German geologists on Oman expedition
Twenty members of the German Geological Society from various universities and research institutions are currently taking part in an expedition around Oman. The visit has been organised in line with the strong cooperative ties between the German University of Technology in Oman (Gutech) and leading Universities of Technology in Germany.
Prof Dr Gösta Hoffmann from the University of Bonn is the leading scientist of the current expedition. He has been teaching and researching at Gutech for many years and he is the main author of a recently published book on the Geology of Oman.
“For me, it is a pleasure to invite my colleagues to visit Oman. It is such a beautiful country where certain rock formations allow us to understand how our planet works.
Such places are unique in the world and most of them easily accessible in Oman. For example, the country is blessed to offer the opportunity to study the transition between different layers of the Earth. Usually these rocks are not to be found on the surface but they are in Oman,” Prof Hoffmann explained.
“The benefits to come to Oman and explore the mountains, deserts and coasts are that Oman is a safe country and the geology is spectacular,” commented Prof Dr Martin Meschede, President of the Umbrella Organisation of Geosciences (DVGEO). The German Geological Society (DGGV) has about 3,600 members from universities, industries, and the private economy.
Logistics for the visit were arranged by Golden Highlands, a company with long experience in organising field trips.
In addition, in a joint effort, the participants of the field excursion together with the local partners from Golden Highlands joined in a clean-up of the beach at Ras Ruwais in Al Sharqiyah Governorate.
“It is our ambition to keep the country clean so that our visitors go back home with positive impressions. It was a memorable experience to run this clean-up as a joint effort with German professors,” said Mansoor al Shabibi, CEO of Golden Highlands. “We plan to clean other places with other groups in the future,” he added.