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Chapter 15
Geology and
Nonrenewable Mineral
Resources
Chapter Overview Questions
• What major geologic processes occur within
the earth and on its surface?
• What are nonrenewable mineral resources
and where are they found?
• What are rocks, and how are they recycled by
the rock cycle?
• How do we find and extract mineral resources
from the earth’s crust, and what harmful
environmental effects result from removing
and using these minerals?
Chapter Overview Questions
(cont’d)
• Will there be enough nonrenewable mineral
resources for future generations?
• Can we find substitutes for scarce
nonrenewable mineral resources?
• How can we shift to more sustainable use of
nonrenewable mineral resources?
Core Case Study: The
Nanotechnology Revolution
• Nanotechnology uses science and engineering
to create materials out of atoms and molecules
at the scale of less than 100 nanometers.
– Little environmental harm:
• Does not use renewable resources.
– Potential biological concerns.
• Can move through cell membranes:
Figure 15-1
GEOLOGIC PROCESSES
• The earth is made up of a core, mantle, and crust
and is constantly changing as a result of
processes taking place on and below its surface.
• The earth’s interior consists of:
– Core: innermost zone with solid inner core and
molten outer core that is extremely hot.
– Mantle: solid rock with a rigid outer part
(asthenosphere) that is melted pliable rock.
– Crust: Outermost zone which underlies the
continents.
GEOLOGIC PROCESSES
• Major features of the earth’s crust and upper
mantle.
Figure 15-2
Spreading
center
Collision between
two continents
Subduction
zone
Continental
crust
Oceanic
crust
Ocean
trench
Oceanic
crust
Continental
crust
Material cools Cold dense
as it reaches material falls
the outer back through
mantle
mantle
Hot
Mantle
material
convection
rising
cell
through
the
mantle
Two plates move
towards each other.
One is subducted
back into the mantle
on a falling convection
current.
Mantle
Hot outer
core Inner
core
Fig. 15-3, p. 337
GEOLOGIC PROCESSES
• Huge volumes of heated and molten rock
moving around the earth’s interior form
massive solid plates that move extremely
slowly across the earth’s surface.
– Tectonic plates: huge rigid plates that are moved
with convection cells or currents by floating on
magma or molten rock.
The Earth’s Major Tectonic Plates
Figure 15-4
Animation: Geological Forces
PLAY
ANIMATION
The Earth’s Major Tectonic Plates
• The extremely slow movements of these
plates cause them to grind into one another at
convergent plate boundaries, move apart at
divergent plate boundaries and slide past at
transform plate boundaries.
Figure 15-4
Fig. 15-4, p. 338
Animation: Plate Margins
PLAY
ANIMATION
GEOLOGIC PROCESSES
• The San
Andreas Fault is
an example of a
transform fault.
Figure 15-5
Wearing Down and Building Up the
Earth’s Surface
• Weathering is
an external
process that
wears the
earth’s
surface
down.
Figure 15-6
MINERALS, ROCKS, AND THE ROCK
CYCLE
• The earth’s crust consists of solid inorganic
elements and compounds called minerals
that can sometimes be used as resources.
– Mineral resource: is a concentration of naturally
occurring material in or on the earth’s crust that
can be extracted and processed into useful
materials at an affordable cost.
General Classification of
Nonrenewable Mineral Resources
• The U.S. Geological Survey classifies mineral
resources into four major categories:
– Identified: known location, quantity, and quality or
existence known based on direct evidence and
measurements.
– Undiscovered: potential supplies that are assumed to
exist.
– Reserves: identified resources that can be extracted
profitably.
– Other: undiscovered or identified resources not
classified as reserves
General Classification of
Nonrenewable Mineral Resources
• Examples are fossil
fuels (coal, oil),
metallic minerals
(copper, iron), and
nonmetallic
minerals (sand,
gravel).
Figure 15-7
GEOLOGIC PROCESSES
• Deposits of nonrenewable mineral resources
in the earth’s crust vary in their abundance
and distribution.
• A very slow chemical cycle recycles three
types of rock found in the earth’s crust:
– Sedimentary rock (sandstone, limestone).
– Metamorphic rock (slate, marble, quartzite).
– Igneous rock (granite, pumice, basalt).
