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Environmental Science > Lithosphere > Flashcards

Lithosphere Flashcards

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1
Q

What parts of the Earth consist of the lithosphere?

A

Solid crust and upper mantle

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2
Q

What does the lithosphere include?

A

Rocks, mineral resources and soils that provide environmental resources

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3
Q

What are the major uses of iron?

A

Ships, road vehicles, rail track bridges, cookers, fridges and washing machines

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4
Q

What are the major uses of aluminium?

A

Packaging foil and vehicles window frames

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5
Q

What are the major uses of copper?

A

Electric cables and water pipes

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6
Q

What are the major uses of zinc?

A

Galvanising, batteries and alloys (brass)

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7
Q

What are the major uses of titanium?

A

White pigments in paint, paper and plastics and aircraft/ spacecraft

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8
Q

What are the major uses of tin?

A

Solder, rust prevention and glass manufacture

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9
Q

What are the major uses of cadmium?

A

Rechargeable batteries

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10
Q

What are the major uses of platinum?

A

Vehicle catalytic converters and catalyst in the chemical industry

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11
Q

What are the major uses of aggregates (sand and gravel)?

A

Concrete, building mortar, glass

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12
Q

What are the major uses of limestone?

A

Cement, crushed for road surfacing and rail track ballast, building blocks

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13
Q

What are the major uses of salt?

A

Source of chlorine for manufacture of paper, plastic and water sterilisation, the de-icing of roads and food additives

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14
Q

What are the major uses of sulphur?

A

Sulphuric acid manufacture to make phosphate fertilisers and pest control

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15
Q

What is the total mass of minerals extracted per year?

A

55 billion tonnes

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16
Q

What are the three types of rock?

A

Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic

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17
Q

How are igneous rocks formed?

A

From the cooling and hardening of molten lava or magma

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18
Q

What are igneous intrusions?

A

Rocks formed from magma that cools and solidifies within the Earth’s crust

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19
Q

What conditions do igneous intrusions cause?

A

Pressurised, superheated water at high temperatures that dissolves many minerals from the surrounding rocks

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20
Q

What happens to mineral rich solutions from igneous intrusions?

A

They travel along fissures away from the igneous batholith, cooling as they do so, minerals crystallise in order of solubility

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21
Q

What are hydrothermal depositions?

A

Mineral deposits formed from fractional crystallisation of minerals in water

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22
Q

What ores are deposited by hydrothermal processes?

A

Tin, copper, lead, silver, gold and arsenic

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23
Q

How are metamorphic rocks formed?

A

High temperatures and pressures, without melting, caused by tectonic movement of crustal plates

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24
Q

What is sedimentary rock?

A

Layers of mineral build-up producing deposited sediment

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25
Q

How does limestone change to marble?

A

High temperatures and extreme pressures

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26
Q

How does mudstone change to slate?

A

Extreme pressure

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27
Q

What are Proterozoic marine sediments?

A

Iron ore deposits, such as hematite and magnetites, formed when dissolved iron compounds became oxidised by the oxygen from photosynthesis

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28
Q

What are alluvial deposits?

A

Materials carried and separated by flowing water (surface runoff)

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29
Q

What’s the order of deposits in alluvial deposition?

A

Decreasing in density then decreasing in size

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30
Q

What materials are found in alluvial deposits?

A

Gold, diamonds, tin ore, gravel, sand and clay

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31
Q

What are evaporites?

A

Evaporated water leaves crystallised minerals such as halite

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32
Q

What are some examples of when evaporites form?

A

A bay of ancient sea becomes isolated or inland seas in desert areas as the water from inflowing rivers evaporates

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33
Q

What are biological sediments?

A

Living organisms form mineral deposits e.g. shells of marine organisms make limestone and chalk, terrestrial vegetation makes coal and marine organisms make crude oil and natural gas

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34
Q

What’s Lasky’s principle?

A

As the purity of a mineral decreases the amount of mineral present increases exponentially

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35
Q

What’s the major problem with future mineral supplies?

A

Not the quantity that exists, but the ability to exploit low grade ores

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36
Q

What is stock?

