Category Health & Science
New tool to find giant base metal deposits
By Neena Bhandari
Sydney, 08.07.2020 (SciDev.Net): Scientists have discovered a new tool to predict the location of base metal deposits, which are buried too deep beneath the Earth’s surface to be found using current exploration methods. This augurs well for targeted mining of metals, such as copper, lead, zinc, which are much in demand for their use in renewable energies.
The study, published on 29th June 2020 in the journal Nature Geoscience, found that 85 percent of all known base metal deposits and 100 percent of all “giant” deposits (those holding more than 10 million tons of metal) hosted in sedimentary basins are located on the edges of cratons – older regions of the continents, which are generally on thicker lithosphere, the rigid outermost cladding of the planet comprising the crust and upper mantle.
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COVID-19: Beaches, bouncers and quarantine bouquets
By Neena Bhandari
Sydney, 27.03.2020 (Live Mint): Autumn (March – May) is one of my favourite seasons in Sydney, my home for two decades. Bright blue skies, gentle sea breeze and the mellow warmth of the sun provide a perfect setting for outdoor barbecues, picnics, music and theatre events. But as new shoots were just appearing on the charred landscape after a prolonged spring-summer of bushfires, droughts and floods, which had devastated communities and the economy, the novel Coronavirus (COVID 19) put a full stop to life as we know it.
`Social distancing’ is the diktat we must all abide by, if the spread of current contagion has to be halted. All non-citizens and non-residents have been banned from arriving in the country and Australians have been advised not to travel overseas. This big island continent is fortified. Friends far afield from Nepal to the UK are trying to get a flight home. But with the country’s flagship carrier, Qantas, slashing 90 percent international flights, these are trying times.