2007annual report
geological survey of norway geology for society
.'5 .ORGES GEOLOGISKE UNDERSKELSE 'EOLOGICAL 3URVEY OF .ORWAY Photo: Cathrine Dillner Hagen Photo cover and page 3: Morten Smelror Lay out: Lisa Løseth, NGU Text: Gudmund Løvø and Erik Prytz Reitan, NGU
Printing: GRØSETTM – production is climate-neutral with compensation for CO2 emission. NGU’s northern focus 4 Content rock’n brass 6 a climate of change 8 mapping “sans frontières” 10 man and the environment 12 full gas! 14 the submarine landscape 16 the Barents Sea story 18 permafrost with a fever? 20 cliffhanger 22 digital gold 24 accounts 26 NGU in brief 27 www.ngu.no • geology for society
NGU’s northern focus by Morten Smelror
Norway governs huge areas of land and sea in our ties with the arctic research communities. the far north. These northern regions are rich in Thus, during the past year, NGU’s engagement natural resources, but are also vulnerable to in the far north was strengthened significantly human activity, pollution and climate change. in many geoscience disciplines, including They are important for the nation as a whole, geological and geophysical mapping, mineral and the government of Norwayhas therefore resource studies, landslide assessment, as well as proposed a separate strategic plan for the far environmental and climate studies. north, with proper exploitation of the possibilities in this region as its priority for the near future. The International Polar Year (IPY), which started on March 1st , 2007, also contributes to draw con- Sensible use of resources and sustainable siderable attention to the planet’s arctic regions. management of the arctic natural environment During the next two years, research and financing require good knowledge of these resources from more than 60 countries will be coordinated and of the relationships between ecology and in an extraordinary effort to improve our under- geology in the arctic regions. The strategic plan standing of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. In for the far north aims at Norway becoming the fact, the IPY (2007-2008) represents the largest international leader for research on-, for- and in international collaboration on research ever, the arctic region. To achieve this goal, we need andNorwegian research organizations have a to carry out research and development across prominent role. NGU contributes here to projects the traditional science disciplines. We also need focussing on climate change, permafrost and good collaboration for proper management and environmental geochemistry in the Arctic. communication of this new knowledge. NGU established already in 1996 an office in Tromsø, to This Annual Report provides insight into some work closely with the other scientific communi- of NGU’s projects carried out in 2007. Several of ties at the Polar Environment Centre, as well as these projects will continue into 2008, further collaborating closely with the geoscientists at the contributing to improve our knowledge of the University of Tromsø. In 2007, NGU also signed an possibilities found in our nation’s northernmost agreement on cooperation with the University regions. Centre on Svalbard (UNIS) to further strengthen
Morten Smelror, managing director www.ngu.no • geology for society
rock’n brass
Mineral resources in the north of Norway may the environment. Indeed, geological processes be exploited better and ensure a more profitable are responsible for where mineral resources are mining industry. More research and develop- found in nature. Mineral deposits that may be ment will lead to increased mining activity, better exploited economically give high rates of return product quality and more specialized mineral per surface area. products. Carbonates, such as limestone and dolomite, In fact, Norway’s mining industry is more active are the most important industrial minerals in today than it has been for many years. Mineral Norway. Carbonates are used in the chemical resources in the whole Nordic region have and metallurgical industry, in the production of attracted considerable international attention. cement, in filler and pigment, in agricultural and Prices are increasing, especially for metals. the environmental remediation, in the manufacturing The Directorate of Mining (Bergvesenet) pro- of glass and as building material. cessed last year 3378 applications for mineral claims, compared with only 535 applications as Many user sectors nowadays increase product recently as in 2005. requirements, and the industry makes a greater effort in achieving products with better quality at The Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) de- higher prices. cided to focus in 2007 especially on the mineral resources in Norway’s three northernmost coun The last couple of years, new and exciting map- ties. We increased our field investigations and ping has been carried out of large occurrences of strengthened our collaboration with the industry. soapstone in the Linnajavri area in the municipal- ity of Hamarøy in Nordland county. These are the One of the reasons for this activity comes from most important soapstone deposits in Norway, the authorities indicating an industrial policy containing talcworth several billion Euro. Soap- for the north that is proactive and aimed at the stone is used as building stone and in furnaces future. The government is currently working on a and ovens, while talc is also used as filler in paper new Mineral Law, which will improve conditions and in paint. for responsible exploitation of mineral and metal deposits. Many areas in northern Norway have rocks that may contain economically interesting mineral Good planning of land usewill facilitate the deposits. The objective is always to search for, and exploitation of mineral deposits without signifi- to find, economically interesting deposits of, for cantly disturbing or damaging the landscape and instance, ultra-pure quartz, copper, nickel and gold.
