Earths Resources Midterm

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Columbia University *

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Geography

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Oct 30, 2023

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1. Reserves vs Resources & General Questions Under what circumstances does the quantity of reserves of a given commodity increase? decrease? The quantity of a reserve can increase if there is a new discovery or technological advancements, and it decreases when it is mined out. What are renewable and non-renewable resources? List three of each. Renewable resources are those materials that are replenished on short timescales of a few months or years. These include the organic materials from plants and animals, aswell as the energy we draw from wind, flowing water, and the sun’s heat. Non-renewable resources are those materials of which Earth contains a fixed quantity and which are not replenished by natural processes operating on short timescales. These include oil, natural gas, coal, copper, and other mineral products we dig and pump from Earth. When the price of a mineral commodity of fossil fuel rises, what happens to the reserves? The reserves increase when the price (market value) of a fossil fuel increases because more will be economic to extract. Define in simple terms the diffference between a reserve and a resource? A resource is the concentration of naturally occurring solid, liquid, or gaseous material, in or on Earth’s crust, in such form and amount that economic extraction of a commodity from the concentration is currently or potentially feasible. A reserve is the part of the resources that can be economically and legally extracted at a given time. The resource must meet economic, legal, and environmental constraints. Explain how market prices have an impact on the quantitiy of reserves for a given mineral or commodity? The quantity of a reserve increases as the market value of a mineral/commodity rises, and decreases as the market value falls. How do commodity resources become reserves? Give two examples. Resources can become reserves when there is a technological advancement that allows for economic extraction. For example this occurred when a new bulk mining process in the beginning of the 20th century allowed for copper deposits to become reserves. Another example of this is after WWII, when iron reserves were running low, a new mining technology allowed for “taconites” to be worked with and they now supply much of the iron in the US. What is a mineral or commodity reserve?

A reserve is the part of the resources that can be economically and legally extracted at a given time. The resource must meet economic, legal, and environmental constraints. What is a mineral or commodity resource? A resource is the concentration of naturally occurring solid, liquid, or gaseous material, in or on Earth’s crust, in such form and amount that economic extraction of a commodity from the concentration is currently or potentially feasible. What is one watt equivalent to? A watt is equivalent to work done at a rate of one joule per second (1 J/ 1 sec). What constraints influence whether or not a resource is a reserve? Constraints include economic, environmental, and legal boundaries. This includes land ownership, the presence of endangered animals or plants, potential carcinogenic effects of mining, and more on top of the economic factor. What is the doubling time for commodity consumption growing at 3% per year? Doubling time is calculated as the natural log of 2 divided by the rate of growth. Thus for doubling time it is 0.7/rate for the time. For a growth rate of 3% or 0.03, the doubling time is 0.7/0.03 which is about 23 years. What is the time recquired for a factor of 10 increase in commodity consumption growing at 3% per year? Doubling time is calculated as the natural log of 10 divided by the rate of growth. Thus for a factor of 10 increase it is 2.3/rate for the time. For a growth rate of 3% or 0.03, the factor of 10 increase of time is 2.3/0.03 which is about 77 years. What are the units of reserve to production ratio? The reserves to production ratio is the reserves available (eg Gt) divided by the rate of production (eg Gt/yr). Thus the unit is time, and the time that is calculated is the time the commodity would run out if no new reserves are proven and if production continues at a constant rate. 2. Environmental Impacts of Resource Use Acid rain is considered one of the most serious forms of pollution. What causes it? When sulfur-bearing minerals in coal are burned, sulfur oxides are released which combine with water vapor in the atmosphere to form sulfuric acid. Nitrogen oxides, which react with water vapor to form nitric acid, are created from high temperature combustion (like in the burning of

fossil fuels) in atmospheres with high levels of nitrogen. These two acids in the atmosphere become part of the rainfall, and as acids, lower the pH. List two environmental impacts due to use of coal in power generation and manufacturing? What are two main methods of coal mining? Which is safer for those involved in producing coal? One environmental impact from the use of coal in power generation is acid rain, which results from the sulfur oxides that arise when coal is burned, which turn into sulfuric acid in the rainfall. Another environmental impact from coal is that strip mining for coal leaves mounds of waste material that have no vegetation and are too steep to farm, thus devastating large plots of land. Another impact of coal is when burned it contributes to the greenhouse effect, by increasing carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. A final impact of coal use in power generation is that when burned trace amounts of Mercury are released, and coal combustion is the world’s greatest source of Mercury pollution. The two main methods of coal mining are underground mining and surface mining. Surface mining is safer for those involved in producing coal. What is one acid in acid rain? The acids in acid rain are sulfuric and nitric acid. What is the difference between external and internal costs of resource use and pollution? Internal costs are costs taken on by the producer for the resource use and pollution they take part in. External costs are costs taken on by the public for the resource use and pollution of a producer. What are two examples of the change from external to internal costs? An example of internalizing an external cost would be for example mandating companies to offset their carbon emissions. This changes the external cost, climate change for everyone, to an internal cost, a fee for the company. Another example is in early London where people chucked human waste into the streets. Everyone bore the cost of this through the smell. The government interalized this external cost by making people pay a tax for create a central sewer system. Instead of making other people pay with the smell, the people creating waste had to pay. How have US government regulations on Mercury emissions affected the rate of replacement versus renovation of older coal fired power plants in the US? The US government made regulations that all new coal fired power plants could not emit any Mercuryt, but this left the loophole of the old power plants being fine to emit Mercury. Thus, people just renovated old coal power plants instead of repalcing them or making new ones.

