CHAPTER 12
GEOLOGY AND NONRENEWABLE MINERAL RESOURCES
Outline
12-1 What are the earth’s major geological processes and what are mineral resources?
A. The earth is a dynamic planet.
2. Three major concentric zones.
a. The core is the earth’s innermost zone—extremely hot, with a solid inner part surrounded by a
liquid core of molten or semisolid material.
b. Surrounding the core is a thick zone called the mantle—solid rock, but under its rigid
outermost part is the asthenosphere, a zone of hot, partly melted rock that flows.
asthenosphere) is called the lithosphere.
B. The earth beneath your feet is moving.
1. Convection cells or currents move large volumes of rock and heat in loops within the mantle like
gigantic conveyer belts.
3. Continents have split apart and joined as tectonic plates drifted atop the earth’s asthenosphere.
5. Oceanic plates move apart from one another allowing molten rock, or magma, to flow up between
them.
6. Much of the geologic activity at the earth’s surface takes place at the boundaries between tectonic
plates as they separate, collide, or slide in the resulting cracks.
a. Oceanic ridges may have peaks higher and canyons deeper than those found on the earth’s
C. Volcanoes release molten rock from the earth’s interior.
2. Many volcanoes form along the boundaries of the earth’s tectonic plates when one plate slides
under or moves away from another plate.
4. Volcanic activity can release large chunks of lava rock, glowing hot ash, liquid lava, and gases
Instructor’s Manual for Environmental Science, 15th edition
D. Earthquakes are geological rock-and-roll events.
1. Forces inside the earth’s mantle and near its surface push, deform, and stress rocks.
3. When a fault forms or when there is abrupt movement on an existing fault, energy that has
4. The severity of an earthquake is measured by the magnitude of its seismic waves.
5. The magnitude is a measure of ground motion (shaking) caused by the earthquake, as indicated by
6. Scientists use the Richter scale, on which each unit has amplitude 10 times greater than the next
smaller unit.
7. The largest recorded earthquake occurred in Chile on May 22, 1960 and measured 9.5 on the
Richter scale.
8. The primary effects of earthquakes include shaking and sometimes a permanent vertical or
9. One way to reduce the loss of life and property damage from earthquakes is to examine historical
records and make geologic measurements to locate active fault zones.
a. Map high-risk areas and establish building codes that regulate the placement and design of
E. Earthquakes on the ocean floor can cause huge waves called tsunamis.
1. A tsunami is a series of large waves generated when part of the ocean floor suddenly rises or
drops.
2. Most large tsunamis are caused when certain types of faults in the ocean floor move up or down as
4. They can travel far across the ocean at the speed of a jet plane.
6. As a tsunami approaches a coast, it slows down, its wave crests squeeze closer together, and their
heights grow rapidly.
8. Tsunamis can be detected through a network of ocean buoys or pressure recorders located on the
ocean floor to provide some degree of early warning sent through emergency warning centers.
9. CONNECTIONS: Coral Reefs, Mangrove Forests, and Tsunami Damage.
a. Coral reefs and mangrove forests slow waves that roll over them, reducing their force before
12-2 How long might supplies of nonrenewable mineral resources last??
A. There are three major types of rocks.
1. A mineral is an element or inorganic compound that occurs naturally in the earth’s crust as a solid
with a regular internal crystalline structure.
3. Most of the more than 2,000 identified minerals occur as inorganic compounds formed by various
combinations of elements, such as salt (sodium chloride or NaCl) and quartzite (silicon dioxide or
4. Rock is a solid combination of one or more minerals found in the earth’s crust.
a. Some kinds of rock, such as limestone (calcium carbonate, or CaCO3) and quartzite (silicon
dioxide, or SiO2), contain only one mineral while most consist of two or more minerals, such
as granite—a mixture of mica, feldspar, and quartz crystals.
b. Three broad classes:
i. Sedimentary rock is made of sediments—dead plant and animal remains and tiny
particles of weathered and eroded rocks: sandstone and shale (formed from pressure
created by deposited layers made mostly of sand); dolomite and limestone (formed from
B. Earth’s rocks are recycled very slowly.
1. The rock cycle is the interaction of physical and/or chemical processes that change rock from one
form to another
12-3 What are the environmental effects of using nonrenewable mineral resources?
A. We use a variety of nonrenewable mineral resources.
1. A mineral resource is a concentration of naturally occurring material from the earth’s crust that
can be extracted and processed into useful products and raw materials at an affordable cost.
