3.4 Human impact

Question 1

Acid precipitation

Answer 1

Any precipitation with a pH lower than 5.0

Question 2

Contaminants

Answer 2

Materials that have harmful impacts and degrade the environment

Question 3

Dry deposition

Answer 3

Materials transported in suspension in the air that settle on the ground as dry matter.

Question 4

Hazardous wastes

Answer 4

Wastes that pose a present or potential threat to humans or wildlife

Question 5

Incineration

Answer 5

Burning of refuse, often in a specially designed facility

Question 6

Open cast mining

Answer 6

Extensive excavation in which the overlying material is removed by machinery and the seams of deposits are left below.

Question 7

Pollutants

Answer 7

Materials that have harmful impacts and degrade the environment

Question 8

Pollution

Answer 8

Act of releasing materials that harm the environment

Question 9

Recycling

Answer 9

Process of taking apart an old product and using the material it contains to make a new product

Question 10

Spoil heaps

Answer 10

Large unconsolidated mounds of waste materials extracted in the process of obtaining an ore.

Question 11

Subsidence

Answer 11

Collapse of the ground downwards

Question 12

Tailing

Answer 12

Impurities left behind after a mineral has been extracted from its ore.

Question 13

Waste

Answer 13

Residual materials and by-products that are generated by human use of the Earth’s resources and end up unwanted.

Question 14

Wet deposition

Answer 14

Materials transported in suspension in the air that eventually fall to the ground as precipitation.