Axel Müller, scientist Industrial minerals and metals www.ngu.no • geology for society
a climate of change
Scientists have discovered several dramatic The rising sea level caused the icecap in north- changes in climate during the last ice age. west Russia to float and break apart. It became thinner and melted completely relatively quickly, Under the umbrella of the International Polar thus freeing the lakes from being dammed up by Year 2007-2008, NGU manages a major research the ice. The waters from the huge lakes surged project called SciencePub. Scientists in this project northward again and out into the Kara Sea and map the natural changes in climate from the last White Sea. All of these dramatic changes were sign interglacial period, through the last ice age, till the ificant for both the climate and marine currents in present, a period covering the last 130,000 years. the Barents region. Many years of geological fieldwork in north-west Russia continually reveal new pieces of this great The sea level rose rapidly, and land, that had been puzzle. pressed down by the heavy icecaps, were inun- dated by the sea. In some of the larger river valleys The inland icecaps, acting as heavy lids on the in north-west Russia, the sea reached 200-300 northern land masses, caused the damming up of kilometers further inland compared with today. huge lakes in Russia during extended periods of time. These ice-dammed lakes were larger in size Only when we know what happened in the past, compared with the largest lakes on Earth known may we understand better what may happen today. The entire drainage system was reversed, in the future. SciencePub therefore also aims at with rivers, which today drain northwards, running explaining how humans adapted to the large south toward the Caspian, Black or Mediterranean changes in climate during and after the last ice seas during glacial periods. age.
But the icecaps were always changing in size and Archaeologists from the University of Tromsø try the ice front was constantly moving, sometimes to find out from where the first humans arrived in surging forward and then retreating again. North Calotte about 10,000 years ago. They search for homesteads, tent rings and fireplaces, finding Around 60,000 years ago, in the middle of the last pieces of tools and traces of artefacts, investigating ice age, the enormous icecaps were melting. The raw materials, and scrutinizing characteristic marks climate at that time was colder than today, but a from making tools. strong thawing of large icecaps in America and Antarctica caused a chain reaction affecting also In addition, geological fieldwork and research is the Barents Sea region. carried out in the Barents Sea, on Spitsbergen and northeastern Greenland.
Astrid Lyså, scientist Quarternary geology and climate www.ngu.no • geology for society
mapping “sans frontières”
Six nations in the Circum-Arctic territory are pool- this mapping project will be valuable, both for ing their resources to compile digital bedrock geoscience in general, for understanding the and geophysical maps of the world’s northern- geological evolution of the Circum-Arctic region, most regions. The maps will provide a starting and for further investigations of both known and point for prospecting for geological resources in unknown geological resources. these regions. For example, many petroleum experts believe The initiators of this international mapping pro that 25% of the world’s hitherto undiscovered oil ject are the geological surveys of Russia, Sweden, and gas resources are located in the Arctic. Finland, USA, Canada and Norway. A number of other countries contribute researchers to the This borderless mapping covers the collection, project. compilation and processing into a common for- mat of the magnetic and gravimetric data from This work is a direct result of an agreement on each participating country. The magnetic data collaboration signed by the six nations in June from Canada, Alaska and north-western Europe 2005. The agreement covers several projects are compiled on a grid of 1x1 km. Data from the under the umbrella “Geological atlas of the marine areas and from Russia are compiled on a Circum-Arctic region on a scale of 1:5 million”. The grid of 5x5 km. The completed digital maps will region covered by the programme extends as far have a grid resolution ranging from 2 to 1 km. south as latitude 60°N. The resolution of the two gravimetric maps to be The project is part of the International Polar Year produced will be 10x10 km. 2007-2008 (IPY) and is managed by the Russian geological survey (VSEGEI). NGU manages the Preliminary maps from this project have already compilation of the geophysical maps. been presented in 2007 at geological conferences in Italy, Norway and USA. A broad-based seminar Many of the national geophysical databases on the Circum-Arctic data was arranged in 2007 have grown significantly since the previous in Trondheim, with participants from Russia, USA, compilations in 1996 and 2000. The products of Canada, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Denmark.
