Chapter 12-3 Vocabulary

vegetation, soil, and rock overlying a mineral deposit are cleared away

• Surface Mining

• Subsurface Mining

• Strip Mining

• Open Pit Mining

Unwanted rock and other waste materials produced when a material is removed from the earth's surface or subsurface by mining, dredging, quarrying, and excavation.

• Spoils

• Tailings

• Overburden

• Surface Mining

machines dig very large holes and remove metal ores as well as sand, gravel, and stone

• Open-Pit Mining

• Surface Mining

• Strip Mining

• Spoils

any form of mining involving the extraction of mineral deposits that lie in large horizontal beds close to the earth's surface

• Strip Mining

• Surface Mining

• Open Pit Mining

• Subsurface Mining

Gigantic earth moving machines strip away the overburden and power shovels then comes and removes the deposits

• Area Strip Mining

• Mountaintop Removal

• Surface Mining

• Open Pit Mining

Top of a mountain is removed to expose seams of coal which are then extracted

• Mountaintop Removal

• Area Strip Mining

• Open Pit Mining

• Subsurface Mining

underground mineral resources are removed through tunnels and shafts

• Subsurface Mining

• Surface Mining

• Mountaintop Removal

• Area Strip Mining

rock wastes that are left in piles or put into ponds where they settle out

• Tailings

• Smelting

• Surface Mining

• Overburden

heat or chemical solvents are used to extract the metals from mineral ores.

• Smelting

• Tailings

• Surface Mining

• Overburden

Form of surface mining used on hilly or mountainous terrain. A power shovel cuts a series of terraces into the side of a hill. An earthmover removes the overburden, and a power shovel extracts the coal. The overburden from each new terrace is dumped onto the one below.

• Contour strip mining

• Area Strip Mining

• Open Pit Mining

• Surface Mining