TEST Area

Themed years are at the heart of the Society’s science strategy and this year is the 2018 Year of Resources. 

The theme will explore the sustainable extraction and use of natural resources through research conferences, lectures, our education programme and other activities. 

Find out more about the 2018 Year of Resources.

Resources related publications

Linked to the Year of Resources are a number of resource related publications:

PGC8: Petroleum Geology of NW Europe: 50 Years of Learning - Proceedings of the 8th Petroleum Geology Conference The 8th Conference on the Petroleum Geology of NW Europe was held in September 2015 and marked the 50th anniversary of the first commercial discovery offshore in the North Sea (West Sole, in September 1965). Its focus was ‘50 Years of Learning – a Platform for Present Value and Future Success’ and its objective was to provide an update on discoveries, developments, technologies and geological concepts from the region.
M0048: Myanmar: Geology, Resources and Tectonics Myanmar is a country vastly rich in gold, silver, base metals, tin–tungsten, gems and hydrocarbons and is one of the last exploration frontiers remaining in the world. Tectonically Myanmar lies at the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountain Chain and over the last 50 Ma has been profoundly affected by the collision between India and Eurasia, which is still ongoing, with frequent destructive earthquakes. Recent advances have been made in understanding the results of the collision, through the study of geochronology, seismicity, stratigraphy and structure.
SP407: Global Heritage Stone: Towards International Recognition of Building and Ornamental Stones This Special Publication is dedicated to heritage stone: those natural stones that have special significance in human culture. Some stones that have had important uses in the past are now neglected because they are no longer extracted. Others are still commercially important, but their heritage uses have not been well documented in widely available sources.
SP391: Stone in Historic Buildings: Characterization and Performance There is considerable academic and practical interest in stone and stone buildings, as exemplified by the wide range of high-quality and innovative work being conducted in the pursuit of the effective preservation and restoration of historic buildings. This is reflected in the numerous publications on stone and stone buildings that regularly find their way into the public domain.
SP393: Ore Deposits in an Evolving Earth Ore deposits form by a variety of natural processes that concentrate elements into a volume that can be economically mined. Their type, character and abundance reflect the environment in which they formed and thus they preserve key evidence for the evolution of magmatic and tectonic processes, the state of the atmosphere and hydrosphere, and the evolution of life over geological time.
SP402: Gold-Transporting Hydrothermal Fluids in the Earth's Crust Hydrothermal ore deposits that are exploited for gold include both gold-only deposits, such as orogenic deposits, and gold-bearing examples of the common hydrothermal deposits types that are formed around upper-crustal magmatic centres, in particular porphyry and epithermal deposits. Fluid-inclusion data have shown that ore fluids of gold-only deposits are compositionally distinct compared to fluids of other deposit types.
1285: Petroleum Systems Analysis - case studies Petroleum systems analysis has come a long way from pure geochemical evaluation to integration of all petroleum elements, including source rock characteristics, hydrocarbon generation, expulsion and migration, traps, seals, and alterations of the hydrocarbon fluids and columns. Quantification of many of these processes is attempted by the use of more complex 3-D basin models. Huge research efforts have been done during the last twenty years to better calibrate basin models. This Memoir provides petroleum system experts a means of understanding the complexity of petroleum systems by providing examples and case studies from different parts of the world and highlighting one or more petroleum system issues.

Year of Resources Collection

Within the Lyell Collection, we have a collection of resource related papers. 

Human utilisation of natural resources is evidenced in the ice-sheet record and in sediments forming today, as described in this suite of resource-focused papers through which run themes of sustainability, opportunity and challenge. 

In the oil, gas and mineral domains, papers on new and old resource-rich areas and the science and technology of resource exploration and extraction are contextualised with papers regarding challenges to sustainability and the public perception of resource extraction. Additional papers, with a focus on climate change impacts, decarbonisation of energy supply and re-use of waste products mainly discuss geomaterials, groundwater resources, high and low enthalpy geothermal heat resources, gas storage and the geological sequestration of CO2 and of radioactive waste. 

Geological sciences are integral to the exploration and extraction of natural resources and to much of the attendant environmental protection, monitoring and remediation. Geoscientists find themselves at the epicentre of tensions between growing demand for resources, and the environmental and societal impacts of resource supply and utilisation. 

On the one hand geoscientists, and the Geological Society itself, seek to advance the practice of our science to facilitate the identification and exploitation of resources with greater efficiency and sustainability. On the other hand, our science provides a deep understanding of the deleterious impacts of some of these activities and of the global consumption of natural resources, casting doubt on the long term sustainability of continued supply growth. 

Geoscientists cannot solve all of society’s conflicted positions around natural resources, but papers in this collection show that with societal and governmental support, we can further deploy our science to minimise and to mitigate some of the impacts of resource extraction and utilisation.

View the collection