Between 2004 and 2013, €15 million of government and EU funding was spent on high-resolution, airborne geophysical and geochemical sampling surveys of Northern Ireland and the six northern counties of the Republic of Ireland. This book presents some of the findings of the first two stages of Tellus, the largest collaborative cross-border programme of geoscience surveys ever undertaken on the island of Ireland.
Tellus is a concerted cross-border investment in the terrestrial geosciences, intended both to stimulate exploration for natural resources and to generate essential data for environmental management. A huge volume of geoscientific data has already been produced and analysed by researchers in Ireland, the UK and beyond. Initiated by the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, the Geological Survey of Ireland and the British Geological Survey, the project teams engaged widely with the academic community, industry, government, elected representatives, the general public and schools. Under the direction of the Geological Survey of Ireland, further phases of the Tellus programme are now steadily extending the surveys southward to cover the whole island.
In this book, scientists who have worked with the Tellus data reflect on the outputs and impacts in terms of the economy, the environment, energy, agriculture and ecology.
Mike Young, an exploration geophysicist, joined the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland (GSNI) in 2004 to manage the first of the Tellus regional geoscience survey projects. He was Director of GSNI from 2011 to 2014, when he also served on the Geosciences Committee of the Royal Irish Academy. Previously he managed national and industrial geophysical exploration projects throughout the Middle East, and in Africa and Latin America. He has published articles on geophysical exploration in arid environments, regional geoscience mapping and groundwater assessment and co-edited A Guide to the Tellus Data.
