnish Inventory
Programme for the Underwater Marine
Environment (VELMU) to study the diversity of
underwater marine biotopes and species. A new
vessel, the Gridi was delivered in November
2011. Airborne laser scanning was tested in the
Kvargen Archipelago. GTK staff are participating
in the scheduled IODP expedition to investigate
the paleoenvironmental evolution of the Baltic
through the last glacial cycle. The annual GeoHab
Conference was hosted at the GTK office in
Espoo from May 3rd-5th 2011, attended by more
than 130 scientists.
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• France (Bureau de recherches géologiques
et minières) - The two permanent marine
geologists at BRGM have had extensive
collaboration with other national institutes
(e.g. Ifremer, SHOM, CNRS-INSU, and MNHN)
and more than 15 Universities. The Plateau
Continental Project is the most important project
aimed at improving geological knowledge of the
continental shelf and the onshore-offshore
transition. Two sub-projects are mapping the
geology of the Marseille and Vendée areas and a
third is mapping other areas of interest such as
the Bay of Seine-Caux in the Channel, Corsica,
French Antilles, and the Pyrenees-Bay of Biscay.
The National Marine Geology Database (BGM/
BSS-Mer) has been changed to allow on-line
requests through the BRGM ‘Infoterre’ portal.
Other projects include producing maps for
offshore windfarm sites; providing marine
geological data for a 3D model used for
geothermal resources and development of
Marine Strategy Framework descriptors.
• Germany (Bundesanstalt für
Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR)
- Federal Institute for Geosciences and
Natural Resources) - BGR’s marine activities
are concentrated in the Marine Resource
Exploration, Resource Geology, Polar Geology,
and Economic Geology of Energy Resources
sub-departments, which together form with other
units the Energy Resources, Mineral Resources
Department. In October 2010, DERA
(Deutsche Rohstoffagentur: German Mineral
Resources Agency) was founded, which is
Germany’s central information and consulting
platform for mineral and energy resources. In
2011, BGR were involved in projects such as
NEMESYS (off New Zealand), MIRROR (off
Morocco), INDEX 2011 (Indian Ocean) and
CASE13 (Leptev/East Siberian Sea). The
Geoscientific Potential of the German North Sea
(GPDN) project continued: the exploration and
development of the German North Sea (EEZ)
aiming to a sustainable development of the North
Sea maritime economic and natural area - a joint
project of BGR together with LBEG (State
Authority for Mining, Energy and Geology), and
BSH (Federal Maritime and Hydrographic
Agency) with additional partners from industry,
research institutes, and universities.
• Ireland (Geological Survey of Ireland) -
The INFOMAR programme is a joint venture
between the Geological Survey of Ireland and the
Marine Institute and is the successor to the Irish
National Seabed Survey (INSS). Covering some
125,000 km² of Ireland’s most productive and
commercially valuable inshore waters, INFOMAR
is producing integrated mapping products
covering the physical, chemical and biological
features of the seabed. [www.infomar.ie].
The value of such integrated mapping projects is
demonstrated by maps of the seabed of Irish
waters that combine shaded relief images of
bathymetric data collected by the INSS and
INFOMAR projects with data collected under
the Petroleum Affairs Division of Ireland and the
General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans
(GEBCO). Combining offshore and onshore
information forms the basis for seamless
geological interpretations and ‘The Real Map of
Ireland’ on land and sea.
• Italy (Institituto Superiore per la Protezione
e la Ricerca Ambientale: ISPRA) - The Italian
geological mapping project (CARG) has published
6 maps at 1:250 000 scale covering the entire
Adriatic Sea. All maps are available on-line at:
[www.isprambiente.gov.it/Media/carg/index.html].
The Marine Geology section of ISPRA has
contributed to the EUSeaMap project in the
Tyrrenhian Sea (part of the EMODNET project).
A number of teaching modules have been
developed to raise awareness of the role of
marine geology in environmental defence and
land management. The GeoHab 2013 Conference
will be hosted in Rome, which will help develop
links between Italian scientists involved in habitat
mapping.
• Lithuania (Nature Research Centre, Institute
of Geology and Geography) - As the Although
not official members of EuroGeoSurveys, the
NRC-IGG have a long history of collaboration
with the MGEG and participate in EMODNET and
Geo-Seas. In 2011, the institute has studied the
south-eastern Baltic Sea and Curonian Lagoon in
the context of climate change and anthropogenic
impact to sedimentation, recent morphogenetic
processes, and geodynamics. Pollution and
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page 77 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
environmental conditions of the Klaipėda Sea
port waters have been monitored and monitoring
of the coastal zone for beach nourishment has
been carried out. International collaboration
includes the COPAF project studying coastal
change in the southern Baltic Sea.
• Netherlands (Geological Survey of the
Netherlands) - In 2011, the shallow-subsurface
coastal and marine expertise of TNO was
embedded in the Geomodelling Department part
of the Geological Survey of the Netherlands.
TNO and Deltares, which employs many people
from the former Coastal and Marine Group, have
established extensive collaboration, with
TNO-GSN being the contact group for
EuroGeoSurveys. TNO-GSN focuses on (applied)
mapping and data, developing state-of-the-art
methods with colleagues from deep-subsurface
geology; Deltares focuses on high-end consulting,
using data and expertise provided by TNO-GSN.
The primary activities have been 3D-seismic
mapping of the North Sea bed, the development
of an aggregate-resource portal for sand and
gravel, analysis of Wadden Sea sediment
dynamics, geo-archeology of the extraction pit
for the Rotterdam harbour extension.
Studies on coastal behavior have been conducted
in collaboration with Deltares, Leiden University
and Utrecht University, with an emphasis on
storm-surge and tsunami risk assessment, on the
link between shoreface and barrier coast, and on
coastal progradation in times of rapid sea-level
rise. Core and geophysical data are being entered
in the DINO data portal [www.dinoloket.nl].
• Norway (Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse
- Geological Survey of Norway) - NGU and
its partners, especially the Institute of Marine
Research (IMR) and the Norwegian Hydrographic
Service (SKSK) have continued to work for
increased activity in the MAREANO programme,
an integrated, large-scale programme for shelf
and slope investigations around Lofoten and in
the southern Barents Sea [www.mareano.no].
The programme, which started in 2005, includes
multibeam bathymetric mapping and sampling of
the seafloor to map geology, biology/habitats and
the environment. In 2011 the programme was
given extra financing to advance its activities in
Nordland VI and to expand its activities to the
eastern Norwegian sector along the new border
between Russia and Norway. Other work
includes contributions to the International Centre
for Geohazards (ICG); Safe Operations of Subsea
Systems (SOSS); the investigation of sandwaves
on the continental slope in the western Barents
Sea; and investigations into storage behaviour for
the International Carbon Capture and Storage
Research Centre
• Poland (Państwowy Instytut Geologiczny
- Polish Geological Institute) - The main
activities of the PGI’s Marine Geology team are
a) activity in the coastal zone b) documentation of
aggregate resources (sand for beach nourishment)
and c) mapping the seabed (detailed mapping of
the Pomeranian Bay). A major publication
‘Geochemistry of Baltic Sea Surface sediments’
was published in 2011. Poland became the 18th
member of the European Consortium for Ocean
Research Drilling (ECORD), the European partner
of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP).
PGI marine geology staff will provide the
program national office.
• Portugal (Laboratório Nacional de Energia
e Geologia) - A wide range of activities and
research have been developed during 2011 as
part the LNEG’s main research programme
INGMAR - Investigação em Geologia Marinha.
The total number of projects in execution during
2011 is 30, 14 of which funded by the National
Science Foundation (FCT): FREEZE, SCARPS,
SWIMGLO, HOLOCLIMA, MELT KP-5, INTER-
TRACE, CALIBERIA, MONA, CLIMHOL,
DEEPFORAMS, TAGUSDELTA, PANOCEAN,
LUSOMARBOL. Two funded by FCT through the
ESF EUROCORES programmes EUROMARC &
TOPO-EUROPE (AMOCINT; TOPOMED),
two European FP7 Project (GEOSEAS,
EMODNET Hydrography), one EU Portugal-
Galiza Cooperation (NATURA MINO-MINHO).
The group published 31 papers in international
journals in the ISI’ list and formed 2 new PhD
and 3 masters.
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page 78 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
• Russia (A.P.Karpinsky Russian Geological
Research Institute) - The main activities of
the Department of Marine and Environmental
Geology of A.P.Karpinsky Russian Geological
Research Institute (VSEGEI) have been sea-bed
geological mapping; scientific projects;
environmental marine geology; searching for
marine mineral resources and coastal process
studies. In 2011, VSEGEI has undertaken a
complex study “State Monitoring of Geological
Environment of the White Sea, the Barents Sea
and the Baltic Sea and their coastal zone” and
‘Study of floating peat islands of the Narva
Reservoir and development of the recommendation
for the prevention of the environmental risk”.
Compilation of sea-bed sediment maps of the
southern Tatarsky Strait has begun - the series
also includes pre-Quaternary, Quaternary,
mineral resources and oil prognosis maps.
An investigation into the submarine terraces of
the eastern Gulf of Finland as indicators of the
sea level changes during the Late Pleistocene -
Holocene was completed.
• Spain (Instituto Geológico y Minero de
España) - The activities of the Marine Geology
Group have been focused on a) geological
mapping and marine databases (samples,
seismic profiles and maps); b) sedimentary
processes and depositional systems; c) fluid
escape features (mud volcanoes, pockmarks,
etc); d) gas hydrates, e) paleoceanography and
global change, f) geodynamic evolution and
tectonics and g) mineral deposits. These studies
are located in different geological contexts:
the Bay of Biscay, Gulf of Cadiz, Alboran Sea,
Canary Islands and Antarctica. Research on
these topics has been undertaken through
different marine projects funded by the IGME,
the National Scientific Research, Development
and Technologic Innovation Programme of the
Ministry of Science and Innovation and European
programmes and actions. Work continued on the
CONTOURIBER project to study the contourite
depositional systems generated by the
Mediterranean water masses along the continental
slope of Iberia. A new activity is the study of
marine mineral deposits, carried out so far on the
Galicia Margin, Gulf of Cadiz, Canary Islands and
Antarctica. The objectives are to map these
deposits and study the genetic model, and to
create a database of mineral deposits.
• Sweden (Sveriges geologiska undersökning
- Swedish Geological Survey) - The Swedish
Marine Geological Mapping Programme has
continued along the Blekinge Coast in northern
Hanö Bay and in the southern Kalmar Sound
between the Swedish mainland and the Öland
Island. The Programme was extended in 2011
with the middle part of Kalmar Sound. The aim
of the programme is to produce a map for
presentation at the scale 1:100 000; showing the
distribution of the sea-bed sediments and the
stratigraphy of the sea-bed area all the way from
the shoreline of the mainland to about 2 km off
the base-line. Research projects have included
the detection of fibres discharged from pulp-mills
in sediments; dioxin problems in the Baltic region;
the role of black carbon (soot particles) in Baltic
Sea sediments; environmental quality and status
of marine sediments. Commissioned projects
have investigated the dredging/dumping activities
in Karlshamn and Åhus harbours and windfarm
sites in Hanö Bay.
• United Kingdom (British Geological Survey)
- The BGS Marine Geology team continued to
develop the MAREMAP (Marine Environmental
Mapping) Programme in partnership with the
National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Scottish
Association for Marine Science (SAMS) plus
universities and other public marine organisations
such as the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
The aim is to provide a multidisciplinary approach
to improve understanding of the seabed, shallow
geology, habitats and heritage. A number of
surveys using the NERC research vessel the
James Cook and the BGS nearshore survey, the
White Ribbon have taken place during the year.
BGS contributed to three major reports in the
Humber, East Coast of England and the English
Channel funded by the Aggregate Levy
Sustainability Fund. BGS are co-ordinating the
EC-funded EMODNET-Geology and Geo-Seas
projects and are also active in the NAG-TEC
project, a collaboration between several
European geological surveys and the
hydrocarbon industry.
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page 79 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
6. Results and impacts
6.1 Emodnet
At the European strategic level, the main results
and impacts of the MGEG partners’ work has been
achieved within the EMODNET-Geology Project,
which has seen excellent co-operation between
some of the MGEG surveys. This is now a
well-established network that has all the tools for
future work in European marine spatial planning and
integrated maritime policy of the European Union.
The acceptance of the final EMODNET-Geology
Project report in July 2011 puts the geological
surveys in a good position to continue to deliver
the geological component of EMODNET. The final
meeting of the EMODNET Project Co-ordinators
and the MODEG (see below) will take place in
February 2012, following which the call for proposals
for the full EMODNET will be issued later in the
year. The February meeting will possibly include a
demonstration of the EMODNET portals to Maria
Damanaki, the European Commissioner for
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.
6.2 MODEG
Three staff from the MGEG currently serve on the
European Commission’s (DG MARE) Marine
Observation and Data Expert Group (MODEG) as
mandated by EuroGeoSurveys. Henry Vallius
(GTK) and Robert Gatliff (BGS) are serving their
second term on MODEG, while Terje Thorsnes
(NGU) joined MODEG in 2010. MODEG’s mission
is to provide the Commission with the scientific,
technical and operational expertise it needs to
ensure that the European Marine Observation and
Data Network (EMODNET) best meets the needs
of its future users. This is an influential group that
will help provide direct advice to the EC on their
requirements for geological information and
knowledge.
6.3 Geo-Seas
Geo-Seas is now in its final year. The project is
focused on supporting Europe’s capacity to locate
and access geological and geophysical datasets
from multiple data centres in common formats, to
Europe-wide standards and with the minimum of
effort. The project is compatible with the INSPIRE
Directive to create a European spatial information
infrastructure that delivers integrated spatial
information to users.
6.4 Other European and National Committee membership
Henry Vallius represents Finland on the European
Commission DG MARE Member State Expert
Group on Integrated Marine Policy (subgroup on
Marine Knowledge).
Alan Stevenson is Secretary/Treasurer of the
Marine Studies Group of the Geological Society of
London.
7. future perspectives
As stated above, the EMODNET-Geology Project
has delivered not only the final GIS data layers, but
also recommendations to the Commission for the
‘real’ EMODNET project which will start in 2013.
There will, however, be an interim period between
2011 and 2013 when some new actions will take
place. The next phase of the project is expected to
expand into the regional seas not presently
included in the EMODNET lots, which for the
EMODNET-Geology project would mean such
areas as the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas.
The future work is also likely to focus on geological
parameters and features that are not dealt with in
the ur-EMODNET lots.
Expansion of the EMODNET into areas not
presently included in the project will involve
geological surveys from those areas, which the
expert group will promote through the final report
of the EMODNET-Geology project and through the
MODEG of DG MARE of the European Commission.
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page 80 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Superficial Deposits (tf SD) Expert Group
1. Executive summary
The new Task Force on Superficial Deposits was
proposed to the EGS National Delegates and Expert
Group Chairs on February 28, 2011. During the
following EGS ExCom meeting, it was then decided
to renew the EGS Soils Expert Group as a Task
Force on Superficial Deposits (TF SD). The task force
was also discussed during the 31st EGS General
Meeting Sept. 2011. In January 2012, a terms of
reference was drafted by BGR, and communicated
to the members of this task force (update Febr. 2012).
