Fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. C. Mineral deposits in the oceans 1. usually occur as ORES - rocks which contain minerals or metals in sufficient concentration to be economically recoverable. The economics of mineral resources is that it costs money to recover the resources. Geologically, the key is to identify conditions that will concentrate important minerals. Hydrothermal deposits - warm fluids from igneous activity may carry dissolved minerals, gases, or metals away to cooler areas of the crust where the minerals or metals will precipitate out.
Most metals are mixed with sulfur to form sulfide ores.
One special problem with oceanic mineral deposits is the fact that the deposits may lie under several km of water. Recovering the ores is often impossible with current technology. At our current rate of demand, many of our mineral resources will be used up within the next 20-200 years. Renewed exploration using more sophisticated technology. Exploration may also proceed in major unexplored parts of the world.