Deck 12: Geology and Nonrenewable Mineral Resources

Question 1

Most of the 500,000 surface-mined sites that dot the U.S. landscape have been cleaned up and restored because it is required by law.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

A way to reduce death and damages from earthquakes is to study historical records and make geological measurements to locate active fault zones.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Volcanic activity is notoriously difficult to monitor, making the creation of evacuation plans nearly impossible.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Illegal deforestation is becoming more common as people attempt to find gold.

Question 5

The United States is dependent on other countries for much of its supply of nonrenewable mineral resources, including its supply of 24 nonrenewable mineral resources that are of particular importance.

Question 6

High-risk locations for earthquakes and tsunamis are not well known, and so events like a tsunami cannot be anticipated and preparations cannot be made in advance.

Question 7

Iron and aluminum ores have greater magnetic strength than rare earth metals.

Question 8

A solution of highly toxic cyanide salts is used at approximately 90% of the world's gold mines.

Question 9

Tectonic plates move extremely slowly atop the asthenosphere.

Question 10

Mining has polluted mountain streams in about 40% of the western U.S. watersheds and accounts for 50% of all the country's emissions of toxic chemicals.

Question 11

Nonrenewable mineral resources actually do renew, but it takes millions to billions of years.

Question 12

The San Andreas fault in California is an example of a transform boundary.

Question 13

Volcanoes are normally associated with transform faults.

Question 14

Slate and marble are types of sedimentary rock, meaning that they consist of many small sediments joined together.

Question 15

China has a heavily regulated rare earth metal mining industry.

Question 16

Hydrothermal ore deposits, located at the bottom of the ocean, are an important potential source of minerals but have not been greatly used.

Question 17

Because buoys and pressure recorders are so useful in warning in the event of a global tsunami, a relatively complete network of them has been placed around the world.

Question 18

The dirt wall left after contour mining is called an overburden.

Question 19

A longer depletion-time estimate assumes no recycling or reuse and no increase in reserves.

Question 20

Important nonrenewable mineral resources are evenly distributed in Earth's crust.

Question 21

In addition to using cyanide salts to extract gold, some miners use which other toxic chemical?

A) Sulfuric acid
B) Mercury
C) Cyanide salts
D) Arsenic
E) Nitric acid

Question 22

What is one important reason that the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean caused so much devastation and death?

A) There was a lack of attention to dire predictions from emergency warning centers.
B) There were indicators of only a weak storm by early detection systems.
C) There were no recording devices in place to provide an early warning of this tsunami.
D) There was no knowledge of the potential of earthquakes in this region.
E) There were assumptions that tsunamis caused little harm until this event.

Question 23

What rock is most likely to contain fossils?

A) Coal
B) Limestone
C) Rock salt
D) Marble
E) Granite

Question 24

What rock is formed when shale and mudstone are heated?

A) Coal
B) Limestone
C) Granite
D) Slate
E) Marble

Question 25

What major rock type is a limestone?

A) Organic
B) Igneous
C) Metamorphic
D) Sedimentary
E) Crystalline

Question 26

The use of nanoparticles is heavily regulated due to health concerns.

Question 27

After a volcano erupts, the surrounding area may be extensively covered by _____.

A) lava
B) iron
C) aluminum
D) inner mantle
E) material from the earth's inner core

Question 28

What do we call the combination of crust and the rigid, outermost part of the mantle?

A) Oceanic crust
B) Asthenosphere
C) Lithosphere
D) Outer mantle
E) Rigid plates

Question 29

Where do the majority of earthquakes and volcanoes occur?

A) In the interior of continents
B) On oceanic islands
C) Along the edge of plate boundaries
D) In the open ocean
E) In the U.S.

Question 30

Where is the focus of an earthquake located?

A) Underground at the location where the earthquake began
B) At the point on land where the majority of movement, and the majority of damage, occurs
C) At the point on land where the earthquake is first detected by a seismograph
D) At the exact middle point of the two faults associated with the earthquake
E) On the earth's surface directly above the origin of the earthquake

Question 31

What is contained within computer chips?

A) Entirely synthetic materials produced in laboratories
B) About 60 different minerals
C) Entirely nanoparticles
D) Aluminum and mercury only
E) Silicon dioxide only

Question 32

When forces in the earth's mantle put so much stress on rock within the crust that there can be breakage and shifting of the rock, then a(n) ____ is produced.

A) acidification
B) convection
C) fault
D) subduction
E) crystallization

Question 33

The location of plate boundaries is most helpful is predicting the ____.

