National Institute Of Oceanography( NIO ) - New book from NIO on Mineral wealth

New book from NIO on Mineral wealth

It is of paramount significance for a country of billion people like India to strive hard to be self sufficient in her needs for ore minerals. However, increasing global population, demand for metals and decreasing land resources, has come to such a stage that for the next alternative source of metals one should look at the world oceans. In this background, during the early eighties, the Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) took initiative to explore the ferromanganese deposits in the Indian Ocean. The ferromanganese deposits (also known as manganese nodules and crusts) are enriched in manganese, iron, copper, cobalt and nickel, besides many other elements in minor concentrations. As a fitting tribute to this effort, which successfully obtained a considerable portion of the seabed in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) for India, a book entitled "The Indian Ocean Nodule Field: Geology and Resource Potential" has been published.

Authored by Ranadhir Mukhopadhyay and Sridhar D. Iyer (senior scientists from NIO) and Anil K. Ghosh (Emeritus Professor, University of Calcutta), the emphasis of the book makes a judicious blend of recent observations together with classical work to characterise this new mineral mining area for India. The book includes several perceptions and propositions in concert with key appreciations of the state-of-the-art knowledge on nodule formation and resource exploitation, purification and its management. This is the first dedicated book on the Indian Ocean manganese nodule resources that comprehensively discusses the process and dynamics of nodule formation in the Indian Ocean Nodule Field (IONF) and independently assesses the influence of tectonics and volcanism on the manganese nodule resource potential in local and regional scales. This book by Mukhopadhyay, Ghosh and Iyer briefly accounts for the physiography, geology, biology, physics and chemistry of the nodule field, and discusses in detail the aspects of structure, tectonic and volcanism in the field. The role of the ocean floor sediment that hosts the nodules and crusts are presented. The nodules and crusts are exhaustively described and their genesis in terms of variables such as source material, local and regional tectonic activities, and mid-plate secondary volcanisms are examined. A value-addition of the book is the inclusion of mining, environment, metallurgy, legal and economic facets of the nodule resources. The book is meant for an audience that primarily consists of serious researchers and students of marine geo-resources and could also be of interest to government and private organisations having interest in the field of marine mineral exploration, exploitation, beneficiation and resource management. The Indian Ocean Nodule Field: Geology and Resource Potential, by Ranadhir Mukhopadhyay, Anil K. Ghosh and Sridhar D. Iyer. Hardbound, 294 pages, 2008, ISBN-13: 978-0-444-52959-6, ISBN-10: 0-444-52959-4, Imprint: ELSEVIER, The Netherlands, Price: GBP 120, EUR 175, USD 210.

Copyright NIO, Dona Paula-Goa, 403 004, India. EPABX:+91(0)832-2450450; Fax:+91(0)832-2450602, -2450603; e-mail:ocean@nio.org

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