Land Feature Paper

Earth and Earth Materials II Worksheet

GLG/150 Version 5

University of Phoenix Material

Earth and Earth Materials II Worksheet

Part 1

After viewing the Cooper Pedy Video in Section 2.2., please answer the following questions in 150 to 200 words. Support your answers with referenced documentation.

Does mining cost more than it’s worth?

Mining is a significant source of wealth for every nation. For instance, Australia benefits much from the cooper pedy. The video portrays the complexity involved in extracting minerals fom the opals. It also spells out the various values of certain examples of minerals found in the Opals. As indicated in the video, the town of Cooper Pedy was builty from the wealth that accrued from the opals. The value of the amount obtained from the sale of Opals minerals is enough to compensate for the losses and promote individual and national growth. The beautiful scenery left by the Opal tunnel attract a lot of tourists who visit the site to have a glance at issues going on their. Such developments makes the mining worh to be more than the costs of mining.

How is searching for diamonds different than searching for opals? Consider both where they are found and what types of equipment are needed to mine opals and

diamonds.

Opals occur in both sedimentary and volcanic despositions.Virtually, all the Australia’s Opal is a derivative from the end result of the weathering process of sedimentary. During this time, the silica and the ground water percolated downwards forming an Opaline Silica. The deposits appeared as del in the form of an assortment of structures. As the silica gel gets hardening, the water dries out forming an Opal. Opals are extracted or searched through digging or sinking of a shaft. The shaft provides a more effectual means to reach the opal. Depending on the span of the shaft and bucket auger, the miner will eventually reach the opal. Another equipment needed for mining opal is a bulldozer applied for open-cut-mining. It helps in slicing of the layers until the opal echelon is obtained. Other tools include; rake,sieve that individuals use in digging the scrumbling soils and heaps to ge to the opal.

Diamond is excavated through hard-rock mining tha helps in extracting the precious stones. Secondly is through open-pit-mining. Thirdly is marine mining applied in taking out diamond minerals from from the deposits at the offshore. Lastly, is Placer Mining that helps to extract diamond from alluvial deposits, i.e. hauling diamond from the earth surface. In all the four processes, the equipment such as drill or shafts are necessary.

Part 2

Complete the mineral Drag and Drop in Section 2.1.

What is Moh’s scale of hardness used for?

It gives an account of the hardness of a given mineral component. There are variations regarding the nature and hardness of the minerals (Broz, Cook & Whitney, 2006). That is due strength of bonds between the atoms in each mineral crystals. Therefore, the Moh’s Scale of hardnessis the measure of relative hardness and resistance to scratching between minerals. In other words, it is a rough measure of the degree of resistance of a smooth surface to abrasion or scratching. To provide numerical values, the minerals are measured along Mohs scaleconsisting of 10 minerals. The scale helps also in mineral identity in the field.

If you have an unidentified mineral sample, what tests can you apply to determine what the mineral is?

In this case, either Knoop hardness or Vickers hardness is utilized in identifying the mineral type (Poskus, Placido & Cardoso, 2004). They are more precise than the Moh’s Scale which is only relevant for field geologists. Vickers is more precise and helps in detecting the exact hardness of the industrial minerals which Moh’s scale cannot identify.

Part 3

A map similar to this appears in Chapter 2 of your textbook.

Land Feature Paper 1

In the following table, identify some of the minerals that are extracted from each region next to the corresponding letter.

Uranium, copper,lead/zinc

oil and coal

coal

Diamond

Coal, copper,

Bauxite

Discuss the economic and environmental impacts of extracting any two minerals that you identified in the table. (Additional resources may be necessary.)

In economy, oil impacts on the jobs, investments and growth. For instance, oil influences the cost of doing business in various economies (Mehrara, 2007). That is due to the fluctuation of oil prices across the world, for exampleit influences on the cost of production in all the manufacturing sectors.for a country that imports oil, a drop in oil prices implies lowering the price of oil importation, thus benefiting the manufacturing sector which largely depend on oil to run its machines and equipment. On the other hand, an increase in oil prices, also means the price of transporting goods and people will be higher. For instance, there is a direct correlation between the cost of gasoline and transportation costs. Furthermore, the oil producing nations such as US, Libya, and united arabs emirates, benefit a lot from the revenue they earn from oil. Therefore, increases in oil prices, means more revenue for the nations.

