Environmental Management

Chapter one: ROCKS (LITHOSPHERE)

UNIT 1.1: Formation of rocks

The planet Earth was formed about 4.5 billion years ago. The force of gravity
pulled the heavier elements together first, forming the core. The lighter
elements then formed the Earth’s crust about 3–4 billion years ago. The
mantle developed as a layer between the dense core and the light crust. This
structure still exists today (Figure1.1).

crust
mantle
outer core

inner core

mantl
e

There are three types of rocks:

1. Igneous rocks
When molten rock from the crust and upper mantle cools, igneous rocks are
formed. The molten rock is called magma when it is still below the surface
and lava when it reaches the surface.
Magma is found in the outer mantle; it is hot, liquid rock that is under pressure
from the rocks above it. When it cools it turns to solid rock. When liquid
magma rises to the surface from volcanoes the cooling occurs quickly and
forms lava. Igneous rocks are made of material that was once molten; they
usually contain crystals that are formed as the molten material cools.
The crystals found in rocks are formed when solutions of minerals cannot
absorb any more dissolved minerals. Some of each mineral type precipitates
out of solution to form the center of a crystal. This then provides a surface for
more mineral ions to precipitate onto. The crystal becomes larger until the
solution disappears.

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 If the rock cools quickly, only very small crystals can form before the rock
becomes solid. Rapid cooling occurs when magma is released from volcanoes
onto the surface of the Earth’s crust.
If magma rises from the mantle into the crust without reaching the Earth’s
surface, then the magma cools more slowly, allowing the formation of larger
crystals.
Heat and pressure are the
usual reason for minerals
becoming dissolved; a
reduction of heat and pressure
usually leads to the formation
of crystals
Examples for igneous rock:
basalt and granite.
Piece of granite piece of basalt

2. Sedimentary rocks
Sedimentary rocks are formed by the weathering of existing rocks at the
Earth’s surface, the accumulation and fossilization of living material, or the
precipitation of dissolved materials out of solution in water. Weathering
processes release small mineral particles that accumulate to form sediment.
Over time, layers of sediment build up to form sedimentary rock.
The sediments include different-sized mineral particles. The smallest particles
are clays, followed by silts and then sands. These particles are important in
the formation of soils. Larger particles of gravels and small boulders can also
be found in sediments.
The particles are transported by streams and rivers and then deposited as
sediment. Each layer of sediment becomes more compact and harder because
of the pressure created by the newer deposits above them.
Example for sedimentary rocks: sand stone, limestone and shale

Sand stone Limestone shale

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3. Metamorphic rocks
Metamorphic rocks are created from existing rocks when the heat
(above150°C) or pressure (above1.5*108Pa or1480atm), or both heat and
pressure, causes changes in the rock crystals without melting the existing
rock. The existing rock therefore changes in structure, becoming a
metamorphic rock. The changes in structure can be chemical or physical or
both.
Sedimentary and igneous rocks can become metamorphic rocks, and a
metamorphic rock can become another metamorphic rock. Metamorphic
rocks are usually harder than sedimentary rocks.
Examples of metamorphic rocks are marble and slate.

Marble Slate

When the Earth’s crust first formed, all the rocks were igneous. These rocks
were slowly eroded, releasing small particles that formed sediment, and
these sediments built up over time to form sedimentary rocks. The rocks
that make up the Earth’s crust are always moving, which creates the heat and
pressure needed to form metamorphic rock.

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 Table1.1 compares the characteristics of the different rock types.

