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Chapter 14 Review Question

10. The rock cycle is the interaction of physical and chemical processes that change rocks
from one type to another. This is important because recycles earth three types of rocks.
11. A mineral resource is a concentration of naturally occurring material from the earths
crust that can be extracted and processed into useful products and raw materials at an
affordable cost. An ore is rock that contains a large enough concentration of a particular
mineraloften a metalto make it profitable for mining and processing. Reserves are
identified resources from which the mineral can be extracted profitable at current prices.
1. Surface mining, subsurface mining, open-pit mining, strip mining, are strip
mining, contour strip mining, and mountain top removal.
2. In surface mining, gigantic mechanized equipment strips away the overburden,
the soil and rock overlying a useful mineral deposit. Subsurface mining is used to
remove coal and metal ores that are too deep to be extracted by surface tunnels
and chambers to reach the deposit, and use machinery to remove the ore or coal
and transport it to the surface.
3. Scarring and disruption of the land surface (ex. spoil banks) Regrowth of
vegetation on these banks is quite slow because they have no topsoil. Toxic waste
water is produced when coal is processed. Another problem is subsidencethe
collapse of land above some underground mines. Mining also causes major
pollution of water and air.
4. Economical depletion of a mineral is when it costs more than it is worth to find,
extract, transport, and process the remaining deposits. At that point, three are five
choices: recycle or reuse existing supplies, waste less, use less, find a substitute,
or do without. Finding a substitute for a resource leads to a new set of depletion
curves for the new resource.
5. According to standard economic theory, in a competitive market system, a
plentiful mineral resource is cheap when its supply exceeds demand. Industry and
government in such countries often use subsidies, taxes, regulations, and import
tariffs to control the supplies, demand, and prices of minerals to such an extent
that a truly competitive market does not exist.
6. Advantages: local employment with high wages development of skills and
technologies tax base less dependence on foreign sources of resources.
Disadvantages: NIMBY attitudes (not in my backyard) environmental impacts
7. Nano particles could be used to remove industrial pollutants in contaminated air,
soil, and ground water, and nano filters might be used to purify water and to
desalinate water at an affordable cost. However, as particles get smaller, they
become more radioactive and potentially more toxic.

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