ch 16 vocab

1. Minerals: elements or compounds of elements that occur naturally in Earth’s crust.
2. Sulfides: mineral compounds in which certain elements are combined chemically with sulfur.
3. Oxides: mineral compounds in which elements are combined chemically with oxygen.
4. Rocks: naturally formed aggregates, or mixtures, of minerals and have varied chemically compositions.
5. Ore: rock that contains a large enough concentration of a particular mineral to be profitably mined and extracted.
6. High-Grade Ores: contain relatively large amounts of particular minerals.
7. Low-Grade Ores: contain lesser amounts of particular minerals.
8. Metals: minerals such as iron, aluminum, and copper, which are malleable, lustrous, and good conductors of heat and electricity.
9. Nonmetallic Minerals: such as sand, stone, salt, and phosphates, lack the characteristics of metals.
10. Magmatic Concentration: varying concentrations of minerals, often found in the different rock layers; responsible for deposits such as iron, copper, nickel, chromium, and others.
11. Hydrothermal Processes: involves water that was heated deep in the Earth’s crust, which seeps through the cracks and fissures and dissolves certain minerals in the rocks.
12. Sedimentation: a process in which weathered particles are transported by water and deposited as sediment on riverbanks, deltas, and the sea floor.
13. Evaporation: the conservation of water from a liquid to a vapor.
14. Surface Mining: the extraction of mineral and energy resources near the Earth’s surface by first removing the soil, subsoil, and overlying rock strata.
15. Subsurface Mining: the extraction of mineral and energy resources from deep underground deposits.
16. Overburden: soil and rock overlying a useful mineral deposit.
17. Open-Pit Surface Mining: in which a giant hole is dug (iron, copper, stone, gravel)
18. Strip Mining: a trench is dug to extract the minerals, then a new one is dug parallel to that one.
19. Spoil Bank: a hill of loose rock created when the overburden from a new trench is put into the already excavated trench during strip mining.
20. Shaft Mine: a direct vertical shaft to the vein of ore.
21. Slope Mine: a slanting passage that makes it possible to haul the broken ore out of the mine in cars rather than hoisting it up in buckets.
22. Smelting: the process in which ore is melted at high temperatures to separate impurities from the molten metal.
23. Slag: a molten mixture which accumulates when limestone reacts with impurities in the ore.
24. Acid Mine Draining: pollution caused when sulfuric acid and dangerous dissolved materials such as lead, arsenic, and cadmium wash from mines into nearby lakes and streams.
25. Tailings: impurities that are usually left in giant piles on the ground or in ponds near the processing plants, very toxic (cyanide, mercury, or sulfuric acid).
26. Derelict: techniques of restoring lands degraded by mining; research.
27. Phytoremediation: the use of specific plants to absorb and accumulate toxic materials such as nickel from the soil.
28. Mineral Reserves: mineral deposits that have been identified and are currently profitable to extract.
29. Mineral Resources: any undiscovered mineral deposits or known deposits of low-grade ore that are currently unprofitable to extract.
30. Total Resources / World Reserve Base: the combination of a mineral’s reserves.
31. Manganese Nodules: small rocks the size of potatoes that contain manganese and other minerals, such as copper, cobalt, and nickel – are widespread on the ocean floor, particularly in the Pacific.
32. Biomining: the process of using microorganisms to extract minerals from low-grade ores (gold).
33. Reuse: conservation of the resources in used items by using them over and over again.
34. Recycle: conservation of the resources in used items by converting them into new products.
35. Sustainable Manufacturing: a manufacturing system based on industrial waste minimization.
36. Dematerialization: the decrease in the weight of products over time (appliances become smaller and lighter in weights as they evolve over time).