Oil usage pose certain environmental impacts. It is used to fuel cars, machines, vehicles and in manufacturing products. When burned as fuel, the petroleum products emit certain fumes into the environment which is very harmful to the health of individuals and all other living organism (Pimentel, 2003). Such fumes include carbon dioxide, Sulphur dioxide, carbonmonoxide, Nitrogen oxide among others. Sulphur dioxide results to acidic rain which is harmful to the living organisms and stimulates illnesses such as heartattack and respiratory products. CO2 is a greenhouse gas and can result to global warming. Nitrogenoxide brings about ground-level ozone which can result to lung damages. Carbonmonoxide also infiltrates the respiratory organs stimulating difficulty in breathing. Oil spillages through the land and water bodies are also constant causes of death of plants and animals.

Copper

The mineral contributes much to the global economy through jobs and enhancement of people’s living standards. different products such as mobile phones, cars, computers and electricity cables rely on copper to enable their functionality. Therefore, copper is a significant facilitator of GDP growth of a country either direcly or indirectly. For instance, by facilitating the wfunctionality of the products utilized in industries for manufacturing peurposes. Furthermore transportation, communication and general business development. In countries where copper is mined or produced in abudance, it can be exported to other countries thus enhancing a countries balance of payment through the export earnings.

Copper production has risen greatly over the years leading to large quanties of the mineral spreading in the environment, due to increased industrial and agricultural uses. Low levels of copper has no negative impact on health (Gaetke & Chow, 2003). However, high levels of copper irritates the human system resulting to complications of the breathing system. it irritates both the nose and throat, hence causing nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. Liver and kidney damages are also results of too much copper into human system and can bring death.

Part 4

In the following table, summarize what scientists have learned from the fossil record. Include the type of fossil evidence scientists used in their research. Add one more type of evidence with a summary to the table.

Note. You may need to do outside research to complete the table. Cite any references used and provide a References page.

Area of information	Summary
Climate change	Climate change can be defined as the long term variations in the weather patterns. According to the fossil records, climate change occurs due to the long-term alterations of the weather patterns especially by human activities such as industrial pollution, and release of waste into the environment (Davis, Shaw & Etterson, 2005). The information from the fossil records predicts increses in the global warming in the future. The palaentologists and anthropologists emphasizes on the importance of making reference from the past to understand the current trends in climate. According to them, such knowledge is essential for establishing various measures to deal with the future variations in climate. Over the years, the earth exoerienced incidences of global crises of which resulted to loss of diversity or extintiction of weaker species. Due to the dorminance of other plants and animals, the ecosystem remains organized. The fossil record provides essential evidences to the scientists on how life responded.
Continental drift	This theory explains the shifting of the contents position on the earth surface (Runcorn, 2013). The fossili evidence concerning the continental shifts was proposed a hundred years ago. The assumption is, all continents were once joined together as one entity. The fossil evidence confirming this, is the plate tectonics which suggests an evidences of different fossils on separate contents but do not appear anywhere else. The species enjoined in one place but later separated due to continental drift. For instance, remains of the freshwater crocodile-like reptile nad the Mesosaurus are only found in S.Afica and Eastern S.America. the fossils lived between 286 and 258 million years ago. There is now way they could have swam between the continents suggesting that Africa and South America were once joined.
Extinct species: dinosaurs, early mammals, and so on	Extinction of species is due to their inability to adapt to the environment (Barnosky et al, 2011). Therefore, because of the continuous evolution of competing organsism (mammals) may be the dinsaurs got extinct. The fossil record is based on the evidence of the persistent decline in the population of dinosaur species that is likely to cause their complete extinction.
Evolution	Evolution is change in the anatomy and other heritable features of living organisms over successive generations. The fossil evidences gives an account of the time the organisms lived, and their progressions over years. The fossils also provide past images and picturesthat show the evolutionary change of organisms over millions of years ago. The fossils preserved include things like; human and animal bornes, teeth, skeletons, tools, broken pots, plants remains, footprints e.t.c. the fossils provides a distinct evidences of evolution because the scientists can use them to learn how the ancient life is different from today’s.
Meteor strikes	The meteors objects fell on the earth surface and can result to damage of property and killings (Osinski et al, 2007). There are numerous fossil evidences that shows how meteor strikes led to the extinction of species. For instance, the Middle Devonian event occurred 380 million years ago leading to mass extinction. According to researchers from Louisiana University, the Meteor strike killed insects such as spiders, and plants that occupied the earth. That was 380 million years ago. Scientists also claims that it is the Meteor strike that led to complete extinction of the dinosaurs.
Mass extinctions	The mass extinction happened over 500 million years ago and led to the death of over 90% of all living organisms that ever lived on the planet, earth. It also implies that, as the older species die, new species that can fit the ever changing ecological niches arise (McElwain & Punyasena, 2007). The fossil evidences gives record of organisms on different periods of time. After the death of organisms, some of their remains are preserved as fossils. The ages of the fossils can be determined to give a clear record on the organisms tha occupied the earth at some time. For instance, Cretaceous-tertiary extinction. The K -T extinction killed all dinosaurs ending the Cretaceous period thus ushering the tertiary period.
Wandering poles	It is defined as the movement of the earth’s magnetic pole relative to the rotation of the earth on the axis. There are fossil records that shows evidence of the constant motion of the earth’s magnetic poles (Garrick et al, 2011). For instance Mesosaurs evidences found only in South Africa and the Fresh-water crocodiles fossils in Brazil. The two localiies are separated to one another by over 488km.
Other (Migration)	Migration is the movement of organisms fromone place to another. The fossils provide clear evidence on early human migration. For instance the presence of a skull in the Manot Cave in Israel is a clear indication that people lived there and later migrated to other places (Tougard, 2001). The scientists use such evidences as human remains to prove that humans once lived and migrated from a place.

