Economic Geology

Making Money from Geology
1. Metals (ores)
2. Water Supplies
3. Waste Disposal
4. Excavation work
5. Volcano Tourism
6. Earthquake Prediction
7. Minerals
8. Coal
Finding Subterranean Resources
1. Geochemical Analysis
  1. To find an economic deposit of a mineral
  2. Collect water from a range of sites on a stream network
    1. Analyse samples
      1. If there is a deposit, water that has 'permeated' through it will have picked up parts of it (dissolved)
        Plot results
        Higher concentration will be downstream of the ore body
  3. If a high concentration meets a low concentration stream, the concentration will be in between the two
  4. Background levels of minerals in nature are approx. 10-20ppm
  5. If water goes through a mineral vein, concentration will rise to over 500ppmn places
    1. ppm=parts per million
2. Borehole Drilling
  1. Expensive
  2. Gives best evidence of a resource being present
  3. Confirms what a seismic survey will suggest is there
  4. Must analyse the core the borehole produces
3. Seismic Survey
  1. Exploration for oil
  2. Ship tows a source of seismic waves (air gun)
    1. Travels along a transect (line)
      1. At certain times it generates a shock wave (seismic wave)
        They travel through the floor and rocks and get reflected when there is a change of rock type (/density)
        Travel back to receivers (towed by boat)
        Generates an image of rock structure below
        Image analysed by a geophysicist
        Decides whether to recommend a borehole
4. Magnetic Survey
  1. Helicopters fly over an area
    1. With equipment that detects anomalies in the earths magnetism
  2. Processing software highlights areas with unusual magnetic fields
    1. e.g metallic minerals, igneous bodies etc

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Economic Geology

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	Created by Eleanor Caine about 8 years ago