MARINE MINERAL EXPLORATION

The main outcome of this informative volume has been seriously influenced by the active engagement of the marine/terrestrial mineral exploration activities during the last decades. Subject exploration works were commenced in 1973 when the author of this book participated in the manganese nodule exploration. The content of the title has been laid out in the following way - it starts with the preface with the main body of the document consisting of eight major chapters supplemented with three appendices.

First of all, the fundamental principles of the exploration have been explained in the introductory section. Then, there is a short yet comprehensive technical description of the research ships and submersibles. The next chapters outline the main marine geophysical exploration methods and data evaluation procedures, followed by the several case stories related to the marine mineral exploration; in addition, the current status of the relevant laws and regulations concerning the exploration of marine minerals is addressed.

There might be some slight overlap of the content of different parts of this book; note, however, that it is something very difficult to be prevented taking into account the multi-disciplinary nature of the subject and also the fact that the contributions were made by the many specialists from different fields and countries.