U.S. Geological Survey Category: Organizations, agencies, and programs Date: Established March 3, 1879 The scientific and resource management accomplish- ments of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) are global in their applications. The USGS provides scientific services to more than one hundred countries. In addition, USGS scientists and technicians con- tinue to develop analytical techniques and instrumen- tation in orderto provide reliablescientific data to help world leaders make decisions. Background The policy of westward expansion of the early United States created the need for more precise maps and an accurate assessmentofthe mineralwealthand natural resources of these lands. In 1803, Thomas Jefferson authorized the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France and, in the process, nearly doubled the size of the country. In an attempt to assess what the U.S. had purchased, Jefferson commissioned Meri- wether Lewis and William Clark to explore the north- western portion of the territory as far as the Pacific Ocean. Upon their return, Lewis and Clark provided maps andscientific reports describingall the wonders they had seen during the expedition. Further explo- ration of the Louisiana Territory took Zebulon Pike west into Colorado and New Mexico. All of these ex- peditions demonstrated clearly the economic poten- tial of the region. They also highlighted the need for additional scientific knowledge of these lands and for more detailed maps to aid future settlers. Prior tothe creation ofthe USGS in1879, scientific investigations of natural resources were considered the responsibility of individual states or private orga- nizations. In 1836, Congress authorized a scientific expedition, the United States Exploring Expedition, to the Pacific to evaluate the potential of its commer- cial resources.Then in1838, Congress establishedthe Corps of Topographical Engineers to explore and map the continent. For the following twenty years the corps geologists explored and studied the Western wilderness. Inaddition totheir mappingactivities,the Corps of Topographical Engineers also participated in the search for possible routes for the future trans - continental railroads. Commercial interest in this po - tential wealth grew steadily as these explorers pub - lished their reports. This increased interest in mining and mineral resources prompted several states to es- tablish geological surveys to assess land usage and ex- plore for mineral deposits. The California gold rush of 1849 was the main event that caught the public’s attention and beckoned the easterner to head west and “strike it rich.” The large number of people stak- ing claims to mining sites, followed by the inevitable land disputes, demanded some kind of governmental intervention. Inresponse, theU.S. government estab- lished the Department of the Interior to deal with issues pertaining to land ownership and natural re- sources. The USGS was formed as the result of a merger of separate surveys conducted under the authority of the Department ofWar andthe Department ofthe In- terior. These early surveys were the Geological Explo- ration of the Fortieth Parallel, the Geological and Geographical Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, and the Geographical Survey Expedition West of the One Hundredth Meridian.This USGS was directed to conduct research in mining geology. The first direc- tor was Clarence King. He essentially organized the USGS into a bureau that primarily dealt with the west- ern states. In 1881, John Wesley Powell became the second director. Under his leadership the USGS ex- tended its activities to include the eastern states, thus making it a national organization. The USGS’s activities are not limited to the conti- nental United States and its territories. In 1897, par- ticipation in international ventures began by helping scientists findthe bestlocation for theproposed route through Nicaragua for a canal linking the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean (a proposal that eventually led to the Panama Canal). Following the Spanish- American War of 1898, USGS geologists traveled to the Philippinesand Cubato create topographical and geological mapsand toassess thepotential for finding sources of industrial raw materials. The USGS’s areas of scientific interest were expanding rapidly, well be- yond the traditional boundaries of the United States. World Wars I and II placed additional demands on USGS scientists to find national and international sources of strategic natural resources to aid in the war effort. Following World War II the USGS expanded its international interests to include the Trust Terri- tories of the Pacific Islands and Antarctica. The USGS also played an important part in the “Space Race” of the 1960’s. Its geologists helped train Apollo astronauts for their lunar missions and pro - 1286 • U.S. Geological Survey Global Resources vided technical expertise for the unmanned missions to the planets. Because ofthe demands created by the nuclear arms race of the Cold War, the USGS pro- vided scientific support to the Atomic Energy Com- mission. USGS scientists participated in the evalua- tion of the effects of underground nuclear bomb testing and the potential environmental effects from the “peaceful” use of atomic energy. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan extended the U.S. exclusiveeconomiczone toa distanceof 200 nau- tical miles (370 nautical kilometers) from the coun- try’s shores, placing additional demands on the USGS. Reagan’s act more than doubled the area that the USGS had to map and evaluate for its potential min- eral and energy resources. This information was sig- nificant to U.S. oil producers concerned with the de- clining amounts of land-based sources of petroleum. The USGS also has been particularly involved with natural disasters and their effects upon the popula- tion. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and floods all represent potential hazards to the American public, and the USGS attempts to limit the loss of life associ- ated with these natural disasters. Impact on Resource Use The USGS employs about ten thousand scientists, technicians, and support personnel. Its headquarters are in Reston, Virginia, and it has major offices in Denver, Colorado, and Menlo Park, California. Incorporated within the organization are four major scien- tific disciplines: biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The USGS is charged with the classification of public lands, the study of geologic formations, and the assessment of mineral resources. In2007, the USGS developed a scientific strategy to study climate variation, ecosystems, natural hazards, and wild-animal dis- eases. The USGS also continues to mon- itor the nation’s natural resources. These responsibilities are assigned to four major divisions. The Conserva- tion Division deals with all operations involving prospecting for, develop- ing, and extracting leasable miner - als. These minerals include coal,gas, oil, oil shale, phosphate, potash, and sodium compounds that are found on public lands. They also include resources on the continental shelf. The USGS alsois involved inthe determination of the production potential of these resources. Modern un- derstanding of the formation and location of energy and mineral resource depositsis rooted infundamen- tal scientific breakthroughs madebyUSGS scientists. The Topographic Division prepares and maintains the topographicmaps of the United Statesand itspos- sessions. It also prepares national atlases and pro- duces various special-purpose maps that provide an analysis ofnaturalresources. TheUSGS is theprimary civilian mapping agency in theUnited States, produc- ing the multipurpose 1:24,000-scale, 7.5-minute quad- rangle topographic maps. These maps have been widely used to determine property locations in land transfer documentation and by backpackers, hikers, and manyothers forrecreational activities.Innovative ventures with the private sector have also given the world access to digital images of neighborhoods and communities in one of the largest datasets ever made available online. The WaterResources Divisionis responsible forde- termining the location, amount, quality, and availabil- ity of all water, both surface water and groundwater. Flood control, pollution studies, and groundwater management are among many of its activities. USGS scientists have pioneered advances in hydrologic tech- Global Resources U.S. Geological Survey • 1287 Clarence King (leaning against the tent pole), the president of the USGS, is flanked by his team of geologists in Utah in 1869. (Getty Images) niques for gauging the discharge in rivers and streams. The USGS has established a stream-gauging network of more than seventy-four hundred gauges to provide “real-time” stream-flow data that is vital to flood con- trol management. USGS scientists have also devel- oped models to represent the flow of complex ground- water systems. The use and management of ground and surface water are among the most pressing prob- lems USGS scientists face in the twenty-first century. The Geological Division conducts research in four areas: environmental, economic, experimental, and marine studies. Its activities provide detailed informa- tion on various minerals and information pertaining to land use and conservation of natural