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In 2020, we have a great chance to visit and meet at the “geologist’s paradise”.

By Prof. Youssef Driouch

The next Colloquium of African Geology (CAG 28) will be held at Fez University (Morocco).

Morocco situated at the NW corner of African continent is close to Europe and Middle East. Morocco is called “Geologist’s Paradise” (Géologues. SGF, n° 194. September 2017) because of: 1) the diversity of very well outcropping terranes spanning from Archean to Quaternary; 2) the location at a triple junction between Africa, Atlantic Ocean and the Alpine belt system; 3) the particular topography, Toubkal is the highest non-volcanic summit in Africa; 4) All rocks types are represented. Sedimentary, magmatic and metamorphic terranes in diverse tectonic systems from sedimentary basins to metamorphic fold belts; 5) Fossils, minerals and meteorites are famous, exposed in natural museums in many countries, they attract a large number of curious and specialists; and 6) natural resources are various and important. The main of them are: phosphates of late Cretaceous and early Cenozoic formations, Morocco has the largest resources and is the largest producer of phosphates and derivatives; Rare metals and REE Au, Ag, Co in Proterozoic Ore deposits (Anti-Atlas) with the famous world class Imiter and Bou Azzer mines, Au, Pb, Zn, Barite et Fluospar in Paleozoic terranes. Oil and gas on and off shore explorations are currently very active with many positive indicators.

Situated in central northern Morocco. Fez is the cultural and spiritual capital of Morocco. Fez hosts three universities: Al Quaraouiyine University founded in the 9th century and considered the oldest university in the world according to UNESCO and Guinness World Records. USMBA University was founded in 1975. It comprises many faculties: Medicine, Pharmacy, Law and Economics, Arts and Humanities, engineering schools and 2 faculties of sciences and their geology departments. The third University is the private Euro-Mediterranean University enclosing business, architecture, political and engineering high schools.

A strong Moroccan team is doing its best to provide a very rich and fruitful CAG28 session for all African and worldwide geologists, with friendly, professional and scientific exchanges as the main goals. More information will be available on GSAf communication platforms.

Warmest Greetings and Welcome to Fez

From 21 to 28 of July, 2018, more than 250 scientists from Africa and all over the world attended the27^th Colloquium of African Geology (CAG27) and 17th Conference of the Geological Society of Africa (GSAf17) which were held at the University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.

This event was sponsored by the Universidade de Aveiro and the GeoBioTec Research Centre, under the auspices of the Geological Society of Africa. The event was an opportunity to continue the scientific exchanges between researchers from all over the world in the field of Geosciences, and to demonstrate the high scientific research standards that are being carried out over the world. The participants in the conference had the opportunity to share their expertise in a range of scientific fields, such as geology, geological resources, environmental risks, environment and human health, sustainable development, education, and tourism in Africa.

A group photo of the participation during the CAG27

The CAG27 has received considerable international attention from around the world. More than 250 researchers from 38 countries (Algeria, Australia. Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Czech Republic, Dem. Republic. Congo, Dem. Republic of Korea, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Malawi, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan. Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Kingdom, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) joined the conference, highlighting the importance of this event.

The conference has been organized into 5 days sessions that included a wide range of topics, such as: S01 – Crustal Evolution of Africa value; S02 – Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology; S03 – Tectonics and structural geology; S04 – Stratigraphy, Sedimentology & Paleontology; S05 – Isotope Geology; S06 – Earth’s mineral resources and sustainable development; S07 – Weathering, Climate and Surface Processes; S08 – Geophysics; S09 – Ocean Sciences; S10 – Geoparks, Geotourism and Geoethics for Promoting Earth Heritage in Africa; S11 – Geohazards, Natural and human-induced environmental hazards and disasters; S12 – Geosciences Education in Africa; S13 – Integrated approaches in Geology (Medical Geology, Geophysics and Geochemistry).

The Scientific Committee compiled an interesting program of oral and poster presentations. The CAG27 local committee together with the Scientific Committee have compiled the accepted abstracts in the “Book of Abstracts” which was edited by Eduardo Ferreira da Silva, Carla A. Figueiredo Patinha, Nuno Durães, Carla Candeias; and published by UA Editora, Universidade de Aveiro, with ISBN 978-972-789-557-1.

The conference included 5 relevant Plenary Lectures (S. Felix Toteo, Luis Filipe de Menezes Pinheiro, Rui Manuel Soares Dias, Lahcen Daoudi e K’tso Nghargbu), 5 Keynotes (João Mata, Rui Castanhinha, Fernando Tavares Rocha, José Feliciando da Silva Rodrigues e João F.B.D. Fonseca), 2 workshops, as well as 165 oral presentations, organized in 3 parallel sessions and also 83 poster communications. To complement the conference’s academic program, the Local Committee has also organized two post-conference technical field trip to visit the (a) Thermal/SPA Complex of S. Pedro do Sul and regional geology and (b) the Lourinhã Formation, the paleobiodiversity of Portuguese Upper Jurassic dinosaurs.

