Nonrenewable energy resources available in very large quantities are limited to heavy hydrogen and dry geothermal energy. Large-scale renewable resources are solar and atmospheric electricity (Moody, 1978). These four may be regarded as the ultimate energy sources, but they are unlikely to contribute significantly to the total energy budget for at least the next few decades. Synthetic fuels are already in production, but widespread conversion is being held back by economic and environmental considerations. Wind, water, and biomass conversion will play an enlarged, but still relatively minor, role. This leaves coal, uranium, and petroleum to provide the bulk of the immediately foreseeable energy requirements.

The extraction of fossil fuels and mineral resources has grown exponentially since the early 20th century and far from decelerating, it is expected to increase in the coming decades. “The Limits to Growth” (Meadows et al., 1972) already alerted that if demand of metals and fossil fuels maintained the same trend, mankind would sooner or later be close to collapse. The book provoked a strong controversy between those that considered that the Earth was plentiful of non-renewable resources (technooptimists) and those who believed in the need for a rational management of the planetary mineral endowment.

The Mw 7.1 (Mj 7.3) Kumamoto earthquake occurred on April 16, 2016, resulting in more than 100 deaths and extensive damage on Kyushu Island in southwestern Japan. In order to determine the motion of the seismogenic fault, ground deformation, and relationships between coseismic surface ruptures and pre-existing faults, our survey group conducted fieldworks immediately, beginning one day after the main shock.

This publication is the outcome of collaborative research between the British Geological Survey (BGS) and Rothamsted Research. BGS is a research institute partly funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Rothamsted Research receives strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). The analyses presented in this atlas were funded from the NERC core grant provided to the British Geological Survey. Details of the availability of the geochemical data are available from the website:

www.bgs.ac.uk/gbase/advsoilatlasEW