Introduction
I've always been fascinated by what we call resources. In fact, I earned a degree from the University of Denver with a 3.7 GPA, thank you very much, by studying how economies are built around what's visible, marketable, and already proven to turn a profit. But i started to wonder what’s left unseen, surely there’s gotta be more…maybe.
What we do know is where oil and water are. We can name the towns built on gas fields and aquifers. But we seldom ask what else is there? What else makes Texas, Texas?
We also know how industries move in and mine the fuck out of a town. Depleting its resources, jobs, people, and pride, until all you have is a ghost of a town. (and honestly, men and industries have that in common. The hit it and quit it pattern isn't just a dating issue).
As one study put it, resource-based cities play a crucial role in growth, but they also face “the boom and bust” cycles that leave them shrinking once the money moves on (He et al., 2017).
This project started as a curiosity to just map Texas, not by industry but by elements, the raw building blocks of matter.
Method
I pulled data from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Mineral Resources Data Systems (MRDS), the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, and the Texas State Historical Association, searching only for pure chemical elements, not compounds or hydrocarbons.
After mapping every documented element in Texas, I realized something wild: out of 254 counties, only 21 have any recorded presence of elemental resources. That leaves 233 counties as geologic blank canvases as underexplored, unclaimed, or potentially misunderstood. But they are not technically missing, just undocumented (don't call ICE). What I understand as an economist, or at least pretend to be, is that industry looks where it expects profit. BUT nature doesn't play by market rules (luckily).
My Understanding
When we say “Texas is rich in natural resources,” we’re usually talking about what can be sold. But that's not the same as saying we understand what’s there. Exploration tends to happen where there’s a profit, not necessarily where there’s potential. Mapping only elements, without attaching dollar signs, exposes the limits of our economic imagination. It shows where we’ve been willing to look or rely on, because profit leaves little room for patience or curiosity to explore beyond it.
Does Matter Matter?
Studies have found that regions dependent on oil, gas, or other extractive industries often struggle to pivot toward innovation or sustainability. My idea builds on that by asking, what if cities started to transition by recognizing the elements?
The shift from resource-based to knowledge-based economies is not new. Countries like Norway and Australia managed it by diversifying and investing in research, not just extraction (Ville & Wicken, 2013). The same mindset could apply locally at the city or regional level. The connection between elements and innovation isn't new either, Silicon Valley literally built its name on one. What’s new is realizing how rarely cities think this way.
Case Study: San Antonio
Take San Antonio. It’s technically not a resource-based city, but its key industries still depend on the same logic. For example, most cities pitch the same industries: tourism, cybersecurity, bioscience, aerospace, energy, advanced manufacturing, blah, blah, blah. It’s what mayors, council members, or/and whoever the hell runs the city call a competitive advantage.
But that advantage is mostly above ground. Building around the same industries that every federal playbook says are profitable. It's not that these industries are bad; they are just recycled, and it's about who pitches it better.
What if, let's say, San Antonio, marketed something different? Not the same tech corridor or hospital expansion, but its geologic identity and used that as a foundation for innovation, education, or even art?
It sounds small, but that’s the point. There’s nothing wrong with being basic.
My two cents would be, maybe cities should stop chasing unicorns and start checking their own dirt.
(Note: San Antonio’s listed industries are taken directly from public city and tourism sources. The "Elemental identity” idea is hypothetical, not an existing policy.)
Philosophical Frame
I wasn’t trying to map wealth or geological certainty (bc im not a geologist!); I was trying to map possibility, by highlighting the data gap and illustrating how difficult it can be to reach conclusions about a topic we were introduced to in the 5th grade.
Like an alchemist, I wanted to look at the smallest pieces of the world and ask what they could become if combined differently. Every investigation begins with an element, hydrogen, carbon, silicon, gold, and from there, we give it a new use and name.
Maybe the next frontier of innovation is just underexplored atoms in our backyard. That yes is expensive to explore. But i dont think it's the lack of means, maybe just the lack of curiosity.
So Let Me Quit My Rambling
The element map isn't about scarcity or discovery. It's just about imagination. The courage to start from zero and look at Texas (or any place) not as a finished product, but as an unfinished experiment.
Until curiosity is valued as highly as profit, 233 counties in Texas will stay blank.