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53 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What causes black lung disease?
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Long term exposure to coal dust.
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What is the name to describe land surfaces developing pits or sag because of mining?
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subsidence.
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Why is subsidence undesirable?
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It can damage buried utility lines, roads, buildings, and adversely affect river flow.
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What is long-wall mining?
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Using jacks to support the roof of the mine, which are eventually removed and intentionally allows the area to collapse.
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What is room-and-pillar mining?
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removing coal bed in a rectangular pattern, creating voids surrounded by coal patters.
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What is retreat mining?
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removal of coal columns, which endangers miners.
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What is strip mining?
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coal mined at the surface.
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What is overburden?
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Unwanted rock from strip mining.
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Why is strip mining recently less used?
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thinner coal strips and excess overburden.
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What is mountaintop mining?
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Removing huge amounts of overburden to get multiple layers of rocks. This is controversial.
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When coal undergoes combustion at a plant, what happens?
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Mineral bonds break and sulfur ions release, creating sulfur dioxide.
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What's wrong with sulfur dioxide?
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It forms sulfuric acid, which falls as acid rain.
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What is acid mine drainage?
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acid "rain" formed by weathering of waste rock or mines.
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Why do power companies often use low-sulfur plants?
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it's easier than regulation of coal
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What two things are released by carbon burning?
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Co2 and acid rain
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What is "Petroleum"?
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general term geologists use to describe both oil and natural gas. Formed by organic matter.
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What are "hydrocarbons"?
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minerals made up of mostly hydrogen and carbon.
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Is Petroleum a hydrocarbon?
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Yes
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what is natural gas?
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A mixture of different hydrocarbon gases.
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What is "crude oil"?
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unrefined oil that is composed of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules in a liquid state.
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What is an oil window?
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The period at which source rocks reach about 7500 feet, where temperatures are high enough to cause organic compounds to turn into oil and natural gas.
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What is a gas window?
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where higher temperatures cause the reamining oil to break into simpler molecus making up natural gas.
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What is swamp gas?
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stuff formed in low-oxygenated areas.
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What kind of rock do oil and gas originate in?
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sedimentary.
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In order to form an economical deposit in a sedimentary basin, oil and gas molecules must what?
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become trapped and accumulate.
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What is a petroleum trap?
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any configuration of rocks that allow hydrocarbons to form.
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What's a petroleum resovoir?
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permeable rocks where oil and gas are stored.
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What is an anticline?
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a type of petroleum trap/reveroir where sedimentary rocks are folden into a dorm.
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What is a cap rock?
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low-permeability rock layer overliying a trap.
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What are the condiitons for a reservor being filled with water instead of hydrocarbons?
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1. No suitiable source rock
2. source rock didn't reach oil window 3. temp went beyond gas window, destroying hydrocarbons 4. leaky cap rock allowed petro to escape 5. petro developed and migrated before trap formed |
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What is shale gas?
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A newly mined kind of gas
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What were the 3 main types of wastes?
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Hazardous, Liquid, and Solid.
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How long is Radioactive waste hazardous?
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Hundreds of thousands of years.
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What is the greatest challenge to radioactive waste disposal?
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Finding a site to secure that waste for such a long time.
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What is Yucca Mountain?
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The closest area that was to become a radioactive waste disposal site.
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Why wasn't Yucca mountain chosen to be a radioactive waste area?
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1. Community Opposition (NIMBY-not in my backyard)
2. Geological Concerns 3. Withdrawal of funding |
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Where is all the radioactive waste being stored now?
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Kept on the site. At the power plant or nuclear facility.
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What did the Dalai Lama warn of?
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Imperceptible changes, like soil erosion
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What is soil erosion?
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transport of soil away from its original position
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What can erode/transport soil?
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1. Wind
2. Rain 3. Runoff 4. Ice |
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Soil erosions occurs ____.
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naturally
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How long has soil erosion occured?
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450 million years
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When soil erosion occurs naturally, the rate at which soil is moved is what?
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Roughly equal to the rate the soil is formed.
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How do humans impact soil erosions?
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Accelerating the rate of erosion, leading to soil loss.
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What types of activities accelerate the rate of soil erosions and increase soil loss?
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1. Industrial/Agriculture
2. Deforestation 3. Mining 4. Urbanization |
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How do Agricultural practices and deforestation accelerate soil erosion?
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Removal of cover material.
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What is Vegetation cover material?
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Leaf Litter, Trees, Plants
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How does urbanization accelerate soil erosion?
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1. Construction increases wind and rain exposure.
2. Urbanization increases the volume of runoff which leads to greater erovsive force. |
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Why does rate of flow increase with urbanization?
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Lack of soil absorbtion
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What does soil erosion lead to?
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Sediment pollution
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How many residents rely on the Chattahoochee river?
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3 million people.
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What do developers and farmers have the responsibility to think about?
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downstream neighbors
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What are the goals of strategies for fighting soil loss?
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1. Maintain cover material
2. Prevent soil movement 3. Capture mobilized soil. |
