Geology of Mineral Deposits of the Ocean

Unlike the several centuries of geological work on the continents, the active study of the geology of the oceans dates back only half a century. However, it can be said that the tectonics, magmatism, sedimentation, and metallogeny of the oceans have revolutionized geological science. The mineral deposits of the oceans rank below the continental ones in diversity, but their resources for several commodities exceed the resources of on-land deposits. However, a number of issues, including the environmental, technological, and legal aspects of the exploitation of oceanic mineral resources, are still in the development stage, which prevent the start of mining in the near future. This time delay allows extensive scientific research to be undertaken. This research should be of both fundamental and applied nature. In this regard, the potential topics for this Special Issue include distribution, geological settings, age, mineralogy and geochemistry of the deposits, the characteristics of host rocks, exploration methods, and modeling processes. Other topics of interest are the so-called critical minerals that are common in deep-ocean mineral deposits, which will be needed for the rapid development of high-tech, green-tech, and energy applications, and comparisons between ocean- and land-based deposits.

Prof. Dr. Georgy A. Cherkashev
Dr. Natalia Konstantinova
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.