Rock Cycle
Figure 15-8
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF USING
MINERAL RESOURCES
• The extraction, processing, and use of mineral
resources has a large environmental impact.
Figure 15-9
Natural Capital Degradation
Extracting, Processing, and Using Nonrenewable Mineral and Energy Resources
Steps
Environmental effects
Mining
Disturbed land; mining
accidents; health hazards,
mine waste dumping, oil
spills and blowouts; noise;
ugliness; heat
Exploration,
extraction
Processing
Use
Solid wastes; radioactive
material; air, water, and
soil pollution; noise;
safety and health
hazards; ugliness; heat
Transportation or
transmission to
individual user,
eventual use, and
discarding
Noise; ugliness; thermal
water pollution; pollution
of air, water, and soil;
solid and radioactive
wastes; safety and health
hazards; heat
Transportation,
purification,
manufacturing
Fig. 15-10, p. 344
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF USING
MINERAL RESOURCES
• Minerals are removed through a variety of
methods that vary widely in their costs, safety
factors, and levels of environmental harm.
• A variety of methods are used based on mineral
depth.
– Surface mining: shallow deposits are removed.
– Subsurface mining: deep deposits are removed.
Open-pit Mining
• Machines dig
holes and
remove ores,
sand, gravel, and
stone.
• Toxic
groundwater can
accumulate at
the bottom.
Figure 15-11
Area Strip Mining
• Earth movers strips
away overburden,
and giant shovels
removes mineral
deposit.
• Often leaves highly
erodible hills of
rubble called spoil
banks.
Figure 15-12
Contour Strip Mining
• Used on hilly or
mountainous
terrain.
• Unless the land is
restored, a wall of
dirt is left in front
of a highly
erodible bank
called a highwall.
Figure 15-13
Mountaintop Removal
• Machinery
removes the tops
of mountains to
expose coal.
• The resulting
waste rock and dirt
are dumped into
the streams and
valleys below.
Figure 15-14
Mining Impacts
• Metal ores are
smelted or treated
with (potentially
toxic) chemicals to
extract the desired
metal.
Figure 15-15
SUPPLIES OF MINERAL RESOURCES
• The future supply of a resource depends on its
affordable supply and how rapidly that supply is
used.
• A rising price for a scarce mineral resource can
increase supplies and encourage more efficient
use.
SUPPLIES OF MINERAL RESOURCES
• Depletion curves
for a renewable
resource using
three sets of
assumptions.
– Dashed vertical
lines represent
times when 80%
depletion occurs.
Figure 15-16
SUPPLIES OF MINERAL RESOURCES
• New technologies can increase the mining of lowgrade ores at affordable prices, but harmful
environmental effects can limit this approach.
• Most minerals in seawater and on the deep ocean
floor cost too much to extract, and there are
squabbles over who owns them.
Getting More Minerals from the
Ocean
• Hydrothermal
deposits form when
mineral-rich
superheated water
shoots out of vents
in solidified magma
on the ocean floor.
Figure 15-17
USING MINERAL RESOURCES MORE
SUSTAINABLY
• Scientists and engineers are developing new
types of materials as substitutes for many
metals.
• Recycling valuable and scarce metals saves
money and has a lower environmental impact
then mining and extracting them from their
ores.
Solutions
Sustainable Use of Nonrenewable Minerals
• Do not waste mineral resources.
• Recycle and reuse 60–80% of mineral resources.
• Include the harmful environmental costs of
mining and processing minerals in the prices
of items (full-cost pricing).
• Reduce subsidies for mining mineral resources.
• Increase subsidies for recycling, reuse, and
finding less environmentally harmful substitutes.
• Redesign manufacturing processes to use less
mineral resources and to produce less pollution
and waste.
• Have the mineral-based wastes of one
manufacturing process become the raw
materials for other processes.
• Sell services instead of things.
• Slow population growth.
Fig. 15-18, p. 351
Case Study:
The Ecoindustrial Revolution
• Growing signs point to an ecoindustrial
revolution taking place over the next 50 years.
• The goal is to redesign industrial
manufacturing processes to mimic how nature
deals with wastes.
– Industries can interact in complex resource
exchange webs in which wastes from
manufacturer become raw materials for another.
Case Study:
The Ecoindustrial Revolution
Figure 15-19