Geology: The next land rush.

The article discusses some countries' race on claiming sea floor areas. This race was led by Russia when it planted a Russian flag on the sea floor in North Pole in August 2007, as their way of claiming the riches of Arctic Ocean. Along with Denmark and Canada, Russia is also interested in claiming the Lomonosov ridge, a submerged rise about 1,800 kilometers long which runs from offshore Russia to offshore Greenland. A United Nations body will decide the validity of these countries' claims, based on the 1982 UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Some countries are also competing for the Bay of Biscay off France and Spain as well as the sea floor off New Zealand. Moreover, the author explains the role that geophysicists and geologists will play in this claiming process.