Mineral deposits and Earth evolution / Месторождения полезных ископаемых и эволюция Земли

Mineral deposits are the source of all the metals, industrial and bulk minerals that feed the global economy. In addition to being key primary sources of wealth generation, mineral deposits are also valuable windows through which to view the evolution and interrelationships of the Earth system. Unlike hydrocarbon deposits that are largely restricted to more recent phases of geological time, mineral deposits have formed throughout the last 3.8 billion years of the Earth's history. As such they preserve key evidence for early magmatic and tectonic processes, the state of the atmosphere and hydrosphere, and the evolution of life. Furthermore, the very activities of exploration, evaluation and mining of mineral deposits, generate more comprehensive 3D geological information than is generally obtainable in unmineralized rocks, and increasing amounts of this formerly proprietary data are being released into the public domain. <...>