resources. In- cluded within the activities of the Geological Division is basic research that is directed toward a better un- derstanding of the Earth as a whole. The USGS main- tains an Earthquake Hazards Program that monitors earthquake activity worldwide through its National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado. The agency also maintains a series of instruments that monitor the 169 volcanoes scattered across the United States and its territories and has developed methods to help predict future eruptions. The USGS operates the National Geomagnetism Program that monitors daily changesin theEarth’smagnetic field. Reaching far into space, the USGS also maintains its Astrogeology Research Program that produces maps of the Moon, Venus, Mars, and many of the other moons in Earth’s solar system. The National Wildlife Health Center also is operated by the USGS. Its mission is to provide sound science and technical support and to disseminate information to promote science-based decisions affecting wildlife and ecosys- tem health. As an example, USGS biologists devel- oped a revolutionary concept of wildlife resource management. They employed a sound scientific-based approach that lets waterfowl conservation and recre - ational hunting work in tandem as adaptive manage- ment, not as conflicting interests. As represented by its overall diversity, the USGS has evolved well beyond its original mission of mapping and minerals explora- tion. Paul P. Sipiera Further Reading Parker, Philip M. United States Geological Survey: Web- ster’s Timeline History, 1863-2007. San Diego, Calif.: Icon Group International, 2009. U.S. GeologicalSurvey. Bulletin:United StatesGeological Survey. Washington D.C.: Author, 2009. Worster, Donald. A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Web Sites U.S. Geological Survey Geography http://geography.usgs.gov/ U.S. Geological Survey Minerals Information http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/ U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources of the United States http://water.usgs.gov/ See also: Bureau of Land Management, U.S.; Coast and Geodetic Survey, U.S.; Department of the Inte- rior, U.S.; Erosion and erosion control; Floods and flood control; Groundwater; Mining wastes and mine reclamation; Oil and natural gas chemistry; Soil man- agement; Strip mining; United States. 1288 • U.S. Geological Survey Global Resources V Vanadium Category: Mineral and other nonliving resources Where Found Vanadium minerals are found in the United States in Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah. Major interna- tional sources are China,Russia, and SouthAfrica. Va- nadium is usually associated with igneous rocks and often withother metals,such aslead, iron, chromium, and uranium. Primary Uses Vanadium combined with iron, called ferrovana- dium, is used in making special steels valued for their toughness, resistance to wear, and stability at high temperatures. Approximately 92 percent of U.S. con- sumption of vanadium is for alloying iron and steel, with the balance used in catalysts for chemical pro- duction. Technical Definition Vanadium (atomic number 23, chemical symbol V) is a shiny metallic element with a density of 6 kilograms per liter (less than iron) that melts at 2,188 kelvin (higher than iron). It is malleable when pure but be- comes brittle in the presence of impurities, particu- larly carbon.It isstable inair at room temperaturebut oxidizes above 920 kelvin. There are isotopes of mass numbers 50 and 51 (V 50 and V 51 ) of which the former is weakly radioactive. Description, Distribution, and Forms Vanadium occurs in the Earth’s crust at an average concentration of 136 parts per million; it is the nine- teenth most abundant element. Vanadium minerals include patronite (VS 4 ), vanadinite (Pb 5 [VO 4 ] 3 Cl), carnotite (K[UO 2 ][VO 4 ]), and more than sixty oth- ers. Vanadates are sometimes found in phosphate rock or titaniferous magnetite. Small amounts of va- nadium occur in petroleum, oil sands, oil shale, coal, and meteorites. Certain sea creatures, such as sea squirts (ascidians),accumulate vanadiumfromseawa- ter, attaining concentrations ten million times higher in theirblood thanare inthe water.Low levelsof vana- dium are found in most plant and animal tissues, where its function is not always clear. The average hu- man body contains about 1 milligram of vanadium. History Vanadium was first noticed by Andrés Manuel del Rio (1787-1849) in 1801 in Mexico. Del Rio found evi- dence of an element he called erythronium in a lead ore (probably what would today be recognized as vanadinite). He later retracted his discovery based on consulting with chemists in France. In 