The kick-off workshop will take place in the first
week of June 2012.
The Task Force still requires an official kick-off.
This will happen through an opening workshop, 1.5
days, between 6 and 8 June 2012, Hannover,
Germany. In preparation, the terms of reference
will be further developed. In addition, the inventory
of data sets based on One-Geology will be carried
further. A tight link with the soil mapping community
(European Soil Bureau Network) will be sought.
1.1 Rationale
With the decision to continue the work on soils
through a task force, EGS attempts to re-focus its
geoscientific capacity on soils, with less emphasis on
the political process of soil protection, and increased
emphasis on the structure and physical condition of
the top layer of the largely unconsolidated earth
surface. This task force seeks to describe the
lithological nature of this compartment: it is an
important information source for all surface-close
processes which affect the storage, filter, release and
transport of material down the soil and regolith profile.
In reality, soil and geology data bases are not
connected, and very often, there is a gap for which
information is completely lacking. Further details are
contained in the draft Terms of Reference (ToF).
Besides the work on a parent material data base
for Europe, this task force will also follow-up soil
research and soil use policy in Europe. This is
necessary in order to develop its aims and mission
in close connection with the stakeholders and users
of the task force’s results (see also Ch. 4 The
European Dimension).
2. Mission and vision
Mission (see also Terms of Reference)
• to explore, compile and integrate existing
experiences and datasets on the distribution,
properties and weathering behaviour of exposed
rocks and superficial deposits.
• to semantically and spatially harmonise existing
parent material information as far as possible,
and integrate it towards a European-wide new
geological data layer: a soil parent material map
for Europe .
• to design and develop a database which
comprises the major mechanical and hydraulical
characteristics of the weathered geological
materials, for example in the field of landscape
evolution modelling.
vision
• to act as a connecting link between soil and
geology mappers.
• to make geology knowledge and data available to
the soil domain
• to attempt to filling an important data gap for the
below-ground modelling of the unsaturated zone
3. Scope and focus
The primary focus of this task force is to develop a
data base for superficial deposits in Europe.
4. the european dimension
Information and data about the surface-close
parent material (for soil development) is important
for many status and trend assessments of the
terrestrial environment. For example, depending
on the soil threat, various surface-lithology-
dependent soil parameters are mentioned in Annex
I of the draft soil directive (COM(2006) 232): soil
texture, clay content, soil density, hydraulic
properties. The delineation of priority areas for soil
protection, and the monitoring of the condition of
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page 81 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
degraded and sensitive soils require such data in
an improved resolution. This information must be
made available as accurately as possible.
Other links between the Superficial Deposits’ Task
Force and European policy are quite in parallel to
the Geochemistry expert group (common agricultural
policy, renewable energies directive, nitrate directive,
cohesion policy). Issues reach as far as the
rehabilitation of industrial sites including mine
deposits and outwash. In particular, close cooperation
will be developed with European soil data centres,
in particular the European Topic Centre on Water
(ETC/W) and the European Soil Data Centre. Inside
EGS, there is a great opportunity and need for
cooperation through the EGDI-Scope proposal.
5. activity report
activities 2011
5.1.1 EMODNET-Geology
2011 was devoted to the formal EGS initiation
process.
Development of a concept note on soil research
needs from the perspective of geologists
(context: EU Horizon 2020 Programme) > Dez. 2011
This request is still pending.
Planning and activities 2012
Development of Terms of Reference > draft:
Jan. 2012 - update Febr. 2012
Kick-off workshop > 1.5 days, between 6 and 8 June
2012, Hannover, Germany
Cooperation with Geochemistry EG (evalutations
GEMAS) > ongoing
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page 82 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
EGS 2011 Statistics
In this section you will find some interesting
statistical information on EuroGeoSurveys’
member organisations, such as staff numbers and
budget data, showing past trends as well as
specific details from 2011.
Staffing
EuroGeoSurveys represented a combined total of
over 15,000 staff in 2011. Chart 1 shows the
fluctuations of staff numbers within our members
over the past 10 years.
Chart 1 Total combined staff of all EGS Member organisations over the last 10 years. Data is not always available at the time of collection so the figures may be slightly higher than indicated.
In the early stages of the 2000s, our membership
consisted of a steady number of staff at around
9000 people. The large increase in numbers between
2005 and 2006 can be attributed to the incorporation
of Ukraine’s State Geological Survey and the National
Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Department of
Geosciences) as members. Since then there has
been a steady decline, most likely due to the
economic downturn in Europe, which continues
despite a small recovery of numbers in 2010.
For 2011, the total staff numbers of each member
survey can be seen in Chart 2. The number of
scientific staff within each survey is also shown.
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Chart 2 Total staff for each EGS Member (in red), showing the proportion of permanent graduate researchers, scientists and engineers (in blue).
* Ukraine total staff = 7000 (4000 of which are graduate researchers, scientists and engineers)
** Bulgaria data unavailable at time of print
page 83 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Budgets / funding
In 2011, the combined budgets of EGS Members
totalled over €800 million. As seen in Chart 3, a peak
of over €1 billion was reached in 2009 but there
followed a significant decrease to below 2006 levels
that could most likely be attributed to recent public
spending cuts throughout Europe.
Chart 3 Total combined budgets of all EGS Member organisations over the last 10 years. Data is not always available at the time of collection so the figures may be slightly higher than indicated.
The national geological surveys throughout Europe
receive funding from a number of different sources,
for example from government funding or EU research
funding. A breakdown of funding sources for each
EGS Member in 2011 can be seen in Chart 4. On one
end of the scale, Cyprus and Malta rely wholly on
governmental funding for their operations whereas
Albania, Estonia and Iceland are more dependent on
private business as a source of income.
the shape of our business
Chart 4 Breakdown of funding sources for each EGS Member. Bulgaria and Ireland's data was not available.
page 84 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Geological activities
Geological expertise can be called upon to address
a broad range of topics, from the more common
geological issues like geohazards to less obvious
areas such as how to deal with radioactive waste or
even tourism. Chart 5 shows the variety of activities
that EGS members are involved in.
Survey Governance
The national geological surveys that make up EGS
are all public bodies that are under the supervision
of various government ministries. The majority
of geological surveys are under the jurisdiction of
either the Ministry of Environment or the Ministry of
Research, Science & Technology, as seen in Chart 6.
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Chart 5 Number of EGS members involved in various geological activities in 2011. Bulgaria and Germany's data was not available.
Chart 6 Distribution of EGS members under the supervision of various government ministries.
page 85 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
page 86 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Integrating expertise
Introduction
PanGeo is a service proposed in response to
FP7 GMES Downstream Call 3 (released July
2009). The objective of PanGeo is to enable free
and open access to geohazard information in
support of GMES. This is being achieved by the
production of a Geohazard Data Layer supported
by a Geohazard Description for 52 of the largest
towns listed in the GMES Land Theme’s Urban
Atlas, and involves all 27 countries of the EU.
Upon user enquiry, a PanGeo web-portal will
automatically integrate the geohazard data with
the Urban Atlas to highlight the polygons
influenced. The datasets will be made discoverable,
accessible and useable via a distributed web-map
system as built and demonstrated by OneGeology
Europe [www.onegeology-europe.eu].
PanGeo is aiming to take a step in developing the
‘missing geological link’ for GMES by initiating a
pan-European geological service which will derive
and standardise geohazard information across an
initial subset of the Urban Atlas towns across
Europe.
The PanGeo service is aimed at six key users groups:
• Local Authority planners and regulators who are
concerned with managing development risk
• Civil Protection Agencies who use ‘preparedness’
information
• National geological surveys and geoscience
institutes who are obliged to collect geohazard
data for public benefit
• Policy-makers concerned with assessing and
comparing European geological risk, much as the
Urban Atlas data is used to compare the
landcover/use status of European towns
• Commercial business able to further exploit
PanGeo products, e.g. property conveyancing,
environmental reporting
• The public: Empowers citizens with information
about the geohazards in their area.
Products will be made by integrating: a) interpreted
InSAR terrain-motion data (derived from new
processing and existing products made in the ESA
GMES project Terrafirma), b) geological
information, and c) the landcover and landuse data
contained within the Urban Atlas. The integration
and interpretation, , will be made by the
corresponding national Geological Survey for the
towns concerned. PanGeo information will
represent hazard and exposure components that
contribute towards any future analysis of risk.
PanGeo adds significantvalue to the Urban Atlas
data produced as part of the GMES Land Theme’s
Geoland2 project.
The project is divided into 10 Work packages lead
by European Geological Surveys data providers
and other stakeholders with specific competence in
the various field .
WP 1 Project Management
WP 2 Local Authority Feedback
WP 3 Service Design & Validation
WP 4 Service Access
WP 5 Processing Agreements
WP 6 Component Data Provision
WP 7 Geological Survey Output
WP 8 Identify & Make Accessible Relevant
Datasets
WP 9 Promotion & Dissemination
WP 10 Sustainability Analysis
Description
For each PanGeo town, areas of ground instability
will be indicated by attributed vector polygons held
within the ‘Ground Stability Layer’ product.
The polygon will be supported by a detailed
‘Geohazard Description’ document that provides a
comprehensive interpretation for the geohazard
concerned.
Users of the PanGeo portal will be able to navigate
to the town of interest and upon clicking on a
Ground Stability Polygon the Geohazard Summary
information associated with that polygon will be
presented. The Ground Stability Layer and Urban
page 87 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Atlas information will be presented in the portal in
such a way that users can make informed decisions
about which land use classes in their towns are
affected by ground stability issues. All data is fully
downloadable for use and further integration within
a user’s own geographic information system.
The Ground Stability Layer will attempt to map all
the areas of a town affected byground instability,
which can be caused by a number of natural and
anthropogenic processes or phenomena, e.g.
compressible ground, shrink-swell clays, ground
dissolution, collapsible ground, landslides, soil
creep, tectonic movements, underground
construction works, fluid extraction or injection, etc.
The areas of mapped ground instability can fall into
two categories:
1. Observed motion includes all types of direct or
indirect observation/measurement of ground
motion, e.g. satellite InSAR-based.
2. Potential motion includes all areas that the
geologists, using the available geological and
auxiliary data, have identified as having the
potential for ground motion.
Observed and potential motion are clearly
distinguished by the Ground Stability Layer attributes.
There is no minimum mapping unit for PanGeo,
however the PanGeo mapping scale aims to be
1:10 000 - the same as the Urban Atlas.
The size of the area for which PanGeo data will be
produced is largely down to the geological survey
responsible. The minimum area covered by the
Ground Stability Layer is defined by the extent of
the PSI data. The maximum possible area covered
by the Ground Stability Layer is defined by the
coverage of the Urban Atlas data for the town in
question. It is possible that the actual area covered
by the Ground Stability layer will fall somewhere
between the extent of the PSI and the Urban Atlas.
If so the interpreter should ensure that the area
covered conforms to a logical administration
boundaries; this will ensure the usefulness of the
product to the local authorities.
The interpretation of each Ground Stability polygon
will be assigned a measure of confidence within the
polygon attributes and Geohazard Summary.
This measure of confidence will be on a simple
four-level scale of Low, Medium, High or External
depending on the number of datasets used in the
interpretation and the confidence that the geologist
feels is appropriate.
1 towns to be processed
Integrating expertise
Count Country town 1 town 2
1 Austria Salzburg Vienna
2 Belgium Brussels Liege
3 Bulgaria Sofia Varna
4 Cyprus Lefkosia N/A
5 Czech Republic Prague Ostrava
6 Denmark Copenhagen Aalborg
7 Estonia Tallinn Tartu
8 Finland Helsinki Turku
9 France Lyon Toulouse
10 Germany Berlin Hannover
11 Greece Athens Larissa
12 Hungary Budapest Miskolc
13 Ireland Cork Dublin
14 Italy Palermo Rome
15 Latvia Riga Liepaja
16 Lithuania Vilnius Kaunas
17 Luxembourg Luxembourg N/A
18 Malta Valetta Gozo
19 Netherlands Amsterdam Rotterdam
20 Poland Warsaw Nowy Sacz
21 Portugal Lisbon Faro
22 Romania Bucurest Cluj-Napoca
23 Slovakia Kosice Presov
24 Slovenia Ljubljana Maribor
25 Spain Zaragoza Murcia
26 Sweden Stockholm Göteborg
27 UK Stoke London
Table 1: Town included in PanGeo. Two towns in each country except Luxembourg and Cyprus as these two countries each only have one Urban Atlas town (population > 100,000)
page 88 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Ground Stability Layer attributes are complaint
with the Natural Risk Zones data specification of
INSPIRE. For each PanGeo town a Geohazard
Description document is written by the geological
survey. The Geohazard Description contains the
geological interpretation for each Ground Stability
Layer polygon. Clicking on the polygon in the portal
displays the corresponding section of the
Geohazard Description, thereby providing the user
with the interpretation of why ground instability has
occurred in that area. The Geohazard Description
is downloadable as a standalone document.
Options in the portal allow the Ground Stability
Layer to be automatically integrated with the
Urban Atlas data. Since the Urban Atlas gives
information on land cover types (exposure) and the
Ground Stability Layer provides information on
hazards the user, with the addition of vulnerability
data, could begin to make more informed and
systematic decisions on risk.
The Geohazard Description will include an
introductory section describing the geology of the
PanGeo town. IThe Geohazard Description will be a
multilingual document; typically it will be available
in the local language and English.
The architecture implemented for the PanGeo project
is based on the infrastructure of the OneGeology-
Europe project. Main requirements are to follow
existing standards (OGC web services) and to be
compliant to INSPIRE (view and download
services). Three main requirements are handled:
• Standards: the layers shall be implemented
according to OGC standard. This will allow the
PanGeo layers to be used in any OGC WMS
compliant software, such as several GIS tools,
and portals.
• INSPIRE: The INSPIRE view service is technically
implemented by an OGC WMS 1.3, this
specification requires the layers to be implemented
accordingly. Other INSPIRE rules (common data
model, INSPIRE tags, multilingualism) that are
not yet implemented by standard OGC WMS
software won’t be required this year. Nevertheless,
a solution is proposed for the partners willing to
implement the INSPIRE approach this year.
• OneGeology-Europe: the infrastructure and
Service-Oriented Architecture implemented by
the project OneGeology-Europe (1G-E) shall be
reused. The specification described here is very
similar to the one applied in the 1G-E project.
The datasets will be compiled by the geological
surveys, and hosted locally on their own servers.
This is the basis of a distributed architecture:
the PanGeo project is not compiling a central
database. A Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)
is a network of web services, allowing each partner
to implement and host their own web services
delivering their own data. The PanGeo portal then
consumes those web services.
The PanGeo map viewer always presents:
• The background layer , in this case ’Open Street
Map’
• The Urban Atlas layer
• The Onegeology-Europe (1M:M) geological map,
hidden (a simple click will allow the user to
display it)
• Markers on the map, representing the 52 towns.
Different colours of markers help the user to know
if the dataset is already implemented, or not.
- A click on a marker opens a window that
allows the user to focus on the town and load
the corresponding layer, or to open the
geohazard summary (if it exists as a
standalone document).
