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Environmental Science > The Lithosphere > Flashcards

The Lithosphere Flashcards

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1
Q

What is iron used for?

A

Steel, railtracks and appliance casing like washing machines

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2
Q

What is aluminium used for?

A

Foil, window frames

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3
Q

What is copper used for?

A

Water pipes, electric cables

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4
Q

What is uranium used for?

A

Nuclear fuel in power stations

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5
Q

What is gypsum/china clay used for?

A

building plasterW

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6
Q

What is Kaolin used for?

A

Paint filler, ceramics

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7
Q

What is gravel and sand used for?

A

Concrete or glass

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8
Q

What is lithium and zinc used for?

A

Batteries

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9
Q

What is NaCl used for?

A

Plastics, bleaching agents, cleaning water

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10
Q

What’s igneous processes?

A

The process by which rocks and minerals are created by the cooling and hardening of magma/molten lava

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11
Q

Explain hydrothermal deposition

A

Igneous intrusions from batholiths produce pressurised superheated water which contains dissolved minerals. The mineral rich solutions travel along fissures away from the batholith, cooling and crystallising as they do so. The least soluble minerals crystallise first

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12
Q

What minerals does hydrothermal decomposition produce?

A

Tin, copper, lead, silver, gold

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13
Q

What is a batholith?

A

A rock formed from cooled solidified magma

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14
Q

What are metamorphic processes?

A

Rocks formed by high temp + pressure without melting to produce metamorphic rock

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15
Q

Name 2 metamorphic rocks

A

Limestone to marble
Mudstone to slate

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16
Q

What are sedimentary processes?

A

Where minerals settle and build up to produce layers producing sedimentary rocks/minerals.

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17
Q

Explain proterzoic marine sedimentation

A

This is where dissolved iron compounds become oxidised by O2 released in photosynthesis producing insoluble iron oxide. Iron ore deposits like magnetite and haematite form

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18
Q

Explain alluvial deposits

A

This involves materials that get separated and carried by flowing water. Includes gold, diamonds, gravel, sand and clay.
The material depends on strength of flow and solubility

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19
Q

What is secondary enrichment?

A

Metals that form minerals that are soluble/insoluble depending on the conditions. e.g. uranium is soluble in high O2 conditions but becomes insoluble in low O2 conditions.

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20
Q

What are biological sediments?

A

This is where living organisms have died and form mineral deposits.

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21
Q

Name 3 biological sediments and how they formed

A

Limestone/chalk- formed from shells of marine organisms
Coal- formed from terrestrial vegetation
Crude oil/natural gas- formed from dead marine organisms

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22
Q

What is laskys principle?

A

States that as the purity of a mineral decreases the amount of the mineral increases

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23
Q

What is the stock?

A

Includes all material in the litosphere. Exploitable material, material that will be exploitable when prices change, material that will never be exploitable etc

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24
Q

What is the resource?

A

Includes material that is theoretically exploitable. It includes the reserves and material that will be exploitable with better tech/prices

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25
Q

What is reserve?

A

Includes all material exploitable with today’s technology and prices

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26
Q

What is IR spec?

A

Where a satellite is used to detect infrared being emitted, different materials will emit different wavelengths

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27
Q

What is gravimetry?

A

Detects differences in gravity caused by differences in density and mass of rocks, Igneous rocks are heavier

28
Q

What is magnetometry?

A

Detects magnetic rocks like iron

29
Q

What satellite could be used for these tests?

A

LEO- Low earth orbit

30
Q

What is a seismic survey?

A

Measuring the sound waves produced by controlled explosions, the echoes give data on depth/density of rock

31
Q

What is resistivity?

A

Measurement of how easy it is for electricity to pass through a material.

32
Q

Why does sedimentary rock have a low resistivity?

A

Because it has a high water content, so not alot of electricity can pass through

33
Q

What is trail drilling?

A

Very expensive, produces a sample of the rock underground. The only method to actually prove what is there

34
Q

What is chemical analysis?

A

Confirms chemical composition + purity of the mineral within the rock sample.

35
Q

What explortitory techniques would be used first?

A

Large scale cheaper techniques to see if minerals are present then the more expensive small scale techniques would be used to prove what is there

36
Q

What are some factors that affect mining?

A

The coog, chemical form, overburden, depth and shape

37
Q

Explain ore purity in mining

A

Affects financial costs, if ore purity is low the more will be mined which increases spoil, pollution and uses more energy

38
Q
A
39
Q

Explain COOG in mining

A

COOG is the lowest ore purity that can be mined economically.
The COOG will increase when market demand decreases, it will decrease in high demand

40
Q

Explain overburden and hydrology in mining

A

Hard overburden will need to be blasted which is expensive.
Soft overburden will increase landslides, this can be reduced by making gentle gradients.
More precipitation and permeable rock will increase drainage costs

41
Q

Explain depth in mining

A

Price raises the deeper the ore.
Everything has to be dug up otherwise there is a risk of collapse/sides cannot be vertical.
Bigger holes means more water from runoff do drainage costs increase too

42
Q

Explain the cost of transportation in mining

A

Transport to market
Ease of transport of material
Local infastructure- roads, workforce, energy supplies etc

43
Q

Why would an irregular shape of ore deposits be bad?

