HUMAN IMPACT ON THE LITHOSPHERE

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1 HUMAN IMPACT ON THE LITHOSPHERE

2 WHY IS THE LITHOSPHERE IMPORTANT? Provides land/space on which to live Provides necessary resources required for survival, like food and fuel

3 OVER TIME Hunter-Gatherers Obtained food by hunting and gathering plants Agricultural revolution 10,000 years ago, started collecting seeds, etc Industrial Revolution middle of 1700s Water/animal muscle coal and oil

4 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Machinery made farming, work, etc more efficient. Cheap transportation over great distances Materials such as plastic, pesticides, and fertilizers developed

5 RESOURCES Natural resource natural material used by humans Renewable resource can be replaced quickly with natural processes Non-renewable resource forms at a much slower rate (fossil fuels)

6 POPULATION AND CONSUMPTION Developed nations 75 percent of world s resources, 20% population = more waste Ecological Footprint productive area of Earth needed to support one person in a particular country.

7 CRITICAL THINKING Research is often used to make political points Media distorts information Be prepared to hear many different view points.

8 4 MAJOR PRACTICES THAT AFFECT QUALITY OF LITHOSPHERE Deforestation Agriculture Urbanization Mining

9 DEFORESTATION Forests are cut down for the purpose of building and agriculture Removing plants increases the rate of erosion, because the plant roots no longer secure the soil in one place

10 Deforestation The removal of forests (rain, deciduous, etc.) Less carbon pulled from atmosphere Less oxygen produced Increase water runoff!! Decrease in biological diversity Bio-diversity down 30% in past 40 years

11 Deforestation

12 URBANIZATION Increasing population has led to the need for more land space for homes, resulting in use of more natural resources and limiting availability of farmland.

13 Urbanization Physical growth of urban areas as result of rural migration Currently more people living in urban areas than rural areas (first time in history)

14 Urbanization Environmental Effects Heat Islands solar radiation reflected by buildings, asphalt, etc Makes location hotter than surrounding areas Extra solar radiation not being used (plants, water, etc)

15 Urbanization Environmental Effects More people = more waste/trash Less plant life to clean air (increase air pollution) Acid rain Decrease in ph of rain due to pollution

16 URBANIZATION Environmental Effects Increase of impermeable surfaces Water and other materials cannot pass through Leads to increased run off and flooding

17 AGRICULTURE In addition to losing soil by deforestation, we also lose tons of topsoil each year through agriculture Topsoil is the upper, outermost layer of soil, usually the top 2 inches. It has the highest amount of organic matter and microorganisms, and is where plants obtain most of their nutrients

18 AGRICULTURE Traditional agriculture techniques, like plowing, remove topsoil and require replanting each year. The United States alone loses almost 3 tons of topsoil per acre per year.

19 SUSTAINABILITY Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations. Sustainability is important to making sure that we have and will continue to have, the water, materials, and resources to protect human health and our environment.

20 SUSTAINABILITY CONT. Sustainability is about treating all parties fairly. Farmers getting a fair market price for their goods, consumers paying prices reflecting reasonable profits set by producers of goods/services, workers receiving appropriate wages for the job done under safe, acceptable working conditions. All the while, the underlining concern is being responsible for our use of natural resources, being fair to the environment as well.

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22 SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE Preserving fertile topsoil is essential to feeding the world s rapidly growing population. This can be done through: (1) Windbreaks (2) Terracing hillsides (3) Contour plowing (4) Crop rotation

23 WINDBREAKS Windbreaks are located along crop field borders or within the field itself How do windbreaks help to reduce erosion rates?

24 TERRACING HILLSIDES Terracing is the building of wide flat rows of terraces on mountainside and hillsides. The terraces look like big staircases. They hold rainwater so that it will not wash away the soil.

25 CONTOUR PLOWING Instead of plowing up and down, farmers plow across a slope. In this way, the soil forms a ridge that slows down the flow of water, so soil is not carried away.

26 CROP ROTATION Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area in back to back seasons. It maintains a balance of nutrients in the soil.

27 EFFECT OF DEVELOPMENT ON SHORELINE Construction along the shoreline increases the rate of erosion beyond the already high rate of erosion experienced along shorelines due to the ocean.

28 ARTIFICIAL STABILIZATION: SHORELINE STRUCTURES Structures can be built to protect a coast from erosion or to prevent movement of sand along a beach: Groins Breakwaters Seawalls

29 ARTIFICIAL STABILIZATION: GROINS Groins are barriers built at right angles to the beach to trap sand that is moving parallel to the shore. Groins are built to maintain or widen beaches that are losing sand.