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In the United States, what method is used to mine most of the coal in the High Plains Rocky Mountain region? In general is the coal in this region higher or lower grade than the coal obtained from the Appalachians in the previou century? Strip mining is used to mine most of the coal in the High Plains Rocky Mountain region. In general the coal in this region is lower grade than the Appalachian coal, the area is richest in sub-bituminous coal where as the Appalachian coal is bituminous. What is pH? It is a measure of hydrogen ions. It is the -log10 of H+ ion concentration in moles per liter. In acid rain, is the pH higher or lower than normal? The pH is lower than normal, since the rain is more acidic. What is the largest source of human Mercury emissions to the atmosphere? The largest source of Mercury emissions to the atmosphere is from coal combustion in power plants, as it releases trace amounts of Mercury. 3. Plate Tectonics & Composition of the Earth Around which ocean basin (Artic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific…), are most sub-aerial volcanoes found? Why is there volcanism in this relatively cool setting? Most volcanoes are found along a belt called the “Ring of Fire” that encircles the Pacific Ocean. In the context of crystallization of magmas, what are incompatible elements? As magma crystallizes, the incompatible elements are those that don’t fit easily into the crystal structures of minerals (because of size or charge) and thus stay preferentially in the liquid phase. Is continental crust thicker or thinner than oceanic crust? The continental crust is thicker than the ocean crust. Is oceanic crust denser or less dense than continental crust? Oceanic crust is more dense than continental crust. Name four of the twelve most abundant elements on Earth. Some of the most abundant elements on earth include oxygen, silicon, aluminum, and iron. What are two natural sources of thermal energy (heat) on Earth? The heat from the Sun and the heat in the Earth’s interior which is given off by the natural decay of radioactive elements.

What kind of plate boundary forms the mid-ocean ridges? What is the heat source for submarine hydrothermal vents along the mid-ocean ridges? Divergent plate boundaries, or spreading zones, form the mid-ocean ridges, which are where new magma is brought upward. The heat source for these submarine hydrothermal vents is from the heat given off by the natural decay of radioactive elements in the Earth’s interior (like uranium and potassium) which is then dissipated and carried upward through large convection cells in the mantle, where a lot of the heat is released at these mid-oceanic ridges. What property of the Earth’s magnetic field was crucial in the discovery of seafloor spreading. Draw a schematic “map” illustrating a spreading center and the remnant magnetizzation recorded by the surrounding sea floor. Seemingly random reversals in the polarity of the Earth’s magnetic field were crucial in the disovery of seafloor spreading. Magma particles point towards one pole or the other, and then “freeze” into place during cooling. The stripes of magma particles facing different ways were indicative of a reversal of polarity. The reason they were crucial is because scientists reading magnetization maps realized that these stripes were symmetrical along lines, which they determiend to be spreading centers, and they were able to figure out that the seafloor was spreading at these points. When they are molten, which are hotter, mafic magmas or felsic magmas? Which have more Mg and Fe, mafic igneous rocks or felsic igneous rocks? Which have more Al, Si, Na, and K, mafic igneous rocks or felsic igneous rocks? Which have more “incompatible elements”, mafic igneous rocks or felsic igneous rocks? Which have more “compatible elements” mafic igneous rocks or felsic igneous rocks? In molten form, mafic magmas are hotter than felsic magmas. Mafic igneous rocks have more Mg and Fe and are rich in compatible elements. These make up the oceanic crust. Felsic igneous rocks have more Al, Si, Na, and K and are rich in incompatible elements. These make up the continental crust. Where would you expect to find igneous rocks with more SiO2, in oceanic crust or continental crust? You would expect to find igneous rocks with more SiO2 in continental crust, as this is what makes the continental crust so much less dense. Why is it unlikely to find coal deposits in igneous rocks? Igenous rocks form when magma cools and crystallizes, but coal is not derived from molten material. Coal is sedimentary rock, with vegetal origins.