A

All material that exists in the lithosphere

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37
Q

What is a resource?

A

Includes all material that is theoretically available for exploitation, all available now and that could be realistically in the future

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38
Q

What is a reserve?

A

The amount of resource that is currently economically available for exploitation

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39
Q

What are inferred reserves?

A

The presence of the mineral can be predicted from knowledge of the geological structures present but not enough is known to estimate the amount that can be economically viable

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40
Q

What are probable reserves?

A

Sufficient information about the deposit is known, so the amount of the mineral that can be economically extracted can be estimated with sufficient accuracy that further exploration is justified

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41
Q

What are proven reserves?

A

Sufficient exploration has been carried out, including trial drilling to accurately estimate the amount of the mineral that can be economically extracted

42
Q

What factors will limit the viability of exploration?

A

The absence of the technology to exploit the deposits, the financial cost of exploration my be too great and the environmental impact of exploitation may be unacceptable

43
Q

What is remote sensing?

A

Involves any technique that give information without taking direct samples

44
Q

What are the surveying techniques?

A

IR spectroscopy, gravimetry, magnetometry, seismic surveys, resistivity, trial drilling and chemical analysis

45
Q

How does IR spectroscopy work?

A

Different minerals emit different wavelengths of infrared radiation

46
Q

How does gravimetry work?

A

Detect variations in gravity caused by variations in density and mass

47
Q

How does magnetometry work?

A

Detect rocks that are more magnetic such as magnetite

48
Q

How do seismic surveys work?

A

Involve sound waves produced by controlled explosions, or a seismic vibrator on the surface, the echoes give information about the depth, density and shape of rock strata

49
Q

How does resistivity work?

A

Measurement of the difficulty with which electricity passes through a material

50
Q

How does trial drilling work?

A

Most expensive technique per sampling site but is the only methods that actually produces samples of the rocks underground

51
Q

How does chemical analysis work?

A

Laboratory tests confirm the chemical composition and purity of the minerals in the rock samples

52
Q

What factors must be considered before mining can begin?

A

Ore purity, chemical form, overburden and hydrology, depth, cut off ore grade, transport costs and market economics

53
Q

What is overburden?

A

The rock that lies above the mineral deposit

54
Q

What are the risks with overburden?

A

Hard overburden may have to be blasted, which increases cost and loose overburden may increase the risk of landslides

55
Q

How does hydrology affect mining?

A

Higher precipitation or impermeable rocks below may increase drainage costs

56
Q

How does depth effect mining?

A

As depth doubles, cost increases exponentially as the sides of the mine cannot be vertical due to risk of collapse

57
Q

What is the cut-off ore grade?

A

The lowest ore purity that can be mined economically, using existing technology

58
Q

How does market value effect COOG?

A

As market value increases the COOG decreases

59
Q

How does energy costs effect COOG?

A

As energy costs increase the COOG increases

60
Q

How much of the Earth’s land surface has been mined?

A

About 1%

61
Q

What are the environmental impacts of mineral exploitation?

A

Land take, habitat loss, loss of amenity, dust, noise, turbid drainage water, spoil disposal and mine site restoration

62
Q

Which type of mining causes more habitat loss?

A

Open cast mine

63
Q

How does turbid drainage water of mines effect the environment?

A

Suspended solid particles reduce light penetration into rivers and lakes, sediments can also cover and kill plants and animals

64
Q

How is turbid drainage water of mines effect reduced?

A

Using sedimentation lagoons in which the water stands still long enough for the solids to sink

65
Q

What problems can be caused by spoil disposal?

A

Aesthetics, stability and leachate

66
Q

What stability risks does spoil disposal provide?

A

Lack of compaction reduces stability and leads to erosion, water-logging from rainfall can cause landslides

67
Q

What are leachate risks with spoil disposal?

A

Rainwater can percolate and dissolve toxic metals and sulphides to produce acidic leachate solutions becoming more mobile

68
Q

What methods can be used to prevent acidic leachate?

A

Placing crushed limestone filter beds as many toxic metals are only soluble in acidic conditions, it clears the water before feeding it into a river

69
Q

What are some improvements in exploratory techniques?

