Mineral Resources, Volcanoes, Flooding, and Earthquake Fundamentals

What is the importance of mineral resources?

Mineral resources are key in creating economically important concentrations of valuable minerals in Earth's crust, influenced by population, economics, and technology.

Define 'gangue' in mineral resources.

Gangue is the worthless rock associated with ore.

What are ore deposits?

Ore deposits are concentrations of a mineral resource that can be economically extracted with current technologies.

What are reserves in mineral resources?

Reserves are potentially extractable minerals, both economic and uneconomic, which change as deposits are mined or new deposits are found.

What are the most valuable non-energy resources in Texas?

Construction and industrial minerals like crushed stone, sand and gravel, and cement.

What is hydrothermal mineral deposition?

Hydrothermal deposits are formed when circulating groundwater or seawater reacts with a magmatic intrusion, creating a hydrothermal solution that leaches and transports minerals.

What are the steps in developing mineral resources?

The steps include prospecting, mine exploration, and development.

What health issues can miners experience?

Miners can experience sudden, accidental, and long-term health problems, though regulations have improved safety.

What are some environmental impacts of mining?

Environmental impacts include physical disturbances, changes in water flow, spills of toxic chemicals, and air pollution from emissions.

What are the major rock-forming minerals?

Silicate minerals.

What is viscosity in relation to volcanic eruptions?

Viscosity is the resistance of a fluid to flow; higher viscosity leads to more explosive eruptions.

What are the products of volcanic eruptions?

Lava, gas, and pyroclastics.

What characterizes a shield volcano?

A shield volcano is built by successive flows of lava from a central vent, typically with basaltic lava that flows easily.

What is a cinder cone volcano?

A cinder cone is formed from solid fragments of lava that build up around a volcanic vent.

What defines a composite volcano?

A composite volcano emits both lava and pyroclasts, creating a concave shape from alternating layers.

What are some volcanic hazards?

Lava flows, pyroclastic flows, ash accumulation, earthquakes, lahars, landslides, gas emissions, and fire.

How can volcanic eruptions be predicted?

Predictions can be made through seismic activity monitoring, thermal and hydrologic monitoring, and observing volcanic gas emissions.

What is the relationship between volcanic distribution and plate tectonics?

Most volcano locations are controlled by tectonic plate boundaries, including divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries, as well as hot spots.

What are the contributions to flooding?

Flooding can be caused by heavy rainfall, rapid snowmelt, and poor land management practices.

What is an example of a volcanic product?

Pyroclasts, which can range from fine ash to large boulders.

What is the role of magma in volcanic eruptions?

Magma is molten rock beneath the Earth's surface that can erupt as lava.

What is the difference between lava and magma?

Lava is molten rock at the Earth's surface, while magma is molten rock beneath the surface.

What is a volcanic lahar?

A lahar is a mudflow that occurs when volcanic ash and debris mix with water.

What is the significance of volcanic gas emissions?

Volcanic gas emissions can indicate the potential for an eruption and affect air quality.

What is the impact of mining on groundwater?

Mining can alter groundwater flow patterns and lead to contamination.

What is the importance of core sampling in mineral exploration?

Core sampling helps evaluate the size and concentration of mineral deposits before mining.

What are disseminated deposits?

Disseminated deposits are low-grade mineral deposits that are spread throughout a large area.

What is the role of prospecting in mineral resource development?

Prospecting involves finding promising mineral deposits as the first step in resource extraction.

What are natural levees?

Ridges of coarse material built up by successive floods that confine a stream within its banks.

What causes flooding?

Flooding occurs when a stream's discharge exceeds its capacity.

How do cities protect against flooding?

Cities use extensive systems of dams and levees, but cannot eliminate flood risk entirely.

What is flood recurrence probability?

The likelihood of a flood of a certain magnitude occurring in any given year.

What is the difference between a 100-year flood and a 2-year flood?

A 100-year flood is more severe and has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year, while a 2-year flood has a 50% chance.

What are active flood control measures?

Measures such as dams, diversion basins, channelization, levees, dredging, and pumping.

What are passive flood control measures?

Measures such as flood-hazard mapping, floodplain regulation, and zoning.

What is an earthquake?

An earthquake occurs when brittle rocks under stress suddenly fail along a geologic fault.

What is the Elastic Rebound Theory?

It explains the earthquake cycle, stating that stress builds up in rocks until it exceeds rock strength, causing an earthquake.

What is the focus of an earthquake?

The point at which fault slipping begins.

What is the epicenter of an earthquake?

The geographic point on the Earth's surface directly above the focus.

What are P waves?

Compressional waves that can travel through solid, liquid, or gas materials.

What are S waves?

Shear waves that can only travel through solid material.

What are surface waves?

Waves that ripple across the Earth's surface and travel slower than P and S waves.

How is earthquake magnitude measured?

Using the Richter scale, which estimates the size of an earthquake based on ground motion.

What is seismic moment?

A measure proportional to the product of the area of faulting and the average fault slip.

What is a normal fault?

A fault caused by tensional stress where the hanging wall moves down relative to the footwall.

What is a reverse fault?

A fault caused by compressive stress where the hanging wall moves up relative to the footwall.

What is a strike-slip fault?

A fault caused by shearing stress where two blocks of rock slide past each other horizontally.

How do earthquakes relate to plate boundaries?

Earthquakes occur at tectonic plate boundaries due to stress from plate movements.

What are some examples of earthquake hazards?

Faulting and shaking, landslides, tsunamis, and fires.

What is a seismic hazard map?

A map that shows the frequency and intensity of earthquake shaking expected in a specified location.

