Scope

The section Economic Geology within Frontiers in Earth Science publishes cross-disciplinary, open access research into the exploration and uses of mineral deposits and other earth materials, as well as the challenges associated with accessing these resources in the 21st century.

In keeping with Frontiers commitment to publishing open science for sustainable futures, we especially encourage submissions related to the environmental impacts and mitigation of exploration and mining activities. Please note that research focused on environmental remediation of mining activities should be submitted to the Toxicology, Pollution and the Environment section of Frontiers in Environmental Science.

Areas covered by this section include, but are not limited to:

• Resource/reserve classification
• Geology, mineralogy, geochemistry, paragenesis, tectonic setting, characteristic ages and proposed genetic models of ore deposits
  • Precious and base metals
  • Petroleum minerals
  • Non-metallic minerals
  • Coal
  • Construction-grade stone
• Mineralogy and occurrence of alternation mineral assemblages
• Metallurgy in ore deposits
• Geochemistry of hydrothermal fluids and geochemical controls on ore mineral deposition
• Exploration strategies and techniques
• Exploration trends and emerging mineral districts
• Interdisciplinary studies at the boundaries between organic biogeochemistry, metal transport, and sites of mineral accumulation
• Resource evaluation and utilization
• Future sources of industrial and construction materials
• Cutting-edge tools and techniques
  • Field techniques
  • Visualization tools
  • Microanalytical tools for chemical and isotopic techniques
  • Geochronologic tools
  • Mathematical tools
  • Modelling tools
• Environmental impacts and assessment including historical mining activities on the surface environment.

This field covers a wide range of systems from extremely high temperature ultramafic magmatic systems (Ni-Cu-PGEs) to supergene weathering processes; sedimentary processes, from deposition of heavy minerals to form placers of important resources, and epigenetic ore systems; and ore-forming system transitions, from high T magmatic to lower T hydrothermal systems.

The scales of observation and analysis can be wide ranging reflecting the breadth and depth of studies that contribute to our fundamental knowledge of the processes of formation through to their environments of formation including aspects that impact exploration mining as well. Satellite-based remote sensing to mineral-chemical observations at the TEM scale all advance our understanding of deposit formation. Petrological, geochemical, and geophysical studies are all integral to understanding these anomalous systems, with geostatistical tools enhancing these enormous datasets typically created in these studies.

Changes in environments throughout earth history affect the many variables that control deposit formation. On a larger scale, but also local scale, geodynamic settings of deposit formation are often key to discerning the fundamental controls on mineralization. The wide range of earth processes including magmatism, metamorphism, deformation, to near surface processes, including weathering and various types of erosion and hydrodynamic separation all of which contribute to formation of earth’s resources.

Submission

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