Exploration Tracks

exploration tracks

The new Exploration track offers students a chance to test their academic interests and abilities while taking important core courses that keep them on schedule for graduation. This track is designed for undecided students with many interests and abilities who want to explore all of their Ohio State options before making an official commitment.

University Exploration

Through a series of assessments and engagement with professional academic advisors, University Exploration helps students evaluate Ohio State’s more than 200 majors before making an official commitment to one. It is also for students who do not know what they want to study and need help making a choice.

University Exploration tracks are available in seven distinct areas: general, biology, chemistry, geology, health science, humanities and physics. Each track has a unique set of courses and provides a foundation for students to build a degree in their chosen field.

Mining

Satellite imagery is being used for mineral exploration, especially copper ore and zinc deposits. Remote sensing uses images captured from orbit to look for specific mineral properties that make them stand out from the surrounding terrain. This is different than traditional aerial surveys that capture a single photograph of an area and compare it with a similar area that is exposed.

Hyperspectral Imaging

The future of satellite-based remote sensing is bright for mineral exploration. Recent advances in hyperspectral imagery have allowed image analysts to use a variety of techniques to map the distribution of minerals in a specific area. This can be a very time-consuming process, but is a boon for the mining industry as it allows them to identify and locate mineral deposits in areas that may otherwise have been impossible to find.

Fission-track dating

A new technique for exploring the mineral potential of buried or poorly expressed deposits is fission-track dating. This method combines spectral data and fission-track data to determine the reactivity of the rock to a given mineral. In two pilot studies, the technique was successful in identifying an iron-rich thermal anomaly that has been attributed to the presence of an igneous rock called kimberlite in a remote desert region.

Using this approach, the company is looking for boulders, geological contacts and concentrations of alteration minerals within a 2,000-square-kilometer area in the desert. The company is planning to capture more imagery of this area for future mineral exploration.