Future oil and gas resources of the world
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Mineral resource of the month: selenium
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Geotimes↗
Mineral resource of the month: industrial sand and gravel
With many diverse uses, industrial sand and gravel, also known as silica sand, is one of the most important nonmetallic minerals in the world. Industrial sand and gravel is a mining industry term used for sands that have a very high percentage of silicon dioxide, or greater than 95 percent quartz. Deposits of industrial sand and gravel can be found virtually everywhere on Earth, but are less widespread than deposits of common construction sand and gravel. Industrial sand and gravel is distinctive in grain size, hardness, inertness and resistance to high temperature and chemical action. Beverage containers, fiberglass insulation, fiber-optic cables and light bulbs are just some of today’s many products produced from industrial sand and gravel.
Geotimes↗
Geological exploration from orbital altitudes
The National Aeronautics & Space Administration is planning geologic exploration from orbiting spacecraft. For that purpose it is evaluating new and refined exploration tools, often called remote sensors, including devices that are sensitive to force fields, such as gravity gradient systems, and devices that record the reflection or emission of electromagnetic energy. Both passive electromagnetic sensors (those that rely on natural sources of illumination, such as the Sun) and active electromagnetic sensors (which use an artificial source of illumination) are being considered.
Geotimes↗
ERTS and EROS
In June the National Aeronautics & Space Administration is to launch its first experimental satellite designed to view the Earth systematically with remote-sensing instruments that will provide new information about our resources and environment. The launching will culminate more than 8 years of planning and research by resource agencies of the Federal Government in cooperation with NASA, state and local governments, universities, and industry. The first Earth Resources Technology Satellite, ERTS-A, will be followed a year later by ERTS-B. Analyses of data from them, it is hoped, will lead to design of operational satellites for Earth resources investigations in the future. In the belief that satellite systems will be of significant assistance in meeting its responsibilities to map, monitor, and manage the vast resources and the public lands of the United States, the Department of the Interior assumed a major role in the ERTS-A Experiment.
Geotimes↗
Mineral resource of the month: natural and synthetic zeolites
Volcanic rocks containing natural zeolites — hydrated aluminosilicate minerals that contain alkaline and alkaline-earth metals — have been mined worldwide for more than 1,000 years for use as cements and building stone. For centuries, people thought natural zeolites occurred only in small amounts inside cavities of volcanic rock. But in the 1950s and early 1960s, large zeolite deposits were discovered in volcanic tuffs in the western United States and in marine tuffs in Italy and Japan. And since then, similar deposits have been found around the world, from Hungary to Cuba to New Zealand. The discovery of these larger deposits made commercial mining of natural zeolite possible.
Geotimes↗
Watching magma from space
Westdahl is a broad shield volcano at the western end of Unimak Island in the Aleutian chain. It has apparently been dormant since a 1991-92 eruption and seismicity levels have been low. However, satellite radar imaging shows that in the years following 1992 the upper flanks of Westdahl have risen several centimeters, probably from the influx of new magma deep below its summit. Until now, deep magma reservoirs have been difficult to detect beneath most volcanoes. But using space geodetic technologies, specifically interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), we have discovered a deep magmatic source beneath Westdahl.
Geotimes↗