HPU NCS2200 Earth science for elementary education majors summer 2014 online course energy resources lecture

1. Energy resources: Coal
►Most relevant mineral resources to most
Americans – ENERGY!
►Coal – a combustible rock composed mainly
of carbon. Most coal formed 360 to 286 mya
 Long use in human history – industrial
revolution increased use tremendously
 Forming much slower than consumption rate
►Peat – pre-coal in oxygen deprived bogs,
swamps

2. Fig. 5.17, p.108

3. Table 5.3, p.108

4. World Coal Reserves
http://www.worldenergy.org/data/resources/resource/coal/

5. Extracting Coal:
Surface Mining
► Surface Mining
 Open pit – large open
holes dug to extract
materials
 Strip mining – earth
above deposit (called
overburden) is removed
– ore is extracted –
overburden in replaced
 Mountaintop removal –
involves the blasting
and stripping of
mountain tops to
extract coal inside
mountains

6. Mountain Top Removal

7. Strip Mining

8. Fig. 5.14, p.106

9. Open Pit Mining

10. Extracting coal:
Subsurface Mining
Shafts and tunnels lead to
various “veins” of coal
running through an area
 Room and pillar – large
deposits of coal are mined
in sections with columns of
coal left to support the
“roof”
 Longwall mining – similar to
room and pillar but in this
case all the coal is along
one “wall” of the room.

11. Longwall

12. Fig. 5.12, p.106

13. Shaft Mining

14. Room and Pillar

15. Problems with Coal Mining
►Subsidence – sinking of ground surface due
to extraction of subsoil and rock
►Acid Mine Drainage – water leaking into
mine dissolves acids in soil and rock
►Habitat Destruction – surface mining
removes habitat and disrupts ecosystems

16. Fig. 5.15, p.107

17. 5.5 Energy resources: Petroleum
► Petroleum – formed
from organic residue
of plants and animals.
 Burial in mud, slow
heating
 Source rock – where it
comes from
 Oil traps – folds or
other rock structures
that trap rising
petroleum

18. Mineral Extraction:
Petroleum
►Extraction –
companies drill
wells into reservoirs
of petroleum – on
land or under the
ocean

19. Problems with Petroleum
► Wells getting deeper
► Much oil too viscous (thick) to pump
►Secondary recovery – injection of water
►Tertiary recovery – use of superheated steam and/or
surfactants
► Found in hostile / sensitive places
►Open sea floor, ANWR
► Foreign Dependency
► Needed for other products: plastics, fertilizers,
chemicals

20. Petroleum Dilemma
►Modern Technology needs energy
►Reserves of coal and oil will run out –
eventually
 How quickly they run out depends
►On the level to which they are used by developed
nations.
►The increasing energy demands of developing
nations.
►Whether alternative energies are developed and
widely distributed.

21. 5.5 Energy resources: natural gas
►Natural gas – forms as a by-product of coal
and oil formation
 Mainly methane, used as fuel without
processing
 Coal bed methane – associated with coal seams
►US produces 99% of its own natural gas
energy needs.
►Most versatile of fossil fuels: can be used
for heating, generating electricity and
transportation

22. http://www.worldenergy.org/data/resources/resource/gas/

23. Natural Gas Extraction
►Extracted as a secondary process of oil and
coal extraction – often burned off as
“nuisance” gas.
►Hydraulic Fracturing – “fracking”
 Method of extracting gas from previously
unusable shale formations
 Involves drilling into the ground vertically to the
shale formation
 Then drilling horizontally along the shale
 Then fracturing the shale rock and injecting
solution of sand and chemicals to flush out the
natural gas

24. Hydraulic Fracturing
“fracking”

26. Images of Fracking in US
22,000 active oil and gas wells –
Weld County, CO.
Each red dot represents
up to 52 active wells
Fracking Field

27. Problems with Fracking
Problem #1 – Chemicals mixed in water/sand to
promote gas release

28. Problems with Fracking
►“produced water”
 Evaporation pits for Allow chemicals to escape into the
atmosphere
 Spills of produced water onto ground and into streams
and rivers
► Drilling and storage sites emit toxic vapors into the
air
► The list goes on…For more info just google
“fracking problems” you’ll get an eyefull!!
 As always I advocate looking at numerous sites and “vetting” the
sites (i.e where do they get their information from, who supports
their research, can the data they give be validated??)

29. summary
► Mineral Extractions impacts the lithosphere,
hydrosphere and atmosphere
► Land issues include:
 Habitat loss
 Soil erosion
 Spills & contamination
 Subsidence
►Laws in place to prevent and repair damage
 Resource Conservation Recovery Act
 Surface Mining Control & Reclamation Act
 Clean Water/Clean Air Act