2. An ore is rock that contains a large enough concentration of a particular mineral—often a metal—
to make it profitable for mining and processing.
a. A high-grade ore contains a large concentration of the desired mineral.
b. A low-grade ore contains a smaller concentration.
2. The most widely used nonmetallic minerals are sand and gravel.
3. Another common nonmetallic mineral is limestone (mostly calcium carbonate, or CaCO3) which is
crushed and used to make road rock, concrete, and cement.
5. Reserves increase when we find new, profitable deposits and when higher prices or improved
6. CONNECTIONS: Lithium and U. S. Energy Dependence
a. Lithium (Li) is becoming increasingly important as a vital component of lithium-ion
batteries used in cell phones, iPods, laptop computers, and electric cars. The South
American countries of Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina have about 80% of the global
reserves of lithium. Bolivia alone has about 50%. The United States holds only about 3%
B. Some environmental impacts of mineral use.
1. Metals can be used to produce many useful products.
3. The more accessible and higher-grade ores are usually exploited first.
4. As they are depleted, mining lower-grade ores takes more money, energy, water, and other
materials, and increases land disruption, mining waste, and pollution
C. There are several ways to remove mineral deposits.
1. Shallow mineral deposits are removed by surface mining by:
2. Open-pit mining.
3. Strip mining is useful and economical for extracting mineral deposits that lie in large horizontal
beds close to the earth’s surface.
4. Mountaintop removal uses explosives, large power shovels, and huge machines called draglines to
remove the top of a mountain and expose seams of coal.
5. Subsurface mining removes minerals from underground through tunnels and shafts.
E. Mining has harmful environmental effects.
1. Scarring and disruption of the land surface.
a. Mountaintop removal destroys forests, buries mountain streams, and increases flood hazards.
Wastewater and toxic sludge, produced when the coal is processed, are often stored behind
dams in these valleys, which can overflow or collapse and release toxic substances such as
arsenic and mercury.
Chapter 12: Geology and Nonrenewable Minerals
b. CONNECTIONS: Mercury Poisoning and Tropical Gold Mining
i. Mercury is a highly toxic chemical that interferes with the human nervous system and
brain functions, and it can build up to high levels in the human body.
c. Subsurface mining disturbs less land than surface mining disturbs, and it usually produces less
waste material.
i. Creates hazards such as cave-ins, explosions, and fires.
2. Mining operations produce large amounts of solid waste and cause major water and air pollution.
a. Acid mine drainage occurs when rainwater that seeps through a mine or a spoils pile carries
sulfuric acid (H2SO4, produced when aerobic bacteria act on iron sulfide minerals in spoils)
to nearby streams and groundwater.
F. Removing metals from ores has harmful environmental effects.
1. Ore extracted by mining typically has two components:
2. Removing the waste material from ores produces waste piles called tailings.
3. Heating ores to release metals is called smelting.
4. Chemicals can be used to remove metals from their ores. An example is highly toxic solutions of
cyanide salts used to extract gold from its ore.
12-4 How can we use mineral resources more sustainably?
A. Mineral resources are distributed unevenly.
1. The earth’s crust contains fairly abundant deposits of iron and aluminum.
3. The earth’s geologic processes have not distributed deposits of nonrenewable mineral resources
evenly among countries.
5. Experts are concerned about four strategic metal resources—manganese, cobalt, chromium, and
B. Supplies of nonrenewable mineral resources can be economically depleted.
1. The future supply of nonrenewable minerals depends on two factors:
a. The actual or potential supply of the mineral.
b. The rate at which we use it.
2. SCIENCE FOCUS: The Importance of Rare Earth Metals
a. The 17 rare earth elements or rare earth metals are extremely important for widely used
modern technologies such as LCD displays, cell phones, digital cameras, and generators in
wind turbines.
b. Nations also need these metals and their oxides to maintain their military strength.
C. Market prices affect supplies of nonrenewable minerals.
1. Geologic processes determine the quantity and location of a mineral resource in the earth’s crust.
3. An increase in the price of a scarce mineral resource can lead to increased supplies and can
encourage more efficient use.
