Please take out your
Mining Lab and FRQ
Log in to a computer for notes!
APES 12.10 and 12.11
Mining FRQ Scoring
Find the “Mining FRQ Key” on my
website (labs/hw page)
Score your neighbor’s paper out of 11
Add things they missed
Mining Basics
 How are sites selected?
consider env. cost, potential profits, amt. and
stability of overburden (materials that must be
removed to reach the mineral)
 Types of Mining
Surface Mining (strip mining, open-pit mining,
mountaintop removal, placer mining)
Subsurface mining
Surface Mining
1. Strip Mining: removal of mineral deposits in
horizontal strips
a. Land is clear-cut and overburden is removed by
explosives/heavy equipment
b. Mineral deposits removed by huge power shovels
c. Overburden is replaced
Land cannot be returned to original state, and heavy
equipment compacts soil. Long-term damage.
Iron-Ore Mine, Liberia
Iron-ore mines like this one have altered the
landscape of Liberia. The Liberian Civil War (19891996) and the declining world demand for iron ore
led to the complete shutdown of Liberian iron-ore
mining in the early 1990s.
Coal Mine in Appalachia
Surface Mining
2. Mountaintop removal
 Entire top of a
mountain is removed
by explosives,
causing it to fall into
surrounding valleys
 Common in coal
mining in Eastern U.S.
 Permanently buries
streams, alters
topography
Surface Mining
3. Open-Pit Mining
 A huge hole is dug using explosives and heavy
equipment; ore is removed
 Pit is abandoned and often fills with water
 Pit becomes acidic and polluted with heavy metals
due to mine waste left behind
 Acid Mine Drainage: Sulfur compounds are oxidized by
air, dissolve in rain water to form sulfuric acid run-off!
One of North America’s largest open-pit copper
mines, located in Kennecott, Utah.
Surface Mining
4. Placer Mining
 Searching for ores in river sediments (i.e.
California Gold Rush of mid-1800’s)
 Rivers are diverted, dammed to make
extraction easier
 Mercury is used to chemically remove gold
from ores, polluting rivers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbI_ZA
rJ22U
Subsurface Mining
Deep, vertical shafts are drilled with
horizontal branches
Less surface env. degradation, but can
cause collapse, explosions (methane and
coal dust)
Not just for coal!- any ore too far down to
remove overburden
Types of Coal Mining
Often called
mountaintop
removal
Downsides of Subsurface Mining
 Labor Intensive
 Filling in mines after they
are empty
 Health of workers 
Black lung disease, high
rates of cancer from
particulate matters
 Danger of accidents
Major Coal Mining Accidents
http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/1
3/us/u-s-mine-disasters-fastfacts/
China is by far the most
dangerous!
2010 collapse in Chile
Environmental Impacts
 Clear-cutting of forests
 Destruction of soil horizons
 Soil compaction
 Stream/river destruction, diversion, pollution
 Acidic and metallic waste-water pollution
 Solid waste, toxic dust and emissions
 75% if all solid waste in U.S. comes from mines!
 This waste is called “tailings” or mining spoils- unwanted
waste material
Animas River Spill (8/2015)
https://www.rt.com/usa/319439-epacaused-colorado-mine-spill/
Important Legislation in U.S.
1. Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977
(SMCRA)
 Land must be reclaimed after surface mining
 Clean up any pollution
 **Various levels of enforcement**
2. General Mining Law of 1872
 Encourages exploration of mineral resources
 Corporations can buy large tracts of public land for cheap!
 Minor modifications, but critics argue companies aren’t
paying enough taxes on royalties or cleaning up well.
Break Time
Soil Degradation #2:
Farming!
How have we changed our farming practices to
meet the nutritional requirements of our growing
population?
Today, we are producing more
food per capita
 Food production currently exceeds
population growth
 We produce food through technology
Fossil fuels, irrigation, fertilizer, pesticides,
crossbreeding
 Predictions of mass starvation in 1960s did not
happen (population bomb, Malthus)
 Why? Agricultural technology kept pace
Too little and too much food
 Undernourishment = people receive less than 90% of their
daily caloric needs
Mainly from economic reasons in developing countries
31 million Americans are food insecure
 Overnutrition = receiving too many calories
In the U.S., 25% of adults are obese
Worldwide, more than 300 million people are obese
 Malnutrition = a shortage of nutrients the body needs
The diet lacks adequate vitamins and minerals
http://goo.gl/F8TZwR
What lead to this increase in
production?
The Green Revolution Defined
 A significant increase in agricultural productivity
beginning in the 1940s and resulting from the
introduction of high-yield varieties of grains, the use
of pesticides, and improved management
techniques.
Norman Borlaug
1940’s Mexico
• Selective Breeding
• Disease resistant crops
• High Productivity crops
• http://goo.gl/xOtlPg -0:35-7:30
Green Revolution - Increased
Agricultural Production
 Realization: More people could not be fed simply by
cultivating more land.
 Spread to the developing world in the 1940s with wheat,
rice, corn.
 Depended on large amounts of:
 Synthetic fertilizers
 Chemical pesticides
 Irrigation
 Heavy equipment
Pros and Cons of Green Rev.
 From 1900 to 2000, cultivated area increased 33%, while energy inputs
increased 80 times!
 Positive effects:
 Prevented some deforestation
 Preserved biodiversity
 Negative effects:
 Pollution (water and air)
 Erosion
 Salinization
 Desertification
Pros/cons of Monocultures
 Monoculture = a large expanse of a single crop
More efficient, increases output
Devastates biodiversity
Susceptible to disease and pests
 Narrows human diet: 90% of our food comes from
15 crop species and 8 livestock species
Armyworms easily defoliate monocultures
Your Turn
We will come back to crop and pest
management farming strategies next time.
Let’s investigate how we get our nonvegetarian items by visiting the Meatrix!!!