25
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Accepted
Are metals and other elements in every continent?
Metals occur on every continent . The issue is whether or not they occur in sufficiently large deposits for them to be mined economically.
The difference between a mineral deposit and an ore body is ...
- 24.6k
20
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Geothermal instead of fossil and nuclear?
By way of example, the Habanero geothermal pilot plant was investigated in Australia from 2003 to 2013. It as a 1 MW plant in the Cooper Basin, in the central region of Australia.
The heat source rock,...
- 24.6k
16
votes
Are metals and other elements in every continent?
All stable elements (and the radioactive U and Th) exist everywhere on Earth. They're in the sand underneath your feet, they're in your bones, they're in the dust in the air, they're in the ocean. The ...
- 23.1k
16
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Geothermal instead of fossil and nuclear?
We certainly couldn't replace all of the world's energy consumption with geothermal; there literally isn't enough energy coming out of the Earth.
The mean thermal energy flow through continental ...
- 621
13
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Why is helium only found in wells mixed with natural gas?
Helium is produced by the radioactive decay of primordial uranium and thorium. It should not be strongly associated with non-primordial 'fossil' hydrocarbons.
The first statement is correct. The ...
- 23.1k
12
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Can I use diamonds as fossil fuel?
Diamonds are expensive. Really expensive. Even "cheap" synthetic diamonds are orders of magnitude more expensive than conventional fossil fuel. By using them as fuel, you will increase ...
- 23.1k
11
votes
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Non-invasive techniques to find rock composition
You are looking for a portable XRF.
It does (almost) exactly what you said. It sends electromagnetic radiation to the rock (X-rays), which excites electrons in the atoms and when they bounce back ...
- 23.1k
8
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Can garbage be sent into the (near-)center of the world?
No. In fact, I don't know why David Hammen didn't say that instead of commenting.
The deepest hole that mankind ever dug was barely a scratch on the Earth's surface when you look at its size. They ...
- 199
8
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Which Earth minerals would Moon colonists miss the most?
The composition of Moon rocks is pretty much the same as that of Earth. However, none of the processes that concentrate specific minerals in one location (i.e. into a mineral deposit useful for mining)...
- 17.6k
7
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Why is helium only found in wells mixed with natural gas?
David Hammen's answer explains why He is extracted from natural gas. But, it is not found only there. Helium exists just about everywhere on earth. You find it in volcanoes, in subseafloor ...
- 23.1k
6
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Which Earth minerals would Moon colonists miss the most?
It is unlikely anything other than salt would be derived from sea water.
The largest deposit of gold is dissolved within the worlds oceans - in terms of tonnes of metal. The problem with extracting ...
- 24.6k
5
votes
Accepted
Importance of meteorite impact craters in geology?
Impact diamonds
Yes, diamonds can form in meteorite impacts. For this several things need to happen:
A meteorite of the correct size and velocity,
The stuff it hits needs to contain carbon.
If you ...
- 23.1k
5
votes
Why were Fe-oxides not usually used for finding skarn Fe ore deposits in geochemical exploration?
Skarn is metamorphosed sedimentary rock, it's iron deposits are in the form of sulfides. This means two things;
There almost certainly will be iron oxide contamination throughout the unit, at least I ...
- 4,260
5
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Interpreting Prospecting Ore Test Result
One lab result does not an orebody make.
In terms of economic potential nothing can be ascertained from data in the question.
When it comes to minerals and economics there are two terms that need to ...
- 24.6k
5
votes
Accepted
Is there any iron ore in New Guinea?
The island of New Guinea is effectively divided into two entities, the country of Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half and the Indonesian province of West New Guinea occupies the western half.
...
- 24.6k
4
votes
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What does it take to make a diamond?
what is stopping someone from building a high-pressure, high-temperature system and dumping graphite in and making millions of diamonds?
What is stopping someone from making these HPHT machines ...
- 23.1k
4
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Why do gold deposits form only in certain areas of the earth?
I do agree with Gimelist how gold is accumulated through hydrothermal fluids, adding that the main driver is for this process is volcanism.
There is, however, something interesting to be noted. We ...
- 41
4
votes
Why is lithium so unevenly distributed?
Start by reading my answer on a different website:
https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/a/96630/8083
This is a quick explainer on what "reserves" actually are.
Lithium is mined from two main sources:...
- 23.1k
4
votes
Accepted
Why is lithium so unevenly distributed?
The term "reserves" doesn't mean what most people think it does. A mineral deposit is simply a concentration of a mineral; a reserve is a deposit that is both known and economical to extract. As an ...
- 1,209
4
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Are metals and other elements in every continent?
Part of the problem is in the question itself. In the title, you ask about "in every continent" while in the text, you imply that you are talking about smaller areas.
One premise we can ...
- 141
4
votes
Geothermal instead of fossil and nuclear?
Asking whether we can replace the major energy sources we are using today today with one single source is a flawed question. It is obvious that there is not one single solution and anything that can ...
- 231
4
votes
Accepted
Is or was there oil on Sakhalin?
Onshore oil deposits, on the island of Sakhalin have existed. The were discovered in 1928 by a Russian-Japanese venture. Oil production from onshore deposits began in 1930.
There has been oil ...
- 24.6k
3
votes
Non-invasive techniques to find rock composition
To piggyback on Gimelist's answer:
Another important tool X-ray diffraction. XRD is used to determine crystalline structures. Specifically, XRD sees the dimensions of different crystals (and most "...
- 31
3
votes
Which Earth minerals would Moon colonists miss the most?
Which Earth minerals would Moon colonists miss the most?
tl;dr All of them.
As mentioned in the other answers here, it's about economics. Extracting an element from a mineral requires energy, ...
- 23.1k
3
votes
Accepted
Which Earth minerals would Moon colonists miss the most?
Feels like a space-ex question and I think a fair bit is likely to be missed in my post, but it's a fun question, so:
The biggest problem with the Moon is no atmosphere. Other problems are no ...
- 5,847
3
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Why is helium only found in wells mixed with natural gas?
The helium in natural gas wells is created from uranium and thorium (as you correctly state) contained in the underlying granite basement rock or radioactive black shales that allows the natural gas ...
- 2,177
3
votes
Can garbage be sent into the (near-)center of the world?
One of the flaws with using subduction zones as dumps for toxic chemicals so they can be broken down by heat and pressure at depth is the rate of sinking of the subducting plate.
Subduction is a very ...
- 24.6k
3
votes
Interpreting Prospecting Ore Test Result
In all likelihood it has no commercial viability in Africa. The lack of infrastructure will be a very large barrier to any production. No comment on political instability. To illustrate: in about 1970 ...
- 1,033
2
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Are there known ore deposits under cities?
Quite a few cities were built overtop of ore deposits. They often started out as a series of small workings and larger, deeper deposits were found as the cities grew up to support the mining.
An ...
- 4,429
2
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Accepted
How should I start studying about 'successful transitions in post-drought economies'?
There isn't a lot written on this yet. A search of FAO, UNESCO, World Bank and Asia Development Bank should turn up answers for specific regions. Keep in mind that climatic modelling is generally ...
- 14.2k
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