The Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (Spanish Geological Survey) (IGME) is a public Research Organisation, with Autonomous character, and with more than 150 years of history attached to the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spanish Economy and Competitiveness Ministry) (Real Decreto 1183/2008, de 11 de julio). Following its Statute, its mission is “…to provide when the Administration of the Spanish State and Autonomous Communities and the society in general request, the knowledge and detail information related to Earth Sciences and Technology of any action on its territory” (R.D. 1953/2000, de 1 de diciembre modificado por el Real Decreto 1134/2007, de 31 de agosto).

The IGME, as a public organisation, provides expert knowledge on all aspects of geoscience, and is the responsible for advising the Spanish goverment and its Autonomous Community goverments on the sustainable development of its territory and resource management. Thus, the IGME is a Reference National Center of Natural Risks, supports the Reference National Center of Soils and constitutes the highest National Center providing Information and Documentation of Earth Sciences in Spain.

The IGME is present in Zaragoza since 1979, when the Research Plan on Underground Water in the Ebro basin started. This Reserch Plan involved the execution of numerous projects in Zaragoza and the opening of headquarters shared between the IGME and private companies there.

The IGME Project Office in Zaragoza was established definitively in 1987. Its first task was the Hydrogeology, but in the 80s after an agreement with the Autonomous Goverment of Aragón, it also involved other topics as mining. In the 90s, a new research line on Natural Risks appeared and also the first phD.  

Nowadays, the research and technical aims of Zaragoza’s IGME Office continue to widen including new research lines following the IGME strategic lines (Hydrogeology and Environmental Quality, Structural Geology, Geophysics and 3D Subsurface Reconstruction, Geological Cartography, Petrography and Geological Heritage, Paleoclimatology and Global Change, Paleontology y Patrimony). At present, the recently renamed IGME Divission at Zaragoza is part of the Department of Geoscientific Infrastructure and Services.