Integrating expertise
page 89 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
The PanGeo portal initially displays the markers for
each city handled by the project, together with the
boundaries of the cities according to Urban Atlas.
It is then possible to zoom in to a city, either by
clicking on the marker, or by using the “go to”
functionality which also lists the available cities.
Then, the detailed Urban Atlas map is displayed,
with the PanGeo polygons (when they are already
implemented).
Main options like “zoom in, zoom out, print, export
to view in Google Earth”, allow the user to view the
map and save it (export, print). A “search” tab
presents some others dataset coming from other
projects: OneGeology-Europe, ProMines, Emodnet.
The portal is available in 18 languages (translations
done for the OneGeology-Europe project).
Global statistics for the PanGeo service will be
provided on the Portal. These statistics will present
information on the types of geohazards across all
52 towns, the proportion of all PanGeo coverage
affected by geohazards.
Nano-particle products from new mineral
resources in Europe - [http://promine.gtk.fi]
Executive summary
• Total budget: € 17.39 million
• EU contribution € 11 million
• Project duration: 2009 - 2013
• Coordinator: Geological Survey of Finland
• Sponsor: European Commission FP7-NMP-2008-
LARGE-2
• Number of persons/Members involved:
28 partners from 11 European countries
161 person-years
In the period between the 30th to 36 months
ProMine entered the mature phase after the go/no
go decisions has been made and significant
achievements are emerging. This six month period
is marked by a concentrating effort to steer the
development towards three major milestones
placed at month 40. The three milestones are:
• Regional 3D presentation of all mineral belts and
integration of 2D and 3D predictivity results in
mineral potential maps and in the ProMine portal;
• Testing of six new products - namely rhenium,
schwertmannite, nanosilica for special concrete,
nanosilica in paper coating, bioleaching of mining
waste and metal recovery from AMD - by
end-users and
• Assessment of the impact of the products and
production methods developed. After evaluation
and eventual go/no go decisions, beyond the three
milestones, emphasis will be on the exploitation
and documentation of the results. The overall
progress of the ProMine project was 72% and
the project is on schedule. Major achievements in
the present six months period are:
• The prediction methods have been discussed
and analyzed in a special international workshop
“ProMine - Mineral Resources Potential Map”
organized by Nancy University in 12-14 March
2012 in Nancy and the first Pan-European
mineral resource potential maps have been
produced. Results are partly uploaded on the
ProMine portal.
• The first comprehensive European
Anthropogenic Database featuring the most
significant mining waste repositories has been
compiled and a tentative assessment of their
strategic element content has been calculated.
• The first 4D modeling of a mining district
(Skellefteå Mining District, Sweden) has been
finalized.
• Design of the pilots has been completed and
construction of the pilots of the six new products
Integrating expertise
page 90 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
started. One of them, biological extraction of
metals from acid mine waters (AMD) has already
awaken Europe-wide interest.
• A successful one day Mineral Marketplace was
organized in Wroclaw on the 25 April 2012 to
disseminate the ProMine results, and will be
repeated and expanded during the Final ProMine
Conference to be held in 2013.
ProMine continued to be in focus of interest of the
European Commission and the European mining
activities. It has influenced planning of future
project activities related to/and arising from the
Raw Material Initiative.
Description of the project objectives
The key objective of the ThermoMap project is to
provide an adequate, area-covering estimation of
the superficial geothermal potential of the nine
countries which are involved in this project (Austria,
Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Iceland, Romania and United Kingdom) on a large
to medium scale. To achieve this objective
ThermoMap will develop a strategy to combine
already existing data sets in the partner countries
for an area-wide visualisation of shallow geothermic
resources by soil, climatological, topographical,
geological, groundwater and administrative data.
In principle, many research and development
activities in the field of geothermal energy have
been planned respectively implemented on a
national or international level. Particularly with
regard to the current discussion about the share
of renewable energies and the protection of
resources those activities will be enhancing and the
general acceptance of shallow geothermal energy
will be increasing in the next years. Currently,
geothermal investigations rather focus on the
vertical systems and drilling techniques. However,
regarding horizontal systems and technologies
applicable for the upper 10 meters below surface
only very rare information and data are available
within the shallow geothermal energy sector.
ThermoMap is in a position to contribute information
for this specific field of shallow geothermal energy.
The research into the superficial geothermal
potential for this project is divided into two parts:
The first part is the appraisal within 14 Test Areas
within the nine different partner countries for the
estimation on a large scale level subdivided into
three depth layers up to 10 meters.
The second part is the estimation of the superficial
geothermal potential for the whole partner country
illustrated by means of an Outline Map on a medium
scale level (1 : 250,000).
In general, the project is divided into three phases:
Firstly the data collection and data harmonisation,
secondly the set up of the model including
processing, analysis and visualisation of the geodata,
and finally the validation of the results (testing).
Integrating expertise
page 91 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Workflow since project start
The ThermoMap project consists of three basic
phases shown in Figure 1.
Based on the already established Catalogue for
data requirements, arithmetic instructions and
derivation rules (D3.1) the Standardisation
Instruction Manual (D3.2) was developed.
The aim of D3.2 was to clearly reflect the standard
the collected data is to be harmonised on.
Furthermore, it was intended to give support in the
way of standardisation of the country specific data
sets for the calculation of the superficial geothermal
potential on a large to medium scale to all the data
providing partners. Therefore, rules and definitions
for the standardisation process have been
developed.
The first part describes the standardisation
procedure for the data sets and the way of
calculating the superficial geothermal potential for
the first 10 meters within the Test Areas on a
medium scale level for three depth layers. Each
data providing partner allocated at least one test
site for its country. In the second part of the manual
the way of standardisation of the data sets for the
whole data providing countries is described. The
method of calculating the superficial geothermal
potential is shown in detail on a large scale level.
Besides of the data sets’ standardisation the
manual presents the consolidation of the different
parameters and describes their functions for the
calculation of the superficial geothermal potential.
These types of calculation are depicted in specific
‘cooking recipes’ for the scope of the Test Area as
well as for the Outline Map. The reason for this
Integrating expertise
Figure 1: Graphical depiction of the three phases of the ThermoMap-project system chain
Data collection and harmonisation
• Setting up requirements for the data structure
• Acquisition and harmonisation of the data (sets)
• Definining parameterss for data processing
testing the results
• Transfer to the Test Areas (reality check)
• Validation using existing geothermal projects
• Surveys of potential user groups
Data processing, analysis and visualisation
• Conversion of the geodata
• Georeferencing
• Analysis of the geodata (sets)
• Presentation and visualisation
Pha
se I
Pha
se I
I
Pha
se I
II
feedback regarding the
requirements for data (structure)
feedback from users (surveys)
page 92 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
division is the fact that in regard to most of the
required parameters the data quality and quantity
is not yet adequate enough to estimate the
geothermal potential comprehensively for all
partner countries and all depth layers.
For the time being, the test sites are to be
considered as country-specific ‘data hotspots’
which can be extended and will grow in line with
the universal data harmonisations respectively
data generating. In the long term full area-covering
data availability would be appreciated on a large
scale level in the ideal case. On the contrary, the
Outline Map can be considered as a ‘cheese cover’
which covers the partner countries on a medium
scale level and allows approximating the superficial
geothermal potential roughly. A corresponding
development progress is shown in Figure 2.
To evaluate the demands of practical users
regarding the projected WebGIS User Interface an
online questio nnaire was developed (D3.3) and
sent to previously well-defined target groups and
its members via Internet-link. The evaluation of this
survey has been realised until end of 2011.
As a conclusion it can be stated that the
developing, releasing and evaluating of the
questionnaire led to the following main findings
which are integrated into the further R&D activities
of ThermoMap:
• A high level of acceptance for renewable and
sustainable energy forms:
Figure 3: Graphical evaluation of subitem / question 2.1 of the online questionnaire
• A high level of approval and also demand for a
specially developed estimation system for
superficial geothermal energy potentials in Europe:
Figure 4: Graphical evaluation of subitem / question 6.1 of the online questionnaire
Integrating expertise
Figure 2: System interrelation between Test Areas and the Outline Map
Data inputfrom national and international projects
Europe-wide Outline Map 1: 250,000
Individual Test Areas within the different partners countries 'scale is not predefined)
page 93 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Figure 5: Graphical evaluation of subitem / question 6.2 of the online questionnaire
Figure 6: Graphical evaluation of subitem / question 6.3 of the online questionnaire
• At the same time a very low level of information
and access to related data
Figure 7: Graphical evaluation of subitem / question 5.1 of the online questionnaire
As a conclusion it can be stated that there is great
interest in the free and user-friendly ThermoMap
Internet application for estimating the very shallow
(≤ 10m) geothermal potential, based on the
received feedback from the target group members.
Furthermore, a Member Country data catalogue
(D3.4) was created at the end of the year 2011,
based on the standardisation (D3.2) of the required
data/-sets (D3.1). The harmonised country data
catalogues are a concluding document listing and
describing all required parameters, needed for the
estimation of the superficial geothermal potential
within the Test Areas and for the Outline Map
(1 : 250,000), and also the corresponding data
(sets), that are necessary for the GIS-
implementation within Work Package 4.
Within the second process component ‘Processing,
Analysis & Visualisation’ a Help Desk Forum (D4.1)
has been installed to support the data providing
partners in conversing the geodata required
in D3.1.
For the analysis of the geodata a detailed Training
Manual, as the key instrument for the
implementation of the WP3-specifications into
practice, has been developed by the WP4-leader
PLUS. This training manual will guide the data
providing partners in the coordinated analysis of
the geodata within their Test Areas as well as for
the Outline Map’s scope.
Results
During the set-up of the catalogue for the test
areas several parameters have been proven
themselves to be essential for the calculation of the
Heat Conductivity and the Heat Capacity.
Those parameters namely are the grain size
(texture class), the bulk density, the water content
and the temperature (air respectively soil
temperature).
For classifying the texture, the grain size triangle
according to the USDA-system is used (see Fig. 8).
Further data sources with regard to important soil
properties are for instance the WRB-classification
system (soil type), the ESDAC (meta)data set (soil
type and texture for the scope of the Outline Map)
and the Ad-hoc AG Boden (German soil survey
manual). In the end, the exemplary calculation of
Heat Conductivity and Capacity values as a
function of the evaluated parameters leads
to an overall table of all possible values
of the superficial geothermal potential.
These have to be processed and
illustrated within the specially
developed GI-system (WP4).
Integrating expertise
Figure 8: Grain size respectively texture triangle according to the USDA soil classification system the ThermoMap estimation is principally based on. The colouration reflects the main grain size groups sand (yellow coloured classes), loam (red coloured classes), silt (green coloured classes) and clay (blue coloured classes).
page 94 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
The analysis of the geodata will be performed in
a GIS environment (second phase of the project
-visualisation) and is facilitated by standardised
methods. The resulting geothermal potential will be
mapped on a local scale in test sites (third phase
of the project - testing) and on a medium scale for
all partner countries and it will be integrated in a
Web Service. With special regard to the general
discussion about the provision of renewable and
sustainable energies and the turning away from
conventional energy resources, the ThermoMap
project can deliver new impulses for a
decentralised, sustainable and low environmental
impacting energy supply of the future.
At the end, ThermoMap will provide different
user-groups with an interactive information tool
running in a web browser. Private users may check
the potential of their local environment, community
planning and administration authorities may test
the geothermal potential of their entire administrative
unit. Researchers participating in ThermoMap will
have access to the entire geodata pool, which
will be set up in Web Map Service (WMS),
Web Coverage Service (WCS) and Web Feature
Service (WFS).
The ThermoMap project addresses private users
who for example want to build or renovate a
house; it addresses community planning and
administration authorities, who want to display
new housing areas and want to inform about the
geothermal potential at the same time.
Integrating expertise
Name of the event / conference
Number of participant
Place Presenter kind/title of presentation Date
European Geosciences Union - General Assembly
10,725 (whole meeting)
Vienna / Austria David Bertermann (FAU) ThermoMap 04/04/2011
RHC-Platform Conference 50 Budapest / Hungary Javier Urchueguia (as represen-tative of EGEC)
Presentation of the Strategic Research Agenda, Geothermal Panel
05/05/ 2011
Vlaamse Confederatie Bouw - Vereniging Geothermie
- Brussels / Belgium Michiel Dusar (RBINS-GSB)
De Belgische Geologische Dienst en de ontwikkeling van geothermie in België
16/05/2011
Sustainability Live 2011 150 Birmingham / UK J. P. Busby (BSG - NERC) Ground source heat pumps- where does the energy come from?
26/05/2011
Ground Source Live (Geodrilling)
40 Peter-borough / UK Philippe Dumas (EGEC) Increasing deployment of ground source heat pumps in Europe
07/06/2011
Efficiency and Sustainability of superficial geothermal energy in Bavaria
21 Nuremberg / Germany David Bertermann (FAU) ThermoMap 20/07/2011
4th Warmtepomp symposium 120 Sint-Katelijne-Waver / Belgium
RBINS-GSB De ontwikkeling van geothermie in België
14/09/2011
Researchers’ Night in AFI Cotroceni-Complex
1,500 Bucharest/ Romania IGR Poster Presentation ThermoMap Project
23/09/2011
Research Show Room event at the ROMEXPO exhibition complex
3,000 Bucharest/ Romania IGR Dissemination Event 05-08/10/2011
’Long Night of the Sciences’ event
1,500 Erlangen/ Germany David Bertermann, Christian Bialas (both FAU), Andreas Zacherl (GBI), Mario Psyk (REHAU)
Dissemination Event including instructional films, stand-up displays, several technical models and specially made leaflets
22/10/2011
Geothermal Energy Congress of GtV Bundesverband Geothermie
50 Bochum/ Germany Mario Psyk (REHAU) Oral Presentation of the ThermoMap Project
16/11/2011
Meeting of the ‘AG Energieversorgung’ (Project Group Energy Supply) of the city of Erlangen, Germany
20 Erlangen/ Germany David Bertermann (FAU) Oral Presentation of the ThermoMap Project with focus on the German Test Area 1
30/11/2011
list of conferences
page 95 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
GEO-SEaS
Geo-Seas is an EU funded Framework 7 project
which has developed an e-infrastructure for the
delivery of marine geoscience data. This has been
achieved through the adoption and adaption of
existing tools and services developed by other
related EU projects within the marine domain.
The project has implemented a dedicated data
discovery and access service which currently
provides access to more than 77000 standardised
marine geological and geophysical data sets from
26 data centres in 17 European countries. The
Geo-Seas ‘portal’ [www.geo-seas.eu] allows users
to search for data using keyword or geographical
searches and to also view a number of data types
using a suite of visualisation tools that have been
provided as part of the functionality of the data
discovery and access service. These visualisation
tools include high-resolution seismic viewing
services, a lithological log viewing tool and
a 3D DTM viewer.