30 ARTIFICIAL STABILIZATION: BREAKWATERS Breakwaters are built parallel to the shoreline off the coast to limit the force of oncoming waves.

31 ARTIFICIAL STABILIZATION: SEAWALLS Structure designed to prevent impact of tides and waves on property, built directly along the shoreline.

32 ARTIFICIAL STABILIZATION: SEAWALLS Structure designed to prevent impact of tides and waves on property, built directly along the shoreline.

33 ARTIFICIAL STABILIZATION: BEACH NOURISHMENT Beach nourishment projects add large quantities of sand to the beach system. It is an attempt to stabilize shorelines without adding protective features.

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35 BEACH NOURISHMENT: DISADVANTAGES Temporary fix; waves will eventually erode the replacement sand as well Expensive: costs lots of money to transport sand to the beach from offshore areas Negative effects on marine life: dredging sand off the coast replaces natural, coarse sand with softer, muddier sand that increases the cloudiness (turbidity) of the water and can kill offshore coral reefs

36 EFFECT OF DEVELOPMENT ON MOUNTAINSIDES Construction along mountainsides can decrease the stability of the land, allowing for a greater rate of erosion. Mass movements (ex: rockslides) are more probable.

37 ARTIFICIAL STABILIZATION: SLOPE REVETMENT Screen mesh (called slope revetment) draped over a steep slope keeps loosened rocks from entering roadways.

38 ARTIFICIAL STABILIZATION: RETAINING WALLS Human activities or natural processes can remove some soil from the base of a slope, making the remaining upper part of the slope less stable and more prone to mass movement. Construction of a retaining wall can support the upper part of a slope.

39 ARTIFICIAL STABILIZATION: SLOPE VEGETATION While harvesting trees, leave enough mature trees to anchor the slope and protect soil from excessive erosion due to runoff.

40 FOSSIL FUELS Remains of ancient organisms that changed into coal, oil, or natural gas Supply is limited Environmental consequences

41 FOSSIL FUEL FORMATION Coal plants in swamps hundreds of millions of years ago Sediments compressed plant remains Oil/natural gas decay of tiny marine organisms compressed and heated

42 COAL 57% of electric production in US formed by coal Obtained by underground mines and/or mountain removal

43 DRILLING Oil pumped from the ground; crude oil Fuels, chemicals, plastics petroleum products 45% of world s commercial energy use

44 MINERALS AND MINERAL RESOURCES Depend on mineral resources everyday Does not come without price Environmental issues Uphold mineral needs with population

45 MINERALS AND MINERAL RESOURCES Mineral inorganic solid characteristic chemical composition orderly internal structure characteristic set of physical properties. Made up of atoms of single element, or two or more elements (compounds) Ice?

46 MINERAL EXPLORATION AND MINING Subsurface mining ore deposits that are usually 50 meters or more beneath Earth s surface Surface Mining ore deposits located close to Earth s surface.

47 MINERAL EXPLORATION AND MINING Surface mining Surface coal mining Quarrying Solar Evaporation Mountaintop Removal

48 MINERAL EXPLORATION AND MINING Undersea mining Unsuccessful Land mining is cheaper Deep water makes processes difficult

49 MINERAL EXPLORATION AND MINING Smelting crushed ore is melted at high temperatures to separate impurities Density differences causes separation

50 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Energy needs increased surface mining Reclaiming land and returning it to previous state is a requirement

51 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Air and noise pollution Dust created by mining and loading/unloading Machine causes noise pollution and damage nearby structures

52 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Water Contamination Water picks up and dissolves toxic substances (arsenic) Sulfur and water diluted sulfuric acid Acid Mine Drainage - AMD

53 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Displacement of Wildlife Stripping of plant life Animals leave area New ecosystem created after Destroy river and sea bottoms

54 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Erosion and Sedimentation Sediments find way into streams Choke stream life Degrades water quality

55 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Soil Degradation Deeper soil layers added to top Decreases richness of original soil Subsidence (sink holes) Sinking of regions of ground with no horizontal movement 1/man-goes-missing-in-florida-whenbedroom-falls-into-sinkhole/

56 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Underground Mine Fires Last decades and even centuries Australian fire 2,000 Years!!!!! Gas and smoke emitted

57 MINING REGULATION AND RECLAMATION Must comply with Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Act, and Endangered Species Act Reclamation returning land to original or better state after mining