An effort to map Alabama’s geological resources is being powered by $1 million from the U.S. Geological Survey.
The mapping effort, funded by a bi-partisan infrastructure initiative, is part of a $510 million program to update information about the nation’s domestic mineral supplies.
The survey will be concentrated in an area of South-Central Alabama known as the Graphite Belt, and look for minerals such as aluminum, arsenic, bismuth, cobalt, germanium, graphite, rare earth metals, tin, tungsten, vanadium and others.
These minerals are components of everything from household appliances to electronics to electric vehicles, and power batteries, wind turbines and solar energy generation.
To map the resources, workers will use an airborne electromagnetic survey, known as overflights.
Paul Bedrosian, a research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey said the data will “provide a baseline for understanding the formation and distribution of mineral resources in Alabama, as well as improving our knowledge of groundwater, geothermal resources and earthquake hazards.”
Source : Al
