Abstract
The human population moves to 10–12 billion next century; there is an urgent need for the exact description of the behaviour of all chemical elements in all parts of the Earth system and changes in geochemical cycles induced by human technologies. For many or most earth materials used on massive scales, such as energy systems, mining, agriculture, water treatment, waste systems, such data do not exist. There is an urgent need for geochemists to become involved in the crisis problems of sustainable development and in the development of new clean technologies for the twenty-first century. To solve these complex problems, there is need for teams integrating all the expertise, from the sciences, engineering, social science and economics.
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Received: 31 October 1996 · Accepted: 21 May 1997
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Fyfe, W. Toward 2050: the past is not the key to the future – challenges for the science of geochemistry. Environmental Geology 33, 92–95 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002540050228
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002540050228