Mineral Resources Flashcards
What are earth resources?
All materials used by modern society are either derived directly or are manufactured from Earth:
- Water
- Wood
- Food
- Metals
- Glass
- Cement
- Etc.
The availability and cost of mineral and rock products influence:
a country’s standard of living, economy, and position in the world.
Most people do not know where minerals occur naturally or how they are mined and processed
To survive, we need food, water, and shelter. Today, we also “need”:
phones, airplanes, cars, and computers
- Use more resources per individual
- Use a greater variety of resources from more sources
- Synthesized new materials from raw resources
Basic need: food
- Technology has allow food production to keep pace with growing population (irrigation, tractors, fossil fuels, fertilizers)
- The more the population grows, the more land is diverted away from agriculture
Resources are either renewable or non-renewable
Renewable resources:
- Replenished over short time scales (months or years)
- Trees, light, water, animals, etc.
Non-renewable resources:
- Exist on Earth in a fixed quantity
- Replenished over thousands to millions of years
- Minerals, soils, etc.
Mineral Resources
Natural concentrations that result from physical and chemical processes active in Earth’s crust
There are two main types of mineral resources:
- Metallic
2. Non-metallic
Which physical property of minerals does the term metallic describe?
Lustre
Non-Metallic Mineral Uses
- Sulfur: matches, tires, bug spray
- Halite: salt, rock salt
- Diamond: rings, blades
- Gypsum: cement, construction
Agricultural Minerals (fertilizer)
Nitrogen (N): - For leaf growth - Manufactured from the air Phosphorus (P): - Development of roots, flowers, seeds, fruit - From phosphate-bearing minerals/bones Potassium (K): - Strong stem growth, movement of water in plants, promotion of flowering and fruiting - From potash
Construction Minerals
- Aggregates: crushed stone, sand (for cement), gravel
- Clay: cement manufacture, industrial lubricant, beauty products
- Gypsum: drywall, cement manufacture
Metal Mineral Uses
- Tin: battery, brake pads, radiator, fuel tank, glass coatings, electronics, bearings
- Gold: electronic connectors, switch contacts, fuel cells, heat protection linings
- Tungsten: bearing linings, gear teeth coatings, integrated circuits, metallic films
- Tantalum: parking sensors, HID headlamps, airbag systems, traction control, dashboard, electric mirrors, window mechanisms, in car entertainment
Metallic Minerals
Abundant if: excess of 0.1% by weight in average continental crust
- Al, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ti
Scarce metals: less than 0.1% by weight in average continental crust
- often concentrated in sulfide deposits
- Copper, lead, zinc, nickel, gold, platinum
Reserve
The portion of an identified resource that can be recovered economically.
An ore is a reserve of metallic minerals
7 Major Classes of Minerals
- Silicates (most abundant in crust)
- Native elements (scarce metals)
- Oxides
- Sulfides (scarce metals)
- Sulfates
- Halides
- Carbonates
How do mineral deposits form?
All Earth resources have been generated by one or more geologic processes
- The distribution of resources globally is caused mainly by plate tectonics because it controls: the position of the continents and the geologic process responsible for forming, modifying, and destroying earth resources
The processes that can form and concentrate mineral resources include:
- Subsurface processes (igenous + metamorphic processes)
- Surface processes (weathering, physical and chemical sedimentation)
- Shallow subsurface and diagenetic (conversion of sediment to sedimentary rock) processes
- Meteor impact and mantle melt
Some mineral deposits are widely distributed because
They form from a range of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic processes
Other mineral deposits are very localized because
There is only one process that allows them to form
Which igneous processes create mineral resources?
- Continental bedrock: generally felsic/intermediate rocks (e.g granite)
- Seafloor: mafic rocks (basalt/gabbro)