University of Phoenix Material
Environmental Resources Worksheet
Using the assigned readings from Week Four, write a 50- to 75-word response to each of the following questions. Your responses will be assessed according to the accuracy of the content.
Minerals
How do minerals affect society?
The extraction, processing, and disposal of minerals clearly harm the environment. Mining disturbs and damages the land, and the processing and disposal of minerals pollute the air, soil, and water. Although pollution can be controlled and damaged lands can be restored, these remedies are costly. Mining has contaminated thousands of kilometers of streams and rivers in the United States. Rocks rich in minerals often contain high concentrations of heavy metals such as arsenic and lead.
What is the difference between metallic and nonmetallic minerals? Provide two examples from each category and discuss their uses.
Metallic mineral are those minerals which can be melted to obtain new products and are good conductors of heat and electricity. Examples of metallic minerals are iron, aluminum, and copper. Non-metallic minerals are those which do not yield new products on melting. Examples of non-metallic minerals are sand, stone, salt, and phosphates.
Mining
.1 How are minerals extracted from the Earth and processed?
The depth of a particular mineral deposit determines whether surface or subsurface mining will be used. In surface mining, minerals are extracted near the surface. Subsurface mining extracts minerals too deep in the ground to be removed by surface mining. Subsurface mining may be done with underground shaft mines or slope mines. Processing minerals often involves smelting
.2 What are the different ways minerals can be mined? Provide a brief description of at least three types of mining.
There are two kinds of surface mining, open-pit surface mining and strip mining. Open-pit surface mining, in which a giant...