Environmental protection and the sustainable use of natural resources require a detailed knowledge of geological and geomorphologic characteristics of the territory. Geosciences contribute to these pressing tasks with geological maps, a tool that is essential for the assessment of geological hazards, the territorial and infrastructure planning, environment safeguard and the georesources exploration, exploitation and management.

The Department of Geosciences is involved in national CARG Project (Geological CARtography) that is intended to create of 652 geological and geothematic sheets on a scale of 1:50,000 covering the entire national area (https://www.isprambiente.gov.it/Media/carg/) but also includes digital 3D models of the surface (Digital Outcrop Models) and of the subsurface geology.

The use of drones and photogrammetry techniques allow for digital outcrop models for engineering geology applications and earthquake mechanics studies. Furthermore, the Department is active in inventorying and managing geoheritage, at regional level as well as in the framework of international projects (see research line: Geoheritage and geosites in the topic Natural Resources, Raw Materials and Sustainability).

Professors coordinating and developing projects related to this research pathway: Giulio Di Toro, Silvana Martin, Giorgio Pennacchioni, Cristina Stefani, Anna Breda, Luca Capraro, Eliana Fornaciari, Alessandro Fontana, Antonio Galgaro, Matteo Massironi, Paolo Mozzi, Nereo Preto, Manuel Rigo