{"id":378437,"date":"2022-06-03T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-03T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?post_type=selected&p=378437"},"modified":"2022-06-03T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-03T08:00:00","slug":"mapping-technology-helps-discover-the-earths-resources","status":"publish","type":"selected","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/selected\/mapping-technology-helps-discover-the-earths-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapping technology helps discover the earth’s resources"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For years, scientists have tried to understand the structure of the Earth. One of these scientists is University of Twente geophysicist Dr. Juan Carlos Afonso (Faculty of ITC). He has recently developed a new method to analyze the Earth\u2019s continental crust that lays the groundwork to predict geothermal energy sources, but also other critical resources for the Earth and other planets. He published his research in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience, writes the University of Twente in a press release.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To minimize the impact of natural hazards and support the transition to green energy technologies, it is fundamental to understand how the continental lithosphere \u2013 the outer part of the Earth \u2013 works and to predict the location of geothermal energy and mineral resources. Normally, Earth scientists look at one aspect of the earth\u2019s crust at a time using specific data sets. But it is both the crust\u2019s chemical structure and the small differences in temperature that inform geoscientists on the origin and evolution of the planet and on the location of resources beneath our feet. Combining multiple data sets for this purpose, however, remains a major challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merging methods<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In his research, Afonso managed to formally combine multiple satellite data sets with land-based data sets to see further into the Earth than previously possible. \u201cIt is a completely new way of \u2018seeing\u2019 what\u2019s below there\u201d, says Afonso. Previously, the only reliable approach for deep resource exploration was the analysis of rock samples brought to the surface by volcanoes (known as \u2018xenoliths\u2019). \u201cWhen you\u2019re dependent on volcanoes, you can imagine that such samples are hard to come by. They are scattered in space and time and still have large uncertainties\u201d, explains Afonso.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
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A backpack to create 3D maps<\/div>
In case of an emergency, up-to-date information about the inside of buildings needs to be readily available for first responders.<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Mapping the crust of Africa<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The research team focused on central and southern Africa. The Kalahari, Tanzanian and Congo cratons \u2013 ancient and stable parts of the Earth\u2019s two topmost layers \u2013 in the area proved useful. \u201cCentral and Southern Africa is a natural laboratory that helps us answer fundamental questions about the formation of cratons\u201d, says Afonso, \u201cand there are plenty of datasets on those needed xenoliths that helped us prove our method.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next challenge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis study demonstrated that our method of combining land and satellite data sets works. Now we can extend the research to regions where xenoliths are not available\u201d, says Afonso. According to the researchers, this approach adds to the development of the next-generation planetary models and supports the development of cleaner technologies. It lays the groundwork for innovative resource exploration frameworks for Earth, but also other terrestrial planets. \u201cMaybe Mars and\/or the Moon can be next.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2084,"featured_media":514558,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":""},"categories":[8553],"tags":[69735,5092,66736,76425],"location":[6763],"internal_archives":[],"class_list":["post-378437","selected","type-selected","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital","tag-ai-nl-3","tag-kaarten","tag-mapping","tag-resources","location-netherlands"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/8R1ESL0c-h-xx-a2pjm-fasrevfuq6a.png","coauthors":[],"author_meta":{"author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/mauro-mereu\/","display_name":"Mauro Mereu"},"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on June 3, 2022","modified":"Updated on June 3, 2022"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on June 3, 2022 10:00 am","modified":"Updated on June 3, 2022 10:00 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","tax_additional":{"category":{"linked":["Digital<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Digital<\/span>"],"slug":"category","name":"Categories"},"post_tag":{"linked":["AI<\/a>","kaarten<\/a>","mapping<\/a>","resources<\/a>"],"unlinked":["AI<\/span>","kaarten<\/span>","mapping<\/span>","resources<\/span>"],"slug":"post_tag","name":"Tags"},"language":{"linked":["EN<\/a>"],"unlinked":["EN<\/span>"],"slug":"language","name":"Tags"},"post_translations":{"linked":["pll_6299b97480b96<\/a>"],"unlinked":["pll_6299b97480b96<\/span>"],"slug":"post_translations","name":""},"location":{"linked":["Netherlands<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Netherlands<\/span>"],"slug":"location","name":"Locations"},"internal_archives":{"linked":[],"unlinked":[],"slug":"internal_archives","name":"Internal Archives"}},"series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected\/378437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/selected"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378437"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=378437"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=378437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}