The Georesources Switzerland Group is part of the Department of Earth Sciences at ETH Zurich and conducts applied research in collaboration with the Swiss Geological Survey (Federal Office of Topography swisstopo) as well as with other partners from industry and administration. We collect and compile fundamental geological data mainly related to the use of the geological resources of Switzerland. Main focus areas are the mineral resources of Switzerland (gravel, sand, clay, limestone, salt, gypsum, natural stone) as well as energy resources and reservoir rocks in the deep underground.

Projects

Current applied research and service projects:

  • Calcined clays for sustainable concrete: We are producing an indication map for clay occurrences in perimeters of 50 km around the 6 cement production factories in Switzerland. » Learn more
  • Site evaluation for storage of HTC coal: In this feasibility study, we investigate the potential to permanently store hydrochar in Switzerland. » Learn more
  • Lithium in Swiss geothermal brines: We are updating the existing geothermal fluids database by Sonney & Vuataz (2008) in order to highlight occurrences of significant concentrations of lithium and other critical metals.  » Learn more
  • Cartographic earthquake risk visualisation: We support the Swiss Seismological Service in the production of earthquake occurrence and risk maps. » Learn more
  • Geological evaluation of «Hartstein» units of Switzerland: We assess siliceous limestone, Flysch and Molasse sandstone units («Hartstein») used as raw material for the construction and maintenance of the national railway and road infrastructure. Key topics are volume estimates and visualisation of the spatial distribution of occurrences. » Learn more
  • Natural stones online: In this project, carried out by the ETH Material Hub (MATHUB) and supported by the Swiss Natural Stone Association (NVS), we write and review text contributions on natural stones from a geoscientific perspective. The resulting natural stone fact sheets are continuously made available in the online material database of the Material-Archiv. » Learn more
  • Geological mapping of map sheets «Val Bregaglia» and «Campodolcino»: we are producing the geological map sheets “Val Bregaglia” and the easternmost part of “Campodolcino” (Geologischer Atlas der Schweiz 1:25’000, sheets no. 1275 & 1276) including the corresponding explanatory notes. The field area is located in the Central Alps in SE Switzerland. » Learn more
  • Resources Information System Switzerland (RIS): we run a continously updated and freely accessible web portal (map.georessourcen.ethz.ch) providing detailed information on occurrences and quarries of mineral resources in Switzerland. » Learn more

For the completed projects check out the project archive.

Georesources Data

The Resources Information System (RIS) is a freely accessible web portal providing data on occurrences and quarries of mineral resources of Switzerland. This includes data on gravel, sand, cement raw materials, brickyard raw materials, crushed stone, natural stone, gypsum and salt, all of which currently extracted in Switzerland. Furthermore, the RIS also contains data on currently not produced mineral resources like energy resources and metals.

The RIS point data originate from numerous surveys carried out by the Swiss Geotechnical Commission (SGTK) since its foundation in 1899. SGTK regularly compiled and published reports, maps and books on those georesources data of Switzerland. Since the 1980ies, such data were digitally recorded and migrated into different database systems. Since 2015, those data are transferred to the RIS making them public.

Among others, the RIS is aimed at persons looking for information on the actual and historic occurrences and extraction of mineral resources in Switzerland. The target audience includes the experts from administration, industry and educational institutions as well as interested laymen.

The RIS intends to give a comprehensive overview on the mineral resources of Switzerland. For that reason, small occurrences are documented that are not commerically extractable (e.g. manganese ores) as well as large, commercially important mineral deposits (e.g. cement raw materials).

The information density of these different raw material typesis very heterogeneous by nature. For some occurrences (points) there is a lot of information available, for others there are only very few. Due to limited resources, not a all published data in the RIS could be verified and/or updated to the latest status. Thus, there still are some occurrences (points) with an outdated data status or with erroneous information.

The RIS is regularly adjusted with the web portal of the Federal Office of Topography swisstopo map.geo.admin.ch.

Teaching

Our team contributes to numerous courses on the georesources and the geology of Switzerland and is also primarily responsible for running some of these courses. This includes lectures, excursions and field courses of the Department of Earth Sciences at ETH Zurich, but also of other departments or universities.

Department of Earth Sciences (ETH Zürich)

Department of Archaeology (University of Zurich) & Institute of Archaeological Sciences (University of Bern)

Contact

Please consider that the we are using maps of the Federal Authorities map.geo.admin.ch for this site plan.

ETH Zurich
Department of Earth Sciences
Georesources Switzerland Group
NO F 35
Sonneggstrasse 5
8092 Zurich
Switzerland

georessourcen@erdw.ethz.ch

+41 44 632 37 28

Address list on the website of the Department of Earth Sciences.