ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
13e
CHAPTER 12Geology and Nonrenewable Mineral
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Core Case Study The Real Cost of Gold

• Two wedding rings 6 tons of mining waste
• Gold mining pollutes air and water
• Toxic cyanide used to mine gold
• Gold mining harms wildlife

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Fig. 12-1, p. 273
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12-1 What Are the Earths Major Geological
Processes and Hazards?

• Concept 12-1 Dynamic processes move matter
  within the earth and on its surface and can cause
  volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and earthquakes.

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The Earth Is a Dynamic Planet

• What is geology?
• Earths internal structure
• Core
• Mantle
• Asthenosphere
• Crust
• Lithosphere

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Plate Tectonics

• Tectonic plates
• Divergent plate boundaries
• Convergent boundaries
• Transform fault boundaries

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Folded mountain belt
Volcanoes
Abyssal floor
Oceanic ridge
Trench
Abyssal floor
Craton
Abyssal hills
Abyssal plain
Oceanic crust (lithosphere)
Abyssal plain
Continental shelf
Continental slope
Continental rise
Continental crust (lithosphere)
Mantle (lithosphere)
Mantle (lithosphere)
Mantle (asthenosphere)
Fig. 12-2, p. 275
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Spreading center
Ocean trench
Oceanic tectonic plate
Oceanic tectonic plate
Collision between two continents
Plate movement
Plate movement
Subduction zone
Tectonic plate
Oceanic crust
Oceanic crust
Continental crust
Continental crust
Cold dense material falls back through mantle
Material cools as it reaches the outer mantle
Hot material rising through the
mantle
Mantle convection cell
Mantle
Two plates move towards each other. One is
subducted back into the mantle on a falling
convection current.
Hot outer core
Inner core
Fig. 12-3, p. 275
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Fig. 12-4, p. 276
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Fig. 12-5, p. 277
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Volcanoes

• Magma
• Lava
• Eruptions
• Lava rock
• Hot ash
• Liquid lava
• Gases

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Extinct volcanoes
Eruption cloud
Ash Acid rain
Ash flow
Lava flow
Mud flow
Central vent
Landslide
Magma conduit
Magma reservoir
Solid lithosphere
Upwelling magma
Partially molten asthenosphere
Fig. 12-6, p. 277
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Earthquakes

• Stressed rocks shift or break
• Seismic waves
• Seismographs
• Richter scale to measure amplitude
• Tsunami

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Two adjoining plates move laterally along the
fault line
Liquefaction of recent sediments causes buildings
to sink
Earth movements cause flooding in low-lying areas
Landslides may occur on hilly ground
Shock waves
Focus
Epicenter
Fig. 12-7, p. 278
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Fig. 12-8, p. 279
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Fig. 12-9, p. 279
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Fig. 12-10, p. 280
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Waves head inland causing damage in their path.
Earthquake in seafloor swiftly pushes water
upwards, and starts a series of waves
Waves move rapidly in deep ocean reaching speeds
of up to 890 kilometers per hour.
As the waves near land they slow to about 45
kilometers per hour but are squeezed upwards and
increased in height.
Undersea thrust fault
Upward wave
Bangladesh
India
Burma
Thailand
Malaysia
Sri Lanka
Earthquake
Sumatra
Indonesia
December 26, 2004, tsunami
Fig. 12-10, p. 280
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12-2 How Are Earths Rocks Recycled?

• Concept 12-2 The three major types of rock found
  in the earths crust are recycled very slowly by
  physical and chemical processes.

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Rocks and Minerals

• Minerals
• Rock
• Igneous
• Sedimentary
• Metamorphic
• Rock cycle

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Sedimentary Rocks

• Sediments
• Tiny particles of eroded rocks
• Dead plant and animal remains
• Transported by water, wind, or gravity
• Pressure converts into rock
• Sandstone
• Shale
• Coal some types

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Igneous Rocks

• Forms from magma
• Can cool beneath earths surface
• Granite
• Can cool above earths surface
• Lava rocks
• Most of earths crust

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Metamorphic Rocks

• From preexisting rocks
• Pressure
• Heat
• Chemically active fluids
• Slate from shale
• Marble from limestone

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Erosion
Transportation
Weathering
Deposition
Igneous rock
Granite, pumice, basalt
Sedimentary rock
Sandstone, limestone
Heat, pressure
Cooling
Heat, pressure, stress
Magma (molten rock)
Melting
Metamorphic rock Slate, marble, gneiss, quartzite
Fig. 12-12, p. 282
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12-3 What Are Mineral Resources and What Are the
Environmental Effects of Using Them?

• Concept 12-3 Some minerals in the earths crust
  can be made into useful products, but extracting
  and using these resources can disturb the land,
  erode soils, produce large amounts of solid
  waste, and pollute the air, water, and soil.

