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

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• marine geology
• marine minerals
• exploration methods
• mineralogy
• geochemistry