5.9, 9.6, 9.7

What is Open-pit mining

Just keep digging down and down -Lowered albedo -Creates a slope

Mine tailings example

Pyrite (FeS2)

How to Remediate Acid Mine Drainage?

-Add a base or buffer to neutralize the substance: can use limestone -Remove Tailings or cover to reduce contact with preparation - lead to runoff -Use bioremediation - use sulfate-reducing bacteria

Why is there metabolic changes due to ocean warming?

-As the ocean warms, marine species may migrate, but they can't locally escape to cooler areas - they are always surrounded by warmer water. -Organisms are pushed to their biological and thermal limits and become weakened or die. -Reduction of biodiversity/disruption of trophic structures

Environmental Consequences of Mining:

-Bare earth is now exposed -Creation of roads -Mining equipment -Runoff

Why is there ocean bleaching due to ocean warming?

-Corals have algae that live within their bodies in mutualist relationships (besides helping provide food for the coral, these algae also give corals their unique colors) -Warming ocean temperatures stress the corals and when stressed, corals expel their symbiotic algae, which gives them a bleached appearance -Corals can recover from a bleaching event, but if the conditions that caused the bleaching to continue, this will often lead to the death of the coral -Coral colonies are the foundation of highly biodiverse reef ecosystems and the loss of coral colonies means that there will be a loss of habitat for the other species that depend on them -This loss will also disrupt the trophic structure of the reef ecosystem -Degraded reefs are vulnerable to invasive species, which have the potential to create permanent negative ecosystem impacts

What is Subsurface Mining?

-Dangerous in less developed countries with fewer regulations protecting workers -Can breathe in dust and get black lung disease

Why is there Reproductive changes due to ocean warming?

-Organisms weakened by thermal stress do not reproduce well -Many marine reproductive patterns (mating times, egg-hatching times, larval development) are timed based on specific ocean temperatures - disruption of these temperature patterns leads to reproductive harm

Why is there a loss of habitat due to ocean warming?

-Reduction of sea ice can hurt hunting and feeding patterns -High temps hurt predator-prey interactions - prey migrate to cooler areas -Sea level rise alters coastlines - hurts species that use land and water resources -Rising coastal seas push species out of the photic zone -Warming temps impact the primary productivity of phytoplankton - the basis of marine food webs

What does ocean warming cause?

-The global increase in ocean water temps (Warming isn't uniform across the globe and some areas are warming more quickly than others) -Ocean warming is caused by increased GHGs like carbon dioxide and methane (The oceans have absorbed 93% of the excess heat from GHGs since 1970)

Why is it bad for bare earth to be exposed?

-There is soil erosion without vegetation or roots to keep the soil down. -Topsoil is taken away by wind or water, so the area is left with subsoil -There is desertification until primary succession takes place -Lowered albedo so there are increased temperatures in the area

Mining runoff causes?

-Turbidity -Decreased albedo -Increased temperatures -Decreased oxygen

Mine Remediation examples

1) Put the topography back -Grading the dirt by changing the slope -Adding back in topsoil to enrich the soil with nutrient -Adding back native plants - then monitoring every few years 2) It can become a golf course 3) The open pit can become a recreational lake or landfill

How do anthropogenic activities contribute to ocean acidification?

Anthropogenic activities contributing to ocean acidification lead to increased CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere: burning fossil fuels, vehicle emissions, and deforestation.

Overburden

Any material that is over an ore

What happens when more CO2 is released into the atmospere?

As more CO2 is released into the atmosphere, the oceans, which absorb a large part of that CO2, become more acidic.

How does the increase in the amount of dissolved CO2 in ocean water result in a decrease in the pH of ocean water?

As the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere increases, so does the amount of CO2 that is absorbed by ocean water. CO2 combines with water to create carbonic acid, H2CO3-. Carbonic Acid dissociates into free hydrogen ions and bicarbonate ions. The greater the amount of hydrogen ions the lower the pH of the water, since pH is a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions. (CO2 + H20 → H2CO3) (H2CO3 → H+ + HCO3-)

Negative impacts of Mining equipment

Burns fossil fuels like CO2

What is Mountaintop Removal?

Dig away at the mountain, usually for coal -Happens in West Virginia along the Appalachia mountains -Creates bare earth -Lowers albedo -Soil erosion

What is Mine remediation?

Fix things back to the way they were (The U.S. requires some companies to fix the land to back to how it was)

What is Strip Mining?

Harvest materials in strips -Takes out the overburden and puts the spoils behind

Refining

Industrial process that removes impurities from a substance

What are many shells and skeletons of coral made up of?

Many shells and skeletons of coral are made from calcium carbonate, CaCO3.

Spoils

Material that is removed to expose ores

What happens when more accessible ores are mined to depletion?

Mining operations are forced to access lower-grade ores. Accessing these ores requires increased use of resources that can cause increased waste and pollution.

How does ocean acidification damage coral?

Ocean acidification damages coral because acidification makes it difficult to form shells due to the loss of calcium carbonate.

What is ocean acidification?

Ocean acidification is the decrease in pH of the oceans, primarily due to increased CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, and can be expressed as chemical equations.

How does ocean warming impact marine species?

Ocean warming can affect marine species in a variety of ways, including loss of habitat, and metabolic and reproductive changes

What is ocean warming caused by?

Ocean warming is caused by the increase in GHGs in the atmosphere

How does ocean warming impact coral?

Ocean warming is causing coral bleaching, which occurs when the loss of algae within corals causes the corals to bleach white. Some corals recover, and some die

What are the different types of surface mining?

Open-pit mining, Strip Mining, Mountaintop Removal

How do you turn Ores into target minerals?

Ores are processed through heating or chemical application to get the target minerals (The impurities that are taken out of the ores are called tailings - put into piles like spoils.)

Why are sea levels rising?

Rising sea levels from melting ice sheets and ocean water expansion

What are the effects of ocean warming?

Rising sea levels, loss of habitat, metabolic changes, reproductive changes, and ocean bleaching

Acid Mine Drainage negative impacts? (usually with older mines)

The tailings can react with O2 or H2O to form Sulfuric acid (H2SO4). The acidic water and heavy metal ions can get into bodies of water. The water will get a lower pH and be more acidic. Heavy metals like iron in water will make Fe(OH)2 - making the water orange. (Increases the turbidity of the water, decreases the albedo, lowers dissolved O2 levels, and increases the temperature)

Cyanide Heap Leaching

Usually used for gold -Stack up ores and put cyanide on them to dissolve the impurities into waste slurries to get the target mineral. -The process is outdoors, so the cyanide-laced slurry can impact organisms and water supplies.

What happens when CO2 is absorbed by seawater?

When CO2 is absorbed by seawater, chemical reactions end up increasing the hydrogen ions

How does ocean acidification weaken and lesson how many shells are made?

With acidification, more hydrogen ions bond up faster with carbonate ions taking away ions for them to build shells with It can dissolve and weaken the shells as well.

Water + CO2 creates

a weak acid (The carbonic acid then dissociates into hydrogen ions and bicarbonate ions - The greater the concentration of hydrogen ions, the lower the pH of the water - the more acidic CO2 + H2O → H2CO3 H2CO3 → H+ + HCO3-)

Why is the Creation of roads bad?

allows for invasive species to come through

Mining

obtaining minerals from the ground (-Gold -Diamonds -Phosphorus-bearing -rock -Gravel -Coal)

What is Surface mining?

the removal of large portions of soil and rock, called overburn, to access the ore underneath. An example is strip mining, which removes the vegetation from an area, making the area more susceptible to erosion.