MINERAL & FOSSIL FUEL
FORMATION AND
EXTRACTION
APES 2012
WARMUP…
 How does the uneven distribution of minerals and resources
impact social and political relationships between dif ferent
countries?
UNEVEN DISTRIBUTION OF MINERALS
 Oxygen, silicon, aluminum, and iron are unevenly distributed
over 88 percent of the crust
 Ores consist of concentrated accumulation of economically
valuable minerals and metals
GLOBAL MINERAL DISTRIBUTION
T YPES OF MINING
 Two kinds of mining take place on land:
 SURFACE MINING
 Strip Mining
 Open-pit Mining
 Mountaintop Removal
 Placer mining
 SUBSURFACE MINING
SURFACE MINING
 STRIP MINING
 Removes strips of soil and rock to expose ore.
 Used when ore is relatively close to the Earth’s surface
 (ex. Sedimentary materials such as coal and sand)
SURFACE MINING
 OPEN-PIT MINING
 Creates a large pit or hole in the ground.
 Used when resource is close to the surface but extends beneath the
surface horizontally and vertically (ex. Copper mines)
Kennecott Bingham Canyon
Mine
near Salt Lake City, UT
one of the largest open-pit
mines in the world
SURFACE MINING
 MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL
 Miners remove the entire top of a mountain with explosives.
 Large earth-moving equipment removes the resource and
deposits the tailings in
lower-elevation regions
nearby, often in or near
rivers and streams
 (ex. Coal)
The Last Mountain
SURFACE MINING
 PLACER MINING
 The process of looking for metals and precious stones in river
sediments.
 River water is used to separate heavier items like diamonds,
tantalum, and gold, from lighter items like sand and mud. (ex.
California gold rush)
SUBSURFACE MINING
 Used when resources are
more than 100 meters (328
feet) below Earth’s surface.
 (ex. Coal, diamonds, and gold)
TURN AND TALK…
 What are some possible environmental impacts of mining?
 Which type of mining causes the most harm to the
environment?
 Which type of mining creates the least amount of damage to
the environment?
MINING SAFETY AND THE
ENVIRONMENT
 The extraction of mineral has various environmental impacts
and human health consequences
 Deposit of spoils and tailings could cause contamination and the
blocking or changing the flow of rivers.
MINING SAFET Y AND THE ENVIRONMENT
 Subsurface mining can cause acid mine drainage, where lower pH water
from the mine is pumped and drained above ground, lowering the pH of
nearby soils and streams.
Acid Mine drainage
MINING SAFET Y AND THE ENVIRONMENT
 Subsurface mining accidents are extremely dangerous to miners,
while long term exposure to gases and particles can cause
respiratory diseases.
 Human impact Subsurface mining
TURN AND TALK…
 How will the growth of human populations and
industrialization af fect the demand for mined resources?
 How will this impact the environment?
 Are mineral resources considered renewable or non renewable? Why?
MINING LEGISLATION
 Governments have sought to regulate the mining process for
many years:
 The Mining Law of 1872 (General Mining Act) – regulates the mining
of silver, copper, and gold ore as well as fuels, including natural gas
and oil, on federal lands. Written to encourage development and
settlement in the western United States, it contains very few
environmental protection provisions.
 The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 – regulates
surface mining of coal and the surface effects of subsurface coal
mining. The act mandates that land be minimally disturbed during
the mining process and reclaimed after mining is complete
 Mining legislation does not uniformly regulate all of the practices that can
have harmful effects on air, water, and land.
WORKING TOWARDS
SUSTAINABILITY
 In the U.S. the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of
1977 requires coal mining companies to restore the lands they
have mined. Regulations also require other types of mining
operations to do some level of restoration.
1.
2.
Fill in the hole or depression in the landscape.
Fill material must be relatively free of metals, acids, and other
compounds and shaped to follow the preexisting contours.
3. The land must be replanted to re-create the communities of
organisms that inhabited the area before mining.