A

The more irregular the more spoil there is to remove so its more expensive

44
Q

What is borrow land?

A

Land that is used to dump overburden and spoil on

45
Q

How can habitat loss be reduced in mining?

A

Habitat loss is unavoidable, wildife can be moved but not very successful.
Habitats can be restored by landscaping/re-vegetation after mining is complete, sometimes this will create a more valuable habitat like wetlands

46
Q

How can dust created and how can it be decreased

A

Blasting and vehicle movements creates dust, water sprays can be used to make the particles heavier

47
Q

How can noise pollution be reduced?

A

Embankments or baffle mounds to help absorb and deflect noise.
Blasting a set times so the noise is expected

48
Q

What does turgid drainage water do and how can it be treated?

A

The suspended solids in drainage water can decrease photosynthesis, killing plants/animals.
The water can be put into sedimentation lagoons which allows the solids to sink

49
Q

What are some problems spoil disposal can cause and how can they be fixed

A

Aesthetic- ruins landscape so landscaping can be done or spoil can be fired back into the mine
Stability- can cause landslides and erosion, can be fixed by spoil heap drainage and by planting trees

50
Q

How is acidic toxic leachate formed from spoil heaps and how can it be fixed?

A

Rainwater percolating through the heap can dissolve toxic metals and sulfides making acid drainage water, to manage this the can be passed through crushed lime to immobilise the metals.

51
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of deep mining?

A

Overburden doesnt have to be removed so lower environmental impact
Expensive so only economic for high value minerals

52
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of open cast mining

A

Overburden is removed so more environmental impact
Only used for shallow minerals
High mechanised so alot of energy

53
Q

What are some minerals that can be extracted from seawater?

A

Nacl-salt, bromine-pesticides, manganese-aluminium

54
Q

What are some improvements in exploratory techniques?

A

Better remote sensing images so allows better details of earths surface.
Portable field equipment which uses less energy, saves time as no lab and can be used in radiation detection and infrared

55
Q

Why is mechanisation good for deep mining?

A

Using machines underground where it is too hot/dangerous for people

56
Q

Why is mechanisation good for open-cast mining?

A

Larger machinery allows overburden and minerals to be extracted quicker and is more cost effective.

57
Q

Why will low grade ores only be economically viable if new methods of exploitation are produced?

A

The lower the ore purity the more energy is needed to smelt it, so new methods that dont need high energy/temps are needed.

58
Q

What is bioleaching/bioremediation and how does it work?

A

The use of living organisms to extract metals from their ores.
-Acidophilic bacteria oxidise sulfide ores and produces sulfuric acid which dissolves metals like copper and zinc
-Fungi produces acids that dissolves metals like lead and copper and can be grown on fly ash from incinerators
The metals dissolved can be separated by electrolysis/carbon filters

59
Q

What is phytomining and how does it work?

A

Some plants absorb metal ions from soil/water and concentrate them in their leaves so can be used to decontaminate polluted mine sites or to extract metals.
The vegetation is harvested and incinerated, the metals are in the fly ash which can be dissolved with acid and separated with electrolysis.

60
Q

Why would leachate be recirculated through spoil?

A

To increase the conc of metal ions in the leachate, once the conc is high enough the metals can be extracted

61
Q

What metals have be found in the deep sea?

A

Rare earth metals that are used in many important products like phones, wind turbines and hybrid cars

62
Q

What is polymer adsorption?

A

Metal ions dissolved in sea water will adsorb onto the surface of some polymers.
e..g uranium

63
Q

What are polymetallic nodules/manganese nodules?

A

Metal rich nodules found on the seabed, they contains 30% manganese with small amounts of iron, nickel, copper.

64
Q

What are the environmental impacts of extracting polymetallic nodules?

A

Disturb the seabed and kill organisms.
Increases turbidity of water which has unknown consequences but will also kill filter feeding fish and will smother aquatic plants.

65
Q

Advantages of recyling?

A

Conserves minerals not exploited
Less energy is used in mineral extraction as less minerals are being extracted
Less environmental damage from mining

66
Q

What are the disadvantages of recycling?

A

Transportation- collecting the recycled materials may not be able to be done in bulk
Costs to process materials
Separation/identification of materials- Alloys of metals not separated easily, expensive and slow to find composition of materials
Public cooperation- public is needed to separate wastes from households to make recycling more energy efficient
Waste losses- some materials cannot be recycled
Energy- Saves energy from not mining but transport and processes may use more energy

67
Q

What is cradle to cradle design?

A

Involves the use of products so that the materials used can be reused at the end of their lives.

Environmental Science (21 decks)

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