4. Standard economic theory may not apply because most well-developed countries often use
5. Most mineral prices are kept artificially low.
6. CASE STUDY: An Outdated Mining Subsidy: The U.S. General Mining Law of 1872.
a. Some people have gotten rich by using the little-known U.S. General Mining Law of 1872.
b. It was designed to encourage mineral exploration and the mining of hard rock minerals—such
as gold, silver, copper, and uranium—on public lands and to help develop the western
territories.
c. Under this law, a person or corporation can file a mining claim or assume legal ownership of
parcels of land on essentially all U.S. public land except national parks and wilderness, then
D. Is mining lower-grade ores the answer?
1. Extraction of lower grades of ore is possible due to new earth-moving equipment, improved
2. Mining low-grade ores is limited by:
a. Increased cost of mining and processing larger volumes of ore.
3. Can use microorganisms that can break down rock material and extract minerals in a process
called in-place, or in situ, mining or biomining.
4. CONNECTIONS: Metal Prices and Thievery
a. Copper prices have risen sharply in recent years. As a result, in several U.S. communities,
people have been stealing copper to sell it—stripping abandoned houses of copper pipe and
wiring and stealing electrical wiring from underneath city streets and from public sports
facilities. Also, because the price of the rare earth metal palladium has skyrocketed, some
thieves have been stealing catalytic converters that contain palladium from cars in shopping
mall parking lots.
E. Can we get more of our minerals from the ocean?
2. Low concentrations take more energy and money than they are worth.
4. Growing interest in deep-sea mining.
12-5 What are the earth’s major geological hazards?
A. We can find substitutes for some scarce mineral resources.
1. Human ingenuity will find substitutes.
3. Finding substitutes for scarce minerals through nanotechnology.
4. SCIENCE FOCUS The Nanotechnology Revolution
a. Nanotechnology, or tiny tech, creates materials out of atoms and molecules.
b. Uses for nanotechnology include:
i. Stain-resistant and wrinkle-free coatings on clothes, odor-eating socks, self-
cleaning coatings on sunglasses and windshields, sunscreens, deep-
penetrating skin care products, and food containers that release nanosilver
ions to kill bacteria, molds, and fungi.
B. We can recycle and reuse valuable metals.
2. Recycling has a much lower environmental impact than mining and processing metals from
ores.
3. Cleaning up and reusing items instead of melting and reprocessing them has an even lower
environmental impact.
C. We can use mineral resources more sustainably.
1. Instead of asking how we can increase supplies of nonrenewable minerals, we should be
asking, how can we decrease our use and waste of such resources?
3. Case Study: Pollution Prevention Pays
a. In 1975, the U.S.-based Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M),
than 1.4 million metric tons (1.5 million tons) of pollutants from reaching the
environment—an amount roughly equal to the weight of more than 100 empty jumbo
Instructor’s Manual for Environmental Science, 15th edition
waste prevention programs that have led to cleaner industrial production.
D. Here are this chapter’s three big ideas:
1. Dynamic forces that move matter within the earth and on its surface recycle the earth’s rocks,
form deposits of mineral resources, and cause volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis.
2. The available supply of a mineral resource depends on how much of it is in the earth’s crust,
3. We can use mineral resources more sustainably by trying to find substitutes for scarce
resources, reducing resource waste, and reusing and recycling nonrenewable minerals.
Objectives
12-1 What are the earth’s major geological processes and what are mineral resources?
CONCEPT 12-1A Dynamic processes within the earth and on its surface produce the mineral resources we
depend on.
CONCEPT 12-1B Mineral resources are nonrenewable because they are produced and renewed over millions
of years largely by the earth’s rock cycle.
1. Briefly describe the layers of Earth’s interior. Describe the internal and external Earth processes
12-2 How long might supplies of nonrenewable mineral resources last?
CONCEPT 12.2A Nonrenewable mineral resources exist in finite amounts and can become economically
depleted when it costs more than it is worth to find, extract, and process the remaining deposits.
CONCEPT 12.2B There are several ways to extend supplies of mineral resources, but each of them is limited
by economic and environmental factors.
1. List and define the three kinds of rock types, and note some of the common mineral resources associated
with them. Briefly describe the rock cycle and indicate interrelationships among the types of rocks.
12-3 What are the effects of using nonrenewable mineral resources?
CONCEPT 12-3 Extracting minerals from the earth’s crust and converting them to useful materials can disturb
the land, erode soils, produce large amounts of solid waste, and pollute the air, water, and soil.
2. Define mineral reserve and give two factors that increase mineral reserves.
3. Distinguish between surface and subsurface mining. Briefly describe three types of surface mining.
12-4 How can we use mineral resources more sustainably?