In additional to the scientific program, the CAG27 hosted two days’ workshop under the title of “Kick-off workshop for the AU-AMREC working group”. The workshop was facilitated by the African Union Commission.

The Geological Society of Africa General Assembly was held on the Thursday of 25 July, 2018 as a part of the activities during the CAG27 and the GSAf17.

The Geological Society of Africa acknowledges the Scientific Committee for their reviewing of the conference papers, and the Local Committee for their hard work in the organization which made another great event.

Since 2011, Prof. Lopo Vasconcelos acts as GSAf’s newsletter editor and information officer for the society. During his service, Prof. Vasconcelos produced 118 issue of the newsletter. In 2018, Prof. Vasconcelos decided to retire from the editor position. The GSAf thanks Prof. Vasconcelos for his time that was given to serve the society.

The GSAf council nominated Dr. Tamer Abu-Alam (the Councillor for Northern Africa) to replace Prof Lopo Vasconcelos as the new GSAf’s newsletter editor and information officer. The GSAf General Assembly unanimously agreed to the nomination.

GSAf acknowledges Prof. Lopo Vasconcelos for his service to the society. From left to right: Prof. Gbenga Okunlola (President of GSAf), Prof. Lopo Vasconcelos and Prof. Aberra Mogessie (Past president of GSAf).

After a discussion of the Geological Society of Africa’s council, the council decided to publish the newsletter regularly four times per year (March, June, September, and December). The society will communicate with its members weekly throughout automatic emails that contain important information. As a result, the council is working now to clean up the member database and design a new website. The council encourages the members to contribute to the newsletter and the weekly news emails.

Current newsletter issue

The GSAf is pleased to announce that Prof. Felix Toteu, Prof. Aberra Mogessie and Prof. Lopo Vasconcelos received GSAf Fellowship Award for their contributions to the growth and activities of the GSAf. Since their contributions to the society cannot be covered in an issue, their contributions to Africa and Earth sciences will be in the focus of the next issues of the newsletter.

GSAf Fellowship Award. From left to right: Prof. Lopo Vasconcelos, Prof. Aberra Mogessie, Prof. Gbenga Okunlola (President of GSAf) and Prof. Felix Toteu.

By nominating and electing Dr. Tamer Abu-Alam as the new GSAf’s newsletter editor and information officer, the position of Northern Africa councillor fell vacant. The GSAf council had received 5 applications for the position (3 from Morocco, 1 from Algeria and 1 from Egypt). Only the Egyptian candidate was present and she presented to the Assembly her perceived contribution if she is elected. The General Assembly elected Dr. Kholoud Abdelmaksoud as the new councillor for Northern Africa. The council thanks our colleagues from Morocco and Algeria who showed interest to serve the society and wish all the success to Dr. Kholoud Abdelmaksoud as the new councillor for Northern Africa.

Dr. Kholoud Abdelmaksoud – the new councillor for Northern Africa

From Africa, he started his career and he kept Africa all the time in his heart – “Prof. Serrano Pinto”

Prof. Serrano Pinto was born in Portugal, on 5 March 1936 and passed away suddenly after returning from his participation in CAG21 in Johannesburg on 15 January 2011. Prof. Serrano Pinto was the Goodwill Ambassador of the Geological Society of Africa to Portugal. During the opening ceremony of the CAG27, both the Geological Society of Africa and the local organizing committee paid a tribute to Prof. Serrano Pinto for his role in both the Geological Society of Africa and the University of Aveiro.

Prof. Serrano Pinto to the right with colleagues from Mozambique during one of the Colloquiums of African Geology.

Prof. Serrano Pinto studied his first geology classes at the University of Coimbra and the University of Oporto. Later during his military service, he left to Mozambique where he received an invitation to integrate the Geology and Mines Services. At the time, Mozambique was developing an ambitious cartographic and prospecting programme that required highly qualified professionals. Then, he went to Leicester, UK, to focus on his Master degree in Geochemistry. He published during this period many works that mark a turning point towards systematic mineral prospecting based on sediments of Mozambique. After a brief stay in Angola (1974) he pursued his activities at the recently created University of Aveiro (1973). After a meeting on Plate Tectonics that was held at the University in 1976, he started his PhD degree on the geochemistry and geochronology at Leeds University. After concluding his PhD program, he and other colleagues lead to the creation of Isotopic Geology Laboratory at the University of Aveiro.

In 1996, he was one of the founders of the Group of History of Science and Technology at the University of Aveiro, later established as Centre for the Studies of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology of the University of Aveiro. Prof. Serrano Pinto was in charge of the Centre Secretary Board serving as its Secretary and persistently stayed leading it. From 1997 until 2000 the Centre published a Newsletter with articles on the history of science by many of the active Portuguese historians of science, always with an article signed by Prof. Serrano Pinto (the Secretary Board).

He co-organized around 12 conferences on the Geochemistry domain and 4 international on the History of Science. He published around 12 books or book chapters; 6 geological maps of Mozambique and Portugal; 8 papers in journals from the SCI or as selected papers, more than 80 peer-reviewed as well as several proceedings in international meetings.