Igneous Sedimentary Metamorphic

Made from Made from other rock Made from existing
liquid magma fragments rock

Magma cools Rock fragments become The original rock is

to form solid buried and increased changed in form by
rock pressure forms a rock heat and pressure

Mineral Crystals absent Mineral crystals

crystals present
sometimes
present; the
size of the
crystals
depends on the
speed of
cooling
No fossils Fossils may be present No fossils present
present

UNIT 1.2: Extraction of rocks and minerals from the Earth:

Minerals provide us with a wide range of materials that we use in everyday life.
Coal and oil provide energy and many chemicals used in industry. Metallic ores
provide us with the metals and alloys needed to make products such as
computers, mobile phones, cars, wire sand nails. The demand for minerals
continues to increase, both from developed and developing countries.
Searching for minerals:
Searching for mineral includes four methods
1. Prospecting: is the simplest way to find mineral deposits is to look carefully
at the surface of rocks. This process of prospecting has found nearly all the
surface deposits of minerals worldwide.
2. Remote sensing methods: Deposits on the Earth’s surface can also be found
using a range of remote sensing methods. For example, an area of land can be
photographed from the air and the images carefully analyzed for signs of

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minerals. Aerial photography can cover much more ground than a person
walking over the surface of rocks.
Mineral deposits are weathered at the Earth’s surface, producing mineral oxides.
These can be detected by their unique radiation pattern, which is recorded by a
satellite and downloaded to a computer for analysis.
Other satellites operate by sending signals to the surface of the Earth and then
collecting reflected signals. The system works in all weathers, through complete
cloud cover and at night.
Valuable mineral ores in the rocks below the surface can be located from the
satellite images Computers are used to process the data from a region of interest
to see whether any minerals are present in the area. The satellite’s positioning
system records the exact location. Using satellites means large areas can be
geologically mapped quickly and at low cost.
3. Geochemical method: Field surveys and taking samples from the ground
then these samples are send to a laboratory for geochemical analysis, so that the
chemicals in the samples can be identified. The location of the sample points in
the field can be found accurately using the Global Positioning System (GPS).
4. Geophysics method: A series of vibrations (seismic waves) are sent through
the Earth’s surface. Several sensors at different distances from the source of
vibrations are laid on the ground. The vibrations create shock waves that travel
down into the rock layers and are reflected back to the sensors on the surface.
The shock waves record different patterns depending on what minerals are
present in the rock layers.
Mining rocks and minerals:
To make sure that the deposits of mineral ores are large enough to be extracted,
are source evaluation is carried out. The aim of the evaluation is to estimate the
grade and tonnage of the mineral of interest present in a deposit, and to identify
the size of the deposit as well as the mixture of mineral ores present.
From the information collected, the deposit may be classified as a mineral ore
reserve. Classifying the deposit as a reserve takes into account the amount of
material that it is practical to extract. Finally, a feasibility study is carried out to
evaluate all the financial and technical risks of any proposed mining. The final
decision may be to develop a mine straight away or wait until conditions change
in the future.

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Methods of extraction:
There are two main types of mining. Surface mining includes open-cast,
open-pit, open-cut and strip mining. Sub-surface mining includes deep and
shaft mining.
1. Surface mining:
Open-pit mining is also called open-cast or open-cut mining. This type of
mining is used when a valuable deposit is located near the surface, often
buried below a thick layer of worthless material. The material above the
deposit is called overburden. The overburden has to be removed first to
expose the deposit, and is stored nearby to be used later for mine restoration.
Open-pit mines are carefully dug in sections called benches. The walls of the
benches are kept at an angle to reduce the risk of rock falls. The safe angle of
the seawalls depends on the type of deposit and overburden. Roads have to be
made as the digging progresses to allow the removal of the mineral deposit
and overburden. Building materials such as sand, gravel and stone are
removed from open pits called quarries.
There are two main reasons why open-pit mines
eventually stop being worked. In some cases, as much
valuable deposit as possible has been removed. In
other cases, the amount of overburden that needs to be
removed has increased to an extent that the mine is no
longer profitable.
Strip mining is used to mine a seam of mineral. First of
all the overburden, which consists of the overlying rock
and soil, is removed. Strip mining is mainly used to mine
coal near the surface.
2. Sub-surface mining:
Sub-surface mining involves digging tunnels into the ground to reach mineral
deposits that are too deep to be removed by surface mining. Sometimes
horizontal tunnels are dug directly into the coal seam in the side of a hill or
mountain: this is a drift mine entered by an adit (the entrance to a horizontal
mine). These tunnels produce waste rock as well as the mineral ore.
A sloping tunnel is dug to reach deeper deposits. Mining machinery can be
lowered down the sloping tunnels while waste rock and mineral ore are hauled
up to the surface.

