Part 2: Water, Soil, Mineral & Rock and Energy Flashcards
is the most heavily used metal and it is also one of the most common metals.
Iron
is another relatively common metal, and it is the second most widely used.
Aluminum
is primarily used for electrical applications because it is an excellent conductor of electricity.
Copper
is used in batteries; among its many other applications, it is a component of many solders and is used in paints and ceramics.
Lead
coating on steel cans keeps the cans from rusting, and zinc is also used in the manufacture of brass and other alloys
Zinc
is used not only for jewelry, in the arts, and in commerce, but also in the electronics industry and in dentistry. It is particularly valued for its resistance to tarnishing.
gold
principal single use is for photographic materials (for example, film), and the next broadest applications are in electronics.
Silver
is an excellent catalyst, a substance that promotes chemical reactions.
Platinum
may be recovered from petroleum during refining, from volcanic deposits and from evaporites.
Sulfur
or rock salt, is used principally as a source of the sodium and chlorine of which it is composed, and secondarily for road salt, either directly or through the production of other salts from it
Halite
is essential to the manufacture of plaster, Portland cement, and wallboard for construction.
Gypsum
are key ingredients of the synthetic fertilizers
Phosphate rock and potassium-rich potash
is not a single mineral, but a group of layered hydrous silicates that are formed at low temperature, commonly by weathering, and that are abundant in sedimentary deposits in the United States.
Clay
were used in construction, especially in making cement and concrete
sand and gravel
was used in industry, particularly for
glassmaking
quartz-rich sand
One might replace a very rare metal with a more abundant one. The extent to which this is likely to succeed is limited, since reserves of most metals are quite limited.
Substitutions
are generally much less apparent than surface mines. They disturb a relatively small area of the land’s surface close to the principal shaft(s).
Underground mines
consist of either open-pit mining (including
quarrying) or strip-mining.
Surface-mining activities
is practical when a large, three-dimensional ore body is located near the surface. Most of the material in the pit contains the valuable commodity and is extracted for processing.
Open-pit mining
more often used to extract coal than mineral resources, is practiced most commonly when the material of interest occurs in a layer near
and approximately parallel to the surface.
Strip-mining,
usually involves regarding the area to level the spoil banks and to provide a more gently sloping land surface; restoring the soil; replanting grass, shrubs, or other vegetation
Reclamation
is commonly used to extract gold from its ore
cyanide
to extract metals from ores may, depending on the ores involved and on emission controls, release arsenic, lead, mercury, and other potentially toxic elements along with exhaust gases and ash
Smelting
also releases the sulfur oxide gases that are implicated in the production of acid rain
Sulfide-ore processing
refers to any remains or evidence of ancient life.
Fossil
are those energy sources that formed from the remains of once living organisms. These include oil, natural gas, coal, and fuels derived from oil
shale and tar sand.
Fossil fuels
In the final stages, most or all of the petroleum is further broken down into very simple, light, gaseous molecules-that is the
natural gas
Some of the heavier hydrocarbons may also be broken up during refining into smaller, lighter molecules through a process called
cracking
are among the non-renewable energy sources.
oil and natural gas
Recovery using no techniques beyond pumping is
primary recovery.
is when flow falls off, water may be pumped into the reservoir, filling empty pores and buoying up more oil to the well.
Secondary recovery
is contained in most coal deposits. This methane has been treated as a hazardous nuisance, potentially explosive, and its incidental release during coal mining has contributed to rising methane concentrations in the atmosphere.
Coal-bed methane
are crystalline solids of gas and water molecules. These have been found to be abundant in arctic regions and in
marine sediments
Gas (methane) hydrates
- are the large, sudden, catastrophic spills
- spills represent the largest negative impacts from the extraction and transportation of petroleum
Oil spills
oil spills occur in two principal ways: (2)
- from accidents during drilling of offshore oil wells and
- from wrecks of oil tankers at sea.
is formed from the remains of land plants
Coal