Minerals and Mining

Minerals

Every mineral is formed in a different way, this is just some of the many examples.
Evaporating salt water: When a body of salt water dries up, minerals such as Gypsum and Halite are left behind
http://www.ehow.com/video_4997359_minerals-found-salt-water_.html

Metamorphic rocks: When changes in temperature, pressure, or chemical make up alter a rock metamorphism takes place. Examples of this would be Garnet, Mica, Talc, and Calcite.

Limestones: Crystalized dissolved materials at the bottom of lakes and seas. Examples include Calcite and Dolomite.



Gypsum



Pegmatites: As magma rises upward toward the earths crust, it can form tear-drop shaped bodies. Exaples are gemstones such as Topaz and Tourmaline.

Plutons: As magma rises upward toward the earths crust, it can sometimes stop moving and slowly cools forming million of mineral cryistals. Examples include Mica, Quartz, and Feldspar.

Mining

Rock and minerals are extracted using one of two methods.

Surface Mining

When mineral deposits are located at or near the surface of the earth. Types of surface mines are open pit, quarries, and surface coal mines.

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2632068?uid=3739920&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21100816584101

Subsurface Mining

This is used when minerals are located too far beneath the surface to use surface mining. Requires passage wasys to be dug to get to the minerals.

Food Web

In a food chain, energy is passed from one link to another. When a herbivore eats, only a fraction of the energy becomes new body mass. The rest of the energy is lost as waste or used up by the herbivore to carry out its daily life. Therefore, when the herbivore is eaten by a carnivore, it passes only a small amount of total energy to the carnivore. Of the energy transferred from the herbivore to the carnivore, some energy will be wasted by the carnivore. The carnivore then has to eat many herbivores to get enough energy to grow.

Video summery: http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/27997-assignment-discovery-the-food-web-video.htm

Plants

Plants are called producers because they are able to use light energy from the Sun to produce food from carbon dioxide and water.

Animals

Animals cannot make their own food so they must eat plants and/or other animals. They are called consumers. There are three groups of consumers.

ConsumersPrimary Consumer-Animals that eat only plants are called herbivores

Secondary Consumers-Animals that eat other animals are called carnivores.

Tertiary- Carnivores that eat other carnivores are called tertiary consumers

Decomposers

Decomposers which feed on decaying matter.
These decomposers speed up the decaying process that releases mineral salts back into the food chain for absorption by plants as nutrients.