Mining!
Hayastan Hensley & Christine Lauture
The Two Types of Mines
Surface Mining- mining that is done on the surface of the earth. This relies on civil engineering and hydrological techniques.
Subsurface Mining- mining that extracts the minerals and energy resources from underground. This can be very dangerous and hazardous.
Surface Mining- Strip
Strip mining is a type of surface mining that takes a thin layer of the "overburden", which is a section of materials. After removing this, miners then have access to buried minerals, like coal. This type of mining can only be used in an area where the mineral deposits are closer to the surface.
Effects:
- destroys landscapes and habitats
- clears out trees
Surface Mining- Open Pit
Open Pit mining is an example of surface mining in which they remove rick from the earth by removing it from an open pit in the earth's surface, or borrows.
Effects:
- erosion
- sink holes
- chemicals in water
Surface Mining- Mountain Top Removal
Mountaintop Removal mining is a type of surface mining that involves mining & drilling on the peaks or summits of mountains. Energy resources are extracted from the mountain by removing land.
Effects:
- destroys landscapes
- rocks get into rivers
- destroys environments
Subsurface Mining- Slope
Slope mining is an example of subsurface mining in which people obtain resources by drilling down into the earth by tunneling straight down and/ or horizontally.
Effects:
Subsurface Mining- Drift
This is a near-horizontal passageway underground. This follows the bed of the resource, and may/ may not intersect the surface of the earth.
Subsurface Mining- Shaft
This is a method of digging a vertical tunnel from the top down to get to the minerals and resources, yet there is no access to the bottom.
Effects:
- uses many resources
- acid rain damage
Fracking
This is the process of drilling and injecting a certain type of fluid into earth's surface, when at high pressures. This is done to fracture rocks to get the natural gas out of it, in order to use in the future.
Effects on the Earth:
- use many trucks in order to transport the liquids
- approximately 40,000 tons of chemicals are used for each fracture
- 600 or less chemicals are used in the fluid used for fracking