Key to Paper-Pencil Test:
Virginia’s Mineral Resources
Name: _____________________
1. What are the uses for Slate?
Slate is used for roofing and flagstone.
2. What are the uses for Limestone?
It is used in cement and lime for lawns, aggregate lime, agricultural lime, cement,
glass, water treatment, and removal of SO2.
3. What are the uses for Soapstone?
Soapstone is used for countertops and fireplace inserts.
4. What are the uses for Kyanites?
It is used on space shuttle tiles because it can resist high temperatures, ceramics
spark plugs and, insulation in craft.
5. Which of Virginia’s natural resources is the most valuable? Why?
Coal is an important natural resource, because it is still used as a form of cheap
energy.
6. Look at the map below and answer the questions.



Place a “K” where they mine kyanite. (Buckingham County) Mined in Dillwyn,
Virginia.
Place an “S” where they mine slate. (Piedmont Province and in Buckingham
County, and or rocks of the Blue Ridge) Mined in Arvonia, Virginia.
Place a “SS” where they mine soapstone. (Piedmont Province County’s)
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MAR YL A ND
I
I
Alexandria
A
N
G
R
Potomac
Riv
er
Charlottesville
T
S
E
W
Lynchburg
Roanoke
Newport News
A TL A N TI C
Y
N
K
Richmond
Y
A
E
C
MA RY L A N D
B
K
T
U
KE
APEA
CHES
I
V
OCE A N
Portsmouth
Virginia
Beach
Norfolk
Danville
TENNESSEE
N O R T H
C A R O L I N A
VIRGINIA
0
Cities
and
Towns
10
20
40
80 MI.
0 to 50,000
1,000,000 and over
50,000 to 500,000
Capital
500,000 to 1,000,000
7. Virginia has the following four main physiographic provinces: Valley and Ridge,
Piedmont, Coastal Plain, and Blue Ridge Mountains. There are seven important
Virginia resources list below. Please write which provinces each is found in and list
the following for each: chemical and or physical properties, rock identification
(Igneous, Sedimentary, or Metamorphic)
a.
Coal
Appalachian Plateau Province
b.
Limestone
Albemarle County
c. Vermiculite
Louisa County
d. Kyanite
Buckingham County
e. Dimension Stone (Slate, Granite, Marble, or Soapstone)
Buckingham County
f. Metals (Lead, Copper, Iron, or Gold)
Copper was mined in Floyd County.
Silver was mined in Mecklenburg County.
Lead was mined in Wythe County.
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For questions 9-13, answer on your own page.
9. Write a brief essay explaining why the mining of Virginia’s nonrenewable resources
continues and has it helped our state? Why or why not?
In the past 25 years the dollar value of mineral resources has risen threefold, from
540,595,000 in 1973 to 1,702,576, 00 in 1997. This has been a boost to the Virginia
economy and supplied employment.
10. Draw and label the Rock Cycle. Explain each process.
THE ROCK CYCLE
IGNEOUS ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCK
METAMORPHIC ROCK
materma
11. Write a paragraph that explains to an alien the difference between renewable and
nonrenewable resource. (Provide examples)
There are two kinds of natural resources, renewable and nonrenewable. Renewable
resources can be replaced with in a short period of time while nonrenewable
resources are slow to be replaced or can not be replaced at all such as minerals and
fossil fuels.
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12. What can we do to conserve our nonrenewable resources?
Accept any reasonable answer such as recycle, reuse, and use alternative energy
sources.
13. Describe a world without minerals and resources.
There would not be a world without minerals.
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