With the exception of some small fragments thrust onto the continents, the oldest oceanic crust on Earth is less than 200 million years old. The Earth has had oceans and oceanic crust, for several billion years. Where did the older oceanic crust go? At subduction zones, oceanic crust slides under other tectonic plates and sinks back into the mantle. Below the surface layers affected by the weather and short term climate change, how does temperature vary with depth in the solid crust of the Earth? How does temperature vary with depth in large ocean basins? How does this affect the stability of gas hydrates? How does this affect potential methods for storage of CO2 captured frm exhaust gas at power plants? It gets hotter the deeper into the solid crust of the Earth. The opposite occurs in the oceans. As you go deeper in the ocean, temperature decreases and pressure increases. Gas hydrates are stable at high pressure and low temperatures, and thus are more stable deeper in the ocean. CO2 is more dense than water at temperatures less than 10 C and high pressures, so there is a potential to store CO2 in puddles on the seafloor. One type of meteorite carbonaceous chondreites is very helpful in estimating the bulk composition of the Earth. What are some similarities and differences between the composition of carbonaceous chondites and the composition of the solar atmosphere? Compared to the solar atmosphere, carbonaceous chondrites are depleted in elements that form gases at low temperature, thought to have been blown outward by the “solar wind” during condensation of the solar nebula What are black smokers and how do they form? Black smokers are vents on the seafloor from which hot hydrothermal fluids are issued. Upon entering the cold ocean waters, these fluids rapidly mix, cool, and precipitate very fine iron and other metal sulfides that appear as black smoke. These vents form near spreading centers when cold sea water percolates through the ocean crust, is heated by hot magma, and reemerges because of the pressure as hydrothermal fluids. What are the four main layers of the Earth's interior below the oceans and atmosphere, two composed mainly of silicates plus some metal-oxides and two composed mainly of metallic compounds? Which one is liquid? The four main layers consist of the inner core, solid iron, the outer core, liquid iron, the mantle, composed of Fe-Mg silicates, and the crust. What are the three main types of tectonic plate boundaries?

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The three main types of tectonic plate boundaries are divergent plate boundaries, which are spreading centers; convergent plate boundaries, which are where plates collide; and transforming plate boundaries, where plates slide past one another. What caused the formation of banded iron formations in ocean sediments billions of years ago? Photosynthetic organisms created oxygen which reacted with iron dissolved in sea water to form iron oxide minerals and this created the banded formations in ocean sediments. What is a deep sea hydrothermal vent? Along what sort of plate boundary are they located? What is the source of heat? How do ore deposits form in this setting? Deep sea hydrothermal vents are located along divergent plate boundaries. The source of their heat is from the natural decay of radioactive elements in the Earth’s interior like uranium and potassium. The Earth dissipates this heat through generation of large convection cells in the mantle, and the cells carry much of this heat upwards, and deep sea hydrothermal vents are places where this heat is released. What is a subduction zone? What is a convergent plate margin? A convergent plate margin is a place where two plates come together. A subduction zone is a convergent plate margin where one plate sinks into the mantle underneath the other plate. What is an oceanic spreading ridge? What is a divergent plate margin? An oceanic spreading ridge is a divergent plate margin, aka a spreading zone, where new oceanic crust is formed as new magma is brought upward. What observation of the Sun can be used to estimate the bulk composition of the solar atmosphere? What was the role of measurements of magentization of the seafloor in the discovery of plate tectonics? Seemingly random reversals in the polarity of the Earth’s magnetic field were crucial in the disovery of seafloor spreading. Magma particles point towards one pole or the other, and then “freeze” into place during cooling. The stripes of magma particles facing different ways were indicative of a reversal of polarity. The reason they were crucial is because scientists reading magnetization maps realized that these stripes were symmetrical along lines, which they determiend to be spreading centers, and they were able to figure out that the seafloor was spreading at these points. Where is oceanic crust formed? Oceanic crust is formed at mid-oceanic ridges, which are a divergent plate boundary.

New oceanic crust is continually produced at mid-ocean ridges. Is the Earth expanding? If not, where is the old oceanic crust going? The earth is not expanding, instead at subduction zones, the old oceanic crust sinks back into the mantle. Given that the Earth is 4.56 billion years old, why is there no oceanic crust older than 180 million years? Where did the older oceanic crust go? At subduction zones, oceanic crust slides under other tectonic plates and sink back into the mantle. Which of the two types of crust on Earth (basaltic ocean crust or continental crust) is denser? Basaltic ocean crust is denser. What abdundant gas in the Earth’s atmosphere was almost absent in the early atmosphere? Oxygen (and nitrogen) are abundant today but almost absent in the early atmosphere. What has been the role of photosynthesis in changing the Earth’s atmosphere? Photosynthesis produces the oxygen that is now abudant in the Earth’s atmosphere. What is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere of Venus and Mars? The most abundant gas in the atmosphere of Venus and Mars is carbon dioxide. What is the main reservoir for the CO2 that was in the Earth’s early atmosphere? The main reservoir for the CO2 that was in Earth’s early atmosphere is in sedimentary rocks (sedimentary deposits). 4. Environmental Economics Define the “Social Cost of Carbon”. How can this be determined? How would economies use the SCC and the cost of methods for avoiding or mitigating greenhouse gas emissions to determine an “ideal” carbon tax or value for carbon in a cap and trade network? The social cost of carbon (SCC) is used to estimate in dollars all economic damage that would result from emitting one ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It is estimated dollars of damage per ton of CO2 emitted. It indicates how much it is worth to us today to avoid the damage that is projected for the future. It is determined through integrated assessment models taking into account socio economic predictions, climate projections, and analysis of cost/benefit of climate impact.