Geo-Seas is a three year project which started in
May 2009 and will end with a final conference to
showcase the results of the project to users on the
9 and 10 October 2012 at the University College
Cork, Ireland.
achievements of the South East Europe project 2009-2011
Summary
The Sustainable Aggregates Resource
Management (SARMa) project, implemented
between May 2009 and December 2011,
developed a common approach to the Sustainable
Aggregates Resource Management (SARM) and
the Sustainable Supply Mix (SSM) in 10 countries
in South East Europe. This is important since the
construction industry is heavily dependent on
supply of aggregates. This objective was promoted
by issuing three manuals for different target
groups. Manuals were printed in 9.500 copies in
11 languages of South East Europe region and in
English. The local authorities, industry and
communities were addressed in the first manual
tackling environmentally friendly quarrying, illegal
extraction and recycling. SARM and SSM for the
authorities at the regional, national and
transnational level were promoted in the second
manual, while the third one is Construction and
Demolition Waste Management Manual.
The project impact was detected in 12 improved
national, regional and local policies regulating
aggregates management and supply and in the
updated EC raw materials policy documents within
the Raw Materials Initiative, waste management
legislation.
Introduction
The project Sustainable Aggregates Resource
Management - SARMa was co-financed by the
South East Europe Transnational Cooperation
Programme. Lead partner was Geological Survey
of Slovenia, while Alianta d.o.o. project consulting
company was the external support for technical,
administrative and financial project management.
The project contributed with transnational
bottom-up approach to developing a common
approach to Sustainable Aggregates Resource
Management (SARM) and ensuring a Sustainable
Supply Mix (SSM) in 10 participating countries of
the South East Europe (SEE) region.
In the times of crisis of the construction industry,
it is crucial to promote the sustainable approach to
the management and supply of aggregates needed
for construction works. These objectives were
promoted by establishing cooperation between
Geological Surveys in participating countries with
various target groups at the local level (including
industry, policy level, and local communities),
regional and national policy level, and transnational
bodies related to the topic. Geological Surveys and
other expert organisations from 10 SEE countries
(Slovenia, Austria, Greece, Hungary, Italy,
Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia and
Albania) were involved in the project.
Integrating expertise
St Polten SARMa meeting in June 211
page 96 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
The messages of sustainable aggregates management
and supply were promoted by issuing three manuals
for different target groups. At the local level,
the main findings for local authorities, industry
representatives and communities are presented in
the manual “How to achieve aggregates resource
efficiency in local communities”, emphasizing
environmentally friendly quarrying, illegal extraction
and recycling. At the regional, national and transnational
level, the recommendations are presented in the
Manual on SARM and SSM aimed mostly at
decision-making authorities. On the way to a more
sustainable society, a Construction and Demolition
Waste Management Manual was created illustrating
activities related to the inert waste recycling.
The Geological Surveys and universities held the
crucial role in sharing the developed recommendations
in the SEE area. The messages were directly
promoted to 1.300 representatives of public
authorities and 2.100 representatives of the industry,
at the 19 different capacity building events with
over 1.100 participants and with other activities.
With articles over 900.000 people were reached.
The transnational approach of cooperation between
project partners successfully resulted in increased
awareness, knowledge and capacity of at least
180 employees of the involved partner organisations.
The sustainability of the project outcomes is
assured since the partner organisations incorporated
the methods and recommendations in the business
activities at the level of public authorities directly or
at the level of expert support to these authorities.
Project’s achievements
The project impact is noticeable at the level of
national, regional and local public authorities where
different policies regulating aggregates
management and supply from the economic or
environmental perspectives are being developed
or improved. There are proposals for follow-up
projects further increasing capacity of the public
authorities and enhancing the involvement of
stakeholders in these processes. The project
contributed to the improvement of the EC Raw
Materials Initiative, waste management legislation.
The two main project objectives were successfully
accomplished, the bottom-up transnational
approach of 10 SEE countries/regions contributed
to develop a common approach to Sustainable
Aggregates Resource Management (SARM) in
SEE and to ensure a Sustainable Supply Mix (SSM)
in SEE. The existing approaches of partners were
compared and harmonised approaches to SARM
and SSM were developed, leading to a common
understanding of aggregates based on EU
directives and guidelines, and in parallel the
knowledge and capacity of partners and target
groups was increased. The developed approaches
are applicable to other SEE countries and regions
as well as at the EU level.
The project contributed to the SEE Programme
overall objectives by integrating environmental,
social and economic aspects of sustainability with
respect to aggregates management and supply,
capacity building, and fostering transnational
territorial cooperation among local, regional,
national and transnational authorities. Specifically,
the project contributed to increasing the resource
efficiency by promoting a harmonised approach;
by impacting the pronounced public authorities
regulating aggregates management, and also by
increasing the capacity and knowledge of
stakeholders for more environmentally friendly
quarrying, more social dialogue, more recycling etc.
Success factors based in upgrading the expertise
and sharing experience of partners and their active
role, support from the EU level, the SEE
programme bodies and active lead partner
Geological Survey of Slovenia. Partners confirmed
that extensive transfer of knowledge, experience
and good practice was established between all
participating partners and other organisations
actively involved in the project implementation.
Additionally, significant increase of knowledge was
noticed within the partner organisations since at
least 180 individuals gained from the knowledge
and methodologies developed in the project.
Impact on the target groups
The main target groups benefitting from the project are:
• Expert level (surveys, institutes, universities):
high impact by upgrading the existing methods of
work by participating directly in the project or by
accessing the manuals, other project materials
and participating at the workshops
Integrating expertise
Reclaimed gravel pit in Croatia 2011
SARMa visit to gravel pit Lendava (Slovenia) 2011
page 97 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
• Local, regional and national public
authorities - civil servants, planners and
practitioners involved in aggregates
management: the impact was very high by
presenting them tailored methodologies and
recommendations in the manuals and increasing
knowledge by participating at the workshops
• Private sector: moderate impact by providing
them recommendations in the manuals,
providing them LCA methodology and scheme,
involving them in national workshops; impact
was smaller at the SMEs since they are lacking
capacity to participate at workshops and
incorporating upgraded knowledge
• Civil society and general public: moderate
impact with workshops and other promotional
activities (website, SSM quiz, articles, memory
game).
In partner organisations the upgraded knowledge
was incorporated in their regular operations, being
at the level of public authorities where the findings
are influencing the development or improvement of
current policies and regulations; or at the level of
expert institutions, resulting in increased
knowledge of several employees.
Territorially, the most significant impact was achieved
at the regional and national level with the mentioned
impact on regional and national policies. Some
impact was also achieved at the local level (e.g. in
Italy Parma Province, in Greece Pella prefecture).
The impact was significant at the transnational
level, harmonising the approach in SEE countries,
there was high interest for project results in other
EU countries, and the results were promoted at
the EU level (e.g. during Hungarian and Polish
presidency), through networks of partners
(especially LP) and the Advisory Board (industry -
UEPG association). The interest was also showed
outside EU (USA, Australia).
The project was building on the results of some
projects that were run in parallel in partner
organisations (territorial cooperation, FP7).
Emphasis was put on presenting the achievements
at the EU level in the shaping of the minerals policy
(Raw Materials Initiative), waste management
legislation. The project was evaluated by three
external experts from UK, Germany and Ireland -
representative of UEPG, assuring the transferability
of results and taking the broader European
perspective in account. There was significant
interest for the project also in other EU countries
where representatives of partners were presenting
the outcomes.
Implications
The SARMa Project has implications for raw
materials supply within SEE and beyond. The EU
realizes the importance of sustainable supply of
raw materials and has launched several
Communications (last February 2011) under the
Raw Materials Initiative (RMI). SARMa directly
adds to the second pillar of RMI (supply from EU
sources - national minerals policies, minerals
planning policies, knowledge base). SARMa also
will facilitate the achievement of the Waste
Directive recycling goal for Construction and
Demolition Wastes. The project is also important
because there is an increasing need to discuss
and implement sustainable policies for both the
management and extraction of aggregates and
other mineral resources, as well as the regulatory
framework guiding the exploitation of mineral
wealth.
The project had a significant impact on territorial
cohesion of 10 SEE countries in the tackled field by
harmonising their approach to aggregates
management and related policies, and to
transferring efficiently the related EU guidelines to
the national or regional level. These policies are
also contributing to the environmental dimension
by promoting the environmentally friendly
quarrying, promoting recycling and preventing
illegal quarrying. These activities are contributing
to the social dialogue with affected stakeholders.
Economic activities of private sector operators
(large and small ones) are influenced by promoting
the positive sides of more socially and
environmentally acceptable quarrying activities,
leading to positive impacts for the society.
Integrating expertise
Regional SARMa workshop 2011 in Eddessa, Greece
page 98 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
african-European Georesources Observation System
www.aegos-project.org
Context and objectives
The sustainable use of resources of geological
origin such as minerals and non-energy raw
materials, groundwater and geothermal energy
requires knowledge based on data, information
and expertise. In Africa, it is a key issue for
development of the African countries. In the near
future, it is likely to play an ever increasing role
due to the world’s growing population and the
rising demand for natural resources, raw materials,
better infrastructures and services in Africa.
Collectively, the European geological survey
organisations have a unique archive of public
Africa-related geoscientific data sets that need to
be shared with their African partners. Over the last
decades, a large amount of geoscientific data and
information has been acquired by African surveys
and authorities, in some cases with the
collaboration of European counterparts. Identifying
and providing access to geology-related data and
knowledge underpins sustainable public policy-
making across the various levels of governance.
Objectives
AEGOS aims at designing and setting up a
pan-African Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) of
public, interoperable geological and geology-
related data as well as user-oriented products and
services to foster and strengthen the sustainable
use of georesources in Africa. The human resources
being a key component of AEGOS infrastructure,
common strategies are elaborated for capacity
building and training programmes. This continental
observation system will provide support to a wide
range of end users: policy-makers at all geographic
levels, development agencies, private sector
actors, geoscientific communities and civil society.
AEGOS will be a one-stop information point to
locate geoscientific data and knowledge.
A web-enabled multilingual portal will facilitate a
controlled access to a network of databases
distributed over both continents. AEGOS was a
sub-task of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO)
Work Plan 2009-2011. Being the contribution of
geoscience to the Global Earth Observation
System of Systems (GEOSS), it complies as much
as possible with the GEOSS data sharing principles
through the AEGOS Charter of Partnership. More
than metadata and maps, this pan-African SDI will
propose a facilitated access to added-value
georesources data sets through interoperable
services and user-oriented products.
Project outcomes
AEGOS has been planned in three phases: design,
implementation and self-sustainable operations.
As a preparatory stage for building a continent-
wide distributed information system on Africa’s
georesources, the final results of this project
(AEGOS design) are both technical and organisational
terms of reference with a view to actually
implementing and operating a permanent
infrastructure in the subsequent phases:
• assessment of the existing situation, gap analysis
and requirement identification about technical
infrastructure, information systems, human
resources and skills;
• choice of standards and methodologies to specify
the AEGOS metadata profile, the AEGOS SDI
modelling and common data models; proposal
for a system architecture, technical element
functional design and a strategy with operational
procedures to develop and implement the SDI
hardware and software components;
• definition of user-oriented products and services
based on innovation, transdisciplinarity and
transborder data processing/modelling to
produce predictability and governance maps;
demonstration of feasibility through two test beds
on Senegal and Ghana data sets;
Integrating expertise
page 99 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
• identification of the necessary steps and
elements for turning the AEGOS SDI into an
AEGOS Research Infrastructure, hence offering
not only access to georesources but added-value
services; identification of the conditions for
alignment with the GEOSS Common Infrastructure
as a pre-requirement to further establish AEGOS
as a fully interoperable and interdisciplinary
GEOSS node;
• design of an organisational framework for the
performance of training courses; specification of
a comprehensive training curriculum based on a
multi-stage scheme (basic, foundation and
expert) including modules (15) with specific topics
(24), goals and content;
• recognition of georesources in GEOSS and
inclusion of minerals in a new GEO Task EN-01
“Energy and Geo-Resources Management”,
adopted by GEO’s Member States and
Participating Organisations at the GEO-VII
Plenary (Work Plan 2012-2015); and
• preparation of a charter of partnership presenting
the organisational framework, general conditions
and the necessary commitments of the participants
(data providers, end users) as part of the future
AEGOS partnership network involved in a
self-sustainable AEGOS organisation.
The AEGOS Project is recognised in the European
Commission’s Communication COM(2011)-25 as
bringing “the EU’s and Africa’s geo-surveys
together to improve the level and quality of
resource data available for Africa”. AEGOS Project
is in line with the Africa-EU partnership on raw
materials, as part of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy
(JAES) Action Plan, under which the cooperation is
organised around three broad areas, including
“Geological Knowledge and Skills”. In order to
translate the visions into actions, the African,
Caribbean and Pacific Group of States recently
published the “Framework of Action for the
development of mineral resources sector in the
ACP countries” (September 2011), and the African
Union published the “Action Plan for implementing
the African Mining Vision 2050” (December 2011).
Both action plans formally state that AEGOS SDI
should be operationalised in the short term in order
to establish improved geological and mineral
information systems which underpin investment in
exploration and mine development.
Project details
AEGOS was co-funded as a Support Action of the
7th European Union’s Research and Technology
Development Framework Programme (FP7).
Coordinated by BRGM (French Geological Survey),
it involved 23 European and African partners over
36 months from December 2008 to November
2011. The AEGOS consortium included national
and regional institutions, i.e. geological surveys
(seven African and nine European), two African
regional organisations (UEMOA and SEAMIC), two
African universities, and the Institute on
Environment and Sustainability (IES) at the
European Union Joint Research Centre. Additionally,
six other organisations contributed to the project
as subcontractors: geological surveys (two African
and two European), a British university and
EUMETSAT.
The project governance structure involved the
contribution of an advisory board. This consulting
body was composed of external invited experts
representing international organisations which
have actual and possible links with the African SDIs
and will benefit from the AEGOS infrastructure:
ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of
States); AUC (African Union Commission -
Department of Science and Technology);
EuroGeoSurveys (Association of the Geological
Surveys of Europe); GEO (Group on Earth
Observations); GSAf (Geological Society of Africa);
ICSU/ROA (International Council for Science/
Regional Office for Africa); OAGS (Organisation of
African Geological Surveys); UNESCO - IHP
(International Hydrological Programme); UNECA
(United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
- ICT, Science and Technology Division).
The total project budget was €2.42 million, with
1.93 million being provided by the 7th RTD
Framework Programme.
