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The
Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration has recently restructured
its organisation. As a result, the Marine Geology Department is now a section
of the Department of General Geology and Geological Mapping. Dr. C. Perissoratis,
former head of the Marine Geology section, has been appointed as Director
of the new department.
At the beginning
of the year, geologists of the Marine Geology section carried out, in cooperation
with the private company "AKTI Engineering" two projects for sea floor
research for telecommunication cable laying for the Greek telecommunication
company O.T.E. The first project was in the Ionian sea to connect Corfu
island with the mainland to the east; the second was in the Eastern Aegean
to connect the islands of Patmos, Samos and Ikaria. In both cases the water
depth was less than 120m. The conventional seismic profiling system 3.5
KHz and uniboom were employed along with the necessary cores and samplers.
The sea bottom was hard, covered by a thin veneer of soft sediments and
deltaic nearshore deposits of minor extent.
Further cable
laying activities took place this year, as a follow up to last year's sea
floor examination projects carried out by international companies. During
May-June 2001, a sea floor survey was conducted in the southwestern Aegean
Sea with the R/V SENTINEL in which a geologist from the Marine
Geology section participated in collection of data and provided geological
information where needed.
This year, with the occasion of the
50th anniversary of the establishment of the Greek Geological Survey as
an independent Institute, an international conference took place in Athens
from 24 to 26 September. The Marine Geology group participated with a keynote
speaker (Dr Perissoratis) and two other presentations.
Finally, in the EC Fifth Framework
CASPSCIENCE-NET (Caspian Scientific Network) project, the geologist-computer
analyst of IGME Mr. A. Andrinopoulos participated in three meetings in
Varna, Bulgaria (26 - 29 March), Moscow, Russia (18-20 June) and Baku,
Azerbaijan (26-28 September). The project objective is to develop a metadatabase
for the Caspian Sea. Mr Andrinopoulos is also responsible for a research
program in Prespa Lake. The lake is located in north-eastern Greece and
belongs to the three neighbouring countries, Greece, Albania and the FYR
of Macedonia. The project is funded by the international Atomic Energy
Commission and is studying of the bathymetry, floor morphology, sediment
cover and water fill of the lake and will provide the basis for sustainable
management of the greater lake area. The first phase of the project started
in May 2000 and finished at the end of 2000; the second phase started in
June 2001 and finished in September of this year. |
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