Economies can use the SCC to figure out the exact amount of money needed to counteract the emissions of carbon from some venture. Thus they can create a carbon tax from the value so that activities can be carbon neutral. The social cost of carbon is used to help policy makers determine whether the costs and benefits of a proposed policy to curb climate change are justified. A higher SCC generally means that the benefits of a particular climate policy to cut CO2 justify its cost; a low SCC makes a policy seemingly cost more than the benefits it ultimately delivers. The SCC is applied on policies that potentially increase emissions, the tonnage of increased emissions is multiplied by the SCC; the result becomes part of the policy’s cost. For policies that cut emissions, the decrease in tonnage is multiplied by the SCC and added to the benefits side of the equation. The SCC is also used to determine the carbon tax value that the government charges per ton of carbon emitted, or the price of a permit in a cap and trade scheme. What is the relative magnitide of Energy Retun of Energy Invested (EROEI) for conventional oil versus shale gas recovery? Shale oil has a very low EROEI compared to conventional oil. In almost all readings (domestic, imported, legacy, new) conventional oil has a considerably higher EROEI than shale oil, which is always very low usually below 5. How is energy returned on energy invested for coal expected to change in the future? The EROEI for coal is expected to generally decrease in the future, because higher grade coal has been mined first and used, so now people are turning to lower grade coal like lignite or putting much more energy in to get higher grade coal as it is less accessible. However, this depends on where the coal is being mined. For example, in China, it is clearly declining. It is expected to decrease, as higher energy density coal has been mined first and/or used, so less energy intensive coal remains. Why would poeple every intenionally use more energy to extract a fuel then they can obtain from that fuel? Could this happen for oil? Why? People might do this if they want the energy they are using in a particular form like liquid fuel. Here, the EROEI being less than 1 disregards the economic value of preference of some kind of energy for its safety, flexibility of use, ease of transport, or amenability to storage. Another reason people might intentionally use more energy to extract a fuel than the energy they can obtain is because of subsidies. For example, in the US there have been concerns about reliance on imported fossil fuels from the Middle East, so there are subsidies for domestically produced biofuels like corn ethanol.

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Another example is in socialist or communist societies, where mining at a profit is desirable but not essential to survival. Thus, staterun mines often continue to produce large amounts of mineral commodities even at a loss because the government always provides employment for all workers, and the government needs the mineral commodities for foreign trade. In some nations, unprofitable mines have been subsidized by the government because such expenditure is cheaper than the welfare payments that would be required to support unemployed miners if the mines were closed. What is an external cost? What is an internal cost? How can external costs be internalized? Internal costs are costs taken on by the producer for the resource use and pollution they take part in. External costs are costs taken on by the public for the resource use and pollution of a producer. External costs can be internalized for example through mandated policies forcing the producer to pay the price. An example of internalizing an external cost would be mandating companies to offset their carbon emissions. This changes the external cost, climate change for everyone, to an internal cost, a fee for the company. 5. Hubberts Curve and Peak Oil A delcine in the rate of production of a natural resource does not always imply a decline in supply. Explain using an example. There are many other factors that can affect the rate of production aside from a decline in supply. One prominent example in which a decline in the rate of production did not imply a decline in supply was when OPEC formed in the 1970s and decided to try and control the amount of oil each country could produce. Based on supply, OPEC decided a production quota for each country which limited the rate of production, even though supply was the same. Define “peak oil”. Was King Hubbert’s prediction for the US correct? And for the world? Illustrate and defend your viewpoint. Peak oil is the idea of a maximum point of oil production, after which there is an irreversible decline. It is based on a theory from King Hubbert who predicted that because oil is a finite resource, global crude oil production will eventually peak and then go into a delcine following a bell shaped curve. Hubbert predicted peak oil for the US around 1970 and peak oil for the world around 2000. He was wrong on both of these accounts. Peak oil in the US in the 20th century was in 1970, but oil production in the US continues to rise today and has surpassed the 1970 peak. This is because of new ways of oil production like oil shale and tar sands. On a global scale, oil production has also passed the 2000 peak and continues to rise.

