STEALTH EDUCATION
Integrating the geosciences into this scenario begins with the origins of the desired minerals and illustrating why these areas were so rich in the target resources. The following illustration can be used to provide entrees to this type of discussion. A good way to cap- ture audience attention is to show some of the treasure that was the goal of the Spanish conquest as shown in Figure 1 from the Museo del Oro in Bogota, Co- lombia.
Since the acquisition of gold and sil- ver was a driving force for the Span- ish Conquistodores, It is appropiate to introduce the sources of gold and sil- ver so abundant in Central and South America. Figure 2 provides an excellent entrée into the discussion of volcanism, magmatic segregation, placer and in- situ mining, and the relationship be- tween plate tectonics, volcanic activity and other geoscience factors common to the subduction boundaries and conse- quent volcanism.
As shown in Figure 2, volcanic ac- tivity associated with subduction has a major influence on the origin of the ore bodies containing metallic miner- als. This figure illustrates the role of magmatic differentiation in the em- placement of metallic ores, particularly gold, silver, copper, mercury and other late-stage, low temperature products of magmatic cooling. This relationship can be used to discuss the presence of precious minerals in western North America, the Mediterranean, South Pacific, Alaska, India, Canada, Africa and Central America. However, since the main emphasis of this discussion is the Spanish Empire in Central and South America, figures 3 and 4 on the following page are used to illustrate the distribution of volcanoes in Central and South America, the source of the gold and silver resources which drove the Spanish conquests.
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Figure 1. Incan gold headress Muiscan golden raft Photos by J. F. Howard, 2016 of exhibits in the Museo del Oro in Bogota and Cartagena, Colombia.
Figure 2. Relationship between volcanoes and metallic minerals (After Orlando Hernández Pardo, C Gretta, E Alexander, M Iraida, and B Pintor. Earth Science Research. SJ. Vol. 16, No. 1, pps 11-23 (June, 2012 - Figure 15).
Integrating the geosciences into this scenario begins with the origins of the desired miner- als and illustrating why these areas were so rich in the target resources.
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The relationship between volcanoes and plate tectonics can be introduced in Figure 3. Elements of this figure can also provide entrées for discussion of earthquake origins and con- trols on their location, intensity and frequency in presenta- tions where those topics are of potential interest to a given audience (California, the Balkans, Canada, Alaska, Japan, the Mediterranean and middle eastern countries, etc).
The Spanish Empire in the Americas as shown in figure 5 on page 36 was extensive and, by 1819, covered most of the Americas. The driving force for this expansion was the search for gold and silver, necessary to finance Spain’s world-wide role as Defender of the Catholic Faith against Islam and the Protestant Revolutionaries.
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