Material Resources
Significant quantities of any naturally occurring nonliving substances that humans can potentially use for economic, nutritional, recreational, ecological, aesthetic, and other benefits. This category does not include energy resources, which are discussed previously. Distributions are recorded observations, interpreted data, or models of specified resources at known times and locations and can include added tangible information for the resource in question (for example, thickness of deposit). Assessments are evaluations of total resource availability, economic value, ecological function and value, drivers, difficulty of extraction, and sustainability; larger assessments that combine Resources and Uses categories can appropriately be included both here and in the other related Resources or Uses categories. Predictions are the results of models or projections of future distributions, values, or impacts of material resources; these data include modeled changes to resources due to natural and human processes. Examples include models of resource losses or gains under different rates of resource extraction, deposition, natural removal, and accumulation; models of how changes to one resource can affect other resources or uses; and models that compare outcomes of different management actions.