CHAPTER 14—GEOLOGY AND NONRENEWABLE MINERAL …



CHAPTER 14—GEOLOGY AND NONRENEWABLE MINERAL RESOURCES

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. A common form of extracting gold from rock used in Australia and North America is

|a. |power flushing |

|b. |cyanide heap leaching |

|c. |sulfuric acid leaching |

|d. |hydraulic scouring |

|e. |yellow-cake extraction |

2. Which one of the following is not one of the top five gold producing countries of the world?

|a. |China |

|b. |South Africa |

|c. |Egypt |

|d. |Australia |

|e. |United States |

3. The zone of hot, partly melted rock that flows and can be deformed is called the

|a. |crust |

|b. |asthenosphere |

|c. |core |

|d. |mantle |

|e. |lithosphere |

4. What part makes up 71% of the crust?

|a. |oceanic crust |

|b. |asthenosphere |

|c. |lithosphere |

|d. |continental crust |

|e. |geosphere |

5. Large sections of the earth's crust, called ______________, move slowly on the mantle below them.

|a. |asthenosphere |

|b. |mantle |

|c. |tectonic plates |

|d. |core |

|e. |oceanic ridges |

6. When an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate the continental plate usually slides up and over the denser oceanic plate, pushing it down into the mantle, a process called

|a. |production |

|b. |subduction |

|c. |induction |

|d. |convection |

|e. |trenching |

7. Tectonic plates can move in opposite but parallel directions along a fracture or fault at a boundary called a

|a. |divergent plate boundary |

|b. |convergent plate boundary |

|c. |subduction zone |

|d. |mantle fault |

|e. |transform fault |

8. The physical, chemical, and biological activities, part of the external geologic processes driven by energy from the sun, is called?

