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Environmental impact of mining can occur at local, regional, and global scales through direct and indirect mining practices. Mining can cause erosion , sinkholes , loss of biodiversity , or the contamination of soil , groundwater , and surface water by chemicals emitted from mining processes.
Sand pit along the Mississippi River, United States Artificial lake with frac sand dredger. Sand mining is the extraction of sand, mainly through an open pit (or sand pit) [1] [failed verification] [2] but sometimes mined from beaches and inland dunes or dredged from ocean and river beds. [3]
Over two decades, dredging ships have sucked massive amounts of sand from the bed and shores of Poyang Lake in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi, drastically altering the ability of its ...
A study in an arid agricultural region of Arizona [3] showed that, even with a water level recovery of 100 ft after groundwater pumping was stopped, the land surface continued to subside for decades. This is a result of the continued dewatering of aquitards (fine-grain layers that slow the movement of groundwater) from stresses mentioned in the ...
The environmental impact of mining includes erosion, formation of sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, and contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water by chemicals from mining processes. In some cases, additional forest logging is done in the vicinity of mines to increase the available room for the storage of the created debris and soil.
Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. [1] Gravel pit lakes are typically nutrient rich and can support thriving ecosystems, but can also present environmental issues such as the release of toxic metals into watersheds from the exposed rock. [2]
Mining companies say that harvesting minerals from the deep sea instead of land is cheaper and has less of an environmental impact. But scientists and environmental groups argue that less than 1% ...
Oil sand tailings or oil sands process-affected water (OSPW), have a highly variable composition and a complex mixture of compounds. [4] In his oft-cited 2008 journal article, E. W. Allen wrote that typically tailings ponds consist of c. 75% water, c. 25% sand, silt and clay, c.2% of residual bitumen, as well as dissolved salts, organics, and minerals.