About Department of Geology

The discovery of oil in Libya, at the end of the fifties of the last century, prompted the Faculty of Science to cooperate with the oil companies operating in Libya at that time and the establishment of the Department of Geology in 1960. The department was established with one faculty member and 13 students. It was soon established as an integrated geology department covering the basic branches of earth sciences, and before the graduation of its first batch in 1964, the main laboratories became complete and references were available, with 6 faculty members and 77 students.

The department has set one of its priorities to build national cadres, as many outstanding graduates in the first batches were sent to high-level universities in the United States of America and the United Kingdom for postgraduate studies, who were able to complete their studies in the most prestigious universities, thus confirming the strength of geological education in the Department of Geology, a pattern that has continued until now, as all graduates of the department who were sent to study abroad from various companies and institutions were able to complete their postgraduate studies in various universities of the world without any difficulties. The success of the graduates of the department in their careers in the National Oil Corporation and its companies and foreign companies operating in Libya, as well as in the sectors of scientific research, geological mapping, mineral detection and in the water sector is the best evidence of the stability of the educational programs in the department and its ability to meet the basic needs of all these sectors. 

In 1969, the Department of Geology held a world-class geological conference whose research collection was published in a volume that is the first scientific documentation of the geology of Libya in English. The success of this symposium encouraged the department to continue and held the second symposium in 1978 and the third in 1987, where the outcome of 7 volumes represents so far a basic reference on the geology of Libya and published by John Welly and Elsevier prestigious publishers and these volumes still receive global demand from scientific libraries around the world. 

The Department of Geology has not hesitated to perform its duties in supplying the development projects in the country with qualified and trained personnel in various modern geological disciplines in the fields of oil, minerals, water, geological mapping and the study of geological formations throughout Libya, and perhaps the scientific publications of these sectors are the best testimony to this scientific richness. Hundreds of geologists have graduated from the department who work in universities, oil companies, the National Oil Corporation, the Libyan Oil Institute, the Man-Made River Authority, the Industrial Research Center, the General Authority for Water, the Armed Forces, the Libyan Center for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, Al-Biruni Center for Remote Sensing, the Atomic Energy Corporation, the National Mining Corporation and many state and private sector institutions and companies. Its graduates have headed ministries, bodies, institutions, scientific sectors, scientific research centers, universities and scientific colleges during the past five decades, in addition to international representations in UNESCO and others. 

The Department of Geology has become one of the applied scientific disciplines in the mother scientific college in Libya and is considered one of the main and solid pillars on which the renaissance and progress of modern Libya depends, due to its active participation in the implementation of development programs and plans through the contribution of faculty members and graduates in providing scientific advice and implementing some research projects for many oil companies and other sectors of the state and the private sector according to the foundations and standards of international scientific research. The Department of Geology organizes continuous training and research field trips to the Nafusa Mountain region and also organized trips to different regions of Libya such as Jabal Al-Akhdar, Al-Jufra, Al-Harouj, Wau Al-Namos, Wadi Morizididi, Ouzo in Tibesti, Al-Qarqaf, Dur Al-Talh, Jabal Al-Sawda and others. The Department of Geology has become the permanent headquarters of the Libyan Society for Earth Sciences since its re-establishment in 1974, which has a distinguished scientific activity represented in the publication of many proceedings of geological conferences held over the years, which have become important and internationally approved documents that its professors contributed to the preparation and editing.