Your Name ______________________________________Period ______ Date ________
Environmental Science Chapter 16 Word Study – Mining & Mineral Resources
Directions: Study the following words by reading and rereading them each evening so you will
be prepared for the word study test each week. You may use one index card to write as many
words and definitions on as possible to use for the test. The card must written in ink, be in
your handwriting, and have your name, your class period, and the chapter recorded in the
top, right corner with no obvious erasures or mark outs. ALL WORDS MUST BE NUMBERED.
If all the criteria are met, you may use your index card during the test. It will then be stapled to
your test.
1.)
mineral – a natural, usually inorganic solid that has a characteristic chemical
composition, an orderly internal structure, and a characteristic set of
physical properties / minerals include both individual elements such as
gold, silver, or copper or are made of compounds that consists of two or
more elements chemically bonded together such as quartz
2.)
ore mineral – a mineral that contains one or more elements of economic value
/ examples: aluminum, beryllium, copper, iron
3.)
element - a substance that cannot be broken down into a simpler substance
/ examples: lead, silver, nickel, tin
4.)
compounds - a substance that is made from two or more simpler substances
and can be broken down into those simpler substances / Example:
common table salt can be broken down into sodium (which is a metal)
and chlorine (which is a gas)
5.)
metal – elements that are good conductors of electricity, have shiny surfaces,
and are opaque / examples: titanium, uranium, zinc
6.)
nonmetal – elements or compounds that tend to be good conductors, may
have shiny or dull surfaces, and may be translucent or allow light to
pass through / examples: carbon, phosphorus, sulfur
7.)
hydrothermal solutions – hot, subsurface waters that contain dissolved
minerals that fill in the fractures in the cracks of rocks and form ore
deposits called veins / examples of elements that form this way are
iron, sodium, potassium
8.)
evaporites – when water in seas or lakes evaporate and leave behind deposits
of salts /examples: rock salt, gypsum
9.)
alloy – a mixture of two or more elements, at least one of which is a metal,
that has characteristic qualities of a metal / examples: steel made from
iron and chromium, brass made from copper and zinc
10.) native elements – elements that are considered to be minerals because of how
we use them but cannot be broken down into simpler substances
/ examples: gold, silver, copper
11.) gangue minerals (pronounced gang) – minerals with no commercial use at the
mining location
12.) subsurface mining – mining in which soil and rocks are removed to reach
underlying minerals that are usually deeper than 50 meters / example
of subsurface mining is room-and-pillar mining where rooms are cut
with pillars of the mineral to be mined are left standing to hold up the
room and are eventually removed
13.) longwall mining – a type of subsurface mining in which a machine cuts off
sheets of the mineral where it falls onto a conveyor belt
14.) solution mining – a type of subsurface mining in which hot water is dissolved
into the ore which melts and where compressed air is then pumped into
it and air bubbles lift it to the surface
15.) surface mining – soil and rocks are removed to reach the mineral being mined
/ example: open-pit mining where ores are mined downward, layer by
layer using large pieces of equipment as well as explosives: coal, gold,
and copper are frequently mined this way
16.) surface coal mining – soil and rock are removed, coal is removed, then the
removed soil and rock layers called overburden is put back
17.) quarrying – near-surface open-pit mining in which materials such as sand,
gravel, and crushed rock are mined
18.) solar evaporation – placing salt water into shallow ponds where it evaporates
and leave different minerals that can be mined / 30 percent of the
world’s salt comes from this method
19.) placer mining – mining of deposits of ore that were washed into specific
regions by streams or rivers where it is usually claimed through
dredging
20.) dredge – a floating barge in which buckets fixed on a conveyor are used to
excavate sediments in front of a dredge, the heavy minerals sink to the
bottom of the sediment
21.) smelting – melting or fusing ore in order to separate impurities from it
22.) flux – a material used during smelting which bonds with impurities
23.) slag – the material that flux bonds with to separate the impurities from the
desired metal: slag usually forms a layer on top during the smelting
process
24.) undersea mining – there are many mineral resources on the ocean floor
including diamonds, gold, silver, sand, and gravel, however it is
currently cheaper to mine these minerals on land
25.) subsidence – the sinking of regions of the ground surface with little or no
horizontal movement and occurs when pillars have been left standing
after subsurface mining and collapse – the location of many subsurface
mines are not always known
26.) environmental impacts of mining – the impacts include air & noise pollution,
water contamination, displacement of wildlife, erosion and
sedimentation, soil degradation, subsidence, and underground mine
fires
27.) reclamation – the process of returning the land to its original condition after
mining is complete
28.) The Surface Mining Control & Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) – a program
which regulates surface coal mining on public and private lands