Stephanie Werner, scientist Continental shelf geophysics 10 11 www.ngu.no • geology for society
man and the environment
Norway’s territory is mostly covered by sea. Few shows that the environmental status of the sea marine areas have greater human activity com- bed appears to be good, the investigations will pared with Norway’s offshore territory, and two of continue at other locations. More samples will be the country’s most important sources of revenue, collected and sent to NGU’s laboratory in Trond- oil and fish, occur just there. The government of heim. We can thus trace the impact Norwegians Norway is preparing extensive investigations in have on the marine environment. the coming years of the natural resources in the country’s northern territories. While there was little pollution observed in the sediments on the Tromsøflaket, the environmen- What does human activity actually mean for the tal status around the Russian settlements on sea floor environment? Geochemical analyses of Spitsbergen appears not to be so good. NGU, in samples collected from the bottom of the Barents collaboration with the Norwegian Pollution Con- Sea give us so far cause for optimism: the sea trol Authority and the Governor of Svalbard, has floor here is mainly clean and healthy. established high concentrations of PCB in several soil samples from Barentsburg and Pyramiden. Nevertheless, humans do affect nature – also NGU’s laboratory will now analyze the same soil those parts we don’t normally see and which samples for heavy metals, such as lead, mercury lie hundreds of meters below sea level. Toxic and nickel. elements, such as lead and mercury, are found naturally in the sea bed.However, samples, from Through collaboration with the University of e.g. Tromsøflaket, show that their concentrations Moscow in the field of geochemistry, NGU ob- in the sediments are increasing closer to the tained in 2007 access to analytical data for three sediment-water interface. In short, the concen- large Russian rivers flowing out into the Barents trations of these toxins in the sediments increase Sea. The results show PCB featuring strongly in as we approach the present day – the time with the river bed of the Dvina River. This toxic chemi- extensive human industrial activity. Fortunately, cal originates from terrestrial sources, and, as the quantities of these toxins are modest, but with all other PCB-occurrences, is 100% anthro- the geochemical picture suggests that we leave pogenic. traces of our activities below the waves. NGU’s laboratory carries out around 70,000 The marine areas Tromsøflaket and Ingøydjupet analyses each year, operating and maintaining are located just offshore northern Norway, and modern equipment and facilities. The laboratory here NGU’s researchers have studied the sea bed. is accredited for analyses of water and geological Even though the analytical results from 2007 materials.
Frank Berge, avdelingsingeniør NGU laboratory 12 13 www.ngu.no • geology for society
full gas!
