The Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) is the national geologic survey of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and was established as an independent entity attached to the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources following a Council of Ministers Decision in 1999. It is built from other governmental agencies, including the former Directorate General for Mineral Resources, the US Geological Survey mission (1963 - 1999) and the Bureau de Recherche et Geologique mission (1972-1999) that have studied the geology of the Kingdom since the 1960s. The initial USGS presence in the Kingdom was initiated in 1944 by King AbdulAziz al-Saud, and initially consisted of a lone hydrologist named Glen Brown, sent by US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt following a meeting with AbdulAziz on a US warship in the Red Sea. The SGS headquarters are in Jeddah

Jeddah

Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...

, which is located on the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

 and is the second largest city in the country. Jeddah

Jeddah

Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...

 is also adjacent to the western margin of the Neoproterozoic

Neoproterozoic

The Neoproterozoic Era is the unit of geologic time from 1,000 to 542.0 ± 1.0 million years ago. The terminal Era of the formal Proterozoic Eon , it is further subdivided into the Tonian, Cryogenian, and Ediacaran Periods...

 Arabian Shield

Arabian-Nubian Shield

The Arabian-Nubian Shield is an exposure of Precambrian crystalline rocks on the flanks of the Red Sea. The crystalline rocks are mostly Neoproterozoic in age. Geographically - and from north to south - the ANS includes the nations of Israel, Jordan. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Eritrea,...

, and studies of that geologic region from one of the primary focuses of the Saudi Geologic Survey. A branch office maintained in Riyadh

Riyadh

Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...

, the capital of the country, houses facilities for making and printing topographic maps.

Under the terms of its establishment, the SGS will be able to provide, on a contract basis, a number of its services and consultation skills to the public and private sectors.
SGS also has the flexibility to operate abroad and can form partnerships with private companies or with other earth science agencies.

SGS Activities

The Saudi Geological Survey activities covers a broad range of strategic and applied earth science topics, with emphasis on understanding the geologic, economic, and engineering factors that affect sustainable management of mineral and groundwater resources, detection and mitigation of earthquakes

Earthquake engineering

Earthquake engineering is the scientific field concerned with protecting society, the natural and the man-made environment from earthquakes by limiting the seismic risk to socio-economically acceptable levels...

and other geohazards, protection and management of the environment, and safe development of engineering and construction sites.

The bulk of the work involves:

• Geological Mapping
• Mineral Exploration
• Mining Development
• Environmental Geology
• Environmental Geohazards
• Hydrogeology