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Nonrenewable Mineral Resources (1)

• Minerals
• Mineral resources
• Fossil fuels
• Metallic
• Nonmetallic
• Reserves

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Nonrenewable Mineral Resources (2)

• Ore
• High-grade ore
• Low-grade ore
• Examples of mineral resources
• Aluminum
• Iron used for steel
• Copper
• Gold
• Sand and gravel

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Fig. 12-13, p. 283
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Fig. 12-14, p. 284
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Extracting Mineral Deposits (1)

• Surface mining
• Overburden
• Spoils
• Open-pit mining

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Extracting Mineral Deposits (2)

• Strip mining
• Area strip mining
• Contour strip mining
• Mountaintop removal
• Subsurface mining

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Fig. 12-15, p. 284
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Undisturbed land
Overburden
Highwall
Coal seam
Overburden
Pit
Bench
Coal seam
Spoil banks
Fig. 12-16, p. 285
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Harmful Environmental Effects of Mining

• Disruption of land surface
• Damage to forests and watersheds
• Biodiversity harmed
• Subsidence
• Toxic-laced mining wastes
• Acid mine drainage

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Fig. 12-17, p. 285
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Fig. 12-18, p. 286
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Fig. 12-18, p. 286
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Harmful Environmental Effects of Removing Metals
from Ores

• Ore mineral desired metal
• Gangue waste material
• Smelting
• Air pollution
• Water pollution
• Acidified nearby soils
• Liquid and solid hazardous wastes

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12-4 How Long Will Supplies of Nonrenewable
Mineral Resources Last?

• Concept 12-4 Raising the price of a scarce
  mineral resource can lead to an increase in its
  supply, but there are environmental limits to
  this effect.

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Uneven Distribution of Mineral Resources

• Abundant minerals
• Scarce minerals
• Exporters and importers
• Strategic metal resources
• Economic and military strength
• U.S. dependency on importing four critical
  minerals

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Supplies of Mineral Resources

• Available supply and use
• Economic depletion
• Five choices after depletion
• Recycle or reuse
• Waste less
• Use less
• Find a substitute
• Do without

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Market Prices Affect Supplies of Nonrenewable
Minerals

• Supply and demand affect price
• Not a free market in developed countries
• Subsides, taxes, regulations, import tariffs
• Prices of minerals dont reflect their true costs
• Developing new mines is expensive and
  economically risky

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Science Focus Nanotechnology

• 100 nanometers or less
• 1 nanometer 1 billionth of a meter
• Widespread applications
• Potential risks
• Need for guidelines and regulations
• Future applications

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Case Study U.S. General Mining Law of 1872

• Design Encourage exploration and mining
• Mining claim can give legal ownership of land
• Abused land used for other purposes
• Low royalties to federal government
• Leave toxic wastes behind
• 32-72 billion est. to clean up abandoned mines

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Fig. 12-19, p. 289
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Mining Lower-grade Ores

• Improved equipment and technologies
• Limiting factors
• Cost
• Supplies of freshwater
• Environmental impacts
• Biomining
• In-situ mining
• Slow

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Ocean Mining

• Minerals from seawater
• Hydrothermal deposits
• Manganese-rich nodules
• High costs
• Ownership issues
• Environmental issues

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12-5 How Can We Use Mineral Resources More
Sustainably?

• Concept 12-5 We can try to find substitutes for
  scarce resources, reduce resource waste, and
  recycle and reuse minerals.

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Finding Substitutes for Scarce Mineral Resources

• Materials revolution
• Ceramics
• Plastics
• Fiber-optic glass cables
• Limitations
• Recycle and reuse
• Less environmental impact

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Using Nonrenewable Resources More Sustainably

• Decrease use and waste
• 3M Company
• Pollution Prevention Pays (3P) program
• Economic and environmental benefits of cleaner
  production

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Fig. 12-20, p. 291
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Case Study Industrial Ecosystems (1)

• Mimic nature to deal with wastes biomimicry
• Waste outputs become resource inputs
• Recycle and reuse
• Resource exchange webs

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Case Study Industrial Ecosystems (2)

• Reclaiming brownfields
• Industrial ecology
• Ecoindustrial revolution

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Sludge
Local farmers
Pharmaceutical plant
Sludge
Greenhouses
Waste heat
Waste heat
Waste heat
Fish farming
Waste heat
Surplus natural gas
Oil refinery
Electric power plant
Fly ash
Surplus sulfur
Waste calcium sulfate
Surplus natural gas
Waste heat
Cement manufacturer
Sulfuric acid producer
Area homes
Wallboard factory
Fig. 12-21, p. 292
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Three Big Ideas from This Chapter - 1

• Dynamic forces that move matter within the earth
  and on its surface recycle the earths rocks,
  form deposits of mineral resources, and cause
  volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis.

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Three Big Ideas from This Chapter - 2

• The available supply of a mineral resource
  depends on how much of it is in the earths
  crust, how fast we use it, mining technology,
  market prices, and the harmful environmental
  effects of removing and using it.

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Three Big Ideas from This Chapter - 3

• We can use mineral resources more sustainably by
  trying to find substitutes for scarce resources,
  reducing resource waste, and reusing and
  recycling nonrenewable minerals.