THE EARTH'S SUBSURFACE ATMOSPHERE AND ITS RESOURCES

The subsurface realm of planet Earth furnishes the resources that guide the destiny for life on its surface. Ground water, coal, petroleum, strata-bound and primary mineral deposits are fundamental to our geodestiny. The dynamic fluid and rock systems of inner space have generated and stored these vital materials on which all civilization exists.

Sedimentary basins cover large parts of the world's continents and their margins. Some of these basins, cradled by the earth's crust, cover thousands of square kilometers and attain thickness of more than 16,000 meters.

The mental model of sedimentary basins envisioned here is that basins are complex, non-linear, self-organizing, dynamic natural systems. Sedimentary basins form within the earth's crust, fill with sediment, heat and mature and are destroyed.

During the filling stage, the interactions between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere are non-linear and complex. During the maturation and compaction stage, sedimentary basins are thrown in and out of thermodynamic and pressure equilibrium and experience both positive and negative feedback of interactive parameters of self organization as they attempt to maintain equilibrium throughout their unique evolution. Sedimentary basins are destroyed by sediment metamorphism, compression, uplift, and erosion. The products of the basins re-enter the surface and atmospheric systems and the cycle begins anew.

The fluids (oil-gas-water) are the most unstable and mobile parameters of sedimentary basin systems and are the major agents involved in self-organization to maintain equilibrium. The dynamic fluids migrate the petroleum and strata-bound mineral deposits into concentrations large enough for economic extraction.

We are at an early stage of understanding the interacting systems of the subsurface realm. However, new tools of perception and visualization are allowing us to peer into this subsurface atmosphere of inner space. Even as we struggle with understanding these dynamics, we must combine this system's knowledge with the dynamics of the various economic and political systems operating in our global community.