Ch. 4.1 ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES

Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources  Renewable resources can be made over a fairly short amount of time, like month, years, or decades.  Examples: plants, animals, natural fibers, trees.  Nonrenewable resources takes “millions” of years to form and accumulate.  Examples: coal, oil, and natural gas.  A concern for nonrenewable resources is the rate at which they are being used and how long will they last.

Fossil Fuels  Fossil fuel – any hydrocarbon that may be used as a source of energy.  Hydrocarbon is a compound made of hydrogen and carbon.  Examples: coal, oil, and natural gas

Coal  Coal forms from pressure and temperature on plant and animal materials.  4 stages of development:  Peat – partially decayed plant material, looks like soil  Brown coal (lignite) – peat becomes sedimentary rock  Bituminous coal (soft coal) – heat and pressure applied on lignite, this is sedimentary rock  Lastly, anthracite (hard coal) – metamorphic rock  Power plants use coal to generate electricity.

 There are big supplies of coal. The problem comes from the ways coal is gotten and used.  Surface mining scars the land. In the US today mining companies have to restore the land after use.  Underground mining is dangerous  When coal is burned it creates pollution problems. It releases sulfur and that produces acid rain.

Petroleum and Natural Gas  Both form from the remains of plants and animals.  Petroleum forms from the remains being buried and eventually the remains chemically becomes gases and liquid – petroleum and natural gas.  Oil and gas will move toward the surface but an oil trap may stop it from reaching the surface. An anticline can make an oil trap. An anticline is an up arched series of sedimentary rock layers. This is a good place for drilling to happen.

Tar Sands  Some energy experts believe that as petroleum supplies dwindle a good source of energy would be from tar sands and oil shale.  Tar sands are mixtures of clay and sand with water and a black thick tar.  Tar sand is harder to pump out of the Earth.  Tar sands at this point are surface mined which causes land problems.

Oil Shale  This is a rock that contains a waxy mixture of kerogen.  The use of oil shale is not as efficient as the current crude oil used.

Formation of Mineral Deposits  Mineral deposits are deposits of useful minerals that can be extracted.  Ore is an example.  Mineral deposits form along with the rock cycle.

Mineral Resources and Igneous Processes  The making of igneous rock also make large deposits of metallic minerals, like gold, silver, mercury, copper, lead, platinum, and nickel.

Hydrothermal Solutions  Hydrothermal, remember means hot water, solutions make very important mineral deposits. For example they make gold, lead, zinc, and silver.

Placer Deposits  They formed when eroded heavy minerals settle quickly from moving water while less dense particles continue to move.  The minerals in these deposits must be heavy, durable, and chemically resistant.  Gold is the best known placer deposit.

Nonmetallic Mineral Resources  This mineral resources are used for the nonmetallic elements they contain or for their physical and chemical properties.  Examples: fluorite and limestone which are used in making steel and fertilizers.  2 groups of nonmetallic mineral resources: building materials and industrial materials.