First it was oil...Then gas. The next thing may be developing marine facilities, whether they be oil- gas hydrates. or gas platforms, pipelines or other installations. Research cruises in the Barents Sea and west of They resenble ice, are composed mainly of Svalbard indicate that gas hydrates also occur methane, and are found primarily under the sea there, and the GANS project will carry out more floor. And they can be scary – gas hydrates may research on these occurrences. cause large submarine slides and contribute to climate changes. But we still don’t know much Global warming and the greenhouse effect are about gas hydrates. Here, NGU, together with the expressions familiar to all of us. The climate is Universities of Bergen and Tromsø plus several changing, and the UN’s climate experts are con- other research institutes, is aiming to make some vinced that human activity is a major contribut- changes. The GANS project (”Gas Hydrates on ing factor in this change. Regardless of what the Norway – Barents Sea – Svalbard margin”) in- causes global warming, rising temperatures in tends to collect more knowledge on gas hydrates: the sea are likely to affect gas hydrates. Warmer Where are they found? How are they formed? water resulting from a generally warmer climate, How can we exploit them as a resource? will convert the solid hydrates to mainly methane gas, to be released to the atmosphere. Methane is The high content of methane in gas hydrates a powerful greenhouse gas, more than 20 times means they may be a future energy resource. as effective compared with CO2. Much more Research is being conducted on developing a research is required before unambiguous conclu- technology to make the exploitation of gas sions can be drawn. hydrates economically viable. If successful, this will provide an important contribution to meet- Images recorded from the sea floor offshore ing global energy needs. northern Norway and Svalbard show gas leaking from the bottom. The GANS project is studying The Storegga slide was a gigantic submarine these leakages in more detail. Is it gas from gas slide in the Norwegian Sea, about 8200 years ago. hydrates, or does the sea floor release other gases The size of this slidewas almost as large as all of from decaying organic matter? Not the least, do Iceland, and created an enormous tsunami. Some these gas leakages affect life on the sea floor, and geologists believe that gas hydrates in the sea may they be related to occurrences of coral reefs? floor were one of the triggers for this slide. When Questions related to gas hydrates currently out- gas hydrates melt, the sea floor may become number the available answers, but we contribute unstable. It is therefore important to consider to solve these riddles. the occurrence of gas hydrate deposits when
Yifeng Chen scientist Marine geology 14 15 www.ngu.no • geology for society
the submarine landscape
Imagine that you have super power. That you can have focussed on surveying on and around push back the sea from the Norwegian coast. three large banks offshore Troms and Vesterålen. Where the sea has shrouded the murky depths, Many of us would place the names Tromsøflaket, a landscape of sand ripples, deep valleys, wide Vesterålsgrunnen and Malangsgrunnen on a map plains and colourful coral reefs emerges. NGU “somewhere out to sea”. At NGU we know a lot does not have such super power, but we have more. Scientists have seen how bottom currents technologies helping us to reveal the submarine have sculpted the landscape of the sea floor landscape. during thousands of years, and created suitable growing conditions for large coral reefs – some of This is the most important task of the MAREANO them up to 20 meter high and up to 200 meter in programme – to reveal the extent of submerged diameter. They have also seen how the large plains lands hidden beneath the sea. And to find the with kilometer-long sand waves have evolved connections between geology and life on the after the glaciers retreated 15,000 years ago. sea floor. And to find out if the sea is as clean and bountiful as we like to believe. So, to the key question... Do we need to know this? The answer is yes. We use the sea both as a In 2007, NGU, together with the Institute of food dish and a source of income. It is only when Marine Research and the Norwegian Mapping we have accumulated all the knowledge about Authority, has voyaged far out to sea, towards the sea, the sea bed and marine life, that we can the edge of the continental shelf. The sea floor is make the right choices for the future. Knowledge being mapped and assigned an environmental is the key to the correct management of these status, effectively facilitated by new technology important resources. and new methods. The Barents Sea’s huge area is thoroughly surveyed, sampled, analysed and MAREANO is an abbreviation for Marine AREAl interpreted. Experience from mapping of other database for NOrwegian sea and coastal areas. areas helps us to describe the condition on the The project will provide information on the sea floor. sea to public administration, the industry and research. All data are available on the Internet at Activities of the MAREANO programme in 2007 ww.mareano.no
