Geology and nonrenewable mineral resources

Chapter 15
Geology and
Nonrenewable Mineral
Resources


Chapter Overview Questions


What major geologic processes occur within the earth and on its
surface?



What are nonrenewable mineral resources and where are they found?



What are rocks, and how are they recycled by the rock cycle?



How do we find and extract mineral resources from the earth’s crust, and
what harmful environmental effects result from removing and using
these minerals?


Chapter Overview Questions (cont’d)


Will there be enough nonrenewable mineral resources for future

generations?



Can we find substitutes for scarce nonrenewable mineral resources?



How can we shift to more sustainable use of nonrenewable mineral
resources?


Updates Online
The latest references for topics covered in this section can be found at
the book companion website. Log in to the book’s e-resources page at
www.thomsonedu.com to access InfoTrac articles.







InfoTrac: Residents discuss towns' deaths. Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma
City, OK) August 2, 2006.
InfoTrac: All that glitters: the demand for gold is soaring. Jane Perlez,
Kirk Johnson. New York Times, May 8, 2006 v138 i14 p12(6) .
InfoTrac: In Old Mining Town, New Charges Over Asbestos. Kirk
Johnson. The New York Times, April 22, 2006 pA1(L).
Science Daily: Putting Coal Ash Back Into Mines A Viable Option For

Disposal, But Risks Must Be Addressed
National Park Service: Mining Operations Management
Arizona Mining Association: From the Ground Up: Mining/Mineral
Resource Development


Core Case Study: The
Nanotechnology Revolution


Nanotechnology uses science and engineering to create materials
out of atoms and molecules at the scale of less than 100
nanometers.


Little environmental harm:
• Does not use renewable resources.



Potential biological concerns.
• Can move through cell membranes:

Figure 15-1


GEOLOGIC PROCESSES


The earth is made up of a core, mantle, and crust and is constantly

changing as a result of processes taking place on and below its surface.



The earth’s interior consists of:






Core: innermost zone with solid inner core and
molten outer core that is extremely hot.
Mantle: solid rock with a rigid outer part
(asthenosphere) that is melted pliable rock.
Crust: Outermost zone which underlies the
continents.


GEOLOGIC PROCESSES



Major features of the earth’s crust and upper mantle.
Figure 15-2


Volcanoes
Abyssal
floor

Trench

Abyssal plain

Craton

lp

lai

n

Abyssal hills

Abyssal Oceanic
floor
ridge

Folded
mountain
belt

Ab
ys
sa

Oceanic crust
(lithosphere)
Mantle (li

thospher
e)

Continental
shelf

Continental
slope
Continental
rise

Continental crust (lithosphere)
Mantle (lithosphere)

Mantle (asthen
o

sphere)

Fig. 15-2, p. 336


Te
c
pl toni
at c
e

Collision between

two continents

to
c tec
i
n
a
Oce plate

nic Spreading Oceanic tecto
nic
center
plate

ement
v
o
m
Plate

Subduction
zone
Continental
crust

Oceanic
crust

Plate mov
em

Ocean
trench

ent

Oceanic
crust
Continental
crust

Material cools Cold dense
as it reaches material falls
the outer back through
mantle
mantle
Hot
Mantle
material
convection
rising
cell
through
the
mantle

Two plates move
towards each other.
One is subducted back
into the mantle on a

falling convection
current.

Mantle
Hot outer
core Inner
core
Fig. 15-3, p. 337


GEOLOGIC PROCESSES


Huge volumes of heated and molten rack moving around the earth’s
interior form massive solid plates that move extremely slowly across the
earth’s surface.


Tectonic plates: huge rigid plates that are
moved with convection cells or currents by
floating on magma or molten rock.


The Earth’s Major Tectonic Plates

Figure 15-4


The Earth’s Major Tectonic Plates



The extremely slow movements of these plates cause them to grind into
one another at convergent plate boundaries, move apart at divergent
plate boundaries and slide past at transform plate boundaries.

Figure 15-4


Fig. 15-4, p. 338


JUAN DE
FUCA PLATE

EURASIAN PLATE

NORTH
AMERICAN
PLATE

PACIFIC
PLATE

ANATOLIAN
PLATE

CARIBBEAN
PLATE

ARABIAN

AFRICAN PLATE
PLATE
SOUTH
AMERICAN
NAZCA PLATE

PLATE

SOMALIAN
SUBPLATE

CHINA
SUBPLATE

PHILIPPINE
PLATE

INDIAAUSTRALIAN
PLATE

ANTARCTIC PLATE
Divergent plate
boundaries

Convergent plate
boundaries

Transform

faults

Fig. 15-4a, p. 338


Trench

Volcanic island arc

Craton
Transform
fault

Su
bd

Lithosphere
Asthenosphere
Divergent plate boundaries

Lithosphere
uc
Rising
tio
n magma
zo
n
Asthenosphere e
Convergent plate boundaries

Lithosphere
Asthenosphere
Transform faults

Fig. 15-4b, p. 338


GEOLOGIC PROCESSES


The San Andreas Fault is
an example of a
transform fault.

Figure 15-5


Wearing Down and Building Up the
Earth’s Surface


Weathering is an
external process that
wears the earth’s
surface down.

Figure 15-6


Parent material

(rock)

Biological
weathering
(tree roots and
lichens)

Chemical
weathering
(water, acids,
and gases)

Particles of parent material

Physical weathering
(wind, rain, thermal
expansion and
contraction, water
freezing)

Fig. 15-6, p. 340


MINERALS, ROCKS, AND THE
ROCK CYCLE


The earth’s crust consists of solid inorganic elements and compounds
called minerals that can sometimes be used as resources.


Mineral resource: is a concentration of
naturally occurring material in or on the earth’s
crust that can be extracted and processed into
useful materials at an affordable cost.


General Classification of
Nonrenewable Mineral Resources


The U.S. Geological Survey classifies mineral resources into four major
categories:








Identified: known location, quantity, and quality
or existence known based on direct evidence and
measurements.
Undiscovered: potential supplies that are
assumed to exist.
Reserves: identified resources that can be
extracted profitably.
Other: undiscovered or identified resources not
classified as reserves

General Classification of
Nonrenewable Mineral Resources


Examples are fossil fuels
(coal, oil), metallic minerals
(copper, iron), and
nonmetallic minerals (sand,
gravel).

Figure 15-7


Reserves

Other
resources

Economical

Identified

Not economical

Decreasing cost of extraction

Undiscovered

Decreasing certainty
Existence

Known
Fig. 15-7, p. 341


GEOLOGIC PROCESSES


Deposits of nonrenewable mineral resources in the earth’s crust vary in
their abundance and distribution.



A very slow chemical cycle recycles three types of rock found in the
earth’s crust:




Sedimentary rock (sandstone, limestone).
Metamorphic rock (slate, marble, quartzite).
Igneous rock (granite, pumice, basalt).


Rock Cycle

Figure 15-8

Erosion
Transportation

Weathering
Deposition

Igneous
rock Granite,
pumice,
basalt

Sedimentar
y rock
Sandstone,
limestone

Heat,
pressure
Cooling
Heat, pressure,
stress

Magma
(molten rock)

Melting

Metamorphic rock
Slate, marble,

gneiss, quartzite

Fig. 15-8, p. 343