6. Climate & CO2 Management Complete this chemical reaction, proposed for solid storage of CO2: Mg2SiO4 + 2CO2 = 2____ + ______ . Where might one find large masses of Mg2SiO4? The reaction is Mg2SiO4 + 2CO2 = 2MgCO3 + SiO2 How does the solubility of CO2 in seawater change with increasing temperature? The solubility of CO2 decreases as temperature increases. Name two natural reservoirs emitting CO2 and CH4 into the atmosphere. How do these compare in size to human emissions of greenhouse gasses? On a diagram of wavelength vs. intensity of absorption, which is characteristic of greenhouse gases, transparency at shorter wavelengths and high absorption at longer wavelengths, or transparency at longer wavelengths and high absorption of shorter wavelengths? Greenhouse gases are motsly transparent to shorter wavelengths (of visible light) and absorb more at longer wavelengths (or infrared radiation). On a diagram of wavelength vs. intensity of light, which is characteristic of incoming radiation from the sun, shorter wavelength or longer wavelength? How about radiation emitted from the surface of the Earth? Radiation coming from the sun, or vsiible light, is longer wavelenght, while the radiation being re-emitted from the Earth is longer wavelength (infrared). What are two positive feedbacks relating CO2 concentration in the atmosphere and mean global air temperature near the surface. How does CO2 solubility in the ocean change with temperature? As CO2 concentration in the atmosphere rises, it contributes to the greenhouse gas effect causing temperatures to rise. Rising tempeatures melt arctic ice caps, which lessen the albedo effect (more reflection of energy) and thus make it even warmer and more ice caps melt and so on. Rising temperatures also occur in the ocean, where the higher temperature makes CO2 less soluble. This means the ocean is not as effective of a reservoir for CO2 and more stays in the atmospehre, icnreasing the temperature, and making the ocean even hotter and thus less absorbent to CO2. What are two, related positive feedbacks that could arise in the global climate if the ice caps melt due to global temperature increase? First, the ice albedo effect would lessen, thus leading to even higher temperatures. Second, as the permafrost melts there is potential for pockets of methane to be released, also contributing to the greenouse effect and thus a rise in global temperature. What is the greenhouse gas with the highest concentration in Earth's atmosphere? (HINT: It is not anthropogenic). What is the anthropogenic greenhouse gas with the highest concentration in the atmosphere? The greenjouse gas with the highest concentration in Earth’s atmosphere is H2O. The anthopogenic greenjouse gas with the highest concentration in Earth’s atmosphere is CO2.

Which is at a high value not seen in more than one million years, atmospheric CO2 or global temperature? Atosphereic CO2 is at a high value not seeen in more than 1 milllion years, not global temprarure, which has had major spikes before. In the context of human emissions of greenhouse gases, what is ocean acification? Why might it have a negative impact on organisms at the bottom of the food chain in the surface oceans? Increased amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere means increased concentrations of CO2 in the ocean (since the ocean absorbs CO2, and this causes the ocean to become more acidic. This lower pH means there are less carbonate ions (because they are instead carbonic acid), and thus not enough carbonate to combine with calcium to make the carbonate calcium shells that many microbes need for the shells. This includes diatoms, which produce ⅕ of the worlds photosynethsis. Many of these creatures are also the bottom of a huge food chain for the global ocean ecosystem. Is CO2 the only greenhouse gas whose emissions could be responsible for anthropogenic climate change? No, methane for example is another greenhouse gas whose emissions (from fossil fuel use and animal agriculture) could result in anthropogenic climate chage. True or false: average annual CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has been steadily increasing since at least the late 1950's. False, the increase of CO2 concenrtation has been exponential rather than steady. What is the greenhouse effect and what human practice(s) are thought to cause this phenomenon? The greenhouse effect is the process where gases in the atmosphere trap (absorb and re-emit) some of the infrared radiation coming from the earth’s surface, thus raising the Earth’s surface temperature. This is a natural effect, but humans have emitted large amounts of some of the greenhouse gases, like CO2 and methane, through practices like the burning of fossil fuels, thus disturbing the balance and causing the effect to increase the temperature too much. What is the importance of the "ozone layer" in the upper atmosphere to life on the Earth's surface? When did it form? Why? Prior to formation of the ozone layer, where would life have been abundant? The ozone layer blocks the most harmful (to humans, plants, and animals) type of ultraviolet radiation, which can penetrate through protective layers like skin to damage the DNA molecules. The ozone formed around 600 million years ago, this is because ozone is formed from a UV ray splitting an oxygen molecule and thus a certain oxyegn concentration was needed for it to form. Prior to formation of the ozone layer, life would have been abudant in the ocean, where the water protects from UVs. What processes are responsible for acid rain and how can it be prevented or reduced? The anthorpogenic processes responsible for acid rain are the burning of fossil fuels, mainly coal, and the use of cars, which both release nitrogen and sulfur oxides which become nitric and sulfuric acid. Volcanoes are a natral process responsible for the same effect. It can be be prevented by not burning coal

