Environmental Science

The first step in surface coal mining is 

• to remove and set aside the soil that covers the area to be mined
• to use heavy equipment to take core samples
• to test to see if quarrying would be more effective
• to make cuts in the coal for easier removal

The wall of a coal seam 

• long wall
• quarry
• aggregate
• ore mineral

Minerals that contain valuable substances 

• native elements
• gangue minerals
• ore minerals 
• evaporites

Which of the following is one reason why undersea mining has been largely unsuccessful to date?

• Magma exists under the ocean floor
• There is too much aggregate on the ocean floor
• Deposits at great water depths are difficult to work.
• Ocean water is too salty.

mining method used when ore deposits are located closed to Earth's surface 

• ore minerals
• quarry
• placer deposits
• surface mining 

A serious hazard of coal mining is

• a high-pressure water blast
• an underground mine fire
• an aggregation 
• excess overburd

the sinking of regions of the ground with litter or no horizontal movement 

• alloy 
• subsidence 
• ore minerals
• quarry

minerals concentrated by wind and water movement into surface deposits

• aggregates 
• ore minerals 
• subsidence 
• placer deposits 

Which of the following is not a way that ore minerals may form?

• cooling of magma 
• circulation of hydrothermal solutions through rocks
• flooding of empty streambeds and rivers
• evaporation of water that contains salts

sand, gravel, and crushed rock

• quarry
• surface mining
• aggregates
• placer deposits