History

The Geological Institute of Romania is a National Research and Development Institute in the fields of Geology, Geophysics, Geochemistry, and Remote Sensing.
The Geological Institute of Romania was founded in 1906, by decree of King Carol I, with the aim of fulfilling the responsibilities of a national geological service.

In 2005, the Government of Romania, through Decision No. 1399, reaffirmed the responsibilities of the Geological Institute of Romania as a national geological service. Its status as a geological service was also recognized at the European Union level, through the admission of the Geological Institute of Romania as a member of EuroGeoSurveys.

The Geological Institute of Romania is the authorized institution to compile, edit, and print national geological, hydrogeological, geophysical, and metallogenetic maps at various scales (HG1399/2005). In addition, according to Decision 1399/2005, the Geological Institute of Romania ensures the correlation of national geological spatial data with those of neighboring countries, researches the distribution of geomagnetic, gravimetric, geothermal, and electromagnetic fields on Romanian territory, develops integrated geonomic research, including the geoinformation system (GIS), the geoid, and satellite image analysis, and studies the dynamics of geological phenomena with natural hazard potential.
The Geological Institute of Romania participates in national and international research projects (including in Framework Programme 7), having cooperation agreements with academic, research, and industrial institutions in Romania and other countries (Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, France, China, Belgium, South Africa).
The founding decree of the Geological Institute of Romania issued by King Carol I in 1906

Areas of Activity

The Geological Institute of Romania represents one of the oldest central institutions created by the modern Romanian state. Its foundations were laid at the beginning of the last century, and its task was to elaborate unified national geological maps at various scales, for an adequate understanding of the characteristics of the national soil and subsoil. The data accumulated over all these years, investigation techniques always keeping pace with time, and the experience gained over the years have led to the continuous development of research capabilities, so that currently all these attributes make the Geological Institute of Romania a reference point for geological activity in Romania.

The areas of expertise cover a wide range of issues:

  • The Institute has exclusivity in the elaboration of geological maps at the national level, including regional or national geological maps as well as maps with related themes.
  • The Geological Institute of Romania owns facilities of national interest, among which the National Geological Fund, the Surlari Geomagnetic Observatory, and the Lithotheque are of specific importance.
  • The Institute elaborates studies presenting petrological, mineralogical, paleontological data, or structural geological models.
  • The Institute performs and processes chemical-mineralogical, structural petrology, paleontology, and palynological analyses, and also integrates conclusions resulting from the interpretation of data obtained from the application of geophysical investigation methods.
  • Atlases, monographs, and geological syntheses or those from related branches of geosciences are elaborated.
  • The Geological Institute performs technical geological expertises.

The themes of geological research studies addressed include:

  • Geodynamics of magmatic and metamorphic processes, study of lithosphere evolution on Romanian territory, palinspastic reconstructions.
  • Establishing the geo-structural significance of endogenous rock associations based on data from thermochronological isotopic analyses.
  • Studies on the elaboration of interactive analysis programs for completing the geological database.
  • Geohazard studies.

General small-scale maps at 1:500,000 and 1:1,000,000 have been elaborated for the entire territory, and starting from the 1960s, the drafting of national maps at 1:200,000 and 1:50,000 began.

The geological structure of the Romanian national territory is differentiated according to the large geological units, but regardless of the area, it can be characterized as complex. For orogenic chains, however, this is particularly complicated, involving nappe units with crystalline basement of various ages or nappe units of various ages with sedimentary rocks in various facies or mixed. As a result of this fact, and also because knowledge can never be perfect, but only continuously perfectible, the activity of elaborating or updating maps is ongoing.

Currently, the Geological Map of Romania at a scale of 1:1,000,000 and the Geological Map of Romania at a scale of 1:200,000 are available in print format. Also, depending on the area, map sheets at a scale of 1:50,000 from the Geological Map of Romania at a scale of 1:50,000 are available.