The Mexican Geological Survey is committed to the preservation of the environment and to spot the geological conditions in determined areas under study, so that users take advantage of natural conditions to stop and avoid affecting the environment as much as possible.

The activities of the thematic mapping focus on:

• Protection and restoration of water bodies.
• Identification of sites for confinement of solid waste and other substances.
• The study of geological hazards including: mass movements, land subsidence, volcanism, floods, landslides and mud flows, coastal hazards.
  
  

Geo-Environmental Field

• Antropic impacts to the environment due to industrial activity and inappropriate use of land.
• Soils and aquifers pollution.
• Desertification caused by clear-cut logging.
  
  

Staff

Several cooperation agreements (general and specific) have been signed with other organizations. One of these, related to the Environmental Geology of the Popocatepetl volcano, at 1:250,000 scale, was signed with the National Center for Disasters Prevention (CENAPRED).

Some agreement was signed for the federal government and others government agencies, for develop atlas of risks and engendered for natural and anthropogenic events. Like a result of this agreements, the Mexican Geological Survey perform the atlas of risks for Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Puebla, Hidalgo, Querétaro, Tlaxcala and Tamaulipas and others  Mexican States.

 

Regarding the agreements in process, the Geological Environmental Chart of Cuyutlán Lake, Colima at 1:50,000 scale, is being carried out. This multidisciplinary study was requested by the municipality of Manzanillo, Colima, and will serve as basis to implement the territorial and ecological review by the National Ecology Institute (INE).

Involved in this project, there are other organisms: the Regional Center for Fisheries Research (CRIP) and from the University of Colima, the Oceanic Research University Center (CEUNIVO) and the Faculty of Economics, each in its sphere of competence.

Funding for this project is equally shared by the municipality of Manzanillo and the Mexican Geological Service. This is the first agreement of this kind carried out at national level, with a territorial and environmental management purpose.

The results consist of a series of charts with one or more information levels, wich together with the diagnosis given to them, will allow the implementation of the management program above mentioned in the studied region. This is in order to regulate the production activities and avoid environmental degradation. Also, this will help to plan the activities of various industries in order to prevent contamination of soil, water bodies and atmosphere, and also manage existing natural resources and prevent their depletion.

The Mexican Geological Survey  established the Environmental Geology Division, due to the concern to participate in the environmental preservation. This area started coordinated work with organizations such as the Chamber of Mines of Mexico, Bureau of Mining Promotion and the General Coordination of Mining and agencies of SEMARNAP (INE and PROFEPA) in the development of Official Mexican Standards (NOM), directed to the environment protection.

For additional information, contact:

Ing. Francisco Armando Arceo y Cabrilla
Gerencia de Hidrogeología y Geología Ambiental
Tel.: 01(771) 711-30-63
franciscoarceo@sgm.gob.mx

M. en C. Guadalupe Ibarra Olivares
Subgerencia de Evaluación Geohidrológica
guadalupeibarra@sgm.gob.mx