What is seismic risk?

The expected damage from earthquakes in a specified region, measured in casualties and economic loss.

What is the relationship between earthquake magnitude and frequency?

Larger earthquakes occur less frequently; the number of quakes decreases by a factor of 10 with each magnitude unit.

What is the significance of the San Andreas fault?

It is a major fault system in California known for its seismic hazard.

What role do building codes play in earthquake safety?

Stricter building codes can reduce casualties and structural failures during earthquakes.

What is the difference between active and passive flood control?

Active measures involve physical interventions like dams, while passive measures involve regulations and planning.

What is the primary method to reduce seismic risk?

There are no ways to prevent or control earthquakes, but steps can be taken to reduce seismic risk.

What are the driving forces influencing mass wasting?

Driving forces include gravity and tectonic uplift, which pull material downslope.

What are resistive forces in mass wasting?

Resistive forces include friction and material strength, which resist movement.

What is a fall in the context of mass wasting?

A fall is when free-falling rocks or debris form a pile of loose rock called talus at the base of a cliff.

Describe a slump in mass wasting.

A slump is when a coherent mass of soil or rock moves downward and outward along a curved, concave upward surface.

What characterizes a flow in mass wasting?

In a flow, material moves as fluid, typically involving water-saturated material that can move very quickly.

What are active measures to reduce mass wasting hazards?

Active measures include land-use regulation, drainage control, structural reinforcement, and building codes.

What are passive measures to protect against mass wasting impacts?

Passive measures include deflection structures, catch basins, diversion channels, and fencing.

What are the components of an economic oil deposit?

The components are source rock, reservoir rock, trap, and cap rock.

What is the role of source rock in oil deposits?

Source rock generates the oil.

What is the function of reservoir rock?

Reservoir rock stores the oil.

What is the purpose of cap rock in oil deposits?

Cap rock seals the oil and prevents its escape.

What does Hubbert's proposal for 'Peak Oil' predict?

It predicts that oil production will rise, peak, and then decline symmetrically, resembling a logistic growth curve.

What is the process of coal formation called?

The process is called coalification, which transforms buried plant matter through heat and pressure.

List the ranks of coal in order of increasing quality.

Peat, lignite, bituminous, anthracite.

What is the estimated lifespan of U.S. coal resources at current usage rates?

A few hundred years at about a billion tons a year.

What is the first large-scale use of uranium-235?

The atomic bomb in 1944.

What happens during the fission of uranium-235?

The nucleus splits, releasing vast amounts of energy.

What are the concerns regarding nuclear waste disposal?

There is no safe long-term waste disposal system available, and wastes are temporarily stored at reactor sites.

What environmental impacts are associated with hydrocarbon extraction?

Oil spills, threats to ecosystems, and serious environmental damage from drilling and transportation.

What are the environmental issues related to coal mining?

Underground mining is dangerous, surface mining can ravage landscapes, and coal combustion releases harmful emissions.

What is a benefit of using wind energy?

Wind farms can produce as much electric power as a midsized nuclear reactor.

What is geothermal energy derived from?

Geothermal energy is derived from the heating of water as it passes through hot rock.

What is biofuel and how can it impact carbon emissions?

Biofuel, such as ethanol from plant biomass, can reduce net anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions.

What is switchgrass?

A perennial plant native to the Great Plains.

What is the age of Enchanted Rock?

Precambrian, approximately 1.1 billion years old.

What type of rock is Enchanted Rock?

Granite, with textural evidence including crystal size, cooling rate, and composition.

What is Glen Rose Limestone?

A Cretaceous, shallow marine limestone found in a roadside outcrop.

What evidence supports plate tectonic theory?

Fit of the continents, fossil correlation, rock and mountain correlation, paleomagnetism, and seafloor spreading.

What is the Law of Superposition?

In undisturbed sedimentary rock layers, the oldest rocks are at the bottom and the youngest at the top.

What does the Principle of Original Horizontality state?

Layers of sediment are originally deposited horizontally; tilting or folding occurs later.

What is the Principle of Cross-Cutting Relationships?

A rock or fault that cuts through another rock is younger than the rock it cuts.

What is Fossil Succession?

Fossil organisms succeed one another in a definite, recognizable order, indicating rocks with similar fossils are the same age.

What are the main processes of the rock cycle?

Igneous rocks form from cooled magma; they weather into sediments, which become sedimentary rocks, then metamorphosed, and can melt back into magma.

What is evaporation in the hydrologic cycle?

The process by which water changes from liquid to vapor due to heat, mainly from the sun.

What is transpiration?

The release of water vapor from plants and trees into the atmosphere.

What is condensation?

The process by which water vapor cools and changes back into liquid droplets, forming clouds.

What is precipitation?

Water that falls from clouds to the Earth's surface as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

What is infiltration?

The process by which water soaks into the soil and moves into the ground.

What is runoff?

Water that flows over the land surface toward rivers, lakes, and oceans.

What is groundwater flow (percolation)?

Water that moves underground through soil and rocks; some returns to the surface through springs.

What is collection/accumulation in the hydrologic cycle?

Water gathers in large bodies like oceans, lakes, and rivers, where it is stored until it evaporates again.

What was the Ordovician-Silurian Extinction?

An extinction event about 443 million years ago where about 85% of marine species went extinct, possibly due to global cooling.

What caused the Late Devonian Extinction?

An extinction event around 372 million years ago affecting up to 75% of species, possibly due to anoxic conditions and asteroid impacts.

What was the Permian-Triassic Extinction?

The largest extinction event around 252 million years ago, where about 96% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial species died out, possibly due to volcanic eruptions.