Rocks

Again, some definitions…
Rocks are any solid aggregation of minerals.The type of rock in a given region affects soil characteristics and, therefore, influences the region’s plant community.
A mineral is any naturally occurring solid element or inorganic compound with a crystal structure, a specific chemical composition, and distict physical properties.

The difference between them is that rocks are made of minerals, but the opposit does not occur.

Rock cycle is a process in which rocks and minerals are heated, melted, cooled and broken down, and takes years to be complete, in a way that mineral resources become nonrenewable on human time scales, therefore, we should try to minimize and mitigate the many environmental and social impacts of our mining operations.

We mine metals from ores. A metal is an element that is lustrous, opaque, maleable, and can concuct heat and electricity. Some examples are iron, lead, gold, aluminum and tantalum. Many minerals we use do not contain metals, like sand and gravel, that provide construction and fill materials; phosphates, used as fertilizers; limestones and salts; and gemstones, such as diamond.
Substances used for fuel are also mined like uranium, used in nuclear power; and even though coal is not a mineral because it consists of organic matter, it is considered to be mined because of it’s relevance in general mining issues. Other organic fossil fuels are petroleum, natural gas, and alternative fossil fuels like oil sands and methane hydrates. You can watch an enterview about methane hydrates here.

There are many mining methods, such as strip mining; subsurface mining; open pit mining; placer mining and mountain top removal. They’re use depends on the nature of the mineral deposit. Each technique has advantages and disadvantages. We are going to talk about those on the next post.

Some Definitions..

Some basic, but necessary definitions:

Environment: Includes all living and nonliving things around us with which we interact. The use of the term environment, to mean a nonhuman or “natural” world apart from human interaction, is too narrow and incomplete; it hides the connection and dependance between human beings and nature.

Climate Change: Describes trends and variations in Earth’s climate, involving aspects such as temperature, weather patterns, and the effects felt by those changes.

Global Warming: The increase in the avarage temperature of the Earth’s surface. global warming and climate change are not identical, in fact, global warming is one of the consequences of climate change, even though warming does in turn, drive other forces of climate change.

Curiosity…? Weather and climate. Are they the same thing?

Climate: Describes the atmospheric condition (temperature, moisture content, wind, precipitation, barometric pressure, solar radiation, etc.) of a large area through an extended period of time (years, centuries or millennia), while weather refers to the specific and local conditions over a period of hours or days.