Geologists are seeking new critical mineral resources that are needed to support the world’s transition to net-zero carbon emissions.

Artificial intelligence is increasingly enabling geoscience research. Ensuring community trust in its outcomes requires education and transparency.

Nature Geoscience spoke with Dr Mariana Clare, a machine learning scientist at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts; Prof. Haifeng Qian, an environmental scientist at Zhejiang University of Technology; and Dr Theresa Sawi, a seismologist at the US Geological Survey, about using artificial intelligence (AI) in their research and in geoscience generally.

The world is facing many challenges, most of them in some way associated with nature. And yet, much of the focus on nature within these challenges has been solely on biodiversity, the biotic part of nature. Geodiversity, which encompasses the non-living elements of nature — including things such as rock, minerals, fossils, soils, and landscapes, as well as the processes that create, modify, and destroy

Sand is an overlooked resource and is being depleted at an alarming rate. Improved management of sand extraction and consumption is imperative to protect sand resources and reduce the impacts of extraction.