|a. |decomposition |

|b. |wind erosion |

|c. |weathering |

|d. |water erosion |

|e. |glacial erosion |

9. The second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century occurred in 1991 when which mountain erupted?

|a. |Mt. Pinatubo |

|b. |Mt. McKinley |

|c. |Mt. St. Helens |

|d. |Mt. Everest |

|e. |Humphrey's Peak |

10. Vibrations caused when energy accumulated over time is released, are called

|a. |fractures |

|b. |seismic waves |

|c. |glaciations |

|d. |tsunamis |

|e. |drift |

11. The place where an earthquake begins is called its

|a. |start |

|b. |focus |

|c. |magnitude |

|d. |epicenter |

|e. |fault |

12. The location on the earth's surface above where an earthquake begins is called its

|a. |start |

|b. |focus |

|c. |magnitude |

|d. |epicenter |

|e. |fault |

13. The severity of an earthquake is a measure of its seismic waves, and is called

|a. |epicenter |

|b. |focus |

|c. |magnitude |

|d. |ridges |

|e. |valleys |

14. A series of large waves generated in the ocean by an earthquake, landslide, or volcanic activity are called

|a. |pipe waves |

|b. |quake waves |

|c. |seismic waves |

|d. |rollers |

|e. |tsunamis |

15. Granite is what type of rock?

|a. |igneous |

|b. |mineral |

|c. |metamorphic |

|d. |sedimentary |

|e. |organic |

16. Although often covered by other kinds of rock, which type of rock forms most of the earth's crust?

|a. |igneous |

|b. |mineral |

|c. |metamorphic |

|d. |sedimentary |

|e. |organic |

17. The change of rocks from one type to another type is known as

|a. |metamorphism |

|b. |the rock cycle |

|c. |petrography |

|d. |consolidation |

|e. |hydrogeology |

18. Limestone, when exposed to heat and pressure, becomes

|a. |salt |

|b. |quartzite |

|c. |granite |

|d. |marble |

|e. |bituminous coal |

19. The slowest of the earth’s cyclic processes is the

|a. |hydrological cycle |

|b. |carbon cycle |

|c. |rock cycle |

|d. |phosphorus cycle |

|e. |nutrient cycle |

20. Minerals and rocks take a long time to form and are called

|a. |unusable resources |

|b. |waste products |

|c. |nonrenewable resources |

|d. |degraded capital |

|e. |renewable resources. |

21. Which of the following is not a type of metallic mineral?

|a. |iron |

|b. |lead |

|c. |copper |

|d. |aluminum |

|e. |coal |

22. Nonmetallic mineral resources include all of the following except

|a. |phosphate |

|b. |iron |

|c. |gypsum |

|d. |limestone |

|e. |sulfate |

23. Which of the following is not a part of the life cycle of a metal?

|a. |recycling |

|b. |mining |

|c. |using |

|d. |transformation to another element |

|e. |processing |

24. Waste soil and rock removed during surface mining is called

|a. |hazardous waste |

|b. |gangue |

|c. |spoil |

|d. |tailings |

|e. |smelt |

25. Which of the following would most likely be used to mine coal on hilly terrain?

|a. |open-pit mining |

|b. |contour mining |

|c. |area strip mining |

|d. |strip mining |

|e. |mountain-top removal |

26. Many of the millions of miners that have moved into tropical forests and other tropical regions looking for gold use the very destructive technique known as

|a. |acid leaching |

|b. |contour strip mining |

|c. |mountain-top removal |

|d. |area-strip mining |

|e. |hydraulic mining |

27. Which of the following is associated more with surface mining than subsurface mining?

|a. |It is more dangerous. |

|b. |It is more expensive. |

|c. |It produces less waste material. |

|d. |It disturbs more land. |

|e. |It causes subsidence. |

28. Which of the following does mining not cause?

|a. |forest fires |

|b. |water pollution |

|c. |toxic chemical emissions |

|d. |subsidence |

|e. |diseases |

29. The portion of ore that does not contain the desired mineral is called

|a. |hazardous waste |

|b. |spoil |

|c. |gangue |

|d. |tailings |

|e. |smelt |

30. Which of the following is not a long-term harm to the environment caused by mining?

|a. |scarring and disruption of the land surface |

|b. |large amounts of radioactivity |

|c. |subsidence |

|d. |large amounts of solid waste |

|e. |toxic chemical releases into the atmosphere |

31. Which of the following is not one of the important, but scarce, mineral resources?

|a. |manganese |

|b. |copper |

|c. |chromium |

|d. |cobalt |

|e. |platinum |

32. Which of the following is not a member of the group of nations that supply most of the nonrenewable mineral resources used by modern societies?

|a. |United States |

|b. |Russia |

|c. |South Africa |

|d. |Germany |

|e. |Canada |

33. Which of the following is not one of the nations supplying most of the nonrenewable mineral resources used by modern societies.

|a. |China |

|b. |Canada |

|c. |Russia |

|d. |United States |

|e. |South Africa |

34. The United States, Germany, and Russia, with only 8% of the world's population, consume about ____ of the world's most widely used metals.

|a. |25% |

|b. |33% |

|c. |50% |

|d. |67% |

|e. |75% |

35. Of the 20 key nonrenewable mineral resources it needs, what percentage does the U.S. import?

|a. |15% |

|b. |25% |

|c. |40% |

|d. |80% |

|e. |100% |

36. Experts are particularly concerned about four strategic metal resources that are important for the U.S. economy and military strength, and that must be imported. Which of the following is not one of those metal resources?

|a. |cobalt |

|b. |manganese |

|c. |iron |

|d. |chromium |

|e. |platinum |

37. When a resource has been economically depleted, we can do all of the following, except

|a. |Use other supplies of the resource |

|b. |Recycle existing supplies. |

|c. |Waste less. |

|d. |Use less. |

|e. |Do without. |

38. Depletion time is the time it takes to use up approximately ____% of the mineral reserves at a given rate of use.

|a. |30 |

|b. |50 |

|c. |60 |

|d. |70 |

|e. |80 |

39. The United States subsidizes mining companies through depletion allowances that amount to ____% of their gross income from mining and processing.

|a. |2.4 |

|b. |4.8 |

|c. |5.10 |

|d. |5.22 |

|e. |6.33 |

40. If consumers paid the full market cost of mineral extraction and processing, all of the following would occur, except

|a. |Harmful environmental effects would be reduced. |

|b. |Economies would collapse. |

|c. |Recycling would increase dramatically. |

|d. |Minerals would be replaced with less harmful substitutes. |

|e. |Reuse would increase. |

41. The mining law that governs the exploration and mining of hard rock minerals on U.S. public lands was passed into law in what year?

|a. |1992 |

|b. |1972 |

|c. |1952 |

|d. |1932 |

|e. |1872 |

42. Each year the General Mining Law of 1872 allows companies to remove at least $4 billion of hard rock minerals from public lands and pay what percentage of the value of the minerals to the U.S.?

