Few places on earth outside of the polar latitudes are as harsh and desolate as the Sahara desert. Covering about 10 million square kilometres, the desert is the similar in size to the United States or China. It consists [...]
We tend to think of volcanoes as unstoppable forces of nature that we live next to at our own peril. Despite this, an ingrained human instinct to take control of our environment has sometimes pushed people to try to [...]
When we think about important pieces of technology used for mining or oil and gas operations, things like drilling rigs, diamond core drills, or processing equipment might come to mind. However, as a recent infographic published by Visual Capitalist [...]
A study recently published in the journal geology highlights the important role that Earth’s smallest animals, the insects, plan in global scale geologic processes. Insects might seem small, but a look at some statistics counters that view: it has [...]
Recent excavations at Provadia-Solnitsata, a 7,500 year old archeological site in southern Bulgaria that represents one of the earliest towns ever discovered in Europe, may help shed light on the links between mining, wealth, and trade in the ancient [...]
When asked to think of a critical mineral resource, one that nations fiercely compete for, most people might mention oil and gas, or copper, or rare earth elements. These economic resources are well known for their importance to modern [...]
Visualcapitalist.com has produced many interesting mining infographics in the past. This time, they've developed a two part infographic about the history of copper and current trends in supply an demand. The first infographic, which describes the history of copper [...]
In 2011, a major earthquake struck the city of Christchurch on the South Island of New Zealand, destroying much of that city's downtown and resulting in major loss of life. The culprit for that earthquake? A fault that had [...]
Of all the alternative energy sources being developed today, geothermal may be one of the least well known. As of 2011, it accounted for less than one percent of global electricity production. Despite the relative obscurity of geothermal, a quiet revolution [...]
In 1931 a British fishing trawler named the Colinda was working in the waters of the North Sea. As the nets were pulled on board, the captain noticed several large clumps. They were pieces of peat. It wasn’t uncommon to bring [...]