PU organises geological congress after 30 years

Punjab University (PU) Institute of Geology on Wednesday organised the 6th Pakistan Geological Congress (PGC-21) themed ‘Recent Developments in Himalayan Geology’ after a gap of 30 years.

PU Pro Vice Chancellor (VC) Dr Saleem Mazhar said the main objective of the congress was to bring together the leading national and international geoscientists from academia and industry to promote research.

He said the exchange of research and experience sharing would enable the facilitation of a thorough investigation of geological phenomena.

Dr Dauwee from the Netherlands, Dr Nuretin from Turkey, Dr Abdul Qayyum from Netherlands and Dr Hummad Ghani from Germany, Dr Nadeem from UEPL, Tahir Maqsood from the oil industry, Dr Nawaz Chaudhary and Dr Armaghan Faisal from Punjab University participated in the webinar and delivered lectures.

The online event was attended by more than 400 participants to learn from a series of lectures delivered by experts from all over the world.

Moreover, as many as 51 extended abstracts from Pakistani and foreign students of BS, MS and PhD levels in the fields of structural and petroleum geology, sedimentology, stratigraphy and palaeontology, mineralogy/petrology and geochemistry, engineering geology and geophysics were received.

PU Dean Faculty of Science Dr Muhammad Sharif also inaugurated a student poster competition related to the theme during the event.

At least 37 posters were presented and evaluated by a panel of researchers and experts after which Dr Muhammad Saleem Mazhar announced the winners of the contest. Cash prizes worth Rs10,000, Rs5,000 and Rs3,000 sponsored by Geohiking Club were awarded to the first, second and third position winners respectively.

The revival of the institute’s geological bulletin was also announced during the congress.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2021.