The excursion was headed by Prof Dr Goesta Hoffmann, a geologist at the Steinmann Institute for Geology, Mineralogy and Paleontology, University of Bonn and Prof Dr Peter Kukla, Head of the Energy and Mineral Resources Group and the Geological Institute at RWTH Aachen University.
A group of 20 students from three different universities and two Geosciences professors from RWTH Aachen University, GUtech’s partner-university and the University of Bonn, conducted a two-week excursion around the North of Oman.
The excursion was headed by Prof Dr Goesta Hoffmann, a geologist at the Steinmann Institute for Geology, Mineralogy and Paleontology, University of Bonn and Prof Dr Peter Kukla, Head of the Energy and Mineral Resources Group and the Geological Institute at RWTH Aachen University. Both professors have been highly involved in setting up the Department of Applied Geosciences at GUtech around ten years ago and continue to serve as fly-in professors. For his recent work and research in Oman, Prof Dr Goesta received the Research Award from The Research Council in 2016.
“We are pleased to conduct the excursion in Oman because it is an incredibly fascinating country which to date remains beyond the realm of large mainstream tourism,” explained Prof Goesta, who lived in Oman for six years. “With Oman being a Muslim country, the excursion also aims to promote cultural exchange between Germany and Oman,” he said.
“Oman offers an exciting opportunity for integrated geographical, geo-scientific and socio-economic studies and perspectives,” said Prof Peter Kukla, who has been conducting research related to oil and gas exploration and production together with PDO for the past 15 years. Not surprisingly, various geo-scientific questions related to the professor’s research in Oman, such as the oil and gas outlook, future minerals and metals resources, the development of the Omani coastline as well as geographical questions, were discussed.
Further issues addressed were the rapid transformation of the Omani landscape – coasts, deserts, oases, flora and fauna - and the social developments in Oman. This included the transformation of the agricultural industry and the overall structural transformation and challenges Oman is facing while transforming from an oil-based economy towards a more service-oriented economy.
Towards the end of the excursion in Muscat, the group conducted a walking tour between Old Muscat and Muttrah, along an old donkey trail, where Prof Goesta explained the development of the mountains and the remains of a several centuries old falaj system. After the tour the group visited Souq Muttrah, which has been transformed from a local market to a ‘tourist market’ in the past years, a development that was enhanced by increasing large-scale cruise tourism. This has caused various negative impacts such as overcrowding and the change of the identity of the souq. This development was explained by Manuela Gutberlet, a PhD candidate at the Department of Geography at RWTH Aachen University and PR manager at GUtech who has been conducting research on the impacts of mega cruise tourism in Oman.
For the second time both Prof Hoffmann and Prof Kukla led this interdisciplinary excursion under the auspices of the Geoverbund ABC/J for post-graduate students and doctoral candidates from the fields of geography and geosciences of the three universities in Aachen, Bonn and Cologne and the large federal research facility in Juelich.
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