This is
the second of two essays on the wonderful
bonuses we
have received from the earth.
Concentrations
of the earth materials we use are gifts of geologic forces – water,
volcanoes, continental plate movement (subduction), pressure, time and
heat. These gifts allow us to play and
live.
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Minerals form in several ways
Minerals form within Earth
or on Earth’s surface by natural processes. Minerals develop when atoms of one
or more elements join together and crystals begin to grow. Recall that each
type of mineral has its own chemical makeup. Therefore, what types of minerals
form in an area depends in part on which elements are present there.
Temperature and pressure also affect which minerals form. Water evaporates. Water usually has many substances dissolved in
it. Minerals can form when the water evaporates. For example, when salt water evaporates, the atoms that make up halite, which is used as table salt, join to form crystals. Other minerals form from evaporation too, depending on the substances dissolved in the water. The mineral gypsum often forms as water evaporates.
Hot water cools. As hot water within Earth’s crust moves through rocks, it can dissolve minerals. When the water cools, the dissolved minerals separate from the water and become solid again. In some cases, minerals are moved from one place to another. Gold can dissolve in hot water that moves through the crust. As the water cools and the gold becomes solid again, it can fill cracks in rocks. In other cases, the minerals that form are different from the ones that dissolved. Lead from the mineral galena can later become part of the mineral wulfenite as atoms join together into new minerals.
Molten rock cools. Many minerals grow from magma. Magma— molten rock inside Earth—contains all the types of atoms that are found in minerals. As magma cools, the atoms join together to form different minerals. Minerals also form as lava cools. Lava is molten rock that has reached Earth’s surface. Quartz is one of the many minerals that crystallize from magma and lava.
Heat and pressure cause changes. Heat and pressure within Earth cause new minerals to form as bonds between atoms break and join again. The mineral garnet can grow and replace the minerals chlorite and quartz as their atoms combine in new ways. The element carbon is present in some rocks. At high temperatures carbon forms the mineral graphite, which is used in pencils.
Organisms produce minerals. A few minerals are produced by living things. For example, ocean animals such as oysters and clams produce calcite and other carbonate minerals to form their shells. Even you produce minerals. Your body produces one of the main minerals in your bones and teeth—apatite. http://www.classzone.com/vpg_ebooks/sci_sc_8/accessibility/sci_sc_8/page_62.pdf
There
is a wonderful interesting way to look at the gifts of natural resources that
the earth gives to us. It can be found
in this paper:
“Thermodynamic
Approach to Evaluate the Criticality of Raw Materials and Its Application through a Material Flow Analysis
in Europe”
Guiomar Calvo, Alicia
Valero and Antonio Valero
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318613807
Thermodynamic
rarity .
. . is understood as the free natural bonus
provided by nature for having minerals concentrated in mines instead of
dispersed throughout the crust (from Thanatia to the mine).
There
is a free natural bonus represented by the exergy
replacement cost (ERC), defined as the exergy that would be needed to extract a
mineral from ordinary rocks (Thanatia state) to the conditions of concentration
and composition found in the mine, using prevailing technology.
Exergy is the energy that is available to be used
To
obtain ERC values of each mineral, the first
step is to calculate the minimum
concentration
of exergy required to reconcentrate a completely dispersed mineral in Thanatia
back to the initial mine conditions. .
. . Thermodynamic
rarity varies from mineral to mineral, as is a function of a mineral’s absolute
scarcity in nature and the state of technology.
The
exergoecology method uses exergy as a yardstick as it does not depend on market
and reflects both the quantity and quality of extracted minerals. Exergy
measures the degree of thermodynamic distinction a material piece has from its
surrounding commonness. Therefore, it allows to physically measure the “rarity”
of a piece of matter since the rarer it is, the more it stands out (Valero and
Valero 2014). pg. 3
GIFTS THE EARTH PROVIDES
I took some of the minerals
needed for our “future” and applied the Exergy Replacement Costs (see
paragraphs above) to them. I converted
them to tonnes of oil equivalent, researched the tonnes mined in 2014 and found
the contribution of the earth in pressure, time, geologic movement, heat and
life sources to the gifts of concentrated minerals in mines.
As In the above essay on
fossil fuels, we have received huge gifts of energy from our home.
In 2016
the world used more than 35 billion barrels a year.
Just this contribution
of the Earth
(not including the many other minerals and
resources)
equals 99 times the oil
the world used in 2016
Resources
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_aluminium_production
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_copper_production
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_iron_ore_production
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http://www.ilzsg.org/static/statistics.aspx?from=1
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https://www.bgs.ac.uk/downloads/start.cfm?id=3120
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https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/mcs/2015/mcs2015.pdf
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_palladium_production
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https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/gallium/mcs-2015-galli.pdf
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Web
of Life
The Web of Life
4.5 billion years of great drama;
a great concert orchestrated,
an interweaving of many parts
large and small.
A magnificent gift-
veins of blood
veins of gold,
worms and vines,
swamps and volcanoes
tides and trees
poems and
planes
rivers and roses.
The Web is each of these many things.
Beyond these, it is everything.
John Weber 2017
CELEBRATE!
