Geo 341 - Economic Geology

Geo 386E - Economic Geology

Spring Semester 2004

Welcome to Geology 341! This site is designed to introduce an upper division geology elective on mineral resources to prospective students at the University of Texas at Austin and to provide information that will be useful for current students to complete course assignments. The geologic and economic nature of commercial concentrations of metals and industrial minerals will be the focus of the course, including societal and environmental issues related to their production and consumption. Probable topics include natural controls on mineral resource localization, modern ore-forming systems, economic evaluation, resource extraction, environmental issues, mineral exploration, etc. As is the case for the mineral resources industries at present, the course will have a global perspective and will deal with mineral resources in many countries. Lab exercises typically involve studies of selected mineral deposit types. Other labs and assignments involve computer approaches to exploration, economic evaluation, data management, etc., including working with software with broad geoscience applications.

Students will have the opportunity to participate in a major field trip to examine firsthand the geology, processing, and environmental issues related to minerals production.

The website will be revised regularly; if you have any questions or comments about the course, you may reach me at rkyle@mail.utexas.edu.

To make navigation easy, reduce load time, and allow for future expansion, Geo 341 has been subdivided by topic. Please click on the topic of interest. For example, if you would like to read the course syllabus, click on the syllabus name or the malachite-azurite button.

Introduction - course objectives and philosophy
Syllabus - lecture and lab schedule
Mining Terms - glossary of mining-related terminology
Sources Sources - selected general references on economic geology
Related Sites - additional sites on economic geology