Investigate the Land this is our future

Climate change seen by MingoteABC PremiumContenido exclusive to registered users in ABCPoesía of the laresABC PremiumContenido exclusive to registered users in

Investigate the Land this is our future
Climate change seen by MingoteABC PremiumContenido exclusive to registered users in ABCPoesía of the laresABC PremiumContenido exclusive to registered users in ABCDiego of Argumosa and Oregon: a man and a prize

we Live in times of concern and anxiety in those who, driven also by the young, has extended the view that we have abused the Earth. Certainly this is so if we don't establish strict conditions to monitor the activity of man in the extraction of the natural resources of our planet, not only related to the vegetation cover and the soil , but in part that to the geologists we are concerned with, those located in the interior.

we Must take into account that of the Earth, we have an indirect information of the composition and structure of the outermost layer, the crust, whose thickness amounts to only 0.5% of the total planet . Of this layer, and even more of its first few miles, we have knowledge of through perforations isolated that they do not cover, much less the entirety of the earth's surface, nor in their domains inland or in the ocean.

The man, with the technological advances developed especially from the mid-TWENTIETH century has begun to explore the structure and composition of the subsoil; but if we evaluate the distribution and depth of what is known compared to the size of our planet, we realize that we have much more to explore. The dimension of the unknown is usually not taken into account by the man in the day-to-day, but it is essential to relativize our dimension, and the role that we can exert on the Earth .

The scientists dedicated to studying the interior of the Earth we are professionals that dedicate efforts to expand the knowledge of the geological processes. Our exploration work is based on careful observation of the rocks on the surface, as well as of the sediments that cover the ocean floors, and also in the interpretation of different images that we can acquire the subsoil. It is precisely these images which, after long work of interpretation, calculations and study, which we use to generate models of the internal structure of the Earth. These models are an approximation to the structure earth, are never a certainty, because our science is an empirical science, based on observation and where we also learn of the error.

Our work and the study of these data seeks to expand the boundaries of basic knowledge but also supports the search of natural resources, be they hydrocarbons or minerals. These resources are fundamental to the man, of them depends on the current society and have allowed the historical advance of Humanity.

The developed countries to devote resources, both human and economic, to advance to explore new areas with potential natural resources in the subsoil. In Europe, for example, there are countries like Norway or the United Kingdom to explore the subsurface, even in areas with a high environmental value; and it is established that a part of the private investment carried out by the companies benefiting the country, being used for support of public investment in the State, in essential services such as health care or college education.

On the opposite end can be found Spain, given that the huge bureaucratic burden that is imposed on our country to the activities of exploration of the subsoil, or the variety of authorities with jurisdiction to grant the mandatory permissions, make it impossible, de facto, the activity or the continuity of the scans. Not to mention our idiosyncrasies that makes the rules of application differ between neighboring communities or with the marine regions. The final effect in Spain is that the investment that could come from the industry fades or looks for other territories. The impact is not only that we lose the possibility of knowing the potential of the natural resources or that we cannot develop here the professional capacity of our graduates, but the country as a whole is content passively with the import of energy sources or raw materials required.

we Must insist finally that we cannot guarantee that in an area there are certain resources to the depth and location provided.

In an analogous way to that we can't foresee the texture or the taste of an orange before you open it and try it.

inactivity, inaction and the absence of scientific activities of exploration of the subsoil, they lead us in Spain to lose the ability to progress and well-being, shifting away from the countries in which any geological study and geophysical were carried out complying strictly with all and each one of the measures of environmental preservation.

Juan Ignacio Soto Hermoso, is a Professor of Geodynamics Internal in the University of Granada

Juan Ignacio Soto Hermoso
Date Of Update: 25 September 2019, 08:02