What is "sale of subsurface oil, gas, mineral and easement + assignment of the lease"
So I was going through some listings for CRE and found this one ad. It says that "This is a sale of subsurface oil, gas, mineral and easement + assignment of the lease. Land and structures on top of lot NOT included in sale"

* What does it mean by "Sale of **subsurface**"? 
* What is source of income in such investments?
* What are pros and cons of such investments? 
* What is "Zoning CAOS*"?

Any info and resources would be much appreciated.

PS. very much a new to CRE and looking to invest in near future.
[{"id": "d6kn3cg", "text": "This is to buy mineral rights - like for mining, extracting oil, and all that. Those rights are generally not included when you buy the usual \"land\" meaning land and the structures on top of it. I'm not a realtor, just know this from geography class.", "replies": [{"id": "d6krbj9", "text": "Thanks. So how does that work? because someone already owns the land. May be I will have to talk to some Real Estate lawyer. \n\n", "replies": [{"id": "d6ksr2q", "text": "What do you want the mineral rights for? Exploration geology is a business you are either in or you aren't - maybe you want to sell them to someone else. Anyway, I know nothing more than the general principle I told you. And lots of terrible stories of how people didn't understand they don't own the subsurface of the land! Hence fracking, and much worse.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "d6naa8c", "text": "The way it's explained in real property 101 is: Think of a piece of property as a bundle of sticks. Each stick is a different part of the property, a \"right\".   These sticks can be separated from the bundle and sold individually \"severed\", and they frequently are.\n\nSurface rights are the most obvious, having a right to the surface allows you to build a house, fences, roads, etc. There are also mineral rights, which include rights to all producible minerals under the land. If someone other than the surface owner owns the mineral rights, the surface owner is required to give the mineral owner access to his minerals (i.e. a drill pad location, space for pipelines).\n\nThere are also development rights, water rights, wind rights, surface mineral rights (gravel). It's a long list and it varies from state to state as these rights are all adjudicated at the state level.\n\nIt sounds like you stumbled on a mineral right for sale that has an existing lease that may or may not be producing. Either way, it's odd that it's listed with commercial real estate, oil and gas folks have their own places to buy and sell mineral rights. Investing in oil is very different from real estate, don't mess with it unless you know a landman that can walk you through it.  \n\nFinding a piece of property with a severed mineral estate is not a deal killer in most cases. I'm actually surprised when I find a whole estate.\n\n*I have professional experience in land development and in oil and gas development...it's a long story.", "replies": [{"id": "d6ncxwu", "text": "Thats a very good explanation. I want start small, even if its small returns is fine. but not complicated. ", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d6kpfj5", "text": "Judging by the Carson Zoning Ordinance, I believe zoning CA is Commercial Automotive, and OS is Open Space.  The property is about 15 acres, and looks like it includes land under a few different parcels, some zoned CA, some OS, and some apparently beneath the 91 freeway?  Pretty weird listing.  It can't be producing that much, to be listed at $39,000, maybe you could get the broker to tell you what the income was over the last 2-3 years.", "replies": [{"id": "d6kr9ny", "text": "Ok. But kind of income one can generate from this type of property. Some part of it is under 91 and some under some buildings. \n\n", "replies": [{"id": "d6l0hxl", "text": "It doesn't really matter what's on the surface. They are selling only the mineral rights *in the ground*. If there is oil there, or coal, or some other valuable substance, you would buying the rights to it.\n\nSo the income is how much money it makes from any minerals in the ground (which could be 0, by the way).", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "d6l14q6", "text": "I would assume oil or natural gas.  And it also looks like they're selling leased rights, either there's already a tenant in place and the buyer would get the leased fee interest, or they're offering the leasehold position, meaning you get the mineral rights for whatever the duration of the lease is.  It's not clear from the listing.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d6l68hi", "text": "Thanks everyone for sharing their views and knowledge.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]