The Lithosphere
No description yet. This curated deck is ready for daily study.
Card preview (24)
What is iron used for?
Steel, railtracks and appliance casing like washing machines
What is aluminium used for?
Foil, window frames
What is copper used for?
Water pipes, electric cables
What is uranium used for?
Nuclear fuel in power stations
What is gypsum/china clay used for?
building plasterW
What is Kaolin used for?
Paint filler, ceramics
What is gravel and sand used for?
Concrete or glass
What is lithium and zinc used for?
Batteries
What is NaCl used for?
Plastics, bleaching agents, cleaning water
What’s igneous processes?
The process by which rocks and minerals are created by the cooling and hardening of magma/molten lava
Explain hydrothermal deposition
Igneous intrusions from batholiths produce pressurised superheated water which contains dissolved minerals. The mineral rich solutions travel along fissures away from the batholith, cooling and crystallising as they do so. The least soluble minerals crystallise first
What minerals does hydrothermal decomposition produce?
Tin, copper, lead, silver, gold
What is a batholith?
A rock formed from cooled solidified magma
What are metamorphic processes?
Rocks formed by high temp + pressure without melting to produce metamorphic rock
Name 2 metamorphic rocks
Limestone to marble Mudstone to slate
What are sedimentary processes?
Where minerals settle and build up to produce layers producing sedimentary rocks/minerals.
Explain proterzoic marine sedimentation
This is where dissolved iron compounds become oxidised by O2 released in photosynthesis producing insoluble iron oxide. Iron ore deposits like magnetite and haematite form
Explain alluvial deposits
This involves materials that get separated and carried by flowing water. Includes gold, diamonds, gravel, sand and clay. The material depends on strength of flow and solubility
What is secondary enrichment?
Metals that form minerals that are soluble/insoluble depending on the conditions. e.g. uranium is soluble in high O2 conditions but becomes insoluble in low O2 conditions.
What are biological sediments?
This is where living organisms have died and form mineral deposits.
Name 3 biological sediments and how they formed
Limestone/chalk- formed from shells of marine organisms Coal- formed from terrestrial vegetation Crude oil/natural gas- formed from dead marine organisms
What is laskys principle?
States that as the purity of a mineral decreases the amount of the mineral increases
What is the stock?
Includes all material in the litosphere. Exploitable material, material that will be exploitable when prices change, material that will never be exploitable etc
What is the resource?
Includes material that is theoretically exploitable. It includes the reserves and material that will be exploitable with better tech/prices