GET (Géosciences Environnement Toulouse)

GET (Géosciences Environnement Toulouse)
Name	GET (Géosciences Environnement Toulouse)
Native name	Géosciences Environnement Toulouse
Established	1986
Type	Public research laboratory
Location	Toulouse, France
Affiliations	CNRS, Paul Sabatier University

GET (Géosciences Environnement Toulouse) is a French research laboratory based in Toulouse focused on Earth and environmental sciences. The laboratory integrates field studies, laboratory experiments, and numerical modeling to address questions in geodynamics, paleoclimatology, geochemistry, and natural hazards. It operates within French national research structures and collaborates extensively with European and international institutions.

History

GET originated from mergers of research teams affiliated with Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier and was shaped by reforms following the creation of the Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers and national reorganizations of French research in the late 20th century. Early influences included geophysical programs linked to the European Space Agency and geological mapping projects associated with the Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières. Over subsequent decades GET participated in initiatives coordinated with the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, regional programs of Occitanie (administrative region), and multinational efforts under frameworks such as the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe research programs. Directors and senior researchers from GET have held roles in bodies like the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, the European Geosciences Union, and advisory panels for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Research Areas

GET organizes research into thematic axes that intersect with disciplines and institutions including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the European Southern Observatory, and the Max Planck Society through collaborative projects. Major areas encompass tectonics and plate tectonics processes linked to studies of the Alps (Europe), the Pyrenees, and the Himalayas, geochronology and isotope geochemistry connected to laboratories like the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, paleoenvironmental reconstruction tied to archives comparable to the Vostok (ice core) and Greenland (ice sheet), and hydrogeology and karst studies relevant to sites in the Massif Central and the Mediterranean Basin. GET also pursues research on natural hazards such as earthquakes and landslides collaborating on initiatives similar to projects by the United States Geological Survey and the European Commission disaster risk units. Interdisciplinary work reaches into biogeochemistry with links to research traditions at the Smithsonian Institution and the CNES remote sensing programs.

Facilities and Infrastructure

GET maintains laboratory facilities for isotope geochemistry, low-temperature geochemistry, paleomagnetism, and experimental petrology, comparable in scope to instrumentation at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. On-site infrastructure includes clean labs for radiogenic isotope analyses using mass spectrometers akin to instruments at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, paleomagnetic ovens and cryogenic magnetometers similar to those used at the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, and experimental deformation apparatus paralleling equipment at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris. Field infrastructure supports campaigns in collaboration with observatories like the Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées and marine platforms used by partners such as the Ifremer. Data management and modeling leverage high-performance computing centers like GENCI and integrate datasets from networks such as the Système d'Observation and European data nodes affiliated with Copernicus Programme services.

Collaborations and Partnerships

GET is formally associated with national and international partners including the CNRS, Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier, Ifremer, BRGM, and regional agencies of Occitanie (administrative region), and it participates in consortia with the European Space Agency, European Research Council projects, and networks coordinated by the European Geosciences Union. International collaborations extend to institutions such as the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, the Princeton University, the University of California, Berkeley, the ETH Zurich, the Sorbonne Université, the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, and the German Research Foundation. GET scientists serve on committees and editorial boards for journals published by the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, and the Nature Publishing Group, and they contribute to multinational working groups under the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the World Meteorological Organization.

Education and Training

GET contributes to graduate and postgraduate education via teaching and supervision at Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier and participates in doctoral schools affiliated with the Ecole Doctorale "Sciences de l'Univers, de l'Espace et de l'Environnement". Training programs include internships and joint doctoral projects with international programs such as Erasmus+, dual degrees with universities like the University of Barcelona and the University of Geneva, and specialized courses in isotope geochemistry modeled after curricula at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the ETH Zurich. Outreach and professional development engage with regional school programs, museum partners like the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, and summer schools coordinated with the International Ocean Discovery Program and the European Molecular Biology Organization.

Notable Projects and Contributions

GET researchers have contributed to stratigraphic syntheses comparable to work on the Challenger Deep and climate reconstructions analogous to analyses of the EPICA cores, and they have played roles in seismic monitoring networks paralleling initiatives by the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology. Projects include multidisciplinary studies of the Pyrenees exhumation history, Mediterranean paleoceanography connected to campaigns in the Gulf of Lion, karst hydrogeology in the Causses region, and provenance studies tied to sediment routing systems feeding the Bay of Biscay. GET teams have provided key geochemical constraints used in regional hazard assessments that informed policy discussions at the Conseil régional de Midi-Pyrénées and contributed technical expertise to emergency response planning alongside agencies analogous to the Ministry of the Interior (France). Peer-reviewed outputs appear in journals like Nature, Science, Geology (journal), Earth and Planetary Science Letters, and Journal of Geophysical Research.

Category:Research institutes in France