Solid Waste, Mining, and Plate Tectonics

what is leachate

“garbage soup water”

forms when rainwater filters through wastes placed in a landfill

what is liner

layers of plastic and clay to prevent groundwater contamination

landfills are a major source of what

CH4 (methane)

what are 2 ways of reducing methane gas emissions

flaring and capturing landfill

what is flaring

combustion

what can be made with captured CH4

create electricity

what is e-waste

electronic waste

what is a landfill alternative

incineration/burning trash

what are pros and cons of incineration

get electricity from it

Wastewater/ash needs specially treated and the cost of cleaning up the air

what are ores

concentrated accumulations of minerals

where are ores localized

earth’s crust

small areas of high concentration of ores are called what

veins

how does an active mine’s age influence its environmental impact

the longer the mine is open the more chemicals that need to be used

so, the older the mine, the better environmental impact

what is a reserve

the publicly known estimate of how much of a particular resource is available

what is strip mining

removal of overlying vegetation and strips of soil and rock

what is open-pit mining

creation of a large pit in the ground for extraction of ores close to the surface

what is mountaintop removal

removing mountaintop with explosives

what is placer mining

looking for minerals, metals, and precious stones in river sediments

what are environmental impacts of surface mining

loss of tress, air pollution (dust from the mining), alteration of downstream river flows, waste called tailings

what is subsurface mining

below the surface mining

risks: black lung disease, mine collapses

environmental issues: acid drainage from water in the water table needing to be drained

what are each of the layers of the earth

what is the crust

make sup less than 1% of earth’s mass

contains top of lithosphere

what is the lithosphere

cool layer broken into tectonic plates

what is the mantle

top layer (asthenosphere) and the inner layer (mesosphere)

what is the core

composed of nickel and iron

outer: liquid

inner: solid (due to pressure)

what is the evidence for the internal structure of the earth

seismic waves

what are seismic waves

waves that travel through the Earth’s interior during an earthquake which changes speed and direction when traveling through different densities

p waves vs s waves

P: primary, travels through solids, liquids, and gases, coiled

S: secondary, travels throug solids only, not coiled (up and down)

what measures the seismic waves

a seismometer

how do natural disasters occur

when two plates move together/apart

how do tectonic plates move

because convection currents that flow up from earths core and circulate under the asthenosphere

divergent plate boundary

plates moving apart

convergent plate boundary

plates moving together

transform plate boundary

plates moving past each other

what do divergent plate boundaries form

mid-ocean ridge formations

what do convergent plate boundaries form

volcanoes, earthquakes, trenches, subduction zones

what do transform plate boundaries form

volcanoes and earthquakes

what are subduction zones

occurs at convergent plate boundaries

denser plates subduct beneath less dense plates

oceanic vs continental crust

oceanic: more dense

continential: less dense

what is a fault

a fracture or crack in the earth’s crust where rocks have moved or slipped past each other