Missions
The mission of the Geological Survey of Belgium has two main components:
- a public service, by arranging all available information into a Documentation Center for Earth Sciences;
- the organisation of research projects in the framework of its "Research and Development" programs.
This mission is accomplished through the following main tasks:
- Keeping up-to-date a data bank about the Belgian subsoil (150.000 observation points) and a library (70.000 books and periodicals and more than 11.000 maps).
- Technical assistance to government agencies and public institutions, and advice to private persons or companies.
- Participating in studies concerning environment and natural resources.
- Publication of scientific series: Professional Papers, Memoirs, Geologica Belgica.
- Protection and promotion of the natural geological heritage of Belgium.
- Carrying out research programs in the main geological fields of investigation, in collaboration with the Regions, universities and scientific institutions.
- Updating the geological map in collaboration with the Regions.
- Participation in European scientific programs.
- Participation in the activities of the national Stratigraphic Committees and working groups of the Fund for Scientific Research.
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(1) Documentation Center for Earth Sciences.
The Geological Survey of Belgium has a rich and extensive documentation in the field of the earth sciences. There are geological and hydrogeological data about the Belgian subsoil, periodicals and geological treatises, unpublished reports, maps, rock samples of outcrops and drillholes. At present, all the data are introduced into a relational database linked to a Geographical Information System, to allow user-friendly consultation of the information.
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(2) Research and Development.
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The national projects respond to:
- the sollicitation of advice from government and local public agencies; the Geological Survey provides neutral scientific expertise;
- calls for specific needs (acquiring new data, developing methodologies, contributing to international projects etc);
- the need to collaborate with the regions (steering committees of regional projects etc);
- a call to participate in activities of the national stratigraphical committees and of the working groups of the Fund for Scientific Research.
The international projects are carried out in the framework of:
- bilateral agreements with foreign geological surveys;
- projects concerning present-day problems initiated by supranational organisations (UNESCO, EU);
- Belgian participation in committees and working groups of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS).
The final aim is:
- to contribute to solving fundamental questions concerning sustainable development and environment (e.g. geological risk, urban geology, water resources, climate change etc).
- to improve our knowledge of the subsoil, e.g. by contributing to the revision of the geological map and to the study of the continental shelf.
- to be integrated in the international geological community.
- to contribute to fields of expertise developed in Belgium.
- to contribute to conventions of collaboration concerning natural resources and environment.
- to protect and promote the geological heritage of Belgium (e.g. international stratotypes defined in Belgium, geo-parks, special landscapes etc).
- to encourage research in present-day issues and in those fields which suffer a lack of knowledge compared to neighbouring countries.
