Institut Teknologi Bandung

Rien is one of the Dutch geoscience researchers that once worked on the Bandung Basin. On this occasion, Rien was accompanied by Dr. Dasapta Erwin Irawan, S.T., M.T., as a moderator. Rien shared bits of his knowledge and experiences when working on the Bandung Basin.

Dr. Rien began his session by urging the Indonesian geoscientist to help the community by using their knowledge and skills whenever possible. "For me, in Indonesia, as a geoscientist, we need to do things that are important for the community," said Rien.

"There are many important challenges in society that are related to geosciences, such as tsunami, beach erosion, and rising sea level," he added. According to Rien, as a geoscientist, we should contribute our best in resolving these issues.

There are many publications regarding the Bandung Basin, Prof. Kosoemadinata and Prof. Yahdi Zaim have also published a study on this topic. Dr. Rien said that geology research on the past and now are very different. Geology researchers in the past were more focused on making geology maps. Because of that, we can now find vastly different types of geological maps, especially the Bandung Basin geological maps. However, the current focus of geology researchers has shifted from making a map. Many focuses are now being heavily researched by the geoscientist such as groundwater and land subsidence.

Dr. Rien, which once worked on his master thesis and doctoral dissertation in Bandung, said that Bandung Basin is a special area. "Bandung Basin is a unique and special area, not only in West Java but on the whole Southeast Asia," he said. It is because there are only a few places in Southeast Asia that have this kind of geology and geohistorical characteristics.

According to him, one of the most important things regarding the Bandung Basin is its sediment lake. This sediment lake represents a very preserved environmental record. Therefore, this sediment lake can be used for lithology, palynology, and geochemical analytics, and also geological age dating. The sediment data that was collected from the sediment lake at Bandung Basin can be combined with other collected data for further analysis. This combined analysis will give us a more developed understanding.

From the multiple kinds of research on the Bandung Basin, we realized a new urgency for geoscientists, especially Indonesian geoscientists, to investigate further and understand the land subsidence event. Land subsidence is a major problem in some Indonesian cities, such as Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, and Pekalongan. Until now, there has been no new monitoring of the land subsidence in Bandung Basin, this is a challenge for Geoscientist in Indonesia.

"Right now, the demand for geoscientists in oil and mining companies is not too high. Geoscientists are much more needed to work with the local government in solving this massive problem," said Rien.

Reporter: Muhammad Satriyo (Geology Engineering, 2019)
Translator: Favian Aldilla Rachmadi (Civil Engineering, 2019)