Minerals, metals are essential to our modern life and as always, we tend to take, even to plunder these resources which sometimes needed several thousands of years to exist. Our time is not that of rocks and the renewal of what we consider to be essential raw materials is not guaranteed. This is why it is irresponsible to continue to consume these minerals, these metals as we do, with great reinforcements of pollution and waste of energy. Our mobile phones and their rare earths are a good example of this. Jean Bréhéret, Professor Emeritus of Geology at the University of Tours, explains to us here how life (bacteria) created rocks and why we humans should put our foot on the brakes of this unbridled consumption.
Jean Bréhéret, Emeritus Professor of Geology at the University of Tours, invites you to his conference “The creative life of rocks” at the House of the Loire of Montlouis this Tuesday, January 18 at 8:30 p.m. Online registration on the Maison de la Loire website. An astonishing exhibition on this same subject is also in progress until Sunday at the Maison de la Loire. “For 3.5 billion years, living organisms have shaped the face of the Earth, both for the composition of the fluid envelopes (atmosphere and hydrosphere) and for that of the sets of rocks (lithosphere). In this, they participate fundamentally to the major biogeochemical cycles in which rocks are essentially involved. In this respect, organisms play a major role because, in addition to their organic matter, which is occasionally preserved (coal shale, bituminous, etc.), many produce mineral matter to various reasons according to two mechanisms: the mineralization induced by their activity and the biocontrolled mineralization with astonishing processes. Hence, for example, colossal masses of limestone resulting from the accumulation of algae or invertebrate skeletons, or even of banded iron formations due to bacteria The exorbitant exploitation of these mineral “resources” (extractivism) disturbs the global environment at the balance in which the whole of life participates.” (source: Maison de la Loire website).