Prior to the opening of a permanent base on Reunion Island in 1974, BRGM's activities in the Indian Ocean were managed for many years by the Antananarivo office in Madagascar. Initially, the new base focused on the complete geological mapping of the island on a scale of 1:50,000. It also sought to improve knowledge of groundwater and to conduct drilling operations for the supply of drinking water. At the end of the 1970s, BRGM began prospection surveys to establish the island's geothermal potential. It initiated a volcanic monitoring mission at the Piton de la Fournaise, reassigned to the Paris Institute of Planetary Physics (IPGP) in the early 1980s.
Extensive work on natural hazards
In 1980, cyclone Hyacinthe saw 12 days of intense rainfall leading to 25 deaths. This raised awareness of the need for better monitoring of natural hazards. BRGM began a number of studies into landslides and the risk of rockfalls, which continue to this day in even greater detail. More than half of the activities of BRGM's base on Reunion Island are devoted to natural hazards.
In 2014, BRGM carried out an extensive programme for the aerial acquisition of geophysical data. This resulted in the collection of essential data on the soil structure, from the surface to depths of around 200 metres. The information gathered has enabled a better understanding of the island's oldest geological layers and is still used today in a number of research projects.
In the future, BRGM's activities will continue to reflect the major challenges of its times, and particularly those facing Reunion Island, in partnership with all the local players in research and public service. The Reunion Island regional base currently employs around ten people.
Celebrating 50 years of BRGM on Reunion Island, 23 October 2024.
© BRGM
A framework agreement with the Regional Council to strengthen cooperation
With an area of 2,520 km2 and 860,000 inhabitants, Reunion Island is a densely populated region of France. The island has two volcanic mountain ranges: the Piton des Neiges (the highest point in the Indian Ocean, with an altitude of 3,071 meters), which last erupted around 12,000 years ago, and the Piton de La Fournaise, a highly active volcano erupting every nine months, on average. The island has a tropical climate characterised by high rainfall but with great variability in terms of both season and location (the west is arid, whereas the east is very wet, with world records in terms of rainfall intensity). This has resulted in intense erosion and a very rugged, abrupt topography. The island is also subject to regular cyclones. Reunion Island requires geoscientific expertise to address several challenges: demographic pressure and limited available land, the globalisation of trade, natural hazards, the management of natural resources and waste, and the island’s dependence on imported fossil fuels.
To further this cooperation, the Reunion Island Regional Council and BRGM signed a framework agreement on 23 October 2024 setting out the main goals for future work. Scheduled to run for four years, the agreement reflects the ambitions of both parties to strengthen research geared towards meeting the needs of local populations and developing an economy ensuring health, food and energy sovereignty for the island.
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