Human Interaction With The Rock Cycle Flashcards
How do humans interact with the rock cycle ?
E.g. Tara lead and zinc mine, naval county Meath
Largest lead and zinc mine in Europe, 5th in the world
Extracts 2.7 million tonnes of lead
This or his sent to refineries across the EU and in Finland and Norway
The more can be found in the sedimentary bedding planes found in limestone +dolomite
The rocks that contain this metal ore were found 350 million years ago
To extract the ore vertical and horizontal mineshafts are cut out 50 to 900 metres deep
The store and pillar technique is used
This involves blasting stopes ( caverns ) into the rock and leaving pillars behind
The mines pump waste into tailing ponds
Tailing ponds are anylised by the WHO and the EU for pollution
Since 1977 5 million tonnes of zinc and 1 million tonnes of lead were produced
60% of the lead is used in batteries
Huge spin off in employment, national an local economy, mining gives 1 billion to economy