Significant conferences attended
• Johannesburg, 12-15 January 2011: 23rd
Colloquium of African Geology (CAG23)
Integrating expertise
page 100 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
• Cape Town, 7-10 February, Indaba Mining 2011
• London, 8-9 February, 5th GEO European
Projects workshop (GEPW-5)
• Brussels, 29 March 2011: EuroGeosurveys
Directors’ Workshop
• Dakar, 20 April 2011: Post-PASMI Regional
Workshop: Geology and mineral resources of
Senegal
• Addis Ababa, 2-5 May 2011: CODIST-II Second
Committee on Development Information Science
and Technology - Innovation for industrial
development (UN Economic Commission for
Africa)
• Geneva, 4-6 May 2011: GEO 2012-2015 Work
Plan Symposium “Capacity Building” and
“Science and Technology” committee sessions
• Bonn, 9-11 May: 1st GEO/EGIDA Workshop
“Connecting GEOSS and its stakeholders in
Science and Technology”
• Brussels, 20 May 2011: African, Caribbean and
Pacific Group of States Secretariat: “Framework
of action for the development of mineral
resources sector in ACP countries”
• Windhoek, 30 May-1 June 2011: 26th annual
conference of the Geoscience Information
Consortium (GIC26)
• Paris, 3-8 July 2011: 25th International
Cartographic Conference (ICC 25)
• Windhoek, 29 August 2011: Organisation of
African Geological Surveys Annual Meeting
• Tunis, 3-4 November 2011: World Bank
workshop “Leveraging natural resources wealth
for diversified development”
• Istanbul, 16-18 November 2011: Group on Earth
Observation, GEO-VIII Plenary Session and
Exhibition, with EuroGeoSurveys and European
Commission DG for Research and Innovation
• Addis Ababa, 12-16 December 2011: 2nd African
Union Conference of Ministers Responsible for
Mineral Resources Development
1. Introduction
Population growth and increasing land use intensity
lead to growing demands and exploitation of
natural resources. Soils are among the most
important and most endangered natural resource
entities. In order to plan and implement sustainable
soil management practices and to facilitate the
rational exploitation of the resource, more detailed
information on the occurrence of soils, its particular
characteristics, potential risks, and hazards is
needed. Soil conservation and its sustainable use
are implemented through political initiatives such
as the Common Agricultural Policy, Nitrate
Directive, Soil Thematic Strategy, and other
programmes. The draft Soil Directive for instance
also addresses consistent soil information at a
target scale of 1:250.000 for reporting
requirements across Europe.
Within the INSPIRE directive (INfrastructure for
SPatial InfoRmation in Europe), soils are explicitly
addressed as an individual theme and besides that,
soil-related environmental, agricultural and forestry
aspects are also denoted. Activities taking place in
INSPIRE are very often accompanied by research
and development. In the case of INSPIRE and soil,
the GS Soil project has been implemented under
Integrating expertise
page 101 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
the DG Information Society & Media eContentplus
programme. It aims at establishing a European
network to improve the access to spatial soil data
using principles, standards and definitions not
having been developed at the starting point of GS
Soil. The project considers aspects of data
organisation, data harmonisation as well as
semantic and technical interoperability in order to
produce seamless geospatial information on soil
based on a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI).
In order to cope with these needs for soil
information, an increasing amount of data about
soils must be made accessible and shared across
disciplines, such as climate, land use and
environmental observation. The exchanged data
must be interoperable so that data users can
process and combine soil information with digital
information from neighbouring disciplines.
Guidance on harmonisation is needed so that
information from different sources can be
understood, compared and interpreted across
administrative borders.
It has been recognised that an easy cross-border
access to data is the key to design successful
politics, especially environmental policies and
activities. Today electronic maps are a basic
concept for planning and decision making in all
areas of environmental politics. The availability and
accessibility of environmental information held by
or held for public authorities and business are
getting more and more important. On the one
hand, an increased access and visual
representation of environmental information for the
public is essential for attracting greater awareness
of environmental matters. A free exchange of
views and more effective participation by the public
in environmental decision-making is taking place.
On the other hand, detailed knowledge and
information about the environment are required to
ensure that the environmental policy-making of the
European community considers regional and local
differences while discovering the European picture.
The GS Soil project can be seen as best practice
example providing an overview of the GS Soil
activities and results for the practical
implementation of a European Spatial Data
Infrastructure for soil information. Thus, designed
for the users, "soil" arrived in the INSPIRE reality!
The results of the GS Soil network can be regarded
as a significant step forward in increasing the
accessibility of soil relevant information and
enabling government taking decisions.
2. Main objectives and results
The project GS Soil aimed at establishing a
European network to improve the access to spatial
soil data for public sector bodies, private
companies and citizens. The project considered
aspects of data organization, data harmonisation
as well as semantic and technical interoperability in
order to produce seamless geospatial soil
information and to improve the data access for a
wider community of different user groups. The
structural specification for the description and
harmonisation of spatial soil data within Europe as
well as the operation of a corresponding Spatial
Data Infrastructure (SDI) were main objectives of
the GS Soil consortium. Technical and syntactic
interoperability have been ensured by the use of
open standards such as published by the Open
Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the INSPIRE
Specifications on Network Services. As a result,
soil data providers offer their data via OGC
compliant Web Feature Services (WFS) or Web
Map Services (WMS), ensuring that the GS portal
and other client systems are capable of accessing
and displaying the distributed data.
A generic application schema for soil data serves
as a backbone for data interoperability. Using a
number of international OGC and other standards
the partners established and operated a network of
services for spatial datasets and metadata. This
network includes distributed services for data
transformation, discovery, view and best practice
for download, and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
The central result of the project is the GS Soil
portal. European soil data from heterogeneous
sources are bundled here and best practice expertise
is exposed. In order to ensure transnational
usability of the portal and related services, aspects
of multilingualism and data interpretation were
considered thoroughly. In this respect, the
harmonisation of metadata and the definition of
terms and conditions have been addressed with
supporting tools and explanatory documents.
Integrating expertise
page 102 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
During the lifetime of the project, partners
extensively supported the implementation of the
INSPIRE requirements on basis of available
experience in selected European countries and
regions on different organisational levels. This
ensures that users are now able to discover, view
and download soil data across Europe. Please feel
free to have a look to our technical developments
on [www.gssoil-portal.eu]. We also invite you to
have an in depth review on all the details of the
brochure topics in the specific publicly available
deliverables.
3. Gs soil project facts
The project was co-funded by the European
Community programme eContentplus with 4.1 M €
(total project volume 5.1 M €). It is a programme
from the European Commission DG Information
Society and Media with the objective to make
digital content in Europe more accessible, usable
and exploitable. GS Soil is thereby allocated to the
area of geographic information. It focuses on the
aggregation of existing national datasets into
seamless cross-border datasets, which will serve
for new information services and products, in
particular with a view to reducing barriers related
to one or more of the specific themes mentioned in
annexes I-III of the INSPIRE Directive. The focus of
GS Soil is thereby set on soil and soil related data.
In the eContentplus programme, GS Soil is defined
as a Best Practice Network (BPN) for Geographic
Information.
Integrating expertise
Figure 3: Project structure of GS Soil
title assessment and strategic development of INSPIRE compliant Geodata-services for European Soil Data
Duration June 2009 - May 2012 (36 month)
Funding The project has received financial resources from the European
eContentplus Programme, EC DG Information Society and Media
Budget total 5.1 Mio €
Partners 34
Countries in the network 18
IT Partners 12
Soil Partners (data providers) 22
Involved persons > 120
Thematic working groups (WG) WG 2 "Content Provision Framework"
WG 3 "Data Management and Metadata"
WG 4 "Harmonisation and Semantic Interoperability"
WG 5 "GS SOIL Portal and integrated network"
WG 6 "Evaluation and Sustainability"
Coordination
Dissemination
Country coverage in the network 18
page 103 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
4. Needs for soil data
The project identified the demanding needs and
analysed that soil and soil related data contain
important information about the spatial distribution
of country's soil types and other soil properties
such as horizon depth, pH value, soil texture,
organic matter content etc. Thus, physical, chemical
and biological soil properties provide information
on soil fertility for agricultural production, for
determination of taxes for landowners or for
environmental studies. The latter are more and
more demanded in a world where overexploitation
of resources play an important role. In this respect,
soil maps are for instance used for decision-making
processes such as the evaluation of priority areas
for agricultural production or spatial planning
purposes. These applications have increased the
demand of soil data tremendously in the past
decades. As a consequence, the web access of soil
information became important due to the
increasing intensity of international data exchange
and transnational data exploitation at European
level requiring the assessment, interpretation and
harmonisation of national data sets following the
INSPIRE principles.
5. Preparing soil data for inspire
The identification of the cross-national need for soil
data and the inventory of existing datasets across
Europe showed that exchanging soil data is a very
big challenge. Soil is a spatially continuous
phenomenon, its description, classification,
and visualisation can take place in many different
ways and has developed quite differently in the
European countries during the last century.
The same applies to all those procedures with
which soil materials, their composition and physical
properties are analysed in the laboratory. For some
properties, several closely related parameters exist
that nonetheless differ in their values and their
meaning. Many quantitative values are given in
classes instead of single values, considering their
high spatial or temporal variability. Class definitions
are often diverse between countries and adapted
to the entire value range found within their
boundaries, or to the aims of the individual soil
investigation.
The identification of a common core structure of
soil data seemed to be a reasonable approach to
achieve a technical interoperability between such
diverse data. This essentially means finding those
objects, which are described to characterise soil in
the different systems. For the parameters, the need
for object (or parameter-related) metadata is obvious,
and a way to handle semi-quantitative values.
The already on-going effort of an ISO working
group of the ISO Technical Committee 190 Soil
Quality to produce a general approach for the
digital exchange of soil-related data was taken up
by the project. GS Soil contributed to the further
development to the present committee draft of ISO
25258 delivered in January 2011. In principle,
it is based on a non-extensible catalogue of objects
and rules of how to define attribute parameters for
these objects. Parameter definitions according to
these rules include, for instance, code lists with
relevant explanations for each code and class
definitions of classified numerical values. With it,
data users get all necessary information for the sound
interpretation and use of the pedological data.
The application schema for soil data, definitions,
and the work on soil theme-specific metadata was
provided to the INSPIRE Thematic Working Group
Soil, which took up several concepts and ideas.
The GS Soil elaborations on metadata directly fed
in the INSPIRE data specifications soil. In addition,
GS Soil tested the INSPIRE data specifications soil
version 2.0 as a "spatial data interest community"
with data from several partners and commented
on the data model and the accompanying text.
6. Gs soil test cases
The study of soils in their landscape context to
develop an understanding of the geography of soil
types and properties in Europe has a long history.
Soil observation, classification and data collection
methods have developed independently in each
soil survey area. Concepts to describe soil profiles
and their relation to the landscape were mainly
developed prior to the onset of the digital era and
are a conceptual data model formulation which is
truly computing-platform-independent.
The harmonisation case studies in GS Soil (“test
cases”) comprised the three broad types shown in
the figure attached
Integrating expertise
page 104 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Figure 15: Test case groups
The test cases investigated four ‘pillars’ of
harmonisation:
• Matching local soil profile data to internationally
accepted nomenclature (FAO Guidelines for
Profile Description)
• Translation of local soil classification as
represented by soil profile and map legends to
the World Reference Base (WRB)
• Translation of actual soil profiles linked to map
polygons
• Translation of derived profiles with summary
properties
• Translation of map legends using expert
knowledge
• Reference terminology for describing the content
of soil maps
• Aggregation and dis-aggregation of map legend
and content
A cross-tabulation presents the diversity and
representativity of these pillars in the GS Soil test
cases:
Integrating expertise
Single country
Adjoining areas of two countries
Complete WRB coverage of adjacent countries
page 105 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
There were some general harmonisation threads
running through most test cases, in particular:
• Testing the compatibility of local soil profile
observation methods with the FAO Guidelines
for ‘Profile Description (FAO, 2006)
• The translation of local soil profiles and/or local
map legends to World Reference Base (WRB).
• In few countries, the comparisons of map
complexity in similar geomorphic areas was
conducted as a basis to compare the resolution
of soil maps. This work was supplemented by
calculating map indexes for two pilot projects of
the European Soil Bureau Network (ESBN), the
German-CZ Sheet Chemnitz, and the Polish-
German-CZ Odre Basin map.
The results clearly demonstrate that data which
are technically interoperable (as required under the
INSPIRE Directive) are not comparable beyond
country borders unless the information content is
harmonized. The GS Soil test cases provide
valuable insights into methods and work load to
implement harmonization.
7. the gs soil portal
The GS Soil portal is a central access point for
end-users to standardised, interoperable and
INSPIRE compliant European soil information and
delivery website for the finale GS Soil project
products.. Via the GS Soil portal, all distributed soil
information and data from websites and from
viewing services to metadata catalogues are
available and accessible at one location. The GS
Soil map viewer visualises spatial soil data as OGC
and INSPIRE compliant mapping services (WMS
and WFS). Iterative cycles adopting the relevant
INSPIRE Implementing Rules (Network Services
and related) and on the basis of the InGrid software
designed for the German Environment Information
Portal (PortalU) has been applied towards the final
GS Soil portal which is available in 13 languages.
The most important features of the GS Soil portal is
the advanced search function to provide access to
metadata, soil related websites and publications,
dissemination of final project products and best
practice examples and the map viewer with direct
access to WMS and WFS.
8. Consortium
Partner Institutions:
1 Coordination Center PortalU at the Lower Saxon
Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate
Protection, Germany
2 Federal Research and Training Center for Forest,
Natural Hazards and Landscape, Austria
3 Environment Agency Austria, Austria
4 Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety,
Austria
5 Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Centre for
Geoinformatics, Austria
6 Vlaamse Overheid -
Departement Leefmilieu,
Natuur en Energie, Belgium
7 Infologica Ltd., Bulgaria
8 Institute of Soil Science Nikola
Poushkarov, Bulgaria
9 Czech Environmental Information
Agency, Czech Republic
10 Masaryk University, Czech
Republic
Integrating expertise
page 106 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
11 Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural
Resources, Germany
12 con terra GmbH, Germany
13 Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics
Research, Germany
14 wemove digital solutions GmbH, Germany
15 University of Aarhus, Denmark
16 Spanish National Research Council, Spain
17 MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Finland
18 Alsace Region, France
19 Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
20 Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration ,
Greece
21 Hellenic Agricultural Organisation - Demeter,
Greece
22 National Food Chain Safety Office, Hungary
23 Center for Agricultural Research, Hungarian
Academy of Sciences, Hungary
24 Szent Istvan University, Hungary
25 University of Miskolc, Dept. of Physical
Geography and Environmental Sciences,
Hungary
26 Irish Agriculture and Food Development
Authority, Ireland
27 Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
28 EDISOFT s. a, Portugal
29 National Institute for Biological Recourses,
Portugal
30 National Research and Development Institute
for Soil Science Agricultural Chemistry and
Environment, Romania
31 Soil Science and Conservation Research
Institute, Slovakia
32 Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute, United Kingdom
33 Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Slovenia
34 The James Hutton Institute, United Kingdom
9. Papers
1 ANSORGE, C.; TULIPAN, M.; KLUG, H.; HUBER,
S. (2011): GS Soil: interoperable. EU-Bodendaten
- fit für INSPIRE? In: eGovernment Review,
Issue 7, p. 22-23.
2 FEIDEN, K., BARITZ, R., KLUG, H. (2011): A ‘one
stop shop’ for European soil data. In: International
Innovation Report, Issue May 2011.
3 FEIDEN, K., KIRCHENBAUER, V., KRUSE, F.:
The GS SOIL contribution to INSPIRE. GI_Forum
Proceedings 2011:
[www.gi-forum.org/index.php?option=com_
content&view=article&id=94&Itemid=92]
(2012-05-08)
4 FEIDEN, K., KRUSE, F., REZNIK, T., KUBICEK,
P., SCHENTZ, H., EBERHARDT, E., BARITZ, R.
(2011): Best Practice Network GS SOIL -
Promoting Access to European, Interoperable
and INSPIRE Compliant Soil Information. In: J.
