economic geology 9. mines & yours. “if you can't grow it, it has to be mined”
TRANSCRIPT
Economic Geology
9. Mines & Yours
“If you can't grow it,it has to be mined”
Our rocky economy
Economic stones
AggregatesUK - 200-250 million tonnes/yrRailway ballast, iron and steel, agriculture
Road building (~50%)
Concrete (~50%)
Economic graniteVery high
compressive strength
Dimension / armour stone
Hard to carve
Feldspar decomposes
The only geological sport
Economic dolerite
Very strong
Roadstone/aggregate
Slating the economyWales: 15,000 men
employed in 1890s
Economic sandstone
Common, fairly strong
Dimension / paving stone
Weathers
Economic limestone
Dimension stone
Cement
Aggregate
Dudley limestoneDudley limestone
Fossil-fuelled furnacesFossil-fuelled furnaces
Yorkshire's Industrial Coast
Ironstones
Cleveland Ironstone Mines
Why Are The Ironstones There?Why Are The Ironstones There?
Fossilized Ropes?
Fossil shrimp burrows!
Shrimpy miners = human miners
Sediment-hosted minerals
Bronze Age copper mine
Great Orme, Llandudno
The origins of ores
Magmatism– Fractionation / Immiscibility
The origins of oresHydrothermal processes:– Brines– Metamorphic fluids
Metamorphic shearing
Sedimentary placers
Rare earths and renewables
Rare earth elements
Not that rare
Soft, malleable, metallic
Conductive, magnetic
Shifting sourcesGlobal product
Fossil fuelsOil and gas
North Sea oil & gas
UK energy balance
(Figure from DECC report)
Conventional / Unconventional
Britain for shale?
CarboniferousNW England
JurassicSE England
The impact of power
Vidal et al. - Nature Geoscience (2013)
The trajectory of demand
Vidal et al. - Nature Geoscience (2013)
Next week: The FuturePredictive Geology
- Earthquakes
- Tectonics
- Climate
• + A Final Review