A) formation of waterfalls and river canyons
B) location of potential geologic hazards
C) formation of ocean currents
D) location of endangered species
E) formation of weather

Question 34

What is the process that changes rocks from one variety to another when subjected to high temperatures (which may cause it to melt partially), high pressures, chemically active fluids, or a combination of these agents?

A) Magmatism
B) Metamorphism
C) Convection
D) Volcanism
E) Subduction

Question 35

Gold can be removed from ore with a highly toxic chemical called _____ through a series of leaching operations.

A) sulfuric acid
B) nitric acid
C) arsenic
D) cyanide salts
E) H₂SO₄

Question 36

Rare earth elements get their name from their relative scarcity in the earth's surface.

Question 37

A scientist is given a sample of earth and discovers that it is almost entirely iron. This sample most likely came from the _____.

A) core
B) outer mantle
C) inner mantle
D) asthenosphere
E) lithosphere

Question 38

Nanotechnologists envision the development of technological innovations such as flexible solar cell films that could be attached to or painted onto almost any surface.

Question 39

Some companies have been allowed to walk away from cleaning up their mining operations after extracting gold from a mine due to ____.

A) poor enforcement
B) relaxed environmental laws
C) market price
D) bankruptcy
E) outdated mining laws

Question 40

What kind of movement of the earth's crust is caused most directly by heat within the core and mantle?

A) Convection cells
B) Tsunamis
C) Earthquakes in the crust
D) Landslides
E) Seismic tremors within a volcano

Question 41

The recycling process of what metal produces 95% less air pollution and 97% less water pollution while using 95% less energy compared with mining and processing its ore?

A) Copper
B) Lithium
C) Silica from glass
D) Steel
E) Aluminum

Question 42

What rock is most likely to be formed from the remains of plants that have been subjected to compressive forces?

A) Bitumous coal
B) Slate
C) Rock salt
D) Marble
E) Granite

Question 43

It is usually not worth extracting mineral resources dissolved in ______ due to the amount of energy and expense required because their concentrations are so low.

A) rare earth element deposits
B) biomines
C) recycling
D) low-grade ores
E) seawater

Question 44

The 17 ____ include scandium, yttrium, and 15 lanthanide chemical elements, including lanthanum.

A) semi-precious minerals
B) metallic ores
C) non-metallic ores
D) rare earth metals
E) strategically important minerals

Question 45

What types of mining operations produce three-fourths of all U.S. solid waste?

A) Strip and mountaintop removal
B) Open-pit and strip
C) Surface and subsurface
D) Area strip and mountaintop removal
E) Contour strip

Question 46

The ____ cycle requires millions of years.

A) hydrologic
B) rock
C) convection
D) mineral formation
E) metamorphic

Question 47

If a particular ore has been used extensively and the remaining deposits are extremely difficult to extract, then the ore is considered _______.

A) renewable
B) economically depleted
C) sustainable
D) a rare earth metal
E) semi-precious

Question 48

As material in the earth's mantle cools, it _________.

A) passes through the inner core and out the other side
B) rises towards the crust
C) sinks deeper into the earth
D) expands above the crust as lava
E) stays in one location

Question 49

Of the choices below, the greatest environmental impact would be caused by mining for ____ ore.

A) a higher-grade
B) a moderate-grade
C) a lower-grade
D) biomining
E) hydrothermal

Question 50

Sedimentary rocks could be produced by ____.

A) melting and re-hardening of minerals underground
B) the hardening of lava
C) deposition of materials from extensive erosion by a river
D) significant compressive forces and intense heat over a long time
E) the forces associated with an earthquake

Question 51

A(n) ____ contains a large enough concentration of a particular mineral to make it profitable for mining and processing.

A) organic mineral
B) ore
C) open-pit
D) area strip mine
E) ocean mineral deposit

Question 52

Acid mine drainage involves ____.

A) the reaction of water acidic compounds in a way that produces toxic emissions
B) the intentional draining of acid from gold mines
C) the process of rainwater from a mine carrying sulfuric acid to nearby streams and groundwater
D) the disposal of acid waste left over from the mining process
E) identical processes to those that cause acid rain

Question 53

Sand is composed mostly of ____ and is used to make glass, bricks, and concrete for the construction of roads and buildings.

A) shells, skeletons, and other remains of dead aquatic organisms
B) aluminum
C) phosphate salts
D) silicon dioxide (SiO₂)
E) calcium carbonate, or CaCO₃

Question 54

Lignite and bituminous coal are ____ rocks.

