The members of the department are actively involved in raising public awareness of the impact of geology on their daily lives through meetings, conferences and media coverage (TV-radio broadcasts and web capsules).

Many current themes of general interest are closely linked to geology:

• natural hazard management (floods, collapses and landslides, earthquakes, etc) and land-use planning
• groundwater and soil management
• management of critical mineral resources (metals, rare earths, etc) and needed for technological development and the energy transition
• climate change and impacts on living organisms
• planetology, space exploration and meteorites
• valorization of geological heritage and geotourism

In parallel, we are developing rock characterization expertise for numerous partners, through internationally recognized skills and the tools listed below:

• granulometric analysis of unconsolidated sediments
• calcimetry of rocks
• mineralogical composition (clays and metals)
• thin-slice fabrication
• petrographic study of rocks (optical, electron, Raman microscopy, etc.)
• geophysical prospecting (seismic refraction and electrical tomography)
• lithological and structural survey