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ES_CH14
Environmental Science: Chapter 14 Vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Geology | The science devoted to the study of dynamic processes occurring on the earth's surface and in its interior |
| Core | The earth's innermost zone |
| Mantle | The solid rock layer surrounding the core |
| Tectonic Plates | Huge rigid plates moving slowly atop the denser mantle |
| Lithosphere | The continental and oceanic crust and the rigid outermost part of the mantle |
| Weathering | The physical, chemical, and biological processes that break down rocks in to smaller particles that help build soil |
| Earthquake | When a fault forms (or an existing fault fault abruptly moves) and accumulated energy release in the form of seismic waves |
| Tsunami | A series a large waves generated when part of the ocean floor suddenly rises or drops |
| Mineral | An element or inorganic compound that occurs naturally in the earth's crust as a solid with regular internal crystalline structure |
| Rock | A solid combination of one or more minerals found it the earth's crust |
| Sedimentary Rocks | Rocks made of sediments (dead plant and animal remains and existing rocks that are weathered) |
| Igneous Rocks | Rocks formed below the earth's surface wen magma wells up from the earth's upper mantle or deep crust and then cools and hardens |
| Metamorphic Rocks | Rocks formed when a preexisting rock is subjected to high temperatures, high pressures, chemically active fluids, or a combination of these agents |
| Rock Cycle | The interaction of physical and chemical processes that change rocks from one type to another |
| Mineral Resource | A concentration of naturally occurring material from the earth's crust that can be extracted and processed into useful product and raw materials at an affordable cost |
| Ore | A rock that contains a large enough concentration of particular mineral to make it profitable for mining and processing |
| High-grade Ore | Contains a fairly large amount of the desired nonrenewable resource |
| Low-grade Ore | Contains a small amount of the desired nonrenewable resource |
| Reserves | Identified resources from which the mineral can be extracted profitable at current prices |
| Surface Mining | Used to get to shallow deposits |
| Subsurface Mining | Used to get to deep deposits |
| Overburden | The soil and rock overlaying a useful mineral deposit |
| Spoils | Unwanted rock and other waste materials produced when a mineral is removed from the earth |
| Open-pit Mining | Here, machines dig holes and remove ores, sand, gravel, and stone |
| Strip Mining | Useful to remove deposits located close to the earth's surface |
| Area Strip Mining | When large shovels remove mineral deposits from a large, flat area of land |
| Contour Strip Mining | Used to mine on hilly or mountainous terrain |
| Mountain-top Removal | Another surface mining method. Explosives or shovel remove the top of a mountain to get to the coal inside |
| Smelting | Heating ores to release metals |
| Depletion Time | The time it takes to use up a certain proportion (usually 80%) of the reserves of a mineral at a given rate of use |
Created by:
kctwirler1
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