References

Barnosky, A. D., Matzke, N., Tomiya, S., Wogan, G. O., Swartz, B., Quental, T. B., ... & Mersey, B. (2011). Has the Earth/'s sixth mass extinction already arrived?. Nature, 471(7336), 51-57.

Broz, M. E., Cook, R. F., & Whitney, D. L. (2006). Microhardness, toughness, and modulus of Mohs scale minerals. American Mineralogist, 91(1), 135-142.

Davis, M. B., Shaw, R. G., & Etterson, J. R. (2005). Evolutionary responses to changing climate. Ecology, 86(7), 1704-1714.

Gaetke, L. M., & Chow, C. K. (2003). Copper toxicity, oxidative stress, and antioxidant nutrients. Toxicology, 189(1), 147-163.

Garrick-Bethell, I., Perera, V., Nimmo, F., & Zuber, M. T. (2014). The tidal-rotational shape of the Moon and evidence for polar wander. Nature, 512(7513), 181-184.

McElwain, J. C., & Punyasena, S. W. (2007). Mass extinction events and the plant fossil record. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 22(10), 548-557.

Mehrara, M. (2007). Energy consumption and economic growth: the case of oil exporting countries. Energy policy, 35(5), 2939-2945.

Osinski, G. R., Schwarcz, H. P., Smith, J. R., Kleindienst, M. R., Haldemann, A. F., & Churcher, C. S. (2007). Evidence for a∼ 200–100 ka meteorite impact in the Western Desert of Egypt. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 253(3), 378-388.

Pimentel, D. (2003). Ethanol fuels: energy balance, economics, and environmental impacts are negative. Natural resources research, 12(2), 127-134.

Poskus, L. T., Placido, E., & Cardoso, P. E. C. (2004). Influence of placement techniques on Vickers and Knoop hardness of class II composite resin restorations. Dental Materials, 20(8), 726-732.

Runcorn, S. K. (Ed.). (2013). Continental drift (Vol. 3). Elsevier.

Tougard, C. (2001). Biogeography and migration routes of large mammal faunas in South–East Asia during the Late Middle Pleistocene: focus on the fossil and extant faunas from Thailand. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 168(3), 337-358.