Cyprus: Geological Survey Department of Cyprus in collaboration with the University of New South Wales in Australia developed Geochemical Atlas of Cyprus. The Atlas took five years of research process, to be developed. It is considered as a pioneering project in the field of geochemical research and geochemical regional mapping of the soils.
Director of the Geological Department of Cyprus Eleni Morisseau said that the Atlas is an ultimate result of the biggest and most detailed geochemical project ever pursued in Cyprus and has covered all lands under the effective control of the Republic.
The Atlas, she added, has revealed in a holistic way the chemistry of the soils and the distribution of chemical elements on the geosphere and the biosphere. As she said, in the process of doing so, certain geochemical anomalies have unavoidable emerged, which could be the result of anthropogenic influences or indeed mineralisation.
The release of the Geochemical Atlas of Cyprus has made Cyprus one of those few countries in the world that are pioneering the geochemical mapping of their soils. It has also the uniqueness of being based on a very dense sampling grid in combination to the complexity of the strong geological heritage and the fact that Cypurs in an island state.
Sophoclis Aletraris, Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, said that the Geochemical Atlas of Cyprus is the first project of its kind where regional geochemical mapping is applied to an island – member state of the EU – with such a dense grid of sampling and provides a very large amount of geochemical data.
“The Geochemical Atlas is an important step towards the right direction regarding our strategic policies both towards assessing the current state of the environment, and the various controls behind it, as well as towards reaching the goal of sustainable environmental and economic development of the future of the country”, he said.
Source: Famagusta Gazette