|a. |13.2% |

|b. |25% |

|c. |2.3% |

|d. |3.6% |

|e. |82% |

43. The advantages of using microorganisms for mining include all of the following, except

|a. |reduced land disturbance |

|b. |reduced air pollution |

|c. |faster removal of the mineral |

|d. |reduced use of hazardous chemicals |

|e. |reduced water pollution |

44. Which of the following is true concerning the possible mining of the ocean floor?

|a. |Working around volcanic vents is too dangerous |

|b. |Countries cannot come to an agreement about who owns the minerals. |

|c. |Disturbance of the sea floor may release dangerous chemicals. |

|d. |No one has the ability to mine the deep ocean floor. |

|e. |Giant squid may interfere with the mining. |

45. In the transportation industry, switching to high-strength plastics and composite materials strengthened by light-weight carbon and glass fibers in place of metals, have all of the following advantages, except

|a. |they serve as the best catalysts available |

|b. |they cost less to produce |

|c. |they involve less pollution by not needing painting |

|d. |they can be molded into virtually any shape |

|e. |they increase fuel efficiency by reducing weight |

46. Recycling aluminum beverage cans and scrap aluminum produces ____ percent less air pollution than mining and processing aluminum ore.

|a. |75 |

|b. |80 |

|c. |85 |

|d. |90 |

|e. |95 |

47. In 1975, which company began a Pollution Prevention Pays program?

|a. |DuPont |

|b. |BP |

|c. |IBM |

|d. |3M |

|e. |Exxon |

48. Some analysts suggest we can increase supplies of some minerals by extracting lower grades of ore. Which of the following is not a factor that limits the mining of lower- grade ores?

|a. |increased cost of mining and processing the larger volumes of ore |

|b. |increasing shortage of freshwater needed to mine and process ore |

|c. |the lack of new earth-moving equipment and mining techniques |

|d. |environmental impact of increased land disruption |

|e. |the pollution produced during the mining and processing of ore |

TRUE/FALSE

1. The gold necessary for two wedding rings produces enough mining waste to weigh the same as three mid-sized cars.

2. The oceanic crust makes up less than 30% of the earth’s crust.

3. The continents, riding on tectonic plates, have crashed together and separated several times during the earth’s history.

4. The highest peaks and deepest valleys are on the continents.

5. The Great Lakes in the United States, are the world’s largest body of fresh water, and were formed when glaciers retreated after the last ice age.

6. External geological processes tend to build up the earth's surface, including mountains and volcanoes.

7. An active volcano forms where magma reaches the earth's surface through a vent or a fissure.

8. Soil that forms from the weathering of volcanic lava is not very fertile.

9. Most earthquakes occur near the center of a tectonic plate.

10. Major earthquakes measure from 7.0-7.9 on the Richter scale.

11. Tidal waves in the open ocean can travel as fast as jet airplanes.

12. The slowest of the earth's cyclic processes is the carbon cycle.

13. Rocks can be converted from one type to another.

14. Minerals are considered nonrenewable resources because they take so long to form.

15. The higher the grade of ore, the higher the environmental impact.

16. Reserves of minerals increase when new, profitable sources are identified, and when technologies make it profitable to extract deposits formerly considered too expensive to remove.

17. The most commonly used nonmetallic minerals are sand and gravel.

18. At least 1,200 miles of Appalachia's rivers and streams have been buried by mining activities in the region.

19. Surface mining is used to extract 60% of the coal used in the United States.

20. Mining operations produce one-third of all solid waste in the United States.

21. Adding chemicals to remove metals from their ores is called smelting.

22. If all nations extract metal resources at the same rate as developed nations do today, there may not be enough metal to meet the demand, even with extensive recycling.

23. If geologists identify 10,000 possible deposits of a given resource, only one will become a productive mine or well.

24. Mining companies have not been successful in pressuring the U.S. Congress to continue the current mining law, or in keeping the royalties at the current levels.

25. Nanotechnology is proving to be a likely answer to the possible shortage of mineral resources, especially since it has no known disadvantages.

26. Instead of asking how we can increase the supplies of nonrenewable minerals, we should be asking how can we decrease our use and waste of such resources?