Aave Lepland, overingeniør Marine geology 16 17 www.ngu.no • geology for society
the Barents Sea story
The increased activity in oil and gas in the development of the Goliath oil field. Barents Sea is the driving force behind a new Norwegian-Russian research collaboration in the Because the Barents Sea is one of the world’s far north. most promising regions for oil and gas, with more than 60 finds since prospecting began early in The Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) and the the 1980s, it is important to understand the Russian sister organization VSEGEI are compiling geological evolution of this region. geophysical and palaeogeographical data from the entire Barents Sea, Kara Sea and northern Source rocks dating from Middle Triassic to Pechora Basin. Upper Jurassic age have been found in the Bar- ents Sea. Possible reservoirs have been identified The end-result will be a series of maps showing in carbonates from the Devonian, Carboniferous the geological evolution of the Barents Sea and Permian (about 400 to 250 million years old), during more than 400 million years. In addition, while potential sandstone reservoirs have been existing magnetic and gravimetric data from found in rocks with various ages ranging from both Norway and Russia will be compiled. These Silurian to Tertiary.. maps reveal the structure of the Earth’s crust, and will enable researchers to, for example, differen In this way, our understanding evolves of the tiate between light and heavy rocks within the geological history and basin development of crust. this large marine region. This, in turn, helps the industry in prospecting and exploiting new oil The Barents Sea has been shown to contain and gas resources. significant quantities of oil and gas, including the gigantic Russian Stockman Field, the world’s The project is financed by the Norwegian Re- second largest offshore gas field. On the search Council’s Petromax-programme, and by Norwegian side, production of liquid natural gas StatoilHydro, and is carried out in collaboration from the Snow White Field started in 2007, at with the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. the same time as plans are made for
Jörg Ebbing, scientist Continental shelf geophysics 18 19 www.ngu.no • geology for society
permafrost with a fever?
Permafrost is often considered as stable as bed- temperature evolves further over time. Tempera- rock. But when the temperature is rising and the ture is also being measured in already existing ice melting, also permafrost becomes unstable. deep boreholes at Repparfjord, Pasvik, Råna and We don’t know enough about the extent of Båtsfjord – at this latter location down to a depth permafrost in Norway, which not only is found on of 580 m. Spitsbergen but also on the mainland. These measurements of temperature help scien- A milder climate can lead to more unstable rock, tists find out whether permafrost still occurs, or and the questions is then: what happens if more ever occurred, in these rocks. permafrost melts? NGU is establishing, and will maintain, a database Under the umbrella of the International Polar of permafrost information, with contributions from Year 2007-2008, the University Centre on Svalbard all project participants, mainly UNIS, the University (UNIS) manages a large research project, , with of Oslo, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute scientists mapping where permafrost occurs and and NTNU. The database provides necessary infor- measuring its temperature. mation for national construction agencies, such as the country’s Public Roads Administration and Permafrost is ground that is frozen year round, or National Rail Administration. ground frost that doesn’t melt during two or more consecutive summers. Polar- and high-altitude Permafrost occurs at some depth in most areas have permafrost, altogether about 20% of mountains in Troms county, and the same applies the earth’s land surface. How high we must climb probably for large high-altitude areas in southern to find permafrost depends on factors such as Norway. Also the Finnmarksvidda plains may have temperature, wind, and snow- and ice-coverage. permafrost below several meters of soil that has thawed, while permafrost on the Spitsbergen In 2007, the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) islands occurs in ground not covered by glaciers. drilled nine, 30-m-deep boreholes in bedrock at various elevations in northern Troms and Finn- Knowledge about permafrost is important, but its mark. In these holes temperature is measured extent in Norway has so far been poorly mapped. continuously to find out at what elevations perma- We are therefore pleased that this work is now frost may be expected to occur, and to follow how underway.
