Summary
Minerals, metals, and elements are critical to society—they are used to make thousands of products that people use worldwide every day. This title examines how minerals form and why they occur where they do. It focuses on civilization's fascination with these valuable commodities and looks at mining and its development, as well as mineral resources found deep in the oceans.
Coverage includes:
- The uses and impacts of minerals, metals, and elements
- Their contributions to industry, agriculture, science and technology, medical applications, building materials, the computer industry, clothing, fertilizers, and fiber optics
- Impacts on the natural environment
- Hazardous waste management
- Reclamation issues of mining
- New technologies, future mining and search methodologies, and undiscovered potential mineral resources.
About the Author(s)
Julie Kerr Casper, Ph.D., has been an Earth scientist for the Bureau of Land Management for nearly 30 years. She is the author of several award-winning novels, articles, and stories.