International Union of Geological Sciences

An international scientific union of geologists.

The union was founded in 1960 in Copenhagen at the 21st session of the International Geological Congress. In 1968 the union had 60 member countries, including the USSR. The union assists international cooperation in a number of geological and related sciences and renders assistance in the organization of the sessions of the International Geological Congresses. The union is part of the International council of scientific unions. It is supported by membership dues and UNESCO subsidies. Its official languages are English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. Since 1967 it has published a quarterly journal in the English language.

Membership in the union is open to national committees of geologists, academies of science, and other organizations of geologists appointed by various governments. The council, which includes one representative from each member country, is the directive body of the union. Sessions of the union meet once every three or four years, usually at the same time as the International Geological Congress. The union executive committee, which consists of one president, six vice-presidents, the ex-president, the general secretary, and the treasurer, directs the activity of the union between sessions. The union’s headquarters is located at the residence of its general secretary.

The union works with the aid of internationally staffed standing commissions of the various branches of geological science and of committees on the history of geology, geological documentation, geological teaching, and so forth. The union also includes international associations of hydrologists, sedimentologists, mineralogists, and other such specialists and the International Paleontological Union. A number of international scientific projects (such as a study of the upper mantle and the geodynamic project) take place under the sponsorship of the union and at the same time are being conducted by other scientific unions.