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and it can be reduced by burning coal with less sulfur dioxide, “washed coal”, or by using alternatives to gas cars like electric cars. What produced the 100,000 year cycles in temperature and CO2 concentration in the atmosphere recorded in ice cores? Variations in the Earth’s orbit and rotation axis are through to produce these 100,000 year cycles. In the terms of Socolow & Pacala, what is one “wedge”? Give an example of a power generation technology other than fossil fuel combustion that could be used to achieve one wedge, including a comparison between the magnitude required to achieve one wedge and the magnitude of present day use of this technology. In Socolow and Pascalas Chart, one wedge is equal to 1 Gt of carbon emissions or 3.67 Gt of CO2 emissions avoided. The 7 wedges together represent the mitigated carbon dioxide emissions needed to . If nuclear generating capacity today was increased by a factor of 3, this could achieve one wedge. How much would nuclear power production have to increase over the next 50 years, in order to avoid 1 billion tons of carbon emissions due to generation of electrical power using fossil fuels (one wedge)? Nuclear power production would have to increase by a factor of 3. Injection of CO2 into the ocean could be done from ships or via pipelines from the shore. Leaving these delivery methods aside, what are two distinct settings and methods proposed for storage of CO2 in the ocean? What is the most obvious, potentially damaging environmental consequence of CO2 storage in the oceans? One method proposed in the injection of CO2 into the middle of water columns so that the CO2 dissolves in the sea water. Another method is injected CO2 into reservoirs in the deep ocean, at high pressures and low temperatures, where CO2 is denser than water, thus creating puddles on the sea floor. The most obvious potential problem with injecting CO2 into the oceans is ocean acification as a risk. On the summary diagram from the IPCC, label two of the three main reservoirs proposed for geological storage of CO2 The main reservoirs proposed for the geological storage of CO2 Name and describe a method for carbon storage and any problems that might arise from this process What are the relative masses and volumes of fossil fuel versus CO2 produced by combustion of fossil fuel? Why? How does this affect estimates for the CO2 storage capacity of "depleted oil reservoirs"? What other type of large reservoir exists for storage of CO2 in subsurface pore space? Does the Earth's atmosphere appear to be in a steady state with respect to the carbon cycle? Why is Hawaii an ideal place to measure global CO2 levels?

Hawaii is very isolated and thus isn’t affected by local sources of CO2 levels. The air has a lot of time to mix before arriving to Hawaii and thus it's a good representation of the world. How do scientists know that injecting aerosol particles into the upper atmosphere can cause global cooling? About how long does this effect last after one large injection? Scientists recognized this feature of volcanic exolisions, in which the sulfur rich dust cloud that stays after the eruption works some global cooling. The injections last 1 - 2 years. Outline one strategy to reduce CO2 concentration in the atmosphere that does not involve mitigation. One strategy is reforestation, which costs less than $50 dollars per ton of CO2. Trees would absorb more carbon dioxide and produce more oxygen. What are three methods for engineered rapid decreases of atmospheric CO2 concentration? One method is CO2 removal is direct air capture and storage (such as geological or ocean storage), one option is to add alkalinity to the oceans (so that they absorb more CO2), one option is reforestation. What is CO2 capture and storage (CCS) and how could it contribute to mitigating climate change? Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide. It is one method of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with the goal of reducing global climate change. What is the most common form of carbon sequestration used today? Today more than 90% of all CO2 storage has been for enhanced oil recovery facilities. 8. Resource Use and History What are evaporite deposits? What is the most common mineral commodity that has been recovered from evaporites for thousands of years? What is the projected human population of the Earth in 2100, according to the UN in 2019 (to the nearest 0.5 billion)? The 2019 projected population was 11 billion. What is the current human population of the Earth (to the nearest 0.5 billion)? The current population is 8 billion. Describe the benefits and drawbacks of surface mining In the 21st century, is per capita energy use in developed countries rising or falling? Why? How about in developing countries? Per capita energy use in developed coutnries is rising.

10. Nuclear Energy 11. Fossil Fuels (Coal, Petroleum, Natural Gas) Chemically speaking, what distinguishes high-grade coal from low-grade coal? Chemically, the rank of coal is determined by increased carbon content and decreased oxgen and hydrogen content. High grade coal, due to increased depth and higher temperatures, has more carbon and less oxyegn and hydrogen. This increased carbon content gives it an increase in caloric value. It is also more dense and less moist. The four major ranks of coal go from anthracite (highest), bituminous, sub-bituminous, to lignite (lowest) Draw a diagram indicating the likely depth of hydrocarbon fuel generation, for biochemical methane, oil, and natural gas. The likely depth for biogenic gas generation is above 1.5km. The likely depth for oil generation is 1.5 to 3.5 km. The likely depth for natural (thermogenic) gas is below 4 km . In a world in which almost all usable energy is derived from combustion of hydrocarbon fuels, what might place a quantitative limit on "technically recoverable resources" of hydrocarbon fuels? The economic accessibility is one limit on the technical recoverability of a fuel. This is driven by things like the physical accessibility of the rservoir, for example there is coal in Alaska but its so isolated that it would be very expensive to get to. This is also true of different forms of fuels, for example som tar sands have an EROI less than zero because of the intenseive process to refine the oil, and in that case it is not economically viable to get the fuel. In chemical terms, what happens during combustion of hydrocarbon fuels? The combustion of hydrocarbon fuels is an oxidation process, in which oxygen is added to the hydrocarbon and this spontaneous reaction produces energy (in the form of heat) aswell as carbon dioxide and water. Write an example chemical reaction for combustion of methane, CH4. CH4 + O2 → CO2 + 2H2O + energy Write an example chemical reaction for combustion of anthracite coal, nearly pure carbon, C. C + O2 → CO2 + H2O + energy In the lifetime of a really good petroleum reservoir, what methods are used to extract and collect oil? Why is Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) used for conventional petroleum reservoirs? What are two methods for EOR from conventional petroleum reservoirs?

