Transcript Ch 4 1 Energy and Mineral Resources

Energy and Mineral
Resources
Chapter 4, Section 1
Renewable and
Nonrenewable Resources
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A renewable resource can be replenished
over fairly short time spans such as months,
years, or decades
Common examples are plants and animals
for food, natural fibers for clothing, and
trees for lumber and paper
Energy from flowing water, wind, and the
sun are also renewable resources
A nonrenewable resource takes millions
of years to form and accumulate
When the present supply of nonrenewable
resources run out, there won’t be any more
Common examples are coal, oil, natural gas,
iron, copper, uranium, and gold
Concept Check
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What is the difference between a
renewable and a non-renewable
resource?
Renewable are replenished within
years, while non-renewable take
millions of years to accumulate.
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Fossil Fuels
Fossil Fuel – general term for any hydrocarbon
that may be used for fuel
Fossil fuels include coal, oil, and natural gas
Coal forms when heat and pressure transform plant
material over millions of years
Power plants primarily use coal to generate
electricity (using 70% of the coal mined)
Burning coal—much of which is high in sulfur—
creates air pollution problems
Petroleum (oil) and natural gas form from the
remains of plants and animals that were buried in
ancient seas
Over millions of years and continual sediment build
up, chemical reactions slowly transform some of the
organic remains into the liquid and gaseous
hydrocarbons we call petroleum and natural gas
U.S. Coal Fields
Oil Trap
Concept Check
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What two features must an oil trap
have?
Permeable reservoir rock to allow oil
and gas to collect and a cap rock that
keeps oil and gas from escaping.
Tar Sands and Oil Shale
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Some energy experts believe that fuels derived from
tar sands and oil shales could become good
substitutes for dwindling petroleum supplies
Tar sands are usually mixtures of clay and sand
combined with water and varying amounts of a
black, thick tar called bitumen
The oil in tar sands is much more resistant to flow
and cannot be pumped out easily
Oil shale is a rock that contains a waxy mixture of
hydrocarbons called kerogen
Oil shale can be mined and heated to vaporize the
kerogen
The kerogen vapor is processed to remove
impurities, and then refined
Oil Shale in the Green
River Formation
Formation of Mineral Deposits
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Ore – a material from which a useful mineral or minerals
can be mined at a profit
Geologists have established that the occurrences of
valuable mineral resources are closely related to Earth’s
rock cycle
Some of the most important mineral deposits form
through igneous processes and from hydrothermal
solutions
Igneous processes produce important deposits of metallic
minerals (gold, silver, copper, mercury, lead, platinum,
and nickel)
Most hydrothermal deposits form from hot, metal-rich
fluids that are left during the late stages of movement
and cooling of magma
Placer deposits are formed when eroded heavy minerals
settle quickly from moving water while less dense
particles remain suspended and continue to move
Hydrothermal Solutions
Concept Check
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What are mineral resources?
Earth materials that are extracted and
processed for either the metals or the
elements they contain.
Nonmetallic Mineral Resources
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Nonmetallic mineral resources are extracted and
processed either for the nonmetallic elements they
contain or for their physical and chemical properties
Nonmetallic mineral resources are divided into two
broad groups—building materials and industrial
materials
Natural aggregate (crushed stone, sand, and
gravel), is an important material used in nearly all
building construction
Some substances, like limestone, have many uses in
both construction and industry (cement, steel,
neutralizing acidic soils…)
Most industrial minerals are not nearly as abundant
as building materials, requiring considerable
processing to extract the desired substance at the
proper degree of purity
U.S. per
Capita use
of Mineral
and
Energy
Resources
Assignment
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Read Ch. 4, Sect. 1 (pg. 94-101)
Do Section 4.1 Assessment #1-8 (pg. 101)