4.1 Energy and Mineral Resources
4.1 Energy and Mineral Resources
Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources
• A renewable resource can be replenished over fairly short time spans such as months, years, or decades.
• By contrast, a nonrenewable resource takes millions of years to form and accumulate.
Fossil Fuels
• A fossil fuel is any hydrocarbon that may be used as a source of energy.
• They include coal, oil, and natural gas.
Coal
• Coal forms when heat and pressure transform plant material over millions of years.
• Power plants primarily use coal to generate electricity.
Petroleum and Natural Gas
• Petroleum and natural gas form from the remains of plants and animals that were buried in ancient seas.
• Petroleum formation begins when large quantities of plant and animal remains become buried in the ocean floor sediments.
Tar Sands and Oil Shale
• Energy experts believe that fuels derived from tar sands and oil shales can become good substances for dwindling petroleum supplies.
Tar Sands
• Usually mixtures of clay and sand combined with water and varying amounts of black, thick tar called bitumen.
• Mining tar sand causes substantial land disturbance.
Oil Shale
• Oil shale is a rock that contains a waxy mixture of hydro carbons called kerogen. It can be mined and heated to vaporize the kerogen.
Formation of Mineral Deposits
• Practically every manufactured product contains substances that come from minerals.
• Ore is a useful metallic mineral that can be mined for a profit.
Mineral Resources and Igneous Processes
• Igneous processes produce important deposits of minerals such as gold, silver, mercury, lead, platinum, and nickel.
Hydrothermal Solutions
• Generate some of the most best-known ore deposits.
• Most form from hot, metal-rich fluids that are left during the late stages.
Placer Deposits
• Form when eroded heavy minerals settle quickly from moving water while less dense particles remain suspended and continue to move.
Nonmetallic Mineral Resources
• Nonmetallic mineral resources are extracted and processed either for the nonmetallic elements they contain or for their physical and chemical properties.