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The first method is the primary recovery, in which natural pressures are taken advantage of within the reservoir to push the oil up (if these are extreme a gusher can form). These natural pressures are things like water drive and gas expansion (as there is often natural gas or liquid found above oil). The second method or secondary recovery tecniques are used to increase the oil by using artificial procedures like water, steam, or chemical solutions to flood, displace, or dissolve and mobilize the oil. This water, steam, and chemical flooding allows for more oil to come up. Oftentimes since the petroleium in rock pores doesnt flow easily, these methods enable things like strong acids to dissolve the agents that hold mineral grains together, or water and coarse sand pumped together to create cracks and then hold them open. Is there oil beneath the seafloor in the deep ocean basins far from continents? Why or why not? Oil is typically found in thick, undeformed, shallow water sediments along passive continental margsin and in former shallow ocean basins on land. What are typical depth intervals for thermogenic oil maturation? How does this guide scientists and economists in estimating the total amount of recoverable oil? What constraints can we place on the age of rocks likely to form source rocks for oil and gas? The typical depth for thermogenic oil maturation is 1.5 to 4 km. The rocks likely to form source rocks for oil are typically younger than 400 million years old and are not extensively faulted or deformed. What is a petroleum reservoir rock? What physical characteristics are required to form and preserve a conventional petroleum reservoir? A petroleum reservoir rock is an immature desimentary rock. They are the porous and permeable rocks that peotrleoum migrates to from its source rock. They are usually sandstones or porous limestones. They are necessary because a certain accumulatin of petroleum is needed for economic recovery. The final recquirement for commerical oil accumulations are traps, zones in which the migrating petroleum become confined and prevented from further movement by an impermeable seal or cap. What is a petroleum source rock? They are rocks rich in organic matter in which petroleum was generated in and dispersed in small amounts. Petroleum has to migrate to porous and permeable reservoir rocks to reach levels of economic accumulation. What is the main difference between the organic material that forms coal compared to the organic material that forms oil? Oil is produced from marine organic matter and coal is produced from buried land plant organic matter. Why is it important for there to be very little oxygen present when fossil fuel forms? Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons - compounds made up of carbon and hydrogen. Hydrocarbons spontanously react with oxygen through oxidation and release heat. If there is oxygen present when fossil fuels form this would happen insteanously.

Why is it unlikely - impossible, or almost impossible - to find coal deposits in rocks that are more than 350 million years old? The trees, with the cellulose rich stems and leaves that are found in coals, did not evolve on the contiennts until late in the Devonian period (about 350 million years ago). Hence, before this time there are not any coal beds and so coal deposits date back to this period. About how many coal mining deaths were there per year in China in the 21st century up to 2013 (to the nearest order of magnitude)? There were 3000 to 5000 annual deaths attributed to coal mining in China during this period. Describe the formation process of fossil fuels. Give two examples specifying materials, required conditions, and time scale. What does that imply about fossil fuels usage? Has the proportion of coal to gas to generate electricity in the US increased or decreased in the past 50 years? In the last 50 years the proportion of coal to gas to generate electricity in the US has decreased, as the US slowly starts to produce more natural gas for its electriciy and less coal. In 2005, coal made up 50% of US electricity genertaion but in 2019 only 23%, where during the same time period natural gas for electriciy increased from 19% to 38%. How do thermogenic maturation of oil and natural gas differ? The thermogenic maturation of oil and natural gas have different heating windows. The oil window is from 50 - 170 degrees celcius where the gas window is 150 to 200 degrees celcius. How have the use of coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy sources changed in the US in the last 110 years and why? The three major fossil fuels—petroleum, natural gas, and coal, which together provided 87% of total U.S. primary energy over the past decade—have dominated the U.S. fuel mix for well over 100 years. However there have been shifts between the predominance of one of these over the other. Coal started out and lasted for a while as the most important energy source, but recently started to decrease in use in favor of natyural gas. Oil took the stage around the 1940s and has rapidly increased to be the highest use for energy consumption, much higher than coal and natural gas, but oil has also started to de In a typical oil and gas field, is most of the gas generated deeper than oil, or is the oil generated at greater depth than most of the gas? List the geological features necessary for the existence of conventional oil reservoirs