1830, Nils Ga- briel Sefström (1787-1895), a student of Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779-1848), working in Sweden, isolated material from iron-making slag that he realized was the same as the erythronium reported by Del Rio. He named the element vanadium after the Nordic god - Steel & iron alloys 92% Superalloys & other alloys 6% Other 2% Source: Historical Statistics for Mineral and Material Commodities in the United States U.S. Geological Survey, 2005, vanadium statistics, in T.D.KellyandG.R.Matos,comps., , U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 140. Available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/2005/140/. U.S. End Uses of Vanadium dess Vanadis. Neither Sefström nor Del Rio succeeded in isolating the pure metal. Berzelius was the first to describe the element’s properties in detail. Approxi- mately 70 percent pure metallic vanadium was pre- pared by Henry E. Roscoe (1833-1915) in 1867, but purity approaching 100 percent was not achieved un- til the twentieth century. Obtaining Vanadium Preliminary treatment of ores involves crushing, pul- verizing, and sifting, followed by flotation procedures to eliminate unwanted silicates. The ore concentrates are then roasted in air with sodium carbonate to yield sodium metavanadate. Thelatter is converted to vanadium pentoxide (V 2 O 5 ) by acidification, using sulfuric acid followed by strong heating. Vanadium pentoxide is the starting material for preparation of other vanadium compounds, or of the metal itself. Heating the pentoxide to high temperature (1,223 kelvin) with calciumin the absenceof air yields metal- lic vanadium. The metal may also be obtained by reaction of trichloride with magnesium or (in small amounts with high purity) by thermal decomposition of the triiodide. Ferrovanadium for steelmaking contains about 50 per- cent vanadium and is made by heat- ing the pentoxide with ferrosilicon and lime in an electric furnace. The lime combines with the silicon to form slag. The United States imports 76 per- cent of its ferrovanadium from the Czech Republic. Most of the U.S. production ofvanadium isfrom slag, petroleum combustion residues, fly ash, or recycled catalysts. Carnotite, when processed for its uranium con- tent, yields vanadium as a by-product, but mining of other vanadium min- erals is uneconomical in the United States. Uses of Vanadium Vanadium is used in alloys for air- craft and for nuclear applications. Vanadium compounds are also used in ceramics and as catalysts in the production of maleic anhydride and sulfuric acid. Pure elemental vanadium is too expensive for any but the most critical applications. One is the use of vanadium foil on steel to which tita- nium is to be bonded. Pure vanadium is also used to make asuperconductingalloy withgallium (V 3 Ga) for use inelectromagnets. Thissubstance becomessuper- conducting below 15 kelvin. Larger amounts of vanadium are used in special steels. In these cases, the starting material is ferrova- nadium, which may contain up to 80 percent vana- dium (lowergrades are available).Tool steelscontain- ing vanadium, iron, and chromium are used for socket wrenches, pliers, and knife blades. Vanadium content of tool steels can be as high as 4 percent. Smaller amounts of vanadium (a few tenths of a percent) are added to many steels to combine with carbon and ni- trogen and improve grain size. Some of the beneficial effects of vanadium in steel result from vanadium car- bides, which may form spontaneously from the carbon in steel or may be added as such. Vanadium carbides are produced by heating sodium metavanadate with carbon in a vacuum furnace. Vanadium steel finds application in automobile parts such as axles, transmission parts, and springs, 1290 • Vanadium Global Resources A prospector stands adjacent to a vanadium shaft in Grand County, Utah, in this 1911 photograph. (USGS) where it is valued for its light weight, toughness, and resistance to wear. The famous Model-T Ford of the early twentieth century was advertised to contain va- nadium steel parts. In the military, vanadium steel is used for armor and for soldiers’ helmets. In vanadiumalloys, corrosion resistance combined with strength is important for the pipes and tubes used in boilers and chemical plants. In nuclear reac- tors, not only corrosion resistance but also the low cross section of vanadium for the capture of thermal neutrons isfavorable. An exampleis analloy of80 per- cent vanadium, 15 percent chromium, and 5 percent titanium, whichis suitable forfast breederreactors us- ing liquid sodium potassium alloy as coolant. Vanadium isalso usedin nonferrousmaterials, par- ticularly aluminum and titanium alloys. An alloy of 90 