Running head: WORKSHEET 1

Worksheet
Katie Wesemann
ENV 100
August 11, 2014

WORKSHEET 2


Worksheet
Minerals
1. How do minerals affect society?
Minerals are everywhere they are in things such as gemstones, marble, computers, cars, and
food. Almost everything we have used was once a mineral. Minerals can affect society in many
ways for example; Surface mining destroys vegetation across large areas. Open-pit mining uses
huge quantities of water. Acid mine drainage is pollution caused when dissolved toxic materials
wash from mines into nearby lakes and streams. Minerals is approximately 80 percent of mined
ore consists of contaminates that become wastes after processing. These wastes, called tailings,
are usual left in giant piles on the ground or in ponds near the processing plants (Berg & Hager,
2009). The tailings contain toxic materials such as cyanide, mercury, and sulfuric acid. Left
exposed, they contaminate the air, soil, and water (Berg & Hager, 2009). Minerals can have
negative effects and positive depending on what it is being used for.
2. What is the difference between metallic and nonmetallic minerals? Provide two examples
from each category and discuss their uses?
In extracting minerals first they need to decide which mining will be chosen surface or
subsurface mining. Surface mining is minerals extracted that are close to the surface. Surface
mining is much less inexpensive and is a more commonly used method. Because even surface
mineral deposits occur in rock layers beneath Earth's surface, the overlying soil and rock layers,
called overburden, must first be removed, along with the vegetation growing in the soil (Berg &
Hager, 2009). Then giant power shovels scoop out the minerals (Berg & Hager, 2009).
Processing minerals often uses a procedure known as smelting. Purified copper, tin, lead, iron,
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manganese, cobalt, or nickel smelting is done in a blast furnace used to smelt iron. The iron ore
reacts with coke (modified coal) to form molten iron and carbon dioxide (Berg & Hager, 2009).
Mining
1. How are minerals extracted from the Earth and processed?
In extracting minerals first they need to decide which mining will be determined surface or
subsurface mining will be used. Surface mining just means minerals extracted are close to the
surface. Surface mining is much less inexpensive and is more commonly used. Because even
surface mineral deposits occur in rock layers beneath Earth's surface, the overlying soil and rock
layers, called overburden, must first be removed, along with the vegetation growing in the soil.
Then giant power shovels scoop out the minerals (Berg & Hager, 2009). Processing minerals
often uses a procedure known as smelting. Purified copper, tin, lead, iron, manganese, cobalt, or
nickel smelting is done in a blast furnace. The iron ore reacts with coke (modified coal) to form
molten iron and carbon dioxide (Berg & Hager, 2009).
2. What are the different ways minerals can be mined? Provide a brief description of at
least three types of mining.
There are two kinds of surface mining, open-pit surface mining and strip mining. Iron, copper,
stone, and gravel are usually extracted by open-pit surface mining, this is a large hole called a
quarry this is when there is a hole dug in the ground to extract the minerals In strip mining, a
trench is dug to extract the minerals Then a new trench is dug parallel to the old one, and the
overburden from the new trench is put into the old one, creating a hill of loose rock called a spoil
bank (Berg & Hager, 2009).


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3. What effect does extracting minerals have on the environment?
Mining, particularly surface mining disturbs large areas of land. In the United States, functioning
and abandoned metal and coal mines occupy an estimated 22 million acres. Due to mining
destroys existing vegetation, this land is particularly prone to erosion, with wind erosion causing
air pollution and water erosion polluting nearby waterways and damaging aquatic habitats (Berg
& Hager, 2009).
Soil
1. What is your definition of soil? What is soil composed of? Why is soil important to the
environment?
Soil is the uppermost layer of Earth's crust and supports microorganisms, terrestrial plants, and
animals (Berg & Hager, 2009). Soil is formed from parent material rock that is slowly
fragmented into small particles by biological, chemical, and physical weathering processes. Soil
is composed of mineral particles, organic matter, water, and air. Soil horizons are the horizontal
layers into which many soils are organized, from the surface to the underlying parent material.
Vast numbers and kinds of organisms, mainly microorganisms, inhabit soil and depend on it for
shelter, food, and water. Plants anchor themselves in soil, and from it they receive essential
minerals and water. Terrestrial plants could not survive without soil, and because we depend on
plants for our food, humans could not exist without soil either (Berg & Hager, 2009).
2. What types of organisms are found in soil? Determine the relationship between soil and
organisms.
Soil organisms carry out nutrient cycling, the pathway of nutrient minerals or elements from the
environment through organisms and back to the environment.