Name the two countries listed in the textbook with the highest proven oil reserves. How has this changed over the past 20 years? The two countries in the textbook with the highest oil reserves are Saudi Arabia and Canada. What are the advantages of horizontal drilling for oil & gas extraction? Horizontal drilling allows for access to previously inaccesible places such as under lakes. It permits the drilling of several reservoirs from one single drill site and thus has reduced costs and environmental impacts with increased productivity and success of each well. What are the differences between near surface (upper few 100 meters) and deeper formation of natural gas? Near surface formation of natural gas resulrs in biogenic gas, because anaerobic methanogenic bacteria are still very active in this zone. Deeper formation of natural gas results in thermagenic natural gas. What are the limitations to where we might expect to find oil and natural gas? What are two of the main gasses released when fossil fuels are burned? Two of the main gases released when fossil fuels are burned at carbon dioxide CO2 and methane CH4. What distinguishes the buried material that ultimately produces coal from the material that ultimately produces oil? Oil is produced from marine organic matter and coal is produced from buried land plant organic matter. What distinguishes the chemical conditions for formation of geological hydrocarbon resources from those for formation of carbonate deposits such as limestones? What is enhanced oil recovery? Enhanced oil recovery are the tecnquies employed to retreive more oil from a well - primarily water, steam, and chemical flooding. They include such methods as strong acids to dissolve the agents holding minerals together (so the oil can flow) and water and course sand into the well to create cracks in the rocks and hold them open (so the oil can flow). What is OPEC? OPEC is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, composed originally of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia. What is the most abundant compound in natural gas? Methane (CH4) is by far the most abundant compound in natural gas.

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What is thermal maturation of hydrocarbon fuel resources? How does this relate to the depth of burial of hydrocarbons? How does this influence estimates of "total recoverable resources"? What percent of all oil used to date was consumed since Prof. Kelemen was born (1956, 65 years ago)? 95% of all oil used to date was consumed in the last 65 years. If this trend continues, how much more oil will need to be found and consumed over the next 65 years? If this trend continues 20x more oil will have to be found and consumed over the next 65 years. Why did the proportion of total primary energy production from coal decline relative to oil? Why is the proportion of energy production from gas increasing in this century, relative to oil? The proportion of energy production is switching to more natural gas than oil because natural gas has started to have relatively low costs, due to new infrstrcture of pipelines between countries and its higher efficiency when burning (than other fossil fuels). It is also more environmentally friendly as it generates small amounts of greenhouse gases than other fossil fuels and contains fewer pollutants like sulfur. 12. Unconventional Fossil Fuels 14. Tradgedy of the Commons In classical drama, and common usage, a "tragedy" is a situation in which well-meaning and morally responsible actions or individuals are unable to avoid a catastrophe, as in the "Tragedy of the Commons" as outlined by Garrett Hardin. Imagine a pasture that is commonly owned by 10 families, each with one milk cow in the pasture. The pasture can sustainably support 1 to 10 happy milk cows. When an additional cow is added, this reduces the yield of milk by 10% per cow. Quantitatively, what is the effect of 1 family adding 1 milk cow? How much milk do they get, compared to the amount they got with one cow? What is the quantitative effect on the total milk yield from the pasture? What is one more example of resource use that can be understood in terms of the tragedy of the commons, other than human-induced climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions? What are two proposed solutions for managing resource use to avoid the "tragedy of the commons", one associated with "conservative" economists who try to avoid government intervention, and another associated with "liberal" economists who favor government intervention. Can these solutions be applied to human-induced climate change? How? Quantitaively, if the yield was previously 100% of a certain number of milk, when 1 more cow is added there is now 99% the yield if each cow reduces by 10%. This is because the new cow is also giving some milk. In this way you can think that each cow had to stop givving some milk so the new cow could produce some. The family who gave the cow now gets 19.8% of the milk while the other families get only 9%. One more example of resource use that represents

tradgedy of the commons is fishing in our oceans, or this can be reduced to fishing in a certain area. Overfishing causes destruction of the ecosystem and means not enough fish will reproduce for everyone. The conservative solution for managing resources to avoid this issue is privatization, think of dividing up the pasture and letting everyone own their own chunk. The liberal solution is government intervention with rules to help with resource management, like limits or policies for sustainability. Describe Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons”. Give two examples. The tradgedy of the commons dexcribes a shared resource where someone (or everyone) takes advantage of the resource too much and thus an unsustainable thresheold is crossed where the resource cannot be supplied anymore. Two example are cows in a pasture and fish in the ocean. What country is used in the textbook as an example of a population in which people older than 40 are predicted to outnumber younger people by 2025? Japan is the contry in which people older than 40 are preditced to ournumber youngper people by 2025. 15. Renewable Energy Why is there a difference between the installed capacity and energy output when talking about wind and solar energy? There is much more energy output then is currentlybeing taken advanatage of, aka the installed capacity to convert to energy is less than the energy input for solar and wind sources. What are four forms of non-fossil energy production discussed in class? Some forms of non-fossil energy production are wind, solar, hydro-electric, nuclear, and tidal. Which country has the largest hydroelectric energy generation capacity? China has the largest hydroelectric generation capacity. Which generation technology provides more than 90% of renewable energy worldwide? Hydroelectric provides more than 90% of renewable energy worldwide. Name three methods of storing electrical energy that can be used to help with intermittency of wind and solar electricity generation Methods of storing electrical energy from wind and solar generatrion include batteries (lithium ion), molten salt, pumped hydro, gigantic fly wheels, and pressurized gas. What are the annual growth rates for installed wind and solar electrical generation capacity? The annual growth rate is 22% per year for wind and 29% for solar electrical generation capcaity.