percent titanium, 4percent aluminum, and 6 percent vanadium isas strong asbut lighter than steel andsuit- able for use in aircraft. Vanadium compounds are used in catalytic appli- cations. Probably the mostimportant of theseis in the contact process for sulfuric acid manufacture, where vanadium pentoxide is used to catalyze the reaction of oxygen with sulfur dioxide. Oxidation reactions catalyzed by vanadium pentoxide include the oxida- tion of naphthalene to phthalic anhydride and of bu- tene to maleic anhydride. Vanadium compounds such as vanadium trichlorideand vanadium oxytrichloride are components, along with organoaluminum com- pounds, of catalyst systems for manufacturing vari- ous polyolefins, including ethylene propylene diene type M (EDPM) synthetic rubber. This product has superior properties for automotive gaskets and hoses and membranes under the shingles of the roof of a building. Other applications of vanadium compounds in- clude the use of vanadium salts to catalyze the oxida- tion of aniline in manufacture of the dyestuff aniline black and the use of vanadium pentoxide as a mordant in dyeing. Small amounts of vanadium pentoxide are used in ceramicglazes and as an additive in glassto re- duce transmission of ultraviolet light. There is inter- est in silver vanadium oxide as a cathode material in lithium batteries with high energy densities. Vanadium may be an essential trace mineral in nu- trition and is an ingredient of vitamin and mineral supplements. There is some evidence that vanadium compounds are helpful in potentiating the effect of insulin in the treatment of diabetes, but no specific treatment has received government approval. Vana - dium compounds have also been shown to kill cancer cells, but again, no approved treatment is available. There are health issues relating to vanadium. In- dustrial exposure to vanadium-containing dust is a health hazard that may be encountered in milling or machining of vanadium alloys or in handling vana- dium chemicals such as vanadium pentoxide. Fly ash fromcombustion ofcoal andsootfrom combustionof heavy oilare sources ofvanadium inthe environment. Eye and lung irritation and other problems can result from exposure. John R. Phillips Further Reading Emsley, John. Nature’s Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Kaminski, Walter.“Polyolefins.” InHandbook of Polymer Synthesis, edited by H. R. Kricheldorf et al. 2d ed. New York: Marcel Dekker, 2005. Lide, DavidR., ed. CRC Handbook ofChemistry andPhys- ics. 87th ed. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 2006. Polyak, Désirée E. “Vanadium.” In Minerals Yearbook: Metals and Minerals 2007. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2009. Tracey, AlanS., DailRuth Willsky,and E.Takeuchi.Va- nadium: Chemistry, Biochemistry, Pharmacology and Practical Applications. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 2007. Wiberg, Egon, Nils Wiberg, and A. F. Holleman. Inor- ganic Chemistry. New York: Academic Press, 2001. Woollery, M. “Vanadium and Vanadium Alloys.” In Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. 5th ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2007. Web Sites Natural Resources Canada Canadian Minerals Yearbook, 2001: Vanadium http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/smm-mms/busi-indu/cmy- amc/content/2001/65.pdf U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Information: Vanadium Statistics and Information http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/ commodity/vanadium/ See also: Chromium; Gallium; Iron; Magnesium; Minerals, structure and physical properties of. Global Resources Vanadium • 1291 Venezuela Categories: Countries; government and resources Until the mid-1930’s, Venezuela’s principal export was coffee, but the discovery and exploitation of oil— which began in the early 1900’s but peaked later in the century—changed the economic orientation of the country. Oil remains the principal product and ex- port, and the nation consistently ranks among the top ten exporters of oil in the global economy. The country is Latin America’s most important oil producer, but economists warn that Venezuela is too dependent on this sole commodity; as the price of oil goes up or down, so does the nation’s economy. The Country Venezuela is a tropical country that sits along the northern coast of South America. The Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean demarcate its shoreline. The northern thirdofVenezuela consistsof narrow coastal lowlands, a branch of the Andes Mountains, and a teardrop-shaped Lake Maracaibo. Its midsection is the expansive east-west grass-covered plains of the Orinoco River and its western tributaries. The south- ern