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mechanical weathering the physical break-up of rocks into smaller pieces without a change in chemical composition sedimentation - the deposition of loosed geological material sedimentation the deposition of loosened geological material chemical weathering the selective removal or alteration of specific components that leads to the weakening and disintegration of rock oxidation the combination with oxygen or removal of electrons from atoms, ions, or molecules hydrolysis the splitting of water economic mineralogy the study of minerals that are valuable for manufacturing and for trade metals elements that easily give up an electron and have a possible charge strategic metals and minerals materials that a country uses but cannot produce itself ore a type of rock in which a valuable or useful metal occurs within it at a concentration high enough to make mining it economically attractive placer mining the mining of alluvial deposits for minerals by washing out metals deposited in streambed gravel strip-mining (open-pit mining) extracting shallow mineral deposits by scraping off surface layers with giant earth-moving equipment and is an alternative to underground extraction tailings rocks that had previously been covered up and not exposed to oxygen but that can cause surface waste deposits and acid deposition when exposed to oxygen heap-leach extraction a technique for separating ore from extremely low-grade ores in which crushed ore is piled into huge heaps and sprayed with a dilute alkaline-cyanide solution, which percolates through the pile to extract the ore pregnant effluent a solution that is rich in ore that has been extracted using heap-leach extraction creep the gradual movement of the earth that can cause earthquakes if prevented by friction earthquake the sudden, violent movement of the earth's crust that occur along faults where one rock mass slides past another soil liquefaction shaking that causes soil to lose structure than can lead to uneven settling of rock and soil and ergo building collapse tsunamis far-reaching waves or seismic sea swells caused by earthquakes or undersea landslides volcanoes vents in the earth's surface along which molten lava (magma), gases, and ash escape the create mountains nuees ardentes literally "glowing clouds;" the most dangerous environmental component of a volcano in which toxic clouds move down a mountain much faster than the lava does flood an overflow of water onto land that normally is dry floodplains low-lying lands along riverbanks, lakes, and coastlines that are subjection to periodic inundation and mitigate flooding erosion the wearing away of land surfaces by water, wind, ice, gravitational creep, or other geological agents landslide mass wasting or mass movement of rock or soil downhill that is triggered by seismic events or heavy rainfall work the application of a force through a distance energy the capacity to do work power the rate of flow of energy, or the rate at which work is done fossil fuels organic chemicals created by living organisms that were buried in sediments millions of years ago and transformed to energy-rich compounds nucelar fission the radioactive decay process in which isotopes split apart to create two smaller atoms energy efficiency the measure of the amount of energy produced compared to the amount of energy consumed parabolic mirrors curved reflective surfaces that collect light and focus it onto a concentrated point (there are two types) photovoltaic cell energy conversion device that captures solar energy and directly converts it to electrical current by separating electrons from parents atoms and accelerating them across a one-way electrostatic barrier pumped hydrostorage an energy generation mechanism that pumps water up a dam so that it can flow back down at night and spin turbines when the sun is not out flywheels an energy generation mechanism that spins while the sun comes up in order to build up enough energy to continue spinning once the sun goes down in order to supply energy throughout the day biomass the accumulated biological material produced by living organisms gasohol a mixture of gasoline and ethanol that reduces CO emissions when burned for fuel transfer station a site in which solid waste is concentrated before being taken to a processing facility or a sanitary landfill and most often involves compaction leachate collection pipes tubes placed under landfills that prevent pollutants from reaching groundwater by pumping waste into a collection pond recycling (resource recovery) the act of removing materials from municipal solid waste for a productive use that is perceived by the public as positive to the environment cullet smooth glass pellets generated during the recycling process composting the controlled process of degrading organic matter by microorganisms into a humus-like material waste-to-energy (WTE) combustion of MSW with the production of energy incineration combustion of MSW without energy recovery deep-well injection waste is injected into wells without first treating it if an operator can prove that the waste will not migrate from the injection zone