Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) is an independent executive scientific agency to explore the natural resources of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Main tasks GSP perform are

Geological Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...

, Geophysical and Geo-chemical Mapping of Pakistan. Target of these mapping are resources exploration, Geo-Engineering assessment, Geo-hazard prediction/prevention and addressing environmental issue. Apart from studying geology, it has various major science disciplines, concerning

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and physics. Due to its reputation and studies on fact-finding research, it has undertaken various efforts and studies on mineral

exploration Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

. Headquartered in

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

and other regional offices in all over the country, and as of current, Dr Sajjad Ahmed is the current and designated

director-general A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

of the Geological Survey of Pakistan.

History

As early as 1836–51, the

British crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

decided to set up the geological survey to explore the

British Indian Empire The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

under the British geologist David Williams who later founded the Geological Survey of India. After the

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

of Pakistan from the

, the Geological Survey of India's north-west branch, staff and assets were evolved into creating to Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP). At the time of its establishment, the GSP had consisted of only six geologists and two

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

s under British scientist H.L. Crookshank, who was at that time was the most senior scientist working. Immediately, H.L. Crookshank was appointed first director general of GSP which he remained until 1955. Under Crookshank, the technical staff was increased to 30 geoscientists in 1948. In its formative years, the GSP did the pioneering work in hydrogeology and

but the efforts were transfer to engineering units of the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

. In 1949–55, the GSP initiated a rigorous tradition of field investigations with the governmental support, and reconnaissance technology was transferred to GSP through the

Colombo Plan The Colombo Plan is a regional intergovernmental organization that began operations on 1 July 1951. The organization was conceived at an international conference, The Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs held in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri ...

. Due to these activities, it increased the operational, scientific capabilities, and expansion of facilities of the GSP by 1956; it became one of the pioneering scientific institution of the government. In 1955, English geologist, E.R. Gee, took over the GSP who initiated a massive expansion programme for GSP, including engineering, photogeology sections, as well as systematic publications journals were established. In 1959, the construction of new headquarters in

was completed with Dr. N.M. Khan becoming first native GSP's director. Paktopo de

By 1956, the GSP worked extremely close with the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

(USGS); the

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...

established multimillion-dollar work laboratories and facilities in all over the country and cooperation continued until 1970. In 1957, the GSP discovered the large stockpiles of uranium in Sindh and Punjab. In addition, the GSP helped established country's

universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

to teach geoscience and engineering as part of their university programmes. In the 1970s, due to its expansion and scientific capabilities, the GSP was instrumental in carrying out work on nuclear geography, when its scientists frequently visited in various

mountain ranges A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

of the country. The GSP notably carried out an ingenious work on nuclear geology and geography as part of the clandestine atomic bomb project, and played an integral role in the selection of the test sites. Throughout this time, the GSP's scientists continued exploring

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

and

plutonium Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four ...

, as well as other material sources in all over the country. In 1992, The GSP announced the discovery of the huge deposits of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

Thar Desert The Thar Desert (), also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent that covers an area of in India and Pakistan. It is the world's 18th-largest desert, and the world's 9th-large ...

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

. The GSP sponsored and published various studies on the geology of Thar Desert. In the 1990s, the GSP issued and produced several maps of atlas of Pakistan, with mapping at 1:1 000 000 scale and a variety of themes published at 1:5 000 000.

Economic liberalization Economic liberalization, or economic liberalisation, is the lessening of government regulations and restrictions in an economy in exchange for greater participation by private entities. In politics, the doctrine is associated with classical liber ...

policies Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an orga ...

of government in 1992 led the ADB to sponsor a 10-year-long multibillion-dollar mineral exploration programme to cover 14 identified mineralized zones in the country. In the 1990s, the GSP also discovered the large deposits of

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and

Copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

in Western

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

, southwest Pakistan. In the 2000s, the GSP gained international and public prominence when its scientists discovered and unearthed the first ever dinosaur fossils in Pakistan. The remains were thought to be around ~70 million years old and were found by geologists mapping the Barkhan district of the country's arid Balochistan province. The specimens include legs and vertebrae. Historic pakistan rel96

GSP Headquarters

Geological Survey of Pakistan Headquarter is located in western city of Pakistan, Quetta. Different branch located in GSP headquarter are given below: # Directorate of Planning and Information # Directorate of Headquarter # Directorate of Publication # Directorate of Paleontology and Stratigraphy # Directorate of Petrology and Mineralogy # Directorate of Drilling # Geophysical Division # Geochemistry Division # Deputy Directorate General Western Zone # Transport Branch # Hydrogeology Branch

List of GSP's Directors General

*1947–55 H.L. Crookshank *1955–59 E.R. Gee *1959-1967 Nur M. Khan *1967–72 Abdul Mannan Khan *1972–77 M. Mohammad Sharif *1977-79 A.N. Khan *1979–84 M. Mohammad Sharif *1984–93 Asrarullah Ahmed *1993–2000 Abdul Latif Ghulam *2000-03: Abdul Latif *2003–05: Ahmad Hussain *2005-10: Mirza Talib Hassan *2010- 2017: Imran Khan *2017: Nazar-ul-Islam *2018: Mrs Yasmeen Rizvi *2018: Dr. Tanveer Ahmad Qureshi

GSP publications

The GSP researchers, engineers, technicians, and scientists publish the results of their science in a variety of ways. Many researchers publish their science in peer-reviewed scientific journals as well as in one of a variety of series that includes series for preliminary results, maps data, and final results. All publications are published by the GSP and are available as public domains. Regional Offices of GSP # Deputy Directorate General South Zone, Karachi: # Deputy Directorate General North Zone, Lahore: # Directorate Geosciences Advanced Research Laboratory # Regional Office Director Geological Survey Of Pakistan, Peshawar # Northern Area Regional Office Directorate GSP, Islamabad. # Directorate Regional Office, GSP, Muzaffarabad

Accelerated increase in environment

In 2006, the Geological Survey's two scientists published an assessed report, predicting the hydrological threat posed to the country. The survey was conducted immediately after the devastated earthquake in 2005, and the GSP's scientists began to study the hazards in the region, which were still geologically unstable. In 2009, the GSP submitted another report that recommended the potentially hazardous areas of

Northern Pakistan Northern Pakistan ( ) is a tourism region in northern and north-western parts of Pakistan, comprising the administrative units of Gilgit-Baltistan (formerly known as '' Northern Areas''), Azad Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad Capita ...

where the earthquake and seismic activities were suspected. The survey also found out that the earthquake cracks were found in all over the Atta Abad lake region. The GSP declared the eastern part of the Atta Abad as "High Hazard" area, and recommendations were submitted to evacuate the area.

References

External links

Official site
* Listed i

{{authority control Quetta District Pakistan federal departments and agencies

Research institutes in Pakistan Science and technology in Pakistan Earth science research institutes Historical geography of Pakistan National geological agencies

Organisations based in Quetta 1947 establishments in Pakistan Government agencies established in 1947