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3. What is soil erosion? How can soil become polluted? What effect does soil erosion and
pollution have on the environment?
Water, wind, ice, and other agents cause soil erosion, the wearing away or removal of soil from
the land. Soil erosion reduces fertility because essential minerals and organic matter are
removed. Erosion causes sediments and pesticide and fertilizer residues to pollute nearby
waterways (Berg & Hager, 2009).
4. What is the purpose of soil reclamation?
To undertake soil reclamation, erosion protection, Site restoration and reinstatement, taking into
account natural processes, operational requirements and technical feasibility, to deliver post-
construction land conditions as similar as possible to those prior to construction or as agreed with
the relevant authorities and/or landowner.
Forestry and Rangeland Resources and Management Strategies
1. Differentiate between government-owned lands and public lands. Which government
agencies are involved with government-owned lands? What is the purpose of government-
owned lands?
Private Citizens, corporations, and nonprofit organizations own about 55 percent of the land in
the United States, and Native American tribes own about 3 percent. State and local governments
own another 7 percent. The federal government owns the rest (about 35 percent). Government-
owned land encompasses all types of ecosystems, from tundra to desert, and includes land that
contains important resources such as minerals and fossil fuels, land that possesses historical or
cultural significance, and land that provides critical biological habitat. Most federally owned land
is in Alaska and 11 western states Federal land is managed primarily by four agencies, three in
the U.S. Department of the Interiorthe Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Fish and
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Wildlife Service (FWS), and the National Park Service (NPS)and one in the Department of
Agriculturethe U.S. Forest Service (USFS) (Berg & Hager, 2009).
2. Why is the forest an important ecosystem?
Forests, important ecosystems that provide many goods and services to support human society,
occupy less than one-third of Earth's total land area. Timber harvested from forests is used for
fuel, construction materials, and paper products. Forests supply nuts, mushrooms, fruits, and
medicines. Forests provide employment for millions of people worldwide and offer recreation
and spiritual sustenance in an increasingly crowded world (Berg & Hager, 2009).
3. What is your definition of forest management? What is its purpose? Describe the
concept of sustainable forestry.
Management for timber production disrupts a forest's natural condition and alters its species
composition and other characteristics. Specific varieties of commercially important trees are
planted, and those trees not as commercially desirable are thinned out or removed. Traditional
forest management often results in low-diversity forests. In recognition of the many ecosystem
services performed by natural forests, a newer method of forest management, known as
ecologically sustainable forest management, or simply sustainable forestry, is evolving.
Sustainable forestry maintains a mix of forest trees, by age and species, rather than imposing a
monoculture (Berg & Hager, 2009).
4. What effect does the harvesting of trees and deforestation have on forests and the
environment? Is there a preferred method for harvesting trees? Explain.
In seed tree cutting, almost all trees are harvested from an area; a scattering of desirable trees is
left behind to provide seeds for the regeneration of the forest. Clear-cutting is harvesting timber
by removing all trees from an area and then either allowing the area to reseed and regenerate
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itself naturally or planting the area with one or more specific varieties of trees. Timber
companies prefer clear-cutting because it is the most cost-effective way to harvest trees. The
preferred method of harvesting tree is tree cutting as oppose to the other 3 methods (Berg &
Hager, 2009).
5. What is a rangeland? Describe rangeland degradation and desertification. What effect
does degradation and desertification have on the environment?
Rangelands are grasslands, in both temperate and tropical climates, that serve as important areas
of food production for humans by providing fodder for livestock such as cattle, sheep, and goats.
Rangelands may be mined for minerals and energy resources, used for recreation, and preserved
