Global Geochemical Baselines for environmental and mineral resource management: Iran and neighbouring countries

The Commission on Global Geochemical Baselines, operating under the auspices of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) has the long-term goal of establishing a harmonised global geochemical database to document the concentration and distribution of chemical elements in the Earth’s near-surface environment. The database, and accompanying element distribution maps, represents a geochemical baseline against which future human-induced or natural changes to the chemistry of the land surface may be recognised and quantified. To accomplish this long-term goal, the activities of the Commission include: (1) Developing partnerships with countries conducting broadscale geochemical mapping studies; (2) Providing consultation and training in the form or workshops and short courses; (3) Organising periodic international symposia to foster communication among the geochemical mapping community; (4) Developing criteria for certifying those projects that are acceptable in a global geochemical database; (5) Acting as a repository for data collected by those projects meeting the criteria for standardisation; (6) Preparing complete metadata for the certified projects, and (7) Preparing, ultimately, a harmonised global geochemical database for environmental and mineral resource management. Examples from completed continental-scale projects will be presented, and the role that Iran can play with its neighbouring countries will be concisely described.