Jan Steinar Rønning, scientist Bedrock excavations and applied geophysics 20 21 www.ngu.no • geology for society
cliffhanger
The mountain Nordnesfjell in Troms county is maps provide for the construction of an accurate moving up to three centimeters each year. In model for the sea floor topography. The Nor- 2007, the Norwegian Parliament allocated NGU wegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) has subse- an extra five million kroner to assess the dangers quently used these data to predict the evolution posed by large rockslides. NGU has investigated of tsunami waves and their impact onshore, in a number of locations with potential for develop- the event of a large rockslide from Nordnesfjell. ing rockslides in Troms county. Nordnes, on the Lyngen peninsula, is the most important location. In a worst case scenario, several million cubic meters of rock could slide down across the E6 The area of the mountain that is shifting is situ- highway and end up in the fjord. This would ated in the northern part of Nordnes, where the create a tsunami affecting the muncipalities of unsafe portion lies 600-800 m above the fjord. Lyngen, Kåfjord and Storfjord, and endangering This portion is several hundred metres wide and a total of 6,000 people, together with buildings, likely extends to a depth of more than 100 m. industry and agriculture.
In collaboration with other organizations, NGU The extensive mapping enables the affected has investigated the mountain on several oc- municipalities to better plan both monitoring, casions, using geological mapping, geophysics, warning and evacuation. GPS-measurements, permafrost studies, 3D laser- scanning and satellite measurements (InSAR). The last large rockslide occurred in this fjord almost 200 years ago. In the summer of 1810, The municipalities in the Lyngen area coord an almost 2-kilometer-wide horizon of rock slid inated the installation of new instruments in down into the sea from an elevation of several 2007, to continually monitor the mountain’s hundred meters up Pollfjellet. The slide caused movement. Laser surveillance and tension sen- three flood waves killing 14 people, destroying sors keep track of movements and the expansion several farms, and swallowing a number of boats of fractures. In addition, a weather station has and many farm animals on Furuflaten at the been installed to record wind, temperature and mouth of Lyngsdalen. precipitation. Better knowledge of the geological processes A detailed mapping of the sea floor in the Lyngen leading to rockslides, teaches us more about the fjord has also been carried out, using seismic risk of rockslides and thereby contributes to a surveying and side-scanning sonar. The new safer society.
Guri Venvik Ganerød, scientist Bedrock excavations and applied geophysics 22 23 www.ngu.no • geology for society
digital gold
You can now go hunting digitally for gold and between 1985 and 1991. At Gjeddevann in other mineral deposits. A comprehensive ore Pasvik, a rather inaccessible gold-enriched zone database became available online in 2007, cover- has been mapped beneath a cover of sand and ing Scandinavia and parts of Russia. gravel.
This database, including digital maps, provides a The Swedish mining company Gexco has cau- novel overview over mines and ore deposits in tiously started mining and processing in Bindal the entire region known to geologists as Fenno in Nordland county. Their goal is literally a gold scandia. This is a common term for the oldest mine with profitable mining expected within parts of the bedrock in Norway, Sweden, Finland, three years. and the regions of Kola and Karelia in Russia. Today, mineral prospecting is not limited by The work has been managed by the Geological national borders. Mining companies, prospect- Survey of Finland (GTK), with solid support from ing firms and scientists do their work on a global NGU and the Geological Surveys of Russia and scale. The new database is designed as a strategic Sweden. The database contains information on tool for anyone wanting to get an overview over more than 900 important mines and mineral ore deposits in our part of the world, including deposits: 154 in Norway, 259 in Sweden, 292 in for gold. Finland, and 237 in Russia. 