for biological habitat and for soil and water resources. The predominant vegetation of rangelands
includes grasses, forbs (small plants other than grasses), and shrubs. Land degradation is a
natural or human-induced process that decreases the future ability of the land to support crops or
livestock. This progressive degradation, which induces unproductive desert-like conditions on
formerly productive rangeland (or tropical dry forest), is desertification. It reduces the
agricultural productivity of economically valuable land, forces many organisms out, and
threatens endangered species. Worldwide, desertification seems to be on the increase. The
United Nations estimates that each year since the mid-1990s, 3,560 km2 (1,374 mi2)an area
about the size of Rhode Islandhas turned into desert (Berg & Hager, 2009).
6. What is overgrazing? What effect does this have on rangelands?
Overgrazing is the destruction of vegetation caused by too many grazing animals consuming the
plants in a particular area, leaving them unable to recover. Overgrazing accelerates land
degradation, which decreases the future ability of the land to support crops or livestock.
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Desertification is the degradation of once-fertile rangeland or tropical dry forest into
nonproductive desert (Berg & Hager, 2009).
7. What strategies can be employed for the management and conservation of forests and
rangelands?
Endangered U.S. ecosystems include the south Florida landscape, southern Appalachian spruce-
fir forests, and longleaf pine forests and savannas. Criteria used to evaluate whether an
ecosystem is endangered and to what degree it is threatened include its history of land loss and
degradation, its prospects for future loss or degradation, the area the ecosystem occupies, and the
number of threatened and endangered species living in that ecosystem (Berg & Hager, 2009).
Agriculture
1. What is the difference between industrialized agriculture and subsistence agriculture?
What effect do these methods of agriculture have on the environment?
Industrialized agriculture uses modern methods requiring large capital input and less land and
labor than traditional methods. Subsistence agriculture requires labor and a large amount of land
to produce enough food to feed a family. There are three types of subsistence agriculture. In
slash-and-burn agriculture, small patches of tropical forests are cleared to plant crops. In
nomadic herding, carried out on arid land, herders move livestock continually to find food for
them. Intercropping involves growing a variety of plants simultaneously on the same field. What
effect do these methods of agriculture have on the environment? Environmental problems caused
by industrialized agriculture include air pollution from the use of fossil fuels and pesticides,
water pollution from untreated animal wastes and agricultural chemicals, pesticide-contaminated
foods and soils, and increased resistance of pests to pesticides. Land degradation decreases the
future ability of the land to support crops or livestock. Clearing grasslands and forests and
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draining wetlands to grow crops have resulted in habitat fragmentation, the breakup of large
areas of habitat into small, isolated patches (Berg & Hager, 2009).
2. What is one agricultural challenge, other than soil erosion, that society faces? Explain
your answer.
Prime farmland in the United States is being lost to urbanization and urban sprawl. Global
declines in plant and animal varieties have led many countries to collect germ, plant and animal
material that may be used in breeding. Farmers and ranchers strive to increase yields in many
ways, including by administering hormones and antibiotics to livestock (Berg & Hager, 2009).
3. How would you describe sustainable agriculture? How does it affect the environment? In
regards to agriculture, what are the advantages and disadvantages involved with genetic
engineering?
Sustainable agriculture uses methods that maintain soil productivity and a healthy ecological
balance while minimizing long-term impacts. Genetic engineering, the manipulation of genes to
produce a particular trait, can produce more nutritious crops or crop plants that are resistant to
pests, diseases, or drought. Concerns about genetic engineering include unknown environmental
effects (Berg & Hager, 2009).
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Reference
Berg, L. R., & Hager, M. C. (2009). Visualizing Environmental Science (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley.