23-Mar-2022: Three Day International Geological Congress Concludes in Delhi
The three-day International Geoscience event -36th International Geological Congress on the theme “Geoscience for the next decade: Challenges and Society” concluded here yesterday.
On the third day of the congress, the talks of the session covered topics viz., Geological processes and timing of subduction initiation, ophiolite obduction and crustal thickening and metamorphism in the Himalayas, Geological carbon storage: the significance of secondary trapping mechanism from observation on natural analogue of CO2 storage, Microbial life on an Alien World: the habitat of life in Early Earth” which were introduced by Mike Searle, Michael Bickle, Martin van Kranendonk, Kathy Campbell.
Celebrating the “World Water Day” on 22nd March 2022, a talk was also delivered by very distinguished Geoscientist Prof. Mihir Shah, Shiv Nadar University and Uma Aslekar from ACWADAM on “Bringing the Science back into water: Challenges of sustainable Groundwater Management in India.” The talk emphasized on the management of groundwater resources. He also mentioned the need for strongly advocating natural farming for water management and conservation.
The concluding remarks were made by Prof. D. M. Banerjee, FNA thanking all participation including the 36th IGC organizing Committee, India.
The Panel discussion was all about understanding the dynamics of the Earth to create a safe and healthy planet, driving sustainable growth, reducing gender inequalities in the field of Earth Sciences, better understanding of the geosciences, prediction and mitigation of climate changes and geohazards.
The talks were delivered by the renowned Geoscientists of the world covering various topics viz., Data driven Earth Science Learning and Discovery, From Hadean Earth to a Habitable Planet, The Anthropocene as a potential unit of the geological time scale: an update on Progress and High-Pressure Record of a Cretaceous Salinity Crisis.
The talk ended with lecture from Prof. Roland Oberhaensli, Former President IUGS, Professor, University of Postdam, Germany on “High Pressure Record of a Cretaceous Salinity Crisis.”
The three – day event was attended virtually by nearly 7000 participants from all over the world. On the inaugural day of the event on 20th March, union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi, Minister of State for Coal, Mines & Railways Shri Raosaheb Patil Danve, Minister of State for Communications Shri Devusinh Chauhan and Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space Dr Jitendra Singh addressed the Congress, described as the Olympics of Geosciences.
The reformatted 36th International Geological Congress (IGC) was organized jointly by the Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Earth Sciences, with technical and scientific support from Indian National Science Academy from 20-22nd March 2022. India has hosted the Congress after 58 years with the support of Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The event provided the right platform for geoscientists from across the globe to formulate more effective tools in the field of sustainable development.
21-Mar-2022: Talks by Renowned Geoscientists Mark Second Day of International Geological Congress, Delhi
The reformatted 36th International Geological Congress is being organized jointly by the Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India and Indian National Science Academy from 20-22nd March 2022 on virtual platform with the support of India’s neighboring countries- Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Described as the Olympics of Geosciences, the IGC’s are held quadrennial, under the aegis of the International Union of Geological Congress (IUGS), the scientific sponsor of IGCs. The Congress was attended virtually by the geoscience community over the world with its inaugural ceremony in a hybrid mode.
The Inaugural function of 36th IGC was followed by a Panel discussion. The theme for the session was “Geoscience for the next decade: Challenges and Society”.
The technical session was chaired by Prof. Ashok Singhvi: DST-SERB Year of Science Professor, PRL Ahmedabad.
The scientific program reflected on how Geosciences are integrally related to a sustainable future, touching various aspects of life. The talks highlighted the Complex interactions of various phenomena that regulate the earth processes and their symbiosis with the biosphere, by focusing on emerging paradigm in the realm of Geosciences in the context of sustainable development.
The technical session covered various emerging topics of discussion viz., Major Challenges before the Geoscientists, UNESCO and IGCP’s contribution to geoscientific community to deliver UN 2030 agenda and UN Sustainable Development Goals, African Mineral Industry, Geoethics in mining, On the Future (and Past) of Stratigraphy, Role of Geomagnetism Studies in coming Decades, Developing Earthquake & Tsunami Resilient Society, The Art of Geoscience Communication and its importance, Using Geological thinking to sustain in Humanly Habitable Earth, Society and Geosciences, Science Policy.
The Panel discussion was all about Understanding the dynamics of the earth to create a safe and healthy planet, driving sustainable growth, reducing the gender inequalities in the field of earth sciences, better understanding of the geosciences, prediction and mitigation of climate changes and geohazards.
The discussion marks that focus of geoscientific community must be on understanding the modelling of Earth Processes where IUGS may is playing a major role.
The second day of the technical session was chaired by Prof. Om Narain Bhargava: Honorary Professor, Panjab University, Chandigarh; Former Director, Geological Survey of India and Prof. Pradeep Srivastava; Department of Earth Sciences, Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India.
The talks were delivered by the renowned Geoscientists of the world covering various topics viz., Data driven Earth Science Learning and Discovery, From Hadean Earth to a Habitable Planet, The Anthropocene as a potential unit of the geological time scale: an update on Progress and High-Pressure Record of a Cretaceous Salinity Crisis.
The Deep Time Digital Earth is the first IUGS- recognized big science program. Deep time data are data related to the changing processes that the earth has experienced through the millions of years of geological time. Through DDE data insights into the distribution and value of Earth resources and materials will be made available.
The talk delivered by Prof. M. Santosh highlighted on the evolution of the planet Earth from Hadean to its present form. It focused on the composition of Upper Crust, the thickness of mafic KREEP Basalt in the Lower Crust and generation of primordial continents with Komatiite from the solidification of the dry magma ocean at 4.6 Ga.
The talk delivered by Prof. Jan Zalasiewicz brought out the fact that the Anthropocene Earth System shows profound departure from Holocene baseline conditions and the changes are now irreversible. Geologically, the Anthropocene is sharply distinct as expressed through a wide array of stratigraphic proxies.
The talk ended with lecture from Prof. Roland Oberhaensli, Former President IUGS, Professor, University of Postdam, Germany on “High Pressure Record of a Cretaceous Salinity Crisis.”
24-Nov-2017: India to host 36th International Geological Congress in 2020.
A high level delegation of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) visited India during 20-24 November 2017 to discuss the preparatory aspects of the 36th International Geological Congress (IGC) to be held in Delhi, India in the year 2020.
Described as the Olympics of Geosciences, the IGCs are held quadrennially under the aegis of the IUGS through a process of global bidding. India won the bid in 2012 at Brisbane, Australia to host the Congress in 2020. The win is a remarkable achievement as the event makes a come back to the Indian soil after nearly 6 decades much to the excitement of the entire geoscientific community.
The event is being jointly funded by the Ministry of Mines and Ministry of Earth Sciences with the active support of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), and the Science Academies of the other neighbouring co-host countries, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The delegation, during its visit, inspected the India Expo Mart Limited, the venue for the event and expressed its satisfaction over the facilities available and its convenient location. The team described the state-of-the-art Centre as impressive, and equipped in all respects to host the mega Congress which has conventionally an attendance to the tune of 6000 delegates.