Geological Work Contributes to Cuba's Social, Economic Development

Havana, Aug 18 (Prensa Latina) Geological activity in Cuba contributes today to the main research projects that promote social and economic development of the country, revealed an official source to Prensa Latina.

As the director of Geology of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Enrique Castellanos, declared, besides prospecting and evaluating mineral resources, Cuban geological services contribute to other economic branches, such as construction, tourism and agriculture.

In the program of local production of construction materials, for example, the official detailed they are working in determining the existence of sand, stone and clay at regional level.

Most of the result of the 14 geological studies that should end next year, tributes to that project, he revealed.

That, he added, will be involved in the housing program, as investigations will be handed to local governments in order they know the availability of necessary inputs for the mini industries.

Another of the fields helped by geology, said the director, is agriculture. The natural fertilizer (agromena) obtained from the crushing of rocks present in Cuban soil, reduces import of fertilizers and increases food production without being aggressive to the environment.

Tourism, for example, benefits with the identification of sites of geological heritage.

In Castellano's opinión, these spaces become luxury opportunities for those interested in nature tourism.

Other studies of social and environmental impact also depend on the efforts of Cuban geologists.

Among them he mentioned the contribution of the Life Task, State plan to face climate change which concentrates on coastal areas whose vulnerability to sea level rise is increasing.

Related to this plan, recalled the oficial, it has been achieved to establish a geodesic and geodynamics network with high-tech equipment that allows to study the behavior of the soil in these zones.

Our studies, which could end in a couple of years, will help determine if the earth is sinking, in which case the sea will penetrate even more. If the contrary is revealed, the rising sea level could be compensated in that place, considered Castellanos.

A great contribution we are working on, he added, is the engineering-geological study in a community of eastern Santiago de Cuba province. There, we are looking to establish seismic microlocalization to later be able to establish the seismic risk.

As for the search and evaluation of mineral resources, for 2019 it is planned to carry out 26 works, thanks to which the State will have available the obtention of gold, limestone and marble, among other products, resumed the oficial.