Concept 12-4 We can try to find substitutes for scarce resources, reduce resource waste, and recycle and reuse
minerals.
2. Describe the pros and cons of extracting lower grades of ore. Define biomining. List ways to extract
12-5 What are the earth’s major geological hazards?
1. Discuss the potential effects of finding material substitutes for mineral products, recycling and
reusing mineral products, and reduced consumption through new technology. Define nanotechnology
and list potential applications and products of nanotechnology.
Key Terms
area strip mining
asthenosphere
contour strip mining
core
crust
depletion time
earthquake
mantle
metamorphic rock
mineral
mineral resource
mountaintop removal
mining nanotechnology
open-pit mining
scientific principles of
sustainability
sedimentary rock
smelting
spoils
strip mining
subsurface mining
Teaching Tips
Instructors can introduce this chapter by encouraging students to think of a natural resource that society
might run out of in their lifetime.
• Follow this up by asking students if they could relate the thrust of nanotechnology research to the
potential depletion of nonrenewable resources like mineral products.
• How will a nanotechnology society affect environmental pollution?
“Dirty differences” discussion and practical differences in local soils and beyond:
• Ask your students to bring in a clear plastic bag of dirt from their yard; you can also have several
different soil samples from other places, and some rocks, especially lava and coal, in clear or open
containers.
Discussion Topics
1. How do the earth’s geologic processes work, especially plate tectonics?
2. How are the resource demands for aluminum, steel alloys, chromium, and other strategic minerals
met?
3. What are the different types of mining and their processes?
4. How do mining practices impact our environment, specifically in regards to surface mining
reclamation methods, surface mining and the acid runoff problem, and smelting and dead zones?
5. How can technology and usage practices increase resource supply?
6. What is the U.S. regulatory history with mineral resource mining and regulating?
7. How does the United States compare with other countries in terms of mineral resource supply,
management, and regulation?
Activities and Projects
1. Invite an economic geologist to your class to discuss state-of-the-art technology for exploration and
development of metal and nonfuel minerals.
2. Are any surface mining operations taking place in your state? If so, arrange for a spokesperson to
4. As a class exercise, identify the minimum metal and mineral resources required to support human life
at an acceptable level of quality. (Decide for yourself what acceptable life quality is.) What is the
present and anticipated supply of these resources? Which essential element of the mix is least
dependable in future supply? Write comprehensive and internally-consistent scenarios describing what
5. Have your students consult recent issues of the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, and other
reputable sources of commodities information and forecasts. Note the metal and nonfuel mineral
resources that are in the news because of supply and demand problems. Are the concerns and opinions
expressed in market publications reflected adequately in the print and broadcast media reporting
oriented to the public?
6. As a class, conduct a school and community survey to assess people’s beliefs about and attitudes
toward America’s reliance on foreign sources for various strategic materials.
7. As a class exercise, assign appropriate roles and research assignments to students (or teams of
students) and stage mock negotiations among several less-developed nations seeking to establish a
9. Visit the town planning office with your class. See if there is a land-use plan for the town. Are there
zoning laws that prevent the development of certain areas, such as prime farmland and wetlands? Why
or why not?
10. Take a field trip around the community with your class. See if you can identify any sloped areas that
are eroding significantly. Try to discern if the land erosion is resulting in sediment pollution in surface
11. Put together a collection of different rocks and soil samples. Try identifying some of the elements.
Attitudes and Values Assessment
1. What types of geological rocks are found in your area?
2. What plate are you riding on? How far is your plate boundary? How does the distance to your local
plate boundary affect life in your local community?
3. How do you feel when you see the results of a volcano, flood, or earthquake on the news?
4. Do you feel that human behavior should be modified by knowledge of geology? If so, how?
5. Would you support policies that discourage human development in areas where natural hazards are
most likely to occur? If so, please specify.
6. Do you think new technologies will enable us to reduce the effects of natural disasters on humans?
7. How do you feel as a member of the human species when you consider the full span of geological
time?
8. Would you consider working in a subsurface coal mine? Why or why not?
Laboratory Skills
Wells, Edward. Lab Manual for Environmental Science. 2009. Lab #19: Are We Consuming our
Biosphere?
News Videos
China’s Deadly Pollution, The Brooks/Cole Environmental Science Video Library 2009, ©2011, DVD
ISBN-13: 978-0-538-73355-7
Additional Video Resources