63% of all the mineral deposits listed in the data- In the hunt for mineral resources, geologists base have not yet been exploited. Many of these have once again got a taste for Norwegian gold. deposits may become commercially viable with The price of gold shot up to USD 800 per ounce more detailed investigations, rising prices for raw (about NOK 4,400 per 31.1 g) toward the end of materials and better processing technology. 2007. So, the price is high, there is lots more to map, and the analyses are cheaper now. New deposits in Norway with potential for ex ploitation include ores containing iron-titanium- Researchers are placing their bets on Finnmark: vanadium, nickel-copper, molybdenum, iron, Store Norske Gull, owned by the Store Norske and… precisely, gold. Spitsbergen Kulkompani of Spitsbergen, is gambling on Karasjok. The search for profitable You can find the database at: deposits is also on at Biddjovagge on the Finn- http://en.gtk.fi/ExplorationFinland/fodd/. marksvidda, where 6200 kg gold was extracted
Morten Often, scientist Industrial minerals and metals 24 25 www.ngu.no • geology for society
accounts
Accounts 2007
NOK million % expenses/income Expenses by type 2005 2006 2007 2005 2006 2007 Salary/nat. ins. expenses 103,0 108,9 116,2 58,3% 58,7% 59,3% Other expenses 64,2 65,1 69,2 36,4% 35,1% 35,3% Investments 9,5 11,3 10,4 5,4% 6,1% 5,3 Total expenses 176,7 185,3 195,9 100,0% 100,0% 100,0%
Income 2005 2006 2007 2005 2006 2007 Ministry of Trade and 122,7 130,7 137,1 69% 69% 68% Industry Other income 54,6 58,1 64,1 31% 31% 32% Total income 177,3 188,8 201,2 100% 100% 100%
Accounts 2007 by main objective etc. (NOK million)
Accounts 2007 Main objective Total Eksternal finance Main objective: Better knowledge of nature and environment 94,7 23,3 Main objective: Economic growth in the mineral industry 51,3 21,1 Main objective: Batter planning and land management 49,3 13,5 Main objective: Cost-effective development aid 0,5 0,2 Other income 0,0 6,0 Total 195,8 64,1
NGU’s total productions of reports, publications, presentations etc. for 2005-2007
Product type 2005 2006 2007 NGU-reports 76 79 73 Magazines: Gråsteinen, Bulletin, Spec. publ. etc. 4 2 1 Articles, refereed journals 92 98 125 Popular-science articles, technical publications, etc. 8 22 29 Other published articles 40 38 61 Talks, teaching and posters 325 379 458 forskning.no 28 24 20
26 NGU in brief
The Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) is the national government agency responsible for knowledge of the country’s bedrock, superficial deposits, mineral resources and groundwater. NGU resorts under the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
NGU must actively work toward the use of geological knowledge in the effective and sustainable management of the nation’s natural resources and environment. NGU’s expertise may also be used in development-aid projects. As a research-based authority, NGU also advises other ministries on geoscience issues.
NGU’s main tasks include the collecting, processing and dissimination of knowledge on the physical, chemical and mineralogical properties of Norwegian bedrock, superficial deposits and groundwater. NGU emphasizes in its activities the need of its users for:
• The development, management and maintenance of national databases and map services on geological properties and processes • Geological mapping of Norway’s onshore and offshore territories • Applied research and development of methodologies • Advice and information
Managing director Morten Smelror
Management team
Network and cooperation Geoscience division Quality Administration Director Øystein Nordgulen Information division Director Ola A. Vikhammer Jan Høst Børre Davidsen Director Berit Forbord Moen Director Jan Cramer
Bedrock geology and Bedrock excavations and Finance Aggregate and gravel IT Geir Bjelvåg crustal processes Peer-Richard Neeb applied geophysics Erik Dyrvik Ane Engvik Jan Steinar Rønning
Personell Geodynamics Dimension stone Geochemistry and Communication Bente Halvorsen Carmen Gaina Tom Heldal the environment Gudmund Løvø Rolf Tore Ottesen
Planning and budget Marine geology Industrial minerals and metals Groundwater and Geodata management FF Seisma Per Gunnar Ørndahl Rognvald Boyd ground-source energy Per Ryghaug Reidulv Bøe Bjørn Frengstad
Quarternary geology Continental shelf geophysics Landslides and climate Odleiv Olesen Lars Harald Blikra Jochen Manfred Knies
NGU laboratory Løkken/Litorigg Henrik Schiellerup
27 NGU 7491 Trondheim
Visiting adress: Leiv Eirikssonsveg 39
Phone: 73 90 40 00 PLANETEARTH 5. YEARS Fax: 73 92 16 20
E-mail: [email protected]