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What is economic geology?
Economic geology is a discipline of science that focuses on earth materials that can be used for economic or industrial development purposes. Often, much of the purpose of study is to identify new ore deposits for excavation as well as understanding how ore deposits are generated and localized within earth’s crust (Economic Geology | Faculty of Science, n.d.).
The materials researchers are most involved with include:
- Coal;
- construction-grade stone;
- non-metallic minerals;
- petroleum minerals;
- precious and base metals;
- and water.
As many of these resources are non-renewable, scientists in this discipline use innovative methods to find new deposits and other valuable materials to counteract scarcity.
References:
Economic Geology | Faculty of Science. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2025, from https://www.ualberta.ca/en/science/economic-geology.html