COMPLETION

1. The common mining process used in the United States and Australia uses a very toxic chemical called ____________________.

2. The part of the earth’s crust that makes up 71% of all the earth’s crust, is called the ____________________.

3. When oceanic plates move apart, molten rock, called ____________________, flows up through the cracks formed by the movement.

4. When an oceanic plate and a continental plate collide, the continental plate rides up over the denser oceanic plate, pushing the oceanic plate down in a process called _______________.

5. When two continental plates collide they form ____________________.

6. Magma that manages to reach the surface of the earth is called ____________________.

7. When energy that has accumulated over time along a fault is released, the result is vibrations called ____________________.

8. The ____________________, which measures the magnitude of an earthquake, has units that are each 10 times stronger than the one below it.

9. A(n) ____________________ is an element or inorganic compound that occurs naturally in the earth's crust as a solid with a regular internal crystalline structure.

10. Sandstone and shale are types of ____________________ rock.

11. A mineral resource is a concentration of naturally occurring material from the earth's crust that can be extracted and processed into useful products at an ____________________.

12. Identified resources from which the mineral can be extracted profitably at current prices are called ____________________.

13. The environmental impact of mining depends on the percentage of metal content, or ____________________.

14. Cleaning up surface mining sites worldwide would cost ____________________ of dollars.

15. In the United States, the mining industry releases almost ____________________ of all toxic emissions.

16. The United States has little or no reserves of four _______________ such as cobalt, chromium, manganese, and platinum, which are vital to the country’s economic and military strength.

17. A mineral becomes ____________________ when it costs more than it is worth to find, extract, transport, and process it.

18. ____________________ are permission from the government to deduct from mining company taxes their costs of developing and extracting mineral resources.

19. It will cost the U.S. taxpayer approximately ____________________ dollars to clean up the 500,000 mining sites that have been abandoned.

20. One way to improve mining technology and reduce its environmental impact is to use microorganisms that can breakdown rock material and extract minerals, a process called ____________________ mining.

21. Some analysts think we should be asking how we can decrease our ____________________ and ____________________ of nonrenewable resources rather than how can we get more.

OTHER

|[pic] |

| |

|The Major Features of the Earth's Crust and Upper Mantle |

Use the Figure above to answer the following question(s).

1. What does the letter A represent?

2. What does the letter B represent?

3. What does the letter C represent?

4. What does the letter D represent?

5. What does the letter E represent?

|[pic] |

| |

|Rock Cycle |

Use the Figure above to answer the following question(s).

6. Choose the process that could involve movement by wind.

7. Choose the process in which sediment is placed in a river or lake.

8. Choose the process in which existing rocks can be broken into small pieces.

9. Choose the process in which rocks are subjected to sun, wind, and precipitation.

|[pic] |

| |

|Natural Capital Depletion |

The figure above shows the depletion curves for a nonrenewable resource such as aluminum or copper. Identify the statement below that corresponds to the correct curve on the graph. Use the Figure above to answer the following question(s).

10. Recycle; increase reserves by improved mining technology; higher prices and new discoveries.

11. Recycle, reuse, reduce consumption; increase reserves by improved mining technology, raising prices, and new discoveries.

12. Mine, use, throw away; no new discoveries; rising prices

ESSAY

1. Explain what it means for a mineral to become economically depleted.

2. Name five options that exist if a mineral does become economically depleted.

3. Mining provides important and useful minerals for our daily lives. However, most of us would be surprised to learn it requires the creation of six tons of mining waste to get enough gold to make two wedding rings. Should mining companies be required to repair the damage they do to the environment, even if wedding rings get more expensive?

4. Summarize the author's description of the active, moving nature of the earth's crust, especially regarding tectonic plates.

5. Briefly describe the three major classes of rocks, including how they are formed and examples of each type.

6. Compare and contrast surface and subsurface mining in terms of environmental impact.

7. Choose one of the following (A or B) to answer.

|(A) |Should the government of the United States continue to subsidize the mining industry, keeping the price of minerals |

| |artificially low, or allow the market to set the price and possibly encourage more environmentally friendly |

| |practices? |

| | |

|(B) |Should the 1872 mining act be revised and updated to include covering the actual costs of cleanup and restoration of |

| |the land after mining ceases, and a reasonable leasing cost? |

8. What can an individual do to participate in encouraging the sustainable use of mineral resources?

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