The Earth and its resources

This course unit aims to raise awareness among first-year students about issues relating to the use, exploitation, and management of the Earth's natural resources.

By way of introduction, an overview identifying the different types of resources (energy, minerals, water) and the major issues associated with them (economic and environmental) will be presented.

Different types of resources will then be presented in three stages:

- The concept of mineral resources will be explored in depth by presenting the journey of chemical elements, from their creation in the universe to their storage in the minerals that make up rocks and their uses in everyday technologies. This aspect will introduce basic concepts in solid-state chemistry and mineralogy, illustrated by mineralogy tutorials and practicals.

- The issues and functioning of geological reservoirs that trap natural resources will be addressed, focusing on conventional energy resources (hydrocarbons) and future resources (underground storage of resources, geothermal energy).

- Finally, the major challenges relating to water resources around the world will be explored in depth. The global water cycle on Earth will be presented and the key concepts needed to understand the major current issues will be identified (definitions of an aquifer and a hydrosystem and the main types encountered, chemical interactions between water and rocks, and an illustration of the processes involved in the chemistry of mineral and thermal waters).

Hourly volumes:

CM: 18

TD: 12

TP: 6

This course unit primarily aims to raise students' awareness of the challenges associated with managing the Earth's resources. It aims to show how the fields of geosciences, water sciences, and chemistry have a significant role to play as disciplines that can respond to these major challenges in the coming decades.

To better understand these issues, students will need to acquire basic knowledge about the geological environments that contain these resources: from the solid environment that contains the chemical elements to the geological massif that contains the fluid resources.

Open to students pursuing a TEE degree, as well as chemistry majors, this course aims, among other things, to show students the important role of chemistry and earth and water sciences in the field of natural resources.

None.

Continuous assessment

• Brief description of the concepts covered in CM:

-CM1 and CM2: Introduction: what is a resource (natural, renewable, fossil)? What are the major challenges and issues associated with the use, exploitation, and management of natural resources?

-CM3: Chemical elements: origins and distribution on Earth

-CM4, CM5: Minerals, entities that store mineral resources: definitions, structure, genesis. Examples of simple minerals and regional resources (galena, halite, etc.).

-CM6: Conference on an example of issues associated with a strategic resource (rare earths, hydrogen, etc.).

-CM7, CM8: Geological reservoirs: objects that store fluid resources. Conventional reservoirs for illustrating traditional (hydrocarbons) and unconventional resources. Geothermal energy and storage reservoirs (heat, gas, air) will be presented as a solution for the future, utilizing the "sustainable" potential of geological reservoirs.

-CM9: Water Resources and the Water Cycle on Earth

-CM10: Water resource issues around the world. Definition of a hydrosystem and major types of aquifers.

-CM11: Issues surrounding water quality: water chemistry and some examples of interactions between fluids and rocks.

CM12: Conclusion in the form of an integrative lecture reviewing the concepts covered in the course unit, providing a broader perspective on political, economic, environmental, and other aspects.

• Brief description of tutorial sessions and number of hours associated with each session

-TD1: Elements of mineralogy and crystallography, as an introduction to the two practical sessions.

-TD2: composition of mineral/thermal waters

-TD3: rock texture, concepts of porosity and hydraulic conductivity.

-TD4: Integrative tutorial on an object involving a hydrosystem and different types of associated resources (drinking water, hot water, minerals, gas (He), energy (geothermal)). Example of the Pyrenean hydrothermal system of Thuès.

• Brief description of practical sessions and number of hours associated with each session

-TP1, TP2: practical work in mineralogy: basic elements of crystallography, illustrated by observing natural crystallized solids (minerals). Work on a few minerals with clearly visible and educational characteristics (sulfides, oxides, halides, carbonates, silica) and on atomic structures. Link between atomic structures and properties in a few very simple minerals.