 Properly completed reclamation makes the soil physically stable so
that erosion does not occur and water infiltration and retention can
proceed.
AND THEN THERE’S OIL
 Oil drilling explained –
Fossil fuel formation
FOSSIL FUELS
COAL
 between layers of sediment.
 As surface coal reserves deplete,
subsurface mining techniques are
used to mine for coal ores.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF
EXTRACTION - COAL
 Burning fossil fuels…
 Removing surfaces from a mountaintop….
 Chemical runof f from strip mining…
COAL MINING LEGISLATION
 Mountain top extraction is the “worst” for the environment
 In the US, mining companies must “restore” strip mined land
(is that even possible?)
 In 2002, the US loosened regulations on mountaintop
removal, allowing companies to dump removed and slide
material into river valleys
 The rest of the world has even looser regulations
FOSSIL FUELS
PETROLEUM
 A fluid mixture of hydrocarbons, water, and sulfur that occurs in underground
deposits. Petroleum removed from the ground is known as crude oil and
contains natural gas.
 Formed as the remains of ocean-dwelling phytoplankton (microscopic algae)
that died 50 million to 150 million years ago get trapped between porous
sedimentary rock and nonporous rocks.
 Petroleum fills the pore spaces in the rock over millions of years and
migrates up to the highest point of the porous rock, where it is trapped by
nonporous rock.
 Petroleum is generally extracted through the use of pumps through drilled
wells.
 Once extracted petroleum is transferred through pipelines and tankers to
various refineries where it is refined into tar, asphalt, gasoline, diesel, and
kerosene.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EXTRACTION
 Primary extraction: Easiest and cheapest. Whatever oil can be
pumped without extra ef fort
 Secondary extraction: Input more energy/matter to force the
oil out. Much more expensive and energetically demanding.
 Secondary extraction methods are only economically feasible
if primary extraction is not possible
PETROLEUM ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
 Burning fossil fuels adds CO2 to the atmosphere (usage)
 Pollution of water through oil spills and leakage
(extraction)….sludge
 Drilling can alter local ecosystem health: (vegetation, wildlife,
etc).
For example, drilling in Alaska has been shown to adversely
af fect bird populations and reproductive success and af fect
caribou and polar bear populations
FOSSIL FUELS
NATURAL GAS
 Exists as a gaseous deposit on
its own as well as a component
of petroleum.
 80 to 95 percent methane (CH 4 )
and 5 to 20 percent ethane,
propane, and butane.
 Mostly extracted in association
with petroleum but direct drilling for
natural gas has recently been explored.
 One way of extracting natural gas is through
fracking
Fracking CNN
NATURAL GAS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
Extraction can:
 Contaminate groundwater (for drinking!)
 Alter air quality (for breathing!)
 Bring harmful chemicals to the surface
FOSSIL FUELS
OTHER FOSSIL FUELS
 Oil Sands and Liquefied Coal are two types of fossil fuel deposits that
contain a great deal of energy but are not readily available.
 Oil sands are slow -flowing, viscous deposits of bitumen mixed with sand,
water, and clay
 Oil sands can be extracted by surface mining, which have serious negative environmental impacts.
 Requires large amounts of water to extract, can be inefficient, and releases more CO2 than
conventional oil production
 Liquefied Coal is created from converting solid coal into a liquid fuel through
a process known as CTL (coal-to-liquid)
 With more goal reserves than petroleum reserves, liquefied coal can help alleviate the world’s
dependence on petroleum
 However, emissions from liquefied coal are more than twice of those from conventionally
produced oil.
IN YOUR NOTEBOOKS…
 What are some environmental impacts of extracting these
fossil fuels?
 Do you think the extraction methods for one are worst than
the others? Why or why not?
 Can you think of any major controversies in recent years over
extraction of certain fossil fuels?
 Are these fuels considered renewable resources? Why or why
not?