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The deepest deposits are reached by digging a vertical shaft. Horizontal galleries
are then dug into the mineral deposits. This type
of mining is more expensive and technically
challenging than either horizontal or slope
tunneling. Only large deposits of valuable
minerals are mined in this way.
The miners ’job is to make sure all the
machinery is working correctly and safely.
Compared with open-pit mining, any form of
shaft mining is more difficult because a supply
of fresh air and water drainage has to be
provided. There are also the dangers of
collapsing tunnels as well as the risks of
poisonous gas, explosion and underground fire.
Factors affecting the viability of extraction of minerals:
Once a mineral deposit has been located, a mining company has to decide
whether it should mine the deposit or not. Mining companies need to consider
a range of issues when planning to open a mine, including:
• The costs of exploration and extraction: deeper deposits can only be
extracted by shaft mining. This is more costly to set up and maintain, so the
cost per ton will be higher than open-pit mining. Only deposits of high value
can be mined economically in this way.
• Geology: green field sites are areas that have never been mined for minerals.
The chances of finding a deposit there are low, brown field sites are areas that
have already been mined. They usually have a higher chance than Greenfield
sites
• Climate: during extreme weather or that is not stable different mining
activities will not take place.
• Accessibility: roads, railways...etc.
• The environmental impact: the negative effects of a mine on the
surrounding.
• Supply and demand:
The quality of the mineral deposit and the size of deposit that can be extracted
are important and increase the demand. Small deposits of high-grade ore and
high-value ores may be worth mining. Small deposits of low-grade ore and low-
value ores that cannot be mined at a profit are left as known reserves. In the
future they may be mined.

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 Transportation: transporting the ore from a mine to processing plants may be
difficult and expensive. This factor alone could prevent a deposit being mined.
The cost of building road or rail links to the processing plants or to the nearest
suitable port for export is a start-up cost that has to be considered. These
transport links have to be kept in working order, so there will also be
maintenance costs.
For large tonnages, such as iron ore, rail transport is the only practical and cost-
effective method of moving the ore. If the ore is going to be exported, large
ships, called bulk carriers, can be used to keep the transport costs low.
Another way of keeping the transport costs low is to carry out some processing
of the ore at the mine. The process used depends on the chemical nature and
grade of the ore. The aim of processing is to concentrate the mineral ore and
separate it from the waste material. The waste material is stored at the mine.
This type of processing produces a higher grade of ore so it has a higher value
per tonne. Some ores are high grade when they come out of the ground. For
example, some iron ores are called direct shipping ores (DSO) because they
have enough iron content that they do not need processing at the mine.
UNIT 1.3: Impact of rock and mineral extraction
1) Environmental impacts:
Impacts on the environment from the extraction of rocks and minerals range
from large-scale habitat destruction to pollution of the atmosphere, land and
water. Those living near the site are also affected by noise and visual
pollution.
❖ Pollution:
The working life of any type of mine will result in some pollution of the
environment. This can take the form of noise, water, land, air and visual
pollution.
1. Noise pollution: is a problem when large-scale surface mining takes place.
The overburden is loosened by explosive charge sand then removed by large
machines. The noise can disturb the behavior of many animal species near the
mine and cause health problems for people. Deep mining usually produces less
noise than surface mining.
2. Water pollution: The water that drains through mine waste, or comes directly
from mine shafts, can cause dramatic changes to the populations of living
organisms in streams and rivers. Drinking water supplies may also be polluted by
drainage from mines, making it unsafe for people to drink.
This pollution is caused by chemical reactions between water and exposed rocks
and mine waste. The water may become acidic and then dissolve toxic metal ions.
The combination of acidic water with a high concentration of toxic metal ions
kills many aquatic organisms. Some of the metal ions exist only in low

