Using the power of Google Earth, GeoTours take you on flyovers of key locations discussed in the text.
StudySpace student website and ebook icons in each GeoTour connect your to the text and online review materials.
Dialogue boxes accompanying each site include text, figures, photos.
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Geotour 12: Sources of Energy and Mineral Resources
Hydrocarbon Resources
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| 1a. Check the “Major Known Oil Reserves” folder in the Worksheet 12 folder and make the entire folder semi-transparent. Also, turn on “Borders and Labels” in the Layers panel.
Which of the following regions is not a location that has major oil reserves?
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| 1b. Which continent presently does not have any major known oil reserves?
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| 1c. Movement of subsurface salt produces complex structures. In some places salt flows up to form salt domes and salt anticlines. When this happens, the salt that flows into domes must be withdrawn from somewhere else. In places where the salt is withdrawn, the overlying beds sink down to form a basin. Hydrocarbons sometimes get trapped in reservoirs adjacent to the margins of domes. Check and double-click the placemarks for Problems 1c-i and -ii. Which feature does each placemark point to?
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| 1d. Check and double-click the placemark for Problem 1d. What kind of structure is this?
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| 1e. To get a sense of scale of this feature, measure its diameter using the Measuring Tool (in km between placemarks Problem 1e). What is its diameter?
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Coal Resources
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| 2a. Check and double-click placemark Problem 2 to fly to a surface coal strip mine near Farmersburg, IN.
Miners refill the active pit after coal has been extracted, then spread topsoil over the area and replant it. Nevertheless, reclaimed land will not look like unmined land for quite some time. Which placemark identifies a region that has been reclaimed?
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| 2b. Extracting coal in open-pit strip mines may lead to unwanted consequences. When water reacts with minerals in excavated rock, the runoff into lakes and streams contains elements that affect water quality. Check and double-click placemark Problem 2b (also fly over the mine and nearby reclaimed areas). What evidence do you see that suggests possible contamination?
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Other Energy Sources |
| 3a. In addition to hydrocarbons and coal, there are other types of energy sources as well.
Check and double-click placemark Problem 3a to fly to an area south of Rockford, IL. What type of energy source is shown here?
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| 3b. Is this type of energy “green” (renewable, non-polluting) or “not green” (it uses non-renewable resources and is possibly polluting the environment)?
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| 3c. Check and double-click placemark Problem 3c to fly to an area NW of Rockford, IL. What type of energy source is shown here?
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| 3d. Zoom out from this area to an altitude of about 250 km. Assuming that weather systems follow a general path from west to east, what major metropolitan area is downwind of this facility?
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Mineral Resources
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| 4a. Mineral resources that we use in many everyday items must be extracted from the Earth as well.
Check and double-click the placemarks for Problem 4a to fly to Bingham Copper Mine, the largest open-pit mine in the world. Using the Measuring Tool (in km between placemarks Problem 4a), estimate the diameter of the main pit.
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| 4b. Check and double-click the placemarks for Problem 4b and use the Hand cursor to measure the elevation difference (in m) between the two placemarks to get an estimate for the depth of the main pit.
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| 4c. Check and double-click placemark Problem 4c to visit one of the many tailings piles. What evidence exists in this view to suggest that this process has similar issues to the coal strip mine in Indiana?
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