Minerals Flashcards
Minerals form when salt wate evaporates or when chemicals come out of hot f uids. Others are made wher hot gases or molten rock cool or when heat or pressure change pre-existing minerals
How minerals are formed
Minerals are formed over a period of millions of years in the earth’s crust.
They play a vital role in the lives of all the living being here on planet Earth
Minerals are gathered from the Earth’s crust in forms
How minerals are formed
a mineral or combination of minerals from which a useful substance, such as a metal, can be extracted and used to manufacture a useful product
Ore
THREE MAJOR CONCENTRIC ZONES OF THE EARTH
Crust, Mantle, Core
mostly solid rock
• Including the asthenosphere: hot, partly melted rock that flows and can be deformed like plastic
Mantle
inner part surrounded by a liquid core
Core
move large volumes of rock and heat in loops within the mantle like gigantic conveyer belts
Convection cells
dozen or so huge rigid plates move extremely slowly atop the denser mantle on hot, soft rock in the underlying asthenosphere
Tectonic plate
continental and oceanic crust and the rigid, outermost part of the mantle
Lithosphere
Three types of boundaries between plates
Divergent, convergent, transform plate
plates move apart
Divergent
oceanic plate collides with a continental plate
Convergent
where plates slide and grind past one another along a fracture. Most located on the ocean floor
Transform fault
•Generated by heat from the earth’s interior,generally build up the earth’s surface in the form of he form of continental and oceanic crust including mountains and volcanoes
Internal geologic process
driven directly or indirectly by energy from the sun (mostly in the form of flowing water and wind)
•Physical, Chemical, and Biological: soil
External geologic process/weathering
driven directly or indirectly by energy from the sun (mostly in the form of flowing water and wind)
•Physical, Chemical, and Biological: soil
External geologic process/weathering
•Contains elements that are metallic.
•Generally obtained from Igneous Rocks
• Obtained by melting process
• Malleable
Mettalic mineral
• Do not contain metals in their chemical composition.
• Generally obtained from sedimentary rocks
• These minerals do not yield any new product from melting.
•Non-malleable.
Non-Metellic mineral
THE PRIMARY WAY TO REMOVE MINERAL RESOURCE FROM THE EARTH’S CRUST
Mining
MINERAL RESOURCES CAN BE EXTRACTED FROM EARTH’S CRUST AND PROCESSED INTO RAW MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS AT AN AFFORDABLE COST
Mining
Shallow deposits removed
Surface mining
removed first
Overburden
waste material
Spoils
Deep deposits removed
Subsurface mining
Also known as opencast mining
• Machines dig holes and remove ores, sand, gravel, and stone.
• Toxic groundwater can accumulate at the bottom
Open-pit mining
Earth movers strips away overburden, and giant shovels removes mineral deposit.
Often leaves highly erodible hills of rubble called spoil banks.
Area strip mining
Used on hilly or mountainous terrain.
Unless the land is restored, a wall of dirt is left in front of a highly erodible bank called a highwall.
Contour strip mining
Machinery removes the tops of mountains to expose coal.
The resulting waste rock and dirt are dumped into the streams and valleys below.
Mountain top removal
the process of removing rock, sand, gravel or other minerals from the ground to use them to produce materials for construction or other uses
Quarry mining
The process of removing accumulated sediment from the bottom or banks of bodies of water, including rivers, lakes or streams. Dredges are specialized pieces of equipment that create a vacuum to suck up and pump out the unwanted sediment and debris
Dredge mining
•used to extract ore from below the surface of the earth safely, economically and with as little waste as possible.
Underground mining
