Department of Geology

The Department of Geology, University of Karachi is one of the oldest institutions for teaching of geology in the country. It started functioning in 1954, under Prof. Dr. Manek B. Pithawala, a noted geographer of pre-partition days and the author of "Geology and Geography of Karachi".

In the beginning classes started with just few students and three teachers namely Dr. Mahboob-e-Khuda, Dr. M. Valliullah and Mr. Akhlaque Hussain Rizvi. The first batch of the students was presented B. Sc. (Honours) degree in Geology in 1957 and M. Sc. degree in 1959.

The department shifted to its present buildings in 1967. The teaching wing has an auditorium, separate lecture rooms for B.S. classes, a seminar library, reference library, audio visual room, offices of faculty members in addition to the office of the Chairperson.

The laboratory wing is a three storied spacious building, which contains many laboratories and classrooms. It has a big geological museum at the ground floor and the basement. It is the largest Museum amongst the universities of Pakistan. The covered area is adequate for the present and for the near future needs.

From this humble beginning, the department has now developed into a full fledged teaching and research institution. degrees, 40 graduate and 200 undergraduate students in various classes.

Development of the department over the years in fact started after obtaining higher training and research degrees of the senior staff members from abroad in early sixties and seventies. This culminated in introducing the varieties of special papers including Petroleum Geology, Micro-paleontology, Geochemistry, Geomorphology, Sedimentology, Marine Geology, Industrial Mineralogy, Engineering Geology, Geophysics and Hydro-geology.