Dr Jonathan Paul, Associate Professor in Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway has written an article for the academic journal, The Conversation – which offers an explanation for the reasons why Greenland’s mineral wealth has been such a hot topic in the news recently, with increased interest from the USA in Greenland’s future.
Greenland is the largest island on Earth, and it possesses some of the richest stores of natural resources anywhere in the world. In fact, Greenland’s abundance of natural resource wealth is tied to its hugely varied geological history over the past 4 billion years.
The island is home to critical raw materials – resources such as lithium and rare earth elements (REEs) that are essential for green technologies, but whose production and sustainability are highly sensitive – plus other valuable minerals and metals, and a huge volume of hydrocarbons including oil and gas.
Three of Greenland's rare earth elements-bearing deposits, deep under the ice, may be among the world's largest by volume, holding great potential for the manufacture of batteries and electrical components essential to the global energy transition.
Dr Paul comments:
“Geologically speaking, it is highly unusual (and exciting for geologists like me) for one area to have experienced all three key ways that natural resources – from oil and gas to REEs and gems – are generated. These processes relate to episodes of mountain building, rifting (crustal relaxation and extension), and volcanic activity.”
Read the full article here: (external link)
https://theconversation.com/greenland-is-rich-in-natural-resources-a-geologist-explains-why-273022