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concentrations in bodies of water. However, organisms absorb these ions and
retain them in their body, reaching concentrations much higher than that in the
water. This is called bioaccumulation. The concentrations increase further in
organisms that are higher up the food chain. This process is called
biomagnification (the process in which the concentration of a substance in
living things becomes higher at progressively higher levels in a food chain
or web), and can cause the death of top consumers.
3. Air pollution and soil pollution: The land surrounding a mine will become
polluted by mine waste. Only a few plants can grow, even many years after
mining has many mining activities release dust particles, which will settle on the
vegetation near the mine.
Dust from mining activities may also have toxic effects depending on the
chemical components present in the dust. This can also reduce or stop plant
growth, and the particles can be dangerous to human health.
4. Loss of habitat and biodiversity: Any mining activity will involve the loss
of habitat for some species of plants and animals. Even small-scale surface
mineral extraction requires the vegetation to be cleared from an area of land. The
plants removed have lost a place to grow, and so have the animals that depend on
the plants for food and shelter.
Deep mining means that shafts have to be dug down to the seams of valuable
minerals. Only a small area of land is cleared of vegetation. After this type of
mine has been working for several years, more habitats will be destroyed as
the amount of mine waste stored aboveground increases.
Any form of large-scale surface mining causes the greatest loss of habitat. Large
areas of vegetation have to be removed and then large volumes of removed
overburden have to be stored.
When a company applies for a license to start working, an environmental
impact assessment (a process by which the probable effects on the
environment of a development are assessed and measured) is carried out. An
environmental impact assessment tries to identify all the possible types of
damage to the environment. Any mining company must have detailed plans to
control the amount of damage to the environment.
2) Economic impacts:
Extracting valuable minerals provides employment for people and provides taxes
for the government. Modern mining is carried out using machines so only a small
number of people will be directly employed to extract minerals. Mineral
extraction usually benefits both local and national economies.
Some improvements to transport and services, such as health care and education,
will be required to supply any mining industry as well as support the mine workers
and their families.

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UNIT 1.4: Managing the impact of rock and mineral extraction
Safe disposal of mining waste
In the past, mining waste was usually been put in piles near the point of
extraction. In some cases, stable waste piles were placed on top of water
courses, which then become polluted with toxic chemicals.
Today, safe storage and disposal of mine waste is one of the most important
aspects of any mining license application
Land restoration and bioremediation
When mining has finished, the land needs to be restored, there are three methods
of restoration:
1. Succession: Sometimes mine waste can be reshaped to blend in with the
surrounding landforms. The waste can then be covered by a layer of soil, which
may be enriched with fertiliser. Such an area can then be planted with trees.
This will help other plants and animals to colonise the area. As time passes, the
soil will be improved by the addition of organic matter from plant and animal
wastes. This method of land restoration (succession) is often used to manage
the waste from coal mining.
2. Bioremediation. Bioremediation is the process of removing pollutants from
waste using living organisms.
Some mine waste does not allow the growth of tree roots, so other methods of
restoration have to be used. Contaminated waste can be treated where it was left
(insitu treatment).
Many organisms are able to break down toxic substances into less hazardous
substances. This often happens slowly in natural environments. Some
microorganisms, such as Bacteria found in soils, are able to absorb pollutants
and process them via metabolic pathways into less harmful substances. When
bacteria take in pollutants they usually gain either energy or nutrients. Some
plants are also naturally able to bioaccumulate toxic metals, and this process can
be speeded up with the addition of fertilizers. These plants are grown on
contaminated waste. The plants absorb toxic metals, and later the parts of the
plant above ground are removed so the waste left in the ground becomes less
toxic.
3. Landfill: mineral extraction often creates large holes in the landscape. If the
rock lining the hole is impervious to water and non-toxic then it can be allowed
to fill with water to form a reservoir. This water could be used for irrigating farm
land or processed to provide clean, safe drinking water for humans. Sometimes,
these holes are filled with household waste until they are full. The waste is then
covered with soil and planted with trees. This is referred to as.
How successful are these strategies? All strategies have a value, some scientists
believe that allowing a site to undergo a natural process of recolonization and