A) metamorphic
B) igneous
C) tectonic
D) ore
E) sedimentary

Question 55

What is the major determinant of which part of a known ore supply is extracted and used?

A) Economics
B) Geology
C) Tax laws
D) Subsidies
E) Environmental regulations

Question 56

Lithium, which is important in making batteries, generally has to be ______.

A) extracted from the earth in very destructive ways in the United States
B) imported into the United States
C) obtained from lava and magma
D) filtered from seawater in the open ocean
E) obtained from terraced mines on mountains

Question 57

What is the primary advantage of biomining?

A) Speed of processing
B) Volume of ore
C) Cost of implementing
D) Reduced environmental impact
E) Simplicity of the process

Question 58

What is an advantage of using materials that don't have to be painted?

A) It reduces expense and pollution.
B) These materials are more common and easier to obtain than others.
C) These materials are more expensive but higher quality.
D) These materials are stronger because paint often weakens the material.
E) These materials are more flexible because paint is rigid.

Question 59

Experts are particularly concerned about the U.S. depletion and lack of national reserves of manganese, cobalt, chromium, and platinum because they are nonrenewable ____ resources.

A) security metal
B) strategic metal
C) biogenic metal
D) recyclable metal
E) trace metal

Question 60

What industry produces more toxic emissions than any other in the U.S.?

A) Technology
B) Manufacturing
C) Energy
D) Mining
E) Automobile

Question 61

Two tectonic plates come together _____.

A) along the Pacific coast of North America
B) along the Atlantic coast of North America
C) along the Atlantic coast of South America
D) between the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe
E) across the center of South America, forming an eastern-western fault

Question 64

Seismic waves move upward and outward from the earthquake's ____________________ like ripples in a pool of water.

Question 65

Heating ores to release the metals they contain is called ____________________.

Question 66

What is the international problem regarding mining on the ocean floor?

A) Pirates and thievery
B) Extreme water depth
C) Rights to minerals in international waters
D) Who is responsible for the clean up
E) Who will pay what taxes

Question 67

What are some potential concerns that must be addressed as the use of nanotechnology expands?

Question 68

One way that corporations and researchers could practice more sustainable use of nonrenewable resources is by redesigning ____________________ processes to use fewer mineral resources.

Question 69

______ is an important component of batteries used in electronic devices.

Question 70

What is the best way for governments to support more sustainable use of nonrenewable mineral resources?

A) Increasing subsidies to help with waste disposal
B) Reduced emphasis on new technologies
C) Enforcement of strict tax laws
D) Increased depletion allowances
E) Reduced mining subsidies

Question 71

Magnitude is the measure of ground motion or tremors caused by an earthquake, as indicated by the ____________________ of seismic waves.

Question 72

What kind of subsidies can governments use to promote sustainable use of nonrenewable minerals?

A) Subsidies for clean-up following natural area degradation
B) Using aggressive foreign policy and conflict where necessary
C) Modification of market price and trade agreements
D) Subsidies for mining and allowances
E) Subsidies for reuse, recycling, and substitution programs

Question 73

What topographic feature is left behind at un-reclaimed surface mines?

A) Vegetated terraces
B) Contours
C) Tailings
D) Decrepit buildings
E) Highwalls

Question 74

The amplitude or size of the seismic waves from an earthquake is measured by a recording instrument called a(n) ____________________.

Question 75

What are the chimney-like structures near the hot water vents that come into contact with cold seawater and precipitate out various metal sulfides?

A) Black smokers
B) White smokers
C) Hydrothermal vents
D) Underwater volcanoes
E) Manganese pipes

Question 76

When there is a dispute about ____, it is often because of different assumptions about supplies and rates of use.

A) the use of strategic minerals
B) the value of subsidies
C) depletion allowances
D) market price
E) depletion times

Question 77

Increasing ____________________ for reuse, recycling, and finding substitutes is a way that governments can promote the sustainable use of nonrenewable minerals.

Question 78

What is a surface hazard resulting from subsurface mining?

A) Highwalls
B) Fires
C) Explosions
D) Cave-ins
E) Subsidence

Question 79

A(n) ____________________ rock forms when a pre-existing rock is subjected to high temperatures, high pressures, chemically active fluids, or a combination of these agents.

Question 80

Governments can help to promote sustainable use of nonrenewable minerals by reducing _____ that are given to mining companies to help keep mineral prices low.