Cavelier, Claude

Claude Cavelier (June 14, 1935 - present) is a French geologist who undertook important surveys of Qatar, Syria, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. He was born in Colombes near Paris and attended the Lycée Pasteur at Neuilly-sur-Seine and then the Université Catholique de Paris. He received his diploma in geology in 1962 and began working for the Bureau de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres (BRGM). While working for the bureau, he also gradually worked on earning a doctorate, which was awarded in 1976. Beginning as a technician at BRGM, he eventually worked his way up to the position of Geological Director by the end of his career. Much of Cavelier's work was done in the Middle East, at a time when oil exploration and exploitation was expanding rapidly. His geological research therefore had very serious economic and national importance for the countries of the region. In 1969 - 1970, he led a team of geologists on the first comprehensive geological survey of Qatar, work that required difficult forays into the desert with the assistance of Bedouin guides. After this important work in Qatar, Cavelier became the Head of the Geological Mapping and Geology Department at the BRGM and traveled to Syria to train geologists there in methods for large-format surveying. He was again promoted, to Geological Director of the BRGM, in the early 1980s and undertook additional geological surveying in Saudi Arabia and Oman. Cavelier's career also took him to other regions, such as the Antilles and Patagonia, but his most influential and groundbreaking work was in the Middle East and particularly in Qatar.