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slow change to the environment (a process called succession) may actually be
the most beneficial method
Reclamation is important to reduce the incidence of such events as land slide,
sand erosion. However, once this has been done, the natural process of
succession can probably be relied onto achieved the ecosystem recovery SER
land others think we should aim for.
UNIT 1.5: SUSTAINABLE USE OF ROCKS AND MINERALS
The supply of rocks and minerals that are used as building materials and for
industrial production is finite. It is hard to see, therefore, how the use of these
materials can meet the definition of sustainability. Sustainable use means use
that meets the needs of the present without affecting the ability of future
generations to meet their needs. A fully sustainable resource will never run out,
and this can be achieved in fisheries, agriculture and forestry where the
resource is biological and can be regrown. Unlike these biological systems,
such things as rocks and minerals will not last indefinitely.
Human societies need to use any resource with care so that its use is at least
more sustainable than it has been in the past. The sustainable development of
the reserves of any rock or mineral must take into account environmental,
economic and social factors. The aim is a planned and controlled use of any
reserve to provide the most benefit to people, maintain economic growth and
stability and prevent widespread environmental damage. National laws and
international agreements encourage sustainable development of resources.
The term sustainability is now widely used. However, as the world population
continues to increase, it is difficult to see how the challenge of complete
sustainability can be met. Perhaps the best that can be achieved is the prolonged
use of resources with limited environmental damage and the most benefit for
human societies.
Several strategies can be used to make the exploitation of rocks and minerals
more sustainable.
1) Efficiency of extraction
Increasing the efficiency of extraction seems an obvious starting point. For
example, underground coal mines only remove between 55 and 70% of the coal
present in the reserve. This is because of the technical difficulties of extracting
the remaining coal in a safe and cost effective manner. Open-pit mining is more
efficient at extraction than underground mining but some wastage still occurs.
 There are many methods to improve and increase the efficiency of
extraction,
1. Processing of mine wastes for a second time. This allows valuable
materials to be recovered and reduces the risk of pollution from stored
mine waste.
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 2. Chemical treatment of the waste is a new extraction method, which
extracts much of the valuable mineral still within it.
3. Biological treatment with microorganisms can also be used to extract
more product from the waste.
4. Improvements in the performance of the machines used in mining and
processing also increase the efficiency of extraction.
5. Greater use of data analysis by computers is likely to lead to
improvements as well.
 However, surface mining has more potential for an increase in efficiency
of extraction than underground mining. This is because it is more
difficult to predict geological conditions underground

2) Efficiency of use and recycling

Recycling materials makes an important contribution to the sustainable use of
rocks and minerals. Many manufactured goods, from cars to steel cans, are
recycled in most countries. Most metals can be recovered and refined back to
clean metals to be used by industries again. This uses less energy than processing
the ores or concentrates to make metals. Many countries still have the potential
to recycle far more materials in the future.
Attempts to use minerals such as metals more effieciently include engineering
solutions. For example, it is possible to design steel beams used in buildings to
have the same strength but use less steel. In the 1980s titanium became very
expensive and there was an incentive to design products that used less of this
metal. Many countries may in the future require car manufacturers by law to
take back their products when they are finished with. It is hoped this will
encourage them to make more durable products that use less minerals and last
longer
The major way in which governments are trying to encourage a more sustainable
use of minerals and rocks is to pass laws that requires manufacturers to become
responsible for recycling and reuse. For example, the Waste Electrical and
Electronic Equipment (WEEE).

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