A

Better remote sensing image resolution and portable field equipment

70
Q

How has field equipment become more portable?

A

Electronics have become lighter, more powerful batteries have been developed and energy consumption has been reduced

71
Q

What are some mechanisation improvements?

A

Deep mining and open-cast mining

72
Q

What are newly developed methods of low grade ore extraction?

A

Bioleaching, phytomining, iron displacement, leachate collection and polymer adsorption

73
Q

What are the normal methods for extracting metals form their ores?

A

Smelting, which involves chemical reductions at high temperatures

74
Q

What is bioleaching?

A

The use of living organisms to extract metals from their ores

75
Q

What is an example of bioleaching?

A

Acidophilic bacteria can be used to extract metals such as copper, zinc, lead and gold from low-grade sources, the bacteria oxidises sulphide ores, which produces sulphuric acid that dissolves the metals

76
Q

What is phytomining?

A

Harvesting and incinerating vegetation, to dissolve concentrated metals in the ash in acid, as plants uptake metals

77
Q

How does iron displacement work?

A

Displaces copper ions within a solution as iron is more reactive

78
Q

How does collection of leachate work?

A

Leachate from spoil heaps is recirculated to increase the concentration of metals before removing by electrolysis

79
Q

Where have rare earth metals been found in high concentrations?

A

Deep sea sediments, but the technology to exploit these deposits has not yet been developed

80
Q

How does polymer adsorption work?

A

Metal ions dissolved in sea water adsorb onto some polymers to be collected later

81
Q

What polymers can be used for polymer adsorption?

A

Synthetic polymers can be used, as can natural polymers such as lignin and chitin

82
Q

What are polymetallic (or manganese) nodules?

A

5 to 10cm diameter at depths of 4000 or 5000m containing manganese, iron, nickel, copper, cobalt and titanium

83
Q

What are the environmental impacts of polymetallic nodule exploitation?

A

Recovering nodules disturb the seabed and kill benthic organisms that live there, increases the turbidity of water with unknown consequences

84
Q

What are the two types of waste?

A

Pre-consumer and post-consumer

85
Q

What waste material can be collected roadside for recycling?

A

Paper, cardboard, garden waste, metals, plastic bottles and glass

86
Q

What waste should be taken to local recycling centres?

A

Batteries, vehicle engine oil, building rubble, soil, clothing and textiles, books and electrical items

87
Q

What are the problems with recycling schemes?

A

Transport, labour costs, separation of alloys, identification, energy costs, public cooperation and waste losses

88
Q

How do labour costs effect recycling schemes?

A

Processing smaller quantities of materials increases labour costs, however recycling doesn’t require the same skills as extraction

89
Q

How does identification of materials effect recycling schemes?

A

Labour intensive and slow work

90
Q

How do waste losses effect recycling schemes?

A

Lost in litter and placed in general waste for landfill

91
Q

What is Cradle to Cradle design?

A

The design of products so that the materials used are able to be reused at the end of their useful lives

92
Q

What is an example of polymer adsorption?

A

It provides low-energy extraction of uranium for nuclear power fuel

93
Q

What are fossil fuels?

A

Hydrocarbons from organisms remains

94
Q

What is a batholith?

A

Large igneous intrusion

95
Q

What is a placer deposit?

A

Accumulation of valuable minerals

96
Q

What is subsidence?

A

Gradual caving in or sinking of an area of land

97
Q

Why is land with heavy metal contamination regarded as unsuitable for recreational activities?

A

Ingestion of soil, skin problems

98
Q

Why is land contaminated with heavy metals regarded as unsuitable for food production?

A

Uptake by plants

99
Q

What are some non-metallic minerals?

A

Sand, limestone, clay, slate, sandstone, granite and gravel

100
Q

How can the pH of soils be increased?

A

Addition of CaCO3 or other alkali substances

101
Q

What is toxic leachate?

A

Dissolved metals that move through soil within a solution that causes harm to biota

102
Q

What are two rocks that can be used in road surfacing and what qualities are needed?

A

Basalt and sandstone, must be impermeable and low solubility

Environmental Science (22 decks)

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