Geology 15 & 18 – Flashcards
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
The main drawback of composting as a waste reduction strategy is?
answer
separating organic from nonorganic waste
question
What is the most important consideration in site selection for a sanitary landfill?
answer
Geological and climatic conditions that will limit water flow through the landfill
question
Why is it necessary to rethink strategies of solid waste management?
answer
Waste generation from urban areas is increasing rapidly
question
Deep-well disposal of hazardous wastes can result in?
answer
Earthquakes
question
Why has integrated waste management been criticized?
answer
Overemphasis on recycling
question
A mineralized liquid generated by water flow through landfills is called what?
answer
Leachate
question
Waste from one part of a society is used as a resource for another is called what?
answer
Industrial ecology
question
Anomalously rapid movement of glacial ice is termed what?
answer
Surging
question
What is largely responsible forkeeping northern Europe relatively warm
answer
The ocean's conveyor belt
question
The dominant form of anthropogenic climate forcing is the emission of what?
answer
Carbon Dioxide
question
Hydrothermal mineral deposits would be least expected to form in what type of plate tectonic setting?
answer
Transform Boundary
question
If surface mines tend to cause greater environmental impacts, why are they used?
answer
They are more economical
question
How is biotechnology helping to reduce the environmental impacts of mining?
answer
Through efficient treatment of mine wastes and contaminated water
question
Why is steel recycled at such a high rate?
answer
The market is large and widespread
question
Why is cyanide heap leaching used to extract gold from some deposits?
answer
The gold concentration is too low to be extracted using traditional methods
question
Most water pollution associated with mining operations has to do with what?
answer
Water passing through mine wastes
question
What phase of mining generally causes the least environmental degradation?
answer
Exploration and testing
question
Biotechnology may help to reduce the use of what hazardous chemical in ore processing?
answer
Cyanide
question
What element represents the greatest amount of recycling by volume?
answer
Iron
question
A measure of mineral concentration that is necessary for profitable mining.
answer
concentration factor
question
A collection of a naturally occurring material
answer
Resource
question
The portion of a resource that is currently available to be legally extracted at a profit
answer
Reserve
question
What is the difference between recources and reserves?
answer
based on current geologic, economic, and legal factors
question
Caused by the heat, pressure, and chemically active fluids of the cooling magma interacting with the surrounding rock, called country rock, or host rock.
answer
Contact metamorphism
question
As evaporation progresses, dissolved materials precipitate, forming a wide variety of compounds, minerals, and rocks.
answer
Evaporite
question
Mineralizing fluids migrate through a host rock, crystallizing as veins or small dikes.
answer
Hydrothermal (hot-water) deposits
question
Natural occurring minerals that can be extracted for a profit.
answer
Ore
question
Heavy metals that collect in open crevices or fractures at the bottoms of pools, or at the inside curves of bends
answer
Placer deposit
question
Results from an increase of temperature and pressure associated with deep burial of rocks or tectonic activity.
answer
Regional metamorphism
question
The major types of mineral deposits are?
answer
Elements for metal production and technology, building materials, minerals for the chemical industry and minerals for agriculture.
question
What are the major environmental impacts associated with mining?
answer
waste from mines, water pollution, air pollution, impacts on the biological environment, and social impacts.
question
Why is iron recycled so much?
answer
The market is large, and the environmental impacts of disposal would be so great if it was not recycled.
question
A natural climatic event that causes high surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and droughts and high-intensity rainstorms in various places on Earth.
answer
El Nino
question
What are Preston Cloud's central goals for the Earth sciences?
answer
Understand how Earth works and how it has evolved; apply that understanding to better manage our environment.
question
What is earth system science?
answer
The study of Earth as a system, comprised of several interacting subsystems.
question
What are the major tools and methods of studying climate change?
answer
Geologic record, real-time monitoring, and mathematical models, as well as instrumental records, historical records, and paleo-proxy records.
question
What are the three main factors that determine the temperature of Earth?
answer
The amount of solar energy received, the amount reflected by Earth's surface, and the amount of heat retained by the atmosphere.
question
What categories are mineral resources broken down into based on how they are formed? (5) BSWIM
answer
Igneous Processes Metamorphic Processes Sedimentary Processes Biological processes Weathering Processes
question
A kimberlite pipe is an example of what? What do they produce?
answer
Igneous resources. Diamonds.
question
What are the two types of methamorphic resources? What elements does each produce?
answer
Contact metamorphism. Lead and Silver. Regional Metamorphism. Asbestos and copper
question
What can sedimentary resources supply us with?
answer
Sand and gravel after it has been sorted in an esker. Oil and natural gas
question
Black smokers contain what resources?
answer
Zinc, copper, iron, and silver
question
Deep-ocean floor deposits contain what recources?
answer
Sulfide deposits Manganese nodules Cobalt
question
What are the subsystems in earth system science? BOLA
answer
atmosphere, oceans, land, and biosphere
question
Humans are responsible for the emission of what greenhouse gases?
answer
Carbon dioxide Methane Nitrogen oxides Chlorofluorocarbons
question
What pattern is the ocean's conveyor belt?
answer
Thermohaline Circulation
question
Flat, nearly featureless plain deposits are called what?
answer
Ground moraine (till plains)
question
Material such as silt, sand, and gravel that is carried away from glaciers by melt water is called what?
answer
Outwash
question
What is Carbon Sequestration?
answer
Capture carbon dioxide from power plants and injecting that carbon into the subsurface geologic environment.
