tailieunhanh - Encyclopedia of Global Resources part 85

Encyclopedia of Global Resources part 858 provides a wide variety of perspectives on both traditional and more recent views of Earth's resources. It serves as a bridge connecting the domains of resource exploitation, environmentalism, geology, and biology, and it explains their interrelationships in terms that students and other nonspecialists can understand. The articles in this set are extremely diverse, with articles covering soil, fisheries, forests, aluminum, the Industrial Revolution, the . Department of the Interior, the hydrologic cycle, glass, and placer mineral deposits. . | 768 Mining wastes and mine reclamation Global Resources the mineral breaks down and crumbles away new surfaces are exposed to the air. Water which is found in most mines in the form of direct precipitation surface runoff seeping groundwater or atmospheric moisture completes the reaction Added to pyrite s breakdown products it creates sulfuric acid. As the acidified water flows it dissolves and transports minerals from the surrounding rock further degrading the quality of the water. This acid mine drainage affects streams ponds lakes and the fish and other life they support. Neglected piles of spoil and tailings can also be a source of acid runoff. Mining and related activities generate air pollution in the form of airborne dust and gaseous processing effluent. Drilling excavating blasting and similar operations cause dust particles to become airborne. Fine metallic and mineral dusts can have particularly deleterious effects on mine workers and other persons inhaling them. Smelting produces gaseous effluents that if not treated are not only a nuisance obscuring visibility and spreading noxious odors but also a serious threat to animal and plant life. Gaseous smelter waste can contain such toxic metals as arsenic lead and mercur y. Inappropriate handling of mining wastes can change the contours of a landscape leaving an area vulnerable to landslide and flood can disrupt an ecosystem s food chain especially in the waste s effects Coal mine wastes pollute a stream in Carroll County Ohio. AP Wide World Photos on land plants and aquatic organisms can introduce toxic materials into the air and water and can degrade the economy and overall quality of life in mined areas. Reclamation and Pollution Control Basic reclamation involves correcting undesirable conditions brought on by mining and related operations. Reclamation can proceed beyond this level to include the rehabilitation of restored land and water resources for agriculture forestr y rangeland recreation industr y .