part of the country consists mostly of the ancient rocks of the GuianaHighlands. Colombia, Brazil, and Guyana are to the west, south, and east, respectively. Venezuela’s total area is roughly twice the size of Cali- fornia. Venezuela is a mid-sized country for South America. Itis about one-tenththe sizeof Brazil(South American’s largest country) but ten times larger than French Guiana (the continent’s smallest country). In 2008, Venezuela had the world’s thirty-third largest economy, but it is one of the world’s leading producers of crude oil. The principal oil deposits are under the offshore Caribbean-Atlantic shelf, the Maracaibo basin, and the Orinoco plains. This re- source accounts forabout 90percentof thetotal value of thenation’s exports, anditgives thecountrya trade surplus annually. The nation also exports iron, steel, and aluminum because of a juxtaposition of water power, iron ore, andbauxite in theGuiana Highlands. Petroleum Venezuela was the seventh-largest net oil exporter in 2007. The government nationalized its oil industry 1292 • Venezuela Global Resources An oil refineryin Morón, Venezuela.The petroleum industry accounts for about80 percentofthe country’s exports. (AFP/GettyImages) Global Resources Venezuela • 1293 Venezuela: Resources at a Glance Official name: Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Government: Federal republic Capital city: Caracas Area: 352,170 mi 2 ; 912,050 km 2 Population (2009 est.): 26,814,843 Language: Spanish Monetary unit: bolivar (VEF) Economic summary: GDP composition by sector (2008 est.): agriculture, 3.8%; industry, 37.6%; services, 58.6% Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, bauxite, other minerals, hydropower, diamonds Land use (2005): arable land, 2.85%; permanent crops, 0.88%; other, 96.27% Industries: petroleum, construction materials, food processing, textiles, iron ore mining, steel, aluminum, motor vehicle assembly Agricultural products: corn, sorghum, sugarcane, rice, bananas, vegetables, coffee, beef, pork, milk, eggs, fish Exports (2008 est.): $93.54 billion Commodities exported: petroleum, bauxite and aluminum, steel, chemicals, agricultural products, basic manufactures Imports (2008 est.): $48.1 billion Commodities imported: raw materials, machinery and equipment, transport equipment, construction materials Labor force (2008 est.): 12.59 million Labor force by occupation (1997 est.): agriculture, 13%; industry, 23%; services, 64% Energy resources: Electricity production (2007 est.): 110.7 billion kWh Electricity consumption (2006 est.): 83.84 billion kWh Electricity exports (2006 est.): 542 million kWh Electricity imports (2007 est.): 0 kWh Natural gas production (2007 est.): 26.5 billion m 3 Natural gas consumption (2007 est.): 26.5 billion m 3 Natural gas exports (2007 est.): 0 m 3 Natural gas imports (2007 est.): 0 m 3 Natural gas proved reserves ( Jan. 2008 est.): 4.708 trillion m 3 Oil production (2007 est.): 2.667 million bbl/day Oil imports (2006 est.): 0 bbl/day Oil proved reserves ( Jan. 2008 est.): 78.27 billion bbl Source: Data from The World Factbook 2009. Washington, D.C.: Central Intelligence Agency, 2009. Notes: Data are the most recent tracked by the CIA. Values are given in U.S. dollars. Abbreviations: bbl/day = barrels per day; GDP = gross domestic product; km 2 = square kilometers; kWh = kilowatt-hours; m 3 = cubic meters; mi 2 = square miles. Caracas Ven ezu ela Brazil Colombia Guyana Trinidad yTobago Caribbean Sea in 1975-1976, creating Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), the country’s state-run oil and natural gas company. PDVSA accounts for about 50 percent of the government’s revenue and about 80 percent of nation’s export earnings. The company has lucrative contracts with foreign companies that drill for the country’s oil and natural gas. PDVSA refines about one-third of the crude oil and all the natural gas that these ventures produce. The remaining crude oil is shipped to other countries (mainly to the United States) for refining. CITGO, a familiar company name in the United States, is a wholly owned subsidiary of PDVSA that has about fourteen thousand branded retail outlets (both directly owned and affiliates) in the United States. Oil production in Venezuela comes from four ma- jor sedimentary basins: Maracaibo, Falcón, Apure, and Oriental. The latter three basins make up the so- called “Orinoco Belt,” which runs east-west across the middle of the country in the Orinoco plains region. The Maracaibo basin supplies slightly less than one- half of Venezuela’s oil production. The increasing depth of remaining oil in this basin requires heavy in- vestment to maintain current capacity. For example, in order to lessen an ongoing decline in withdrawal rates, oil drillers reinject natural gas into the oil reser- voirs in order to increase pressure in the deeperwells. The Orinoco Belt has crude oil that is extra heavy and requires unconventional extraction and refining methods. Refineries along the U.S. Gulf coast are spe- cifically designed to handle the heavy crude varieties; consequently, that region is the largest recipient of the Orinococrude exports. Besides the United States, other important destinations of Venezuelan petro- leum include South America, Europe, and the Carib- bean (especially Cuba). Much of the crude oil that is exported to the Caribbean is refined there and re- exported as petroleum products to other locations. Industry experts calculate production was 2.7 mil- lion barrels of oil per day in 2007, but the production could be higher, because unexploited recoverable re- serves in the Orinoco Belt range from 100 to 270 bil- lion barrels.Venezuela’s oil production hasfallen, but PDVSA has planned to develop the Orinoco Belt re- serves aggressively.The most notablecompanies drill- ing in this region—such as Conoco-Philips, Chevron Texaco, and Exxon-Mobil—were American until 2008 and 2009, whenPDVSA signed contractswith oil com - panies from India, Japan, Russia, Iran, and China to exploit the heavy Orinoco crude. Natural Gas Venezuela does not export natural gas to the global economy, a fact that is likely to change in the future. The nation had 4.7 trillion cubic meters of proven natural gas reserves in 2008; in the Western Hemi- sphere, only Canadahad more reserves.About 90per- cent of Venezuela’s natural gas production occurs in association with oil reserves. As a result, the petro- leum industry consumes more than 70 percent of Venezuela’s natural gas production, with the largest share of that consumption in the form of reinjection to aid crude oil extraction. PDVSA produces the larg- est amount of natural gas in the country, because there is limitedparticipation of privately owned Vene- zuelan companies in the sector. However, since the late 1990’s, the government has permitted foreign private companies to explore for new reserves in the Orinoco River delta region and off the northeast coast. The exploratory work has proved that the natu- ral gas reserves in both areas are commercially viable. The offshore reserves straddle the maritime bound- ary between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago. The twocountries reached an accordspliting themar- itime reserves in 2007; 75 percent of the production will go to Venezuela. As of 2009, Venezuela planned to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants that convert natural gas, which ispredominantly methane(CH 4 ), toliquid form for ease of storage and exporting. In 2008, Venezuela signed agreements to create three joint venture com- panies to build the plants along the northern coast of the country. PDVSA planned to use the plants to liq- uefy the gas piped from offshore gas-drilling plat- forms. In 2009, PDVSA announced the signing of a multibillion-dollar joint venture with Portuguese, Argentine, U.S., and Japanese firms to develop the massive offshore natural gas fields. According to the agreement, PDVSA will have a majority stake in the venture and will construct and operate two liquefac- tion plants at the Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho indus- trial complex. The company will also construct pipe- lines to transport the fuel from the gas fields to the LNG facilities. The state-run PDVSA is expected to begin exporting this resource to South America, Eu- rope, the Caribbean, and Asia by 2013 or 2014. Water Power Hydroelectricity is electrical power that dammed stream water generates when it is released through turbines. It is a renewable form of energy and there - 1294 • Venezuela Global Resources fore relatively cheap to produce compared to energy derived from fossil fuels. Venezuela ranks ninth in per-capita production of hydroelectricity among the 149 nationsthat produce it.Hydroelectric energy sup- plies 25 percent of the country’s energy needs (com- pared to 5.6 percent in the United States). The na- tion’s hydroelectricity comes from dams built on the rivers of the Guiana Highlands, especially the Caroní River, which has four dams. The government planned to build two more dams on that river. The Guri Dam, which isjustabove themouth oftheCaroní, beganop- erations in 1978 and has the third largest generating capacity among hydroelectric dams in the world. The Three Gorges Dam in China and the Itapúa Dam on the border ofBrazil and Paraguay are first and second in generating capacity, respectively. Water power is important to Venezuela’s participa- tion in the global economy in three ways. First, the us- age of water power rather than oil to produce energy allows the country to sell more of its oil to other na- tions. Second, Venezuela generates more hydroelec- tricity than it consumes, so it earns extra income by exporting surplushydroelectricity toneighboring Co- lombia and Brazil. Third, and most important from an economic standpoint, Venezuela is able to use low- cost hydroelectricity to produce and export large amounts of iron, steel, and aluminum to the global market. In value terms, iron and steel exports rank second and aluminum ranks third in Venezuela’s overseas economy. Iron Ore Venezuela’s iron-ore deposits are in the Guiana High- lands, which rise behind the city of Ciudad Guayana, the industrial heart of the country. The fast-flowing Caroní River descends from the mountains to gener- ate the electricity that powers the iron and steel mills of the city. The city, which is near the juncture of the Caroní and Orinoco rivers, is one of Venezuela’s fastest-growing urban centers. Demographers expect that Ciudad Guayana will reach two million people by 2030. The city’s growing economy and Venezuela’s steel production would not be possible without the juxtaposition of iron ore and the Guiana Highland’s fast-flowing rivers. The mining of iron ore for steel production domi- nates the economy of the Guiana Highlands. In the vastness ofthe mountainslie hugedeposits ofiron ore and bauxite (the raw material for aluminum). The re - gion also has deposits of gold, silver, uranium, nickel, and phosphates, but iron ore is the most abundant and valuable ore of the region. Bauxite ranks second in value. After World War II, the great iron-ore depos- its on the northern rim of the plateau attracted the former giants of the U.S. steel industry—the U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel corporations—to the re- gion. Both companies had large open-pit mines. The main U.S. Steel mine covered the entire top of the mountain Cerro Bolívar. Bethlehem Steel’s main mine was nearby at the town of El Piar. These companies mined theoreand shippedit a short distance byrail to barges waiting on the Orinoco River. The barges took the ore to the Paria Peninsula, just beyond the mouth of the Orinoco. There, the ore was loaded on ocean- going carriers for export to the United States. The Venezuelan government took over the iron- mining operations in 1975. It now controls all aspects of iron-ore mining and steel production through the mining conglomerate CVG Ferrominera Orinoco. The company controls the extracting, processing, transporting, and marketing of the iron ore and its products. Itsheadquarters are in Puerto Ordaz. Rather than exporting the iron ore as the U.S. companies did, Ferrominera processes it into iron and steel at its plants atCiudad Guayana. Thelargest marketfor Ven- ezuelan steel is the domestic oil industry. PDVSA needs structural steel and iron and steel pipes. Never- theless, iron-ore products—iron, iron pellets and in- gots, and flat-rolled sheets of iron and steel—rank second (behindpetroleum) in value among thecoun- try’s global exports. Venezuela was thirteenth in pro- duction of iron ore in 2008. Bauxite Venezuela has one of the world’s largest supplies of bauxite, the ore for making aluminum. Like iron ore, bauxite is in the country’s enormous Guiana High- lands region. The bauxite is a residual rock that formed asa result oflaterization ofTertiary sediments that lay horizontally and unconformably on the Pre- cambrian basement rocks of the highlands. Except for the dissected topography, the bauxite is relatively accessible in two horizontal layers about 4 to 10 me- ters below the summit surfaces. The bauxite ore consists of one or more aluminum hydroxide minerals plus various mixtures of alumina- silicates (such as clay), iron oxide, silica, titanium, and other impurities in trace amounts. Processing alumina starts with separating it from ore by means of a wet chemical caustic leach process. Next, the alu - Global Resources Venezuela • 1295 . under the shingles of the roof of a building. Other applications of vanadium compounds in- clude the use of vanadium salts to catalyze the oxida- tion of aniline in manufacture of the dyestuff aniline black. authority of the Department ofWar andthe Department ofthe In- terior. These early surveys were the Geological Explo- ration of the Fortieth Parallel, the Geological and Geographical Survey of the Rocky. decisions. Background The policy of westward expansion of the early United States created the need for more precise maps and an accurate assessmentofthe mineralwealthand natural resources of these lands. In