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Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana
http://dx.doi.org/10.18268/BSGM2005v57n2a3 |
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Historia e índice comentado del Boletín del Instituto de Geología de la UNAM
J. Arturo Gómez-Caballero
Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Delegación Coyoacán, 04510, México, D.F.
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Abstract
The Boletín del Instituto de Geología is the record of a substantial part of the development of the geology in Mexico. Although toward the end of the XIX century there was already a relatively copious geologic literature, in particular on the geology of mining districts, it lacked enough accuracy as well as a complete scientific rigor. In order to put an end to the existing confusion, Antonio del Castillo proposed, and persevered on it until its consecution, the creation of a government organization, the Instituto Geológico de México, that would accomplish the geologic study of the national territory with an appropriated academic level under both the pure and the applied perspectives of science. While the Congreso de la Unión studied a presidential proposal on the creation of the new institution, which was sent to it on 26 May 1886, the president Porfirio Díaz emitted in March 1888 a decree creating the Comisión Geológica of a temporary character. It had a brief life because on 17 December 1888 the Congreso de la Unión approved the submitted proposal, and the next day the President emitted the decree that founded the Instituto Geológico. That decree was validated on 25 December 1888 by its publication in the Official Newspaper of the Federation.
Following the original path traced by A. del Castillo, the Boletín del Instituto de Geología has been putting to the service of the science as well as the industry, several studies on the nature of the national territory. Because of the global scope the Institute has had about geology, they have covered the following subjects: (1) description of the chronostratigraphic units in the first explanatory text of a geologic map, (2) the fauna and flora that particularize those units in relation with the stratigraphy, (3) the petrology of igneous rocks, (4) regional geologic monographs, (5) geologic studies of the main mining districts and their economic potential, (6) the geologic and mining bibliography, (6) the first seismologic studies, (7) the first studies on oil reservoirs, (8) geohydrologic studies, (9) the systematic and geographic catalogs of mineral species, (10) speleology, (11) mineralogy, (12) geochemistry, (13) marine geology, (14) sedimentology, (15) paleogeography, (16) tectonics, (17) metamorphic geology, and (18) environmental geology, among other subjects. This great diversity of topics was due to the broad scope the Institute have had; however, some of them are no longer subjects of study. This is because, according to the tendency toward specialization, the Instituto de Geología has given birth, at least in a partial manner, to other organizations that cover specific disciplines: Petróleos Mexicanos, the Comité Directivo para la Investigación de los Recursos Minerales (the present Servicio Geológico Mexicano), the Instituto de Geofísica, the Centro de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, and the Centro de Geociencias, the three last ones also pertaining to the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Keywords: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM, Boletín del Instituto de Geología, history, annotated index.
