Geological Surveys of the world

The major objective of this project is to investigate the general trends of modern geological surveys (GSs) regarding mission, objectives, organizational structure, GIS mapping, staffing, laboratory capacity, budget, water resources, environment safety, R&D, and other outstanding items. In the last 30 years there was a continuous shift in GSs’ focus from mineral resources discovery to other areas where geology might contribute to other societal needs, e.g. natural hazards (landslides, flooding, volcanism, earthquakes, tsunamis), ground-water, land management, selection of landfill sites, underground storage of CO2, radioactive waste disposal, geotourism, geoparks, and so on. However, less developed countries continue to give emphasis on mineral resources discovery and this policy is used to attract foreign investment in most cases. The geological information is recognized as an important asset for this purpose. GIS is a tool very much used nowadays and is being incorporated by developing countries at a fast pace. Geodiversity is a concept being used in different countries to understand the variety of uses society may choice starting from diversified geological settings. A database is under construction for 140 geological surveys (GSs) in the world. Half of this number is now available in some detail, comprising Latin America, the OECD countries, Russia, India, China and South Africa.