Hřebíček, G. Schimak, and R. Denzer (Eds.):
ISESS 2011, IFIP AICT 359, pp. 226-234, 2011.
5 FEIDEN, K. (2011): The GS SOIL Portal: Making
interoperable, INSPIRE compliant soil data better
accessible. GeoConnexion International: Geodata
for Agriculture, May 2011, Volume 10, Issue 5.
6 KERCHEVA, M.; TEOHAROV, M.; SHISHKOV, T.;
GEORGIEV, B.; ROUSSEVA, SV.; KOLEV, N.;
FILCHEVA, E.; ILIEVA, R.; KRASTEVA, V.;
HRISTOV, B.; DIMITROV, E.; LUBENOVA, I.;
MITREVA, Z. (2011): Challenges for soil data
dissemination in GS soil project In: Atanasov et
al. (eds) Proceedings of International conference
“100 years Bulgarian soil science”, Publ. PSSE,
p. 200-204.
7 KIRCHENBAUER, V., FEIDEN, K., KRUSE, F.:
Integrating expertise
page 107 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Das GS SOIL Portal - vom Prototypen zur
endgültigen Portalversion. In: Strobl, J., Blaschke,
T., Griesebner, G. (Hrsg.): Angewandte
Geoinformatik 2011: Wichmann Verlag, Heidelberg,
p. 722-727.
8 SHISHKOV, T. (2011): Implication of the World
Reference Base and Soil Taxonomy within the
framework of Bulgarian Soil classification In:
Atanasov et al. (eds) Proceedings of International
conference “100 years Bulgarian soil science”,
Publ. PSSE, p. 103-106.
9 VALCHEVA, ZH. (2011): Establishing of INSPIRE
compliant spatial data infrastructure for improved
access to European soil data In: Atanasov et al.
(eds) Proceedings of International conference
“100 years Bulgarian soil science”, Publ. PSSE,
p. 205-207.
10 ZHIVKOV, D.; GEORGIEV, B., KRASTEVA, V.,
MITREVA, Z. (2011): Guidelines for updating and
use of soil map of Bulgaria In: Atanasov et al.
(eds) Proceedings of International conference
“100 years Bulgarian soil science”, Publ. PSSE,
p. 208-215.
Earth Observation for Monitoring and Observing Environmental and Societal Impacts of Mineral Resources Exploration and Exploitation
• EU programme: FP7 - theme 6 environment
- Call 2009
• Funding: 3.1 M€ (overall budget 4.1 M€)
• Project reference: 244242
• Duration: 01/02/2012 - 31/01/2013 (9-month
extension under application)
• Coordinator: Stephane Chevrel, BRGM, member
of EOEG
• Consortium: 14 partners from 8 countries,
4 surveys from EuroGeoSurveys
1. Introduction
In 2007, the European Commission Vice President,
responsible for Industry policy declared that
“European industries need predictability in the flow
of raw materials and stable prices to remain
competitive. We are committed to improve the
conditions of access to raw materials, be within
Europe or by creating a level playing field in accessing
such material from abroad”. During the G8 Summit
on June 2007, a Declaration on “Responsibility for
raw materials, transparency and sustainable
growth” was adopted. The need to address the
sustainable development of the extractive industry
and the reduction of its environmental footprint
was addressed by several national and international
initiatives, both from the private and institutional
sectors. The European Technology Platform on
Sustainable Mineral Resources (ETP-SMR) goal is
to “modernise and reshape one of the fundamental
pillars of the European economy and society”.
Since these, a lot of initiatives arise in Europe and
Raw material now became of highest priority in EU
policy, with the Raw Material Initiative the European
Industrial Partnership on raw materials and the
Resource Efficient Europe flagship initiative.
2. Project objective and structure
The social acceptability of a mining project, from
exploration to closure, is among the major key
issues to be dealt with.
The overall aim of EO-MINERS is to bring into play
EO-based methods and tools to facilitate and
improve interaction between the mineral extractive
industry and the society in view of its sustainable
development while improving its societal acceptability.
EO-MINERS scientific and technical objectives
hence are to: i) assess policy requirements at
macro (public) and micro (mining companies) levels
and define environmental, socio-economic, societal
and sustainable development criteria and indicators
Integrating expertise
page 108 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
to be possibly dealt using Earth Observation (EO);
ii) use existing EO knowledge and carry out new
developments on demonstration sites to demonstrate
the capabilities of integrated EO-based methods
and tools in monitoring, managing and contributing
reducing the environmental and societal footprints
of the extractive industry during all phases of a
mining project and iii) contribute making available
reliable and objective information about affected
ecosystems, populations and societies, to serve as
a basis for a sound “trialogue” between industrialists,
governmental organisations and stakeholder.
EO-MINERS is designed into five technical work
packages closely related each other and
corresponding to the three scientific and technical
objectives:
• WP1, entitled “Policy Analysis and Indicator
Identification”, aims to identify the information
requirements from policy for the selection of
appropriate Earth Observation techniques and
the formulation of protocols and standards in
subsequent work packages. WP1 will produce an
analysis of policies related to the environmental
and social footprint of mineral industries. Policies
from three stakeholder categories will be under
study: companies, public authorities and civil
society.
• WP3, entitled "EO application and development
over demonstration sites" will contribute to
develop high level EO-based data products
applicable to the different stages of mining
activities within the life cycle of mining operations.
Those products will allow to observe, to monitor
and to quantify social and environmental impacts
caused by mining activities over the selected
demonstration sites and aiming to understand
their “footprint”. As satellite based remote sensing
focuses more on a regional - and sometimes up
to a national - scale, airborne remote sensing
maintains the opportunity to record mineral
extraction sites with high resolution (geometrically
and thematically).
• WP4, entitled "EO Integration, Products and
Systems" and intend to contribute to the
development of generic EO data integration
schemes, EO products and EO-driven environmental
modelling scenarios adapted to various
situations, whose reliability and objectivity cannot
be disputed by all parties involved in any stage of
a mining project. Such products aim to characterise
affected ecosystems, populations and societies
and become an indisputable basis for a sound
“trialogue” between industrialists, governmental
organisations and stakeholders. WP4 also
addresses GEO and GEOSS process and tasks,
by using these outputs to define core elements of
an environmental observing system and
examining how this system fits in GEO and
contributes to building GEOSS.
• Developments carried out in WP3 and WP4 rely
on data that fully comply with protocols and
standards, e.g., data calibration, data validation
and data quality assurance, from upstream
(data acquisition phase) to downstream (the
added-value EO-based product delivery phase)
as well as through the processing chain
(algorithms). WP2, entitled "Protocols and
Standards for EO products will take care of robust
and reliable standards and protocols that guarantee
the repeatability of the methods deployed.
• WP5 is dedicated to "Communication,
dissemination, capacity building and exploitation".
The workpackage concentrates on developing
means for a sound “trialogue” (definition:
“An interchange and discussion of ideas among
three groups having different origins, philosophies,
principles, etc.”) between the three main groups
involved, the industry, governmental organisations
and other stakeholders (e.g. NGOs). This “trialogue”
will assist towards the reconciliation of interests
in order to reach common agreement upon
actions to deal with environmental and social
impacts of mining activities.
The methodological developments are carried out
over three demonstration sites to cover the variety
of mineral deposits, environmental issues, and
legal constraints. In particular aspects to be
covered are:
• heavily exploited sites (Mpumalanga coal field,
South Africa)
• sites in densely populated areas (lignite open pit
at Sokolov, Czech Republic)
Integrating expertise
page 109 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
• highly mining-dependent economy in an end-of-life
mining context (Makmal gold mine and
processing plant, Kyrgyzstan)
3. Project outcomes
An extensive review of policies relevant of
environmental and societal impact of the mining
industry, at international, national regional and local
(demonstration site) levels has been carried out
that led to the definition of relevant indicators to
best monitor these impacts, and corresponding EO
monitoring tools and techniques, where available.
A literature review and extensive collection of local
data enabled the definition of a site conceptual
model for each of the three demonstration sites
that describes the environmental and societal
concerns of the local mine activity.
Extensive EO data have been acquired to monitor
these impacts, including hyperspectral airborne
surveys (2009, 2010 and 2011 in Czech Republic),
Worldview_II stereopairs, (South Africa,
Kyrgyzstan), spectroradiometric field reference
measurement (all 3 sites), Landsat time series
(South Africa), SRTM and ASTER DEMs, field
sampling for chemical and mineralogical analyses,
etc. All data have been processed developing
standardized work flows to ensure quality and
representativeness of the different data sets.
4. Current product development
Indicators for assessing and monitoring
environmental and societal impact of extractive
industry were derived from an expert approach,
from a stakeholder approach and from the site
conceptual models mentioned above. A list of
some 60 indicators has eventually been issued,
of which more than a half can be either directly or
indirectly addressed using EO techniques.
Mineral and vegetation maps have been produced
from VNIR - SWIR - TIR imaging spectroscopy,
with focus on Acid Mine Drainage minerals and
vegetation health status related to mining activities.
Time series enable change detection analysis
relevant of mining activities from hyperspectral
images.
Relation between mineral maps and surface
drainage maps derived from DEMs will highlight
possible contamination pathways.
Interpretation of Landsat TM time series between
1989, 2002 and 2010 enabled to monitor and map
urban sprawling in relation with the development of
mining activities in the Mpumalanga province of
South Africa
Together with the AEGOS project, EO-MINERS has
been actively involved in the reconnaissance of
minerals and georesources in GEO-GEOSS and
contributes as Task leads to EN-01 (Energy and
Georesources management) and SB-05 (Impact of
Human Activities) Societal Benefit areas.
Integrating expertise
Number of indicators
page 110 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
1. Summary of project objectives
EuroGeoSource is a three year project funded by
the ICT PSP Call, theme 6.2 Geographic information
That started in April 2010 and will end in April
2013. The project has a budget of 2.5 million EUR
divided over 11 work packages (see figure 1) and
the project consortium consists of 11 geological
surveys, 2 commercial companies and one university.
The main objective of the project is to develop an
information and policy support system for sustainable
supply of energy and mineral resources in Europe
(EuroGeoSource). The system will allow users to
identify, access, use and reuse aggregated
geographical information on geo-energy and
mineral resources, covering at least ten European
countries. The multilingual system will provide
basic services for the visualization and overlay of
the information layers obtained from distributed
sources, as well as more advanced spatial and
temporal analysis on the data. The implemented
solutions will be in accordance with OGC
specifications and compliant with INSPIRE. The
developed web services will enable the creation of
value-added services (such as demand-supply
modeling) by third parties.
EuroGeoSource is aimed at users from the EC
(including the EC Directorate-General for Energy
and Transport, EuroStat, the EC JRC Institute for
Energy), commercial parties (oil gas and mining
companies, investment companies), geological
surveys, research institutes and universities, and
(inter-)national geo-energy and mining authorities.
2. Work performed since the beginning of the project
We have send out 1040 potential users of the
future EuroGeoSource portal and invited them to
give us their opinion on desired content and
functionality via an internet questionnaire.
We analysed the 187 returned answers statistically
and composed a list of user requirements (WP2).
Furthermore, an inventory of the current situation
regarding data and information on energy and
minerals in the participating countries (WP3) has
been made via an internal questionnaire.
Based on this inventory we collected the existing
standards, data types and data models used for
hydrocarbon and mineral resources from the
participating data holders and identified relevant
existing data models within the scope of the
EuroGeoSource project. From this we selected a
set of available key attributes (WP4) that met the
user requirements and organized them in a data
model. The attributes were mapped on the draft
versions (2.0) of the INSPIRE guidelines (TWG
Geology and Mineral resources and TWG for
Integrating expertise
Figure 1: project structure(left hand side) and consortium partners (right hand side)
page 111 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Energy) and on the EarthResourceML Data
Exchange Model where appropriate. INSPIRE does
however not address all EuroGeoSource needs,
therefore extensions have been added. At the
same time simplifications have been made when
the INSPIRE model was too complex.
The EuroGeoSource project is registered as a
Spatial Data Interest Communities (SDICs) and has
been participating in public consultation and testing
of the drafts of the INSPIRE ANNEX II and III data
specifications for Energy Reources, Mineral
Resources and Geology.
For the quantification of the resources the United
Nations Framework Classification (UNFC) for
Energy and Mineral Resources has been adopted.
To make the supply of data to the EuroGeoSource
project easy, a relational data model has been
designed and implemented (WP5) that supports
the storage of all information relevant to the
project. A OGC/INSPIRE compliant download
service has been implemented to deliver the data
stored in the relational data model. The implementation
of both the relational database and the download
service is described in detail in a cookbook.
With regard to the non-harmonized spatial data
content an new inventory of relevant datasets that
are available at the partners has been carried out,
together with relevant services already published
elsewhere. Many of these services are already
integrated in the EuroGeoSource portal.
The first prototype of the Web application has been
updated using remarks and feedback from the first
public workshop in Rotterdam (March 2011),
stakeholders, the advisory committee and project
members, resulting in a second prototype (WP6).
This prototype has been built on OSS software:
OpenLayer combined with MapQuery as client
software. MapQuery has specifically been created
to support the required EuroGeoSource functionality.
On the server site different OSS components
process and supply data to the client. The second
prototype includes the Southern Permian Basin
Atlas comprising of almost one hundred different
layers, and WMS services form project partners.
A cloud system has been setup and the mentioned
layers are tiled and cached in this cloud system to
guarantee a fast and responsive client interface.
The implemented services also supply data to an
Android prototype which has been developed.
Based on the prototype, the real EuroGeoSource
system has been developed (WP8). Administrative
areas data for most partners has been loaded into
the central node database, and an OGC Web
Feature Service (WFS) for geonames has been set
up to access this information. Several OGC Web
Map Services (WMS) have been added to the Web
applications. The requirements for the multi-lingual
functionalities are finalised (WP7) and the data
structure to implement it has been designed and
built, together with a translation web service.
The actual filling of the translation functionality with
the translated terms will be completed in the last
year of the project.
The 2nd workshop (Rotterdam, March 2012)
brought representatives from international,
European and Member State level, as well as
stakeholders from international and EU levels
together, to discuss the results of the project so far
and guide the finalisation of the project. As such
the workshops built an international collaborative
framework to discuss data harmonization and
interoperability issues related to mineral and
energy resources.
The website is used as a communication tool, with
continuous updates following the project progress
and suggestions of the partners. Furthermore a
EuroGeoSource newsletter and flyers have been
made (WP11).
Main results achieved so far
The analysis of the results of the internet
questionnaire showed that there is a lack of data
accessibility due to differences in format, lack of
harmonization and uncertainty on update
frequency. Potential users see the EuroGeoSource
portal therefore as a real necessity. This conclusion
is backed by the results of the inventory of data
availability and involved organizations within the
consortium. The internet questionnaire led to a
number of conclusions on the content, expected
use, scope and functionality of the portal. Different
user groups had different wishes on type and detail
of the information that should be present at the
portal, and also had different views on desired
functionality. All user groups agreed that the portal
Integrating expertise
page 112 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
has to be compatible with other already existing
datasets (OpenStreetMap, OneGeology, Corine
Land cover 2000...) and that the data is compliant
with the INSPIRE directive. Finally the want the
portal to work with a map viewer, using a GIS
interface and have a downloading option for
personalised search results. The respondents
showed a primary interest in non metallic resources,
secondly on energetic resources and finally on
metallic resources. The EuroGeoSource portal will
serve data on all tree types of resources.
