Revised 04 / 10
Tonight: a free for all...
Natural Resources (DEFINE)
The other 84 elements...
Very important
Name something not associated with minerals or other earth materials
Earth concentrates materials through several processes
Average crustal abundance
The human time-stratigraphic horizon
The possible longer-term impact of concentrating radioactive materials
Ore vs. Waste
Does the gold/silver in seawater constitute an ore deposit?
Primary vs. Secondary Industry
Creation of new wealth vs. redistribution
Inflation: the ultimate result of a reduction of primary industry
The making of a mine: a tough mix of competing (and often conflicting) variables
GeoTechnical / Economic / Political / Environmental
Primary vs. Secondary Deposits
Primary deposits
Formed directly from the creation and/or crystallization of magma
And other limited types of deposits
Often the result of "residual fluids"
Black smokers, hydrothermal vein deposits, etc.
Secondary deposits
Re-worked primary deposits
Placer gold, etc.: your basic 49'er
The importance of energy
As a mineral resource (i.e. fossil fuels)
As a concentrating agent
Geothermal energy - primary hydrothermal deposits
Energy of moving water - secondary placer deposits
Ultimately, the sun (again)
Several main categories
Fossil fuels (petroleum)
Coal, oil, gas
Industrial materials
Sand and gravel, building stone, etc.
Metallic deposits
Precious vs. base metal deposits
Fossil fuels
Origins of petroleum
Carboniferous (74 m.y.) |
Pennsylvanian |
Mississippian |
Did a lower % of O2 retard decomposition?
An evolving atmosphere, indeed!
Traps
The criminal waste of using gasoline
Climate change
Rapid evolution of the atmosphere as we return the carbon
But not just the environmental degradation
Plastics, pesticides, fertilizer... a long list!
Industrial materials
Sand and gravel - the big one for sure
Concrete - man-made conglomerate
Building stone
Art, sculpture, etc.
Metallic deposits
Placer deposits - everyone's favorite mine
Most, however, are primary
Bowen's Reaction Series (REVIEW)
Plate tectonics (REVIEW)
We end up with four (4) magmas and two (2) boundaries
| Magma Type | Plate Boundary |
| UltraMafic | Divergent |
| Mafic | |
| Intermediate | Convergent |
| Felsic |
We'll take them by magma type
Ultramafic magmas and rocks
High pressure and temperature environments
Strategic metals
Lateritic deposits - Gasquet Mtn., Cleopatra, Red Flat
Use of refractive seismology
Chromite - banded vs. podiform
Emma Belle
Mafic magmas and rocks
Hydrothermal vents
Black (and white) smokers
Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits
Turner-Albright deposit
Island Mountain deposit
Intermediate magmas and rocks
Subducted and re-worked mafic deposits?
Porphyry copper deposits
Chuquicamata (Chile)
Bingham Canyon, et al. (US)
Felsic magmas and rocks
Residual fluids
Fluid penetration of overlying strata
Mother Lode (California)
Pala pegmatites (and others!)
Carlin epithermal deposits
Continental rifting?
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