EMODnet. General Information

Since 2014, VSEGEI has been taking part in the international project aimed at compiling a unified seamless geological map of European seas, with the participation of 39 partners from 30 countries. Our specialists have compiled geological maps of the bottom of the Baltic, Barents, and White Seas. We begin a new phase of this project, which includes mapping of the Caspian Sea. Geologists from Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Iran will participate in this work, coordinated by VSEGEI.

General information about the project

EMODnet-Geology is one of seven areas of investigations under the EU's extensive program for studying the seabed of European countries – EMODnet (The European Marine Observation and Data Network). The program as a whole, along with the geological direction, also includes sections on hydrography, oceanology (hydrochemistry and hydrophysics), biology, underwater landscapes and anthropogenic impact on water areas of the European Seas. The main idea of the Program is to collect sketchy marine information products and make them available through a single portal.

The objective of the EMODnet-geology is to create seamless geological maps of the Europe’s seabeds. Maps for the project are compiled using own data of the executing organizations, as well as by compiling data from open sources and published data. As the project develops, its geographical scope gradually expands involving new countries and partners, and the mapping scale becomes more detailed. The most important area of work is data standardization and unification (formats, structures, dictionaries), which enables creation and submission of consistent geoscience information for the entire bottom area of the European seas through a single Internet portal.

The first (preliminary) EMODnet-geology phase (2009–2012), in which 14 organizations from 14 countries took part, was aimed at developing common approaches to geological mapping, harmonizing legends and compiling geological maps of the North Europe seabeds at a scale of 1:1,000,000. As a result, a set of maps was prepared, which was integrated into OneGeology-Europe and became available through the OneGeology-Europe portal.

The second EMODnet-Geology phase (2014–2016) was implemented by 36 organizations from 30 countries. Most of the project partners were represented by geological surveys, 24 of which are members of the EuroGeoSurvey. Russia in the project was represented by FGUP VSEGEI (Department of Marine Geology and Geoecology and the Center for Information Technologies).

At this stage, the geographic scope of mapping was extended to include water areas of other seas (Black, Mediterranean, Aegean, Adriatic, Ionian, North, Celtic, Baltic, White, Barents Seas, as well as the Bay of Biscay and part of the Atlantic Ocean along the periphery of the Canary and Azores islands).
VSEGEI was responsible for preparing mapping data in legends and digital data formats unified in the framework of the project for the Russian part of the Baltic, White and Barents Seas. The basic mapping scale was 1:1,000,000; maps of a scale of 1:250,000 were compiled for individual sections of the seabed for which relevant data were available.

Tasks of the second EMODnet-Geology phase were implemented as several Work Packages, according to map types:

By 2016, geological maps for water areas of all European seas were prepared. The maps are available on the EMODnet portal. In addition, Internet resources of all participating countries allow the user to get acquainted with catalogues of geological data (metadata) of partner organizations that makes it possible to find information on available more detailed data (maps and databases) at the national level, with subsequent coordination of ways of its acquisition and use.

In 2017, the third phase of the project was launched, which will last until 2021. The number of partners increased to 39. At this stage of the project, the task was to compile maps of more detailed scales (1:100,000 and larger) for those areas of the seabed, for which geological surveys of appropriate scale were carried out (provided that there are no national restrictions on the use of such data).

At this stage of the project, data and mapping products include information on Quaternary sediments, bottom geomorphology, rates of modern sedimentation; information on coast types and dynamics is supplemented by data on coastal erosion or sedimentation. In addition, the task was set to reconstruct underwater landscapes of the European continental shelf during the last ice cycle with a particular emphasis on the position of glacial and fluvioglacial landforms, relict coastlines, facies characteristics of sediments (lagoons, dunes, estuaries, sea terraces, beaches, river valleys and channels, river deltas and clinoform deltas, Holocene deposits thickness).

Besides, the creation of databases of geological and geophysical metadata (seismic and seismic-acoustic profiles, boreholes, bottom sampler) available at project partners has become a new factor as compared to previous stages of the project.

Since 2020, the task has been set to include the Caspian Sea in the scope of the EMODnet-geology. Participants in this direction should be geological surveys of Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Iran. Project coordinator is VSEGEI. The result of work in this area should be a set of seamless geological maps of the Caspian seabed at a scale of 1:1,000,000.