The inventory of the current situation regarding
data on energy and mineral resources within the
members of the consortium shows that the content
and structure of the data differs substantially in
each country. Access and use is further complicated
by the fact that the data can be acquired in several
different institutions and at different levels of
processing. None of the countries possesses a
system that could be regarded as an example for
setting up the harmonised database of the
EuroGeoSource project, not even on a meta
database level.
The attributes on mineral and energy data that the
project selected as key attributes are shown in
figure 2. The consortium chose to use the UNFC
(The United Nations Framework Classification for
Fossil Energy and Mineral Resources) classification
system because it covers both minerals and
energetic resources. This system is already in use
in three of the participating countries, the reserves
calculated in the other countries will be mapped as
close as possible. From discussions at several
meetings outside the project on the use of UNFC
we learned that this system is gaining in popularity,
and countries are taking steps to implement it in
their own environment.
The compliance of the data
model to INSPIRE is monitored
by the direct participation of
consortium members in the TWG
Geology and Mineral resources
and the TWG for Energy. Furthermore EuroGeoSource
is registered as an SDIC within INSPIRE,
volunteering to act as a pilot project and offering
our expertise.
The simplifications we used and the extensions
made are discussed with the Thematic working
groups in detail, showing the tension between the
free availability of data desired by INSPIRE and
national laws providing to share this information
publically.
EuroGEoSoruce as a project has provided a solution
for this by creating an energy of minerals producing
country to be able to public information on a
country level instead of the’ mine’ level in INSPIRE.
An infrastructure has successfully been created
that enables the project partners to implement
download services for harmonized energy and
mineral resources data. The services are operational
at five project partners. All partners will come on
line during the final year of the project.
Integrating expertise
GENERAL DATA OF SITE DATA OF LOCATION ADMINISTRATIVE DATA
INSPIRE ID of site (M&E)Coordinates: longitude, latitude (M&E)
Licence ID (M&E)
Local ID (M&E) Depth below surface (M&E) Type of license (M&E)
Name of site (M&E) Water depth (M&E) Name of licensee / operator (M&E)
Name of site (M&E) Geographical location (M&E) Duration of licence (M&E)
Type of resource (M&E) Country name (M&E) Areal extent of license (M&E)
Year of discovery (M&E)
Status of site (M&E)
References (M&E)
Remarks (M&E)
ECONOMIC DATA ADDITIONAL DATA ADDITIONAL DATA
Classification (M&E)Geological characteristics regional / of field (M&E)
Main type of field (E)
In situ ore / substance reserves (M&E)
Age of host rock / Reservoir rock age (M&E)
Status (E)
Production (M)Host rock type / Reservoir rock type (M&E)
Nr of oil producting wells (E)
Period of Production (M) Mineral deposit type (M) Nr of gas productiong wells (E)
Dimension of the deposit (M) Primary comodities (M) Nr of gas injecting wells (E)
Mining methods (M) Secondary comodities (M) Nr of oil / gas producting wells (E)
Oil initially in Place (E) Main ore minerals / substance (M) Nr of water injecting wells (E)
Gas initially in Place (E) Secondary ore minerals / substance (M) Nr of water / gas injecting wells (E)
Cumulative oil production (E) Nr of CO2 injecting wells (E)
Cumulative gas production (E) Hydrothermal alteration (M) Nr of producing / injecting wells (E)
Cumulative water production (E) Morphology of the deposit (M) Areal extent of field delimitation (E)
Cumulative gas injection (E) Regional deposit structure (M) Reservoir depth (E)
Cumulative water injection (E) Dating method of mineralisation (M) Production strategy (E)
Remaining Oil reserves (E) Age of mineralisation (M) Installations (E)
Remaining Gas reserves (E)
Year of reporting (E)
Figure 2: Set of key economic attributes for minerals (M) and energy (E) resource or both (M&E).
page 113 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
The tools needed to build this infrastructure, and
the detailed cookbook describing how to
implement is, will shortly be available for any other
data provider not participating in EuroGeoSource.
The results of WP2, WP3 and WP4 have been used
as input for WP6 to design the first prototype of the
EuroGeoSource portal which has been updated
using remarks and feedback from the first
workshop, stakeholders, the advisory committee
and project members, resulting in a second
prototype containing a multi-lingual user interface.
The architecture of the system uses cloud
computing to fulfil basic (non-) functional
requirements (see figure 3). This facilitates and
speeds up the EuroGeoSource tiling service,
Diagram service and advances query options
(search index).
In addition to the desktop prototype (figure 4),
we developed an Android prototype as well
(Figure 5). The Android client opens up a whole
new user perspective, and the implementation in
the cloud guaranties smooth performance of the
EuroGeoSource system, even on a 3G network.
These prototypes as well as presentations of the
work done were presented at the 2nd public
workshop, held in Rotterdam. Next to this public
workshop the EuroGeoSource project has been
presented at international conferences and for main
user groups, achieving awareness and
dissemination of results.
Integrating expertise
Figure3: EGS architecture with (1) data/service provider, (2) central EGS implemented in the cloud and (3) service consumer.
Figure 4: Second prototype showing the overview of the Southern Permian Basin Atlas maps and the Bathymetry as a map in the portal.
page 114 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Collaborative framework
On important task within the project is to build a
collaborative framework between the major
players in the energy and mineral resources
sectors of the EU economy. This framework will be
built by organizing three workshops during the
execution of the project. The first of these
workshops was organised on the 10th of March
2011 in Budapest Hungary.
Almost 100 attendants listened to representatives
from the project, experts from OECD, DG
Enterprise and Industry (Unit 3), EESC, JRC,
Euromines, OGP, Academia (University of Luleå)
and a Representative from the Mining Authority
from Portugal. In the audience the workshop had
participants from Geological Surveys, Academia,
Mining and Oil Industries, representatives from
Promine, consulting companies, EU strategy/policy
entities and representatives of the
EuroGeoSource’s advisory board.
The second workshop was organised on the 8th of
March 2012 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Almost
80 participants listened to presentations from the
Ministry of Environment and Infrastructure of
Netherlands, Hungarian Office of Mining and
Geology, DG Enterprise and Industry, JRC, INSPIRE,
UNECE, Energistics, CETEM, Brazil, the Mineral
Resources Expert Group within EuroGeoSurveys,
Promine and of course representatives from the
EuroGeoSource project itself. The workshop ended
with a panel discussion.
The workshops allowed the project team to get
some very valuable inputs, both from the invited
experts speakers and the participants. The general
feedback was very positive. In addition, the
workshops are an important communication tool
for dialogue between the potential community of
users and the project team with the consequent
added value to the future project developments.
Expected final results and their potential impact and use
In the coming year the portal will be tested and
updated. We expect that the portal will be an example
of the next step in functionality for distributed web
GIS information systems. The collaborative network
will be extended. The visibility of the project will be
strengthened by our presence at the 7th EUREGEO
congress in Bologna, The Inspire 2012 congress in
Istanbul and the 34th IGC meeting in Brisbane.
Integrating expertise
Figure 5: Main screen of Android Prototype App (left hand side) and the selection of layers (right hand side).
page 115 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Furthermore we will transform the final workshop
in Copenhagen into an International congress to
improve the impact of the project results.
More information and feedback on the project
Our website gives the latest information on the
progress of the project and has had about 260
unique visitors each month from more then 24
countries worldwide. Any visitor can view and
download all public deliverables and presentations
there. The effect of our public workshops in March
2011 (270 visitors) and march 2012 (360) visitors.
The final presentation of the project results will be
on the 12 th of March 2013 in Brussels.
Integrating expertise
Figure 6: User statistics of the project website. Number off unique visitors (green) and visited pages (blue) per month (left graph) and cumulative (right graph)since the start of the project.
page 116 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
(Re)Search for common Geothermal Energy in Central Europe - tRaNSENERGy
1. Introduction
The carrying medium of geothermal energy is
thermal groundwater that subsurface flow paths
are linked to geological structures cross-cutting
state borders. Thermal water extraction from the
same transboundary geothermal reservoir at a
national level without cross-border harmonized
management strategies may cause negative
impacts, such as drops in pressure and temperature,
which might influence the bordering countries.
The sustainable utilization of transboundary
geothermal reservoirs therefore should count on
joint management strategies of neighboring
countries. This need was recognized by four
Central European countries (Hungary, Slovenia,
Austria and Slovakia) which share transboundary
geothermal energy resources in the western part
of the Pannonian basin. The national geological
surveys (Magyar Földtani és Geofizikai Intézet -
Hungary (lead partner), Geološki zavod Slovenije -
Slovenia, Geologische Bundesanstalt - Austria,
Štátny geologický ústav Dionýza Štúra - Slovakia)
carry out together the project TRANSENERGY in
the frame of the Central Europe Program, which
will provide implementation tools and
recommendations for the sustainable use of
geothermal energy in the region.
2. Project objective and structure
Worldwide there is a growing need on the
enhanced use of renewable energies due to the
increasing energy demand of the globe, restricted
reserves of fossil fuels and considerations related
to anthropogenic emission of carbon-dioxide
affecting the climate system of the Earth.
The Pannonian basin, in Central Europe lies on a
characteristic positive geothermal anomaly, with
heat flow up to 110-130 mW/m2 and geothermal
gradient of about 45 °C/km, about 1.5 times bigger
than the continental average. The large hydro-
geothermal reservoirs which store deep circulating
thermal groundwaters are shared by Hungary lying
in the central part of the Pannonian basin, and its
neighboring countries.
Thermal water extraction from the same trans-
boundary geothermal reservoir at a national level
without cross-border harmonized management
strategies may cause negative impacts (depletion
or overexploitation) leading to economic and
political tensions between countries. Therefore
only the establishment of a joint, multi-national
management system may handle the assessment
of geothermal potentials and give guidelines for
a balanced fluid/heat production.
TRANENERGY’s final goal is to provide a user
friendly, web-based decision supporting tool, which
will show all relevant information on the potential,
vulnerability and sustainability of the geothermal
systems in the investigated transboundary regions,
which have been selected because of already
existing utilization conflicts and their extreme
sensitivity for any further intervention by different
management policies in the neighboring countries.
The Slovenian - Austrian - Hungarian cross border
pilot area (Bad Radkersburg - Hodoš) includes
territories of the Styrian and Mura-Zala basins
where thermal groundwaters are widely utilized.
However unharmonized management strategies
between the different utilization schemes (direct
heat and balneology) led to unnecessarily
excessive use of thermal waters, also including
transboundary conflicts between Austria and
Slovenia. A similar cross-border utilization conflict
exists in the Lutzmannsburg - Zsira pilot area.
The abstraction of thermal water for a recently built
large spa in Lutzmannsburg (Austria) next to the
border resulted in a continuously decreasing
groundwater level on the Hungarian side.
The northern part of the Vienna basin is one of
the most important hydrocarbon exploitation areas
in Central Europe, therefore an ideal site to study
links and potential conflicts between the multi-
purpose utilization of the same reservoirs, in
collaboration with Austria and Slovakia.
Integrating expertise
page 117 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
The Danube Basin pilot area provides excellent
opportunities to establish closer links with
groundwater management issues at international
level, as in this region aggregated groundwater
bodies, also storing large amount of thermal water
have been already delineated at ICPDR level.
The Komarno-Sturovo pilot area is a typical karstic
transboundary aquifer shared by Slovakia and
Hungary. The Hungarian part of this area was
seriously affected by karstwater withdrawal due to
bauxite and coal mining in the 1980-90’s, when the
depression of karstwater level led to the drying of
many lukewarm springs. After mines were closed
and withdrawal finished, the rehabilitation started
in the region.
In the overview of existing geothermal energy
utilization in the TRANSENERGY region altogether
172 geothermal energy users were identified that
are condensed along some densely exploited
areas, especially near the state borders. Altogether
17 different ways of utilization types were
recognized, of which bathing and swimming is the
most abundant in all 4 countries, however space
heating is noteworthy in Slovenia and Slovakia.
Re-injection of the water utilized for energetic
purposes is minimal. Various aspects of existing
thermal water utilization are displayed on
12 thematic maps.
A main challenge in such projects is to handle
heterogeneous data, often with different availability
due to national policies, as well as diverse quantity
and quality. Data harmonization and integration
from the four countries is one of the main
achievements of TRANSENERGY which provides a
common platform for the different geological,
hydrogeological and geothermal models serving
the basis of further evaluations. The partner
geological surveys, as responsible organizations for
the collection, evaluation and storage of national
geoscientific data had a key role in the successful
performance of this task. The joint, multi-lingual
database contains harmonized datasets from 1686
boreholes, out of which data from 1041 boreholes
(115 AT, 128 SLO, 742 HU and 56 SK) are available
for the public at the project website.
The geological models show the depth and
geological buildup (based on a harmonized legend)
of 8 subsurface horizons which are the key input
for the hydrogeological and geothermal models.
Altogether 16 geothermal maps show temperature
distributions and various evaluations of geothermal
potential of the entire project area. Hydrogeological
models display the potential fields and main
flowpaths of the regional thermal groundwater
system crossing state borders, as well as preliminary
scenario analyses on the transboundary effects of
thermal water abstractions in the countries.
All above mentioned maps and models and many
other outputs are available at the project website:
http://transenergy-eu.geologie.ac.at either as
downloadable reports, or interactive web-maps.
Targeted stakeholders of the TRANSENERGY
project are authorities and investors, who will get a
regional evaluation of geothermal resources of the
region. Development agencies, potential investors
and present thermal water users will be able to
identify their advantages and disadvantages in
comparison to other regions/users and gain more
sensible information on possible future development
on selected sites.
Project name: Transboundary geothermal
energy resources of Slovenia, Austria,
Hungary and Slovakia - TRANSENERGY
Website: http://transenergy-eu.geologie.ac.at
Contact: Annamária Nádor, project leader
Geological and Geophysical Institute of Hungary
H-1143 Budapest, Stefánia 14.
ERDF fund: 2 354 3868 euro
Duration: April 2010-March 2013 (36 months)
Integrating expertise
page 118 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
page 119 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
publicationsMÁfI (Hungarian Survey) had two major
publications:
• Bárdossy, György: The Nyirád-east bauxite deposit.
• Földvári, Mária: Handbook of thermogravimetric
system of minerals and its use in geological
practice.
Czech Geological Survey.
• Kotková J. - O´Brien P. J.- Ziemann M. A. (2011a):
Diamond and coesite discovered in Saxony-type
granulite: Solution to the Variscan garnet
peridotite enigma. - Geology 39, 7, 667-670.
ISSN 0091-7613. DOI 10.1130/G31971.1.
• Novák M. - Zemanová L. - Voldřichová P.
- Štěpánová M. - Adamová M. - Pacherová P. -
Komárek A. - Krachler M. - Přechová E. (2011):
Experimental Evidence for Mobility/Immobility of
Metals in Peat. - Environmental Science &
Technology 45, 17, 7180-7187. ISSN 0013-936X.
