1. 1920 – land sold at public auction
Love Canal
William T. Love proposed a canal for navigation and hydropower
Only one mile of the canal built, used for swimming and recreation
1920 – land sold at public auction
became a municipal and chemical disposal site.

2. Hooker Chemical Company dumped over
20,000 tons of chemicals until 1953.
Including:
benzene -- causes leukemia
dioxin – causes cancer

3. Hooker covered the site with dirt and clay and sold the land to the Niagara Falls Board of Education for $1.00
the 99th Street elementary school opened and homes were built on the 16-acre rectangular site
1960s-1970s repeated complaints to city

4. 1976 -- Calspan Corporation hired as consultant
April, 1978 – Report in newspaper about toxic chemicals
Aug. 2, the NY State Department of Health recommended temporary relocation of pregnant women and young children
Aug. 7, 1978, President Jimmy Carter declared a federal emergency at Love Canal

5. 1980s -- Human Heath issues documented
Of 17 pregnancies in 1979 – 2 normal, 9 birth defects, 2 stillborn, 4 miscarriages
Broken chromosomes
Neurological Problems
1980 – Superfund Site
1990s – resettlement of area begins

6. Managing Hazardous Wastes
EPA pollution prevention hierarchy:
1. Reduce amount of pollution at the source.
2. Recycle wastes whenever possible.
3. Treat wastes to reduce hazard and/or volume.
4. Dispose of wastes on land or incinerate them as last resort.

7. Points to Know
Know the 5 methods of waste disposal. Which is the most common method in the US, and what are two problems with this method?
What are some recycling initiatives in the US?
What can you do to help reduce the amount of solid waste generated?
What are the environmental problems and health risks caused by hazardous wastes? What is the main source of these problems?
Know the general story of the Love Canal.

8. Environmental Geology
Lecture Objectives:
1. Tectonic Processes
2. Economic Geology and Mineralogy
Strategic Resources
3. Environmental Effects of Resource Extraction
Mining
Restoration
4. Conserving Geologic Resources

9. A DYNAMIC PLANET
A Layered Sphere
Core - Interior composed of dense, intensely hot metal. Generates magnetic field enveloping the earth.
Mantle - Hot, pliable layer surrounding the core. Less dense than core.
Crust - Cool, lightweight, brittle outermost layer. Floats on top of mantle.

10. A Layered Sphere

11. Tectonic Processes
Upper layer of mantle contains convection currents that break overlaying crust into a mosaic of tectonic plates.
Slide slowly across earth’s surface.
Ocean basins form where continents crack and pull apart.
Magma forced up through cracks in oceanic crust form mid-oceanic ridges.

12. Tectonic Processes

13. Tectonic Processes
Earthquakes are caused by grinding and jerking as plates slide past each other.
Mountain ranges pushed up at the margins of colliding plates.
Deep ocean trenches mark subduction zones.

14. Tectonic Processes

15. Pangea
Geologists suggest that several times in earth’s history most, or all, of the continents gathered to form a single super-continent, Pangea, surrounded by a single global ocean.

16. ROCKS AND MINERALS
A mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic, solid element or compound with a definite chemical composition and regular internal crystal structure.
A rock is a solid, cohesive, aggregate of one or more minerals.

17. Rock Types
Three major rock classifications:
Igneous
Sedimentary
Metamorphic

18. Igneous Rocks Most common type of rock in earth’s crust.
Solidified from magma extruded onto the surface from volcanic vents.
Quick cooling of magma produces fine-grained rocks.
Basalt
Slow cooling of magma produces coarse-grained rocks.
Granite

19. Weathering
Mechanical - Physical break-up of rocks into smaller particles without a change in chemical composition.
Chemical - Selective removal or alteration of specific components that leads to weakening and disintegration of rock.
- Oxidation
Sedimentation - Deposition of loosened material.

20. Sedimentary Rock
Deposited materials that remain in place long enough, or are covered with enough material for compaction, may again become rock.
Formed from crystals that precipitate out of, or grow from, a solution.
Shale
Sandstone
Tuff

21. Metamorphic Rock
Pre-existing rocks modified by heat, pressure, and chemical agents.
Chemical reactions can alter both the composition and structure of rocks as they are metamorphosed.
Marble (from limestone)
Quartzite (from sandstone)
Slate (from mudstone and shale)

22. ECONOMIC GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY
Metals consumed in greatest quantity by world industry (metric tons annually):
Iron (740 million)
Aluminum (40 million)
Manganese (22.4 million)
Copper and Chromium (8 million ea)
Nickel (0.7 million)

23. Non-Metal Mineral Resources
Sand and Gravel
Brick and concrete construction, paving, sandblasting and glass production.
Limestone
Concrete and building stone
Evaporites
Gypsum and Potash
Sulfur
Sulfuric Acid

24. Strategic Metals and Minerals
Of the 80 industrial metals and minerals, between one-third and one-half are considered strategic resources.
A country uses, but cannot produce.
Considered capable of crippling national economy or military strength if supplies were cut off.
Many less-developed nations depend on steady mineral exports for foreign exchange.

25. Strategic Metals and Minerals

26. ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF RESOURCE EXTRACTION
Mining
Placer Mining - Hydraulically washing out metals deposited in streambed gravel.
Destroys streambeds and fills water with suspended solids
Strip-Mining or Open Pit Mining.
Large scars on land surface.
Toxic runoff

27. Mining
Underground Mining
Gas
Inhaling Particulate Matter
Tunnel Collapse

28. Restoration
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (1977) requires better restoration of strip-mined lands, especially if land classed as prime farmland.
Difficult and expensive.
Minimum reclamation costs about $1,000 / acre while complete restoration may cost $5,000 / acre.
50% of US coal is strip mined.

29. CONSERVING GEOLOGIC RESOURCES
Recycling
Aluminum must be extracted from bauxite by electrolysis.
Recycling waste aluminum consumes one-twentieth the energy of extraction from raw ore.
Nearly two-thirds of all aluminum beverage cans in US are recycled.
Other metals commonly recycled:
Platinum, gold, copper, lead, iron, steel.

31. Substituting New Materials For Old
Reduce metal consumption by using new materials or new technologies.
Plastic pipes in place of metal pipes.
Fiber-optics in place of metal wires.
Metal alloys in place of traditional steel.

32. GEOLOGIC HAZARDS
Earthquakes - Sudden movements of the earth’s crust that occur along faults where one rock mass slides past another.
Gradual movement - creep.
When friction prevents creep, stress builds up until eventually released with a sudden jerk.
Frequently occur along subduction zones.
Tsunami - Seismic sea swells.

33. Volcanoes
Volcanoes and undersea magma vents are the sources of most of the earth’s crust.
Many of world’s fertile soils are weathered volcanic material.
Human / Environmental Dangers
Volcanic Ash
Mudslides
Sulfur Emissions

34. Landslides
A general term for rapid down-slope movement of soil or rock.
Many human activities such as forest clearing and building homes on steep, unstable slopes increase both frequency and damage done by landslides.

35. Points to know: Understand Tectonic Processes.
What is the difference between rocks and minerals?
Economic Geology and Mineralogy
What are Strategic Resources?
What are the environmental effects of resource extraction
Restoration - What is the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act?
How can we conserving geologic resources?
What are the main types of geologic hazards?