DOI 10.1021/es201086v.
• Oulehle F. - Evans C. D.- Hofmeister J. - Krejčí R.
- Tahovská K. - Persson T. - Cudlín P. - Hruška J.
(2011): Major changes in forest carbon and
nitrogen cycling caused by declining sulphur
deposition. - Global Change Biology 17, 10,
3115-3129. ISSN 1354-1013. DOI
10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02468.x.
Belgian Geological Survey
• Baeteman, C., Waller, M., Kiden, P. 2011
Reconstructing middle to late Holocene sea-level
change: A methodological review with particular
reference to 'A new Holocene sea-level curve
for the southern North Sea' as presented by
K.-E. Behre. Boreas 40, 4 557-572
• Burlet, C., Vanbrabant, Y., Goethals, H., Thys, T.,
Dupin, L. 2011 Raman spectroscopy as a tool to
characterize heterogenite (CoO.OH) (Katanga
Province, Democratic Republic of Congo)
Spectrochimicaacta Part A: Molecular and
biomolecular spectroscopy 80 138-147
• Welkenhuysen, K., Piessens, K., Baele, J.-M.,
Laenen, B., Dusar, M. 2011 CO2 storage
opportunities in Belgium Energy Procedia 4
4913-4920
lithuanian Geological Survey,
• Lietuvos požeminio vandens monitoringas
2005-2010 metais ir kiti hidrogeologiniai darbai
straipsnių rinkinys / J. Arustienė, J. Giedraitienė ...
et al.; ats. red. K. Kadūnas; Lietuvos geologijos
tarnyba. - Vilnius: LGT, 2011. - 158, [1] p.: iliustr.
(Groundwater monitoring in Lithuania 2005-2010
and other hydrogeological works)
• Lietuvos geologijos tarnybos 2010 metų veiklos
rezultatai: [metinė ataskaita] = Lithuanian
Geological Survey: Annual Report 2010 / ats. red.
J. Satkūnas; Lietuvos geologijos tarnyba. -
Vilnius, 2011. - 121, [1] p.: iliustr. - Liet., angl. -
ISSN 1392-7272 (Lithuanian Geological Survey:
Annual Report 2010)
• Klimato kaita Klaipėdos mieste ir rajone: poveikis,
kaina ir prisitaikymas / Autorių kolektyvas. -
Vilnius: Vilniaus universitetas, 2012. - 120 p.
(Evaluation of climate change in Klaipėda city and
district: Impacts, Costs and Adaptation)
Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute - PGI-NRI
• Hesselbo Stephen P., PIEŃKOWSKI GRZEGORZ;
Stepwise atmospheric carbon isotope excursion
during the early jurassic oceanic anoxic event;
Earth and Planetary Science Letters; 2011, Vol.
301, nr 1-2, s. 365-372
• Zhang, T., TRELA, W., Jiang S.Y., Nielsen J.K.,
& Shen, Y., 2011. Major oceanic redox condition
change correlated with the rebound of marine
animal diversity during the Late Ordovician.
Geology, 39: 675-678
• SZEWCZYK JAN, NAWROCKI JERZY; Deep-
seated relict permafrost in northeastern Poland;
Boreas; 2011, Vol. 40, nr 3, s. 385-388
• García-Veigas Javier, Cendón Dioni I., Pueyo
Juan J., PERYT TADEUSZ MAREK; Zechstein
saline brines in Poland, evidence of overturned
anoxic ocean during the Late Permian mass
page 120 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
extinction event; Chemical Geology; 2011, Vol.
290,nr 3-4, s. 189-201
• SŁOWAKIEWICZ MIROSŁAW, MIKOŁAJEWSKI
ZBIGNIEW; Upper Permian Main Dolomite
microbial carbonates as potential source rocks for
hydrocarbons (W Poland); Marine and Petroleum
Geology; 2011, Vol. 28, nr 8, s. 1572-1591
British Geological Surveys
• Booth, K.A.; Brayson, J. 2011 Geology, landscape
and human interactions : examples from the Isle
of Wight. Proceedings of the Geologists'
Association, 122 (5). 938-948. 10.1016/j.
pgeola.2011.01.004 (This is one of the papers in
the recent PGA volume dedicated to the work of
BGS on this island.)
• Jones, L.D.; Terrington, R.. 2011 Modelling
volume change potential in the London clay.
Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and
Hydrogeology, 44 (1). 109-122. 10.1144/1470-
9236/08-112 (This paper was runner up in the
Natural Hazards category of the Lloyds Science
of Risk Price run by Lloyds [www.lloyds.com/
The-Market/Tools-and-Resources/Research/
Exposure-Management/Emerging-risks/~/media/
Files/The%20Market/Tools%20and%20resources/
Exposure%20management/Science%20of%20
Risk/2011/repeated%20sor%20booklet.pdf])
• Johnson, Christopher C.; Demetriades, Alecos;
Locutura, Juan; Ottesen, Rolf Tore, eds. 2011
Mapping the chemical environment of urban
areas. Wiley, 640pp. (Chris Johnson was the chief
editor of this book, which contains a number of BGS
contributions, and seems to fit well with EGS.)
Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration - IGME
• Luis Carcavilla Urquí y Jaime Palacio Suárez-
Valgrande - GEOSITES. Aportación española al
patrimonio geológico mundial edited by: Instituto
Geológico y Minero de España, pages: 231, ISBN
9788478408559
publications
page 121 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
page 122 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
SIGME is the first Spanish Public Research Institution that acquires a paleontological site
IGME has purchased 25Ha of the land containing
the Palaentological Site of Fonelas P-1 in Granada.
The site hosts thousand of fossil bones of
exceptionally preserved mammals representing a
continental ecosystem of 2 million years ago.
The site of Fonelas, in the Guadix-Baza basin, hosts
fossils of big mammals completely new in Europe.
Such remains of organic origin have been found in
the dry meander of a riverbed which was a feeding
through for hyenas. This kind of fossils can be
usually found in places such as on the edge of
lakes. However, in this case it seems like if hyenas
had moved animal rests which died in the flooded
sands to this abandoned channel. This would
explain the wide variety of animal species
preserved, many unknown for scientists. Apart
from hyenas, river wild boars, giraffes, wolf
ancestors and sabre-toothed felines used to live in
the Andalusian savannah 1.8 million years ago.
The findings in the deposit seem to imply a
modification on the keys of the transit from the
Pliocene to the Pleistocene. According to the scientific
team of researchers’ data, the faunal dispersion of
man ancestors from Africa to Eurasia would be
more westerly than supposed. In the site of Granada,
there have not yet appeared hominid remains but
there are animal remains similar to those of the
sites of Dmanisi (Georgia) where there were
hominid remains dating from that prehistoric
period, the oldest found in Europe. The interpretation
of the fossils, which has revealed the existence of
this savannah located at the foot of Sierra Nevada,
has been directed by Alfonso Arribas Herrera, from
the Geological Survey of Spain. The experts do not
dismiss, in the course of these works in Fonelas,
which will be pursued in the next years, the finding
of hominid remains which would be revolutionary.
The objective of the purchase is to preserve such
paleontological heritage and the group of rocks
containing the scientific information regarding the
geological and environmental history of the Guadix
Basin during the Lower Pleistocene (between 2,5
and 0,8 Ma), as well as facilitating its systematic
excavation and permanent research and preserving
such vast heritage in situ in the deposit itself.
IGME plans to develop a pioneering facility in the site
(the Paleontological Station Valle del Rio Fardes)
which will host a variety of research, popularization
and educations activities related with earth sciences.
there’s more
GEOAportación española al
patrimonio geológico mundial
SITES
GEO
SITES
PR
OY
EC
TO
Apor
taci
ón e
spa
ñol
a a
l pa
trim
onio
geo
lógi
co m
un
dia
l
La historia de nuestro Planeta se
deduce a partir de lugares que han
guardado en sus rocas un registro
excepcional de los acontecimientos
del pasado.
España, país que destaca por su
geodiversidad, guarda algunas
de estas joyas geológicas que son
referencia para la comunidad científica
internacional. En este libro se describe
el significado e importancia de estos
privilegiados enclaves españoles que
forman parte del patrimonio geológico
mundial.
Este libro divulgativo está escrito para
personas que, sin necesidad de tener
conocimientos geológicos, tengan
curiosidad por conocer los tesoros de
la rica geología española, a lo largo
de sus más de 600 millones de años
de historia.
EL PROYECTO GLOBAL GEOSITESA finales de los años 90 la Unión Internacional de las Ciencias Geo-lógicas (IUGS), con el co-patrocinio de la UNESCO, puso en marchauna ambiciosa iniciativa global para acometer un inventario mundialde patrimonio geológico: el proyecto Global Geosites.
En España, ha sido el Instituto Geológico y Minero de España(IGME) el organismo encargado de desarrollar el proyecto GlobalGeosites. Durante más de diez años, expertos del IGME han des-arrollado el proyecto, contando con la colaboración más de 70 in-vestigadores de numerosas universidades y centros de investigación.En total, fueron identificados 142 lugares de interés geológico derelevancia internacional que son descritos en este libro, y que cons-tituyen la aportación española al patrimonio geológico mundial.
Luis Carcavilla Urquí (Castellón de la Plana, Comunidad Valen-ciana) estudió Ciencias Geológicas en la Universidad Complutensede Madrid. Se doctoró en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid conuna tesis sobre la gestión del patrimonio geológico y la geodiversi-dad. Es I Investigador Titular del Instituto Geológico y Minero de Es-paña (IGME). Ha publicado numerosos artículos científicos y dedivulgación, incluyendo diversas guías geológicas. Una de ellas, laGuía Geológica del Alto Tajo, recientemente re-editada por el IGME,recibió en el año 2009 el galardón internacional “Ciencia en Acción”como la mejor obra iberoamericana de divulgación científica en so-porte papel de ese año.
Jaime Palacio Suárez-Valgrande (Gijón, Asturias) es geólogo porla Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Inició su actividad en elcampo del Patrimonio Geológico en el año 1978, cuando participóen la elaboración y desarrollo de la primera Metodología de Inven-tariado y Catalogación de Puntos de Interés Geológico de España(PIG). Ha realizado y publicado numerosos trabajos sobre patrimo-nio para el Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME), Princi-pado de Asturias, Gobierno de Navarra, Comunidad Autónoma deMadrid y ENRESA. A lo largo de más de treinta años ha organizadoreuniones científicas, coordinado y realizado diversas publicaciones,e inventariado, descrito, catalogado e informatizado, puntos y lugaresde interés geológico en casi todo el territorio nacional. Ha partici-pado activamente, desde su inicio, en la realización del proyectoGlobal Geosites, y en la publicación que ha dado origen a la pre-sente obra divulgativa.
P R O Y E C T O
page 123 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
found alive in Namibia a fossil fly thought extinct
IGME researchers described in 1999 a fly of the
genus Alavesia inside Cretaceous amber (110 My).
Now in a recent issue of Systematic Entomology,
Dr. Sinclair from Canada and Dr.Kirk-Spriggs of
South Africa have described new species of this fly
in a remote area (Brandberg Massif) of the vast
desert of northeast Namibia.
This recent findings of a creature though extinct,
allows to believe in a possible “Lost World” located
in the Brandberg Massif, as it seems this place is a
refuge for primitive living creatures. The site is a
mountainous region formed by a circular granitic
intrusion of 650 km2 were several years ago living
mantofasmid insects were found that had already
been described in Baltic amber by Spanish experts.
It is possible that this region might be a window to
remote times where insects have evolved
unchanged due to isolation.
first evidences of tsunamis in tenerife (Canary Islands)
A research directed by IGME researcher Mercedes
Ferrer, has found the first evidences of tsunami
deposits in the coast of Tenerife. Such tsunamis
created 50m high waves and are associated to the
destruction of the volcanic edifice of Las Cañadas,
previous to the current Teide volcano.
The characteristics and composition of the
deposits, point to its relationship to explosive
eruptions that happened 150.000 to 180.000 years
ago. Teno tsunamites are composed by detrital
sediments with fragments of shells, corals and
even fish remains and lay over the Teno lavas
located in the north-western coast of Tenerife.
This finding is exceptional as it is very difficult to
find tsunami deposit in the Canary islands due to
its abrupt coasts and the absence of costal
platforms were they could be deposited and later
preserved.
there’s more
page 124 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
Investigation of the new iron meteorite Javorje at Geological Survey of Slovenia
Miloš MILER and Mateja GOSAR
Geological Survey of Slovenia, Dimičeva ulica
14, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
A rusty iron mass was found by Mr. Vladimir Štibelj
while constructing a cut for a new forest road about
30 km northwest of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The find
was brought to the Geological Survey of Slovenia
where all necessary chemical and mineralogical
investigations using SEM/EDS were made to prove
that the find was a meteorite.
The single-piece iron meteorite Javorje, with nearly
five kilograms, is the heaviest and largest meteorite
found in the territory of Slovenia. It is a medium
octahedrite with kamacite bandwidth of 0.85 ±
0.26 mm. The bulk composition of Ni (7.83 wt%),
Co (0.48 wt%) and trace elements Ga (25 μg/g),
Ge (47 μg/g), Ir (7.6 μg/g), As (5.8 μg/g), Au (0.47
μg/g), and Pt (13.4 μg/g) indicates that the
meteorite Javorje belongs to the chemical group
IIIAB. The presence of numerous rhabdites,
carlsbergite, sparse troilite and chromite and
abundance of daubréelites are in accordance with
low-Ni and low-P IIIAB iron meteorites.
The severely weathered surface and secondary
weathering products in the interior of the meteorite
suggest its high terrestrial age.
The meteorite Javorje is the third meteorite and
the second iron meteorite reported from the
territory of Slovenia. It is also the largest and the
first meteorite in Slovenia designated as a find
without an observed fall.
The Javorje meteorite was approved by the
Meteoritical Society [www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor]
and complete description of it was published in paper
“Mineral and chemical composition of the new iron
meteorite Javorje from Slovenia” (Miler & Gosar,
2011) in Meteoritics & Planetary Science journal.
Meteorite Javorje, covered with a thick crust of oxidationproducts. Scale bar is 1 cm.
BGS won 3rd place in the Storytelling with Maps competition
iGeology was voted the top Community Favourite
Mobile App at the ESRI International User
Conference in July 2011, where it also won 3rd
place in the Storytelling with Maps competition.
“You are the Community Favorite 1st place winner
for Best Mobile App and the 3rd place winner for
Best Mobile App in the Storytelling with Maps
contest for your mobile app iGeology.”
[www.bgs.ac.uk/iGeology/newsAug11.html]
Surface of polished slab of meteorite Javorje a) before etching and b) after etching. After etching, the Widmanstätten patterns are very distinct. Scale bar is 1 cm.
there’s more
page 125 I EGS 2011 Annual Report
EuroGeoSurveys, the Geological Surveys of Europe
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EGS wishes to thank all the contributors to this Report.
In particular Claudia Delfini, who was responsible for
the overall coordination, Woody Hunter, Patrick Wall,
the Expert Groups Chairpersons and all the authors
of the various different sections.
this EuroGeoSurveys annual Report is a publication of :
ISSN: 2034-5283