"The Negative Effects of Strip Mining on the Cumberland Plateau Region of Kentucky"
"Decades of strip mining have devastated the Cumberland Plateau's environment, economy, and social structure."
Description of the strip-mining process Strip mining is the removal of soil and rock from above a layer of material mined, followed by the material.
Types of strip mining
There are three generally practiced types of strip mining:
Auger mining
Auger mining is a strip mining technique used to recover additional material from a seam located behind a high wall produced by strip mining.
Contour mining
A method in which bulldozers or machinery is used to remove large chunks of earth in terraced strips to extract coal.
Open-pit mining
A surface mining technique that removes material from an open pit or borrow.
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It encompasses much of eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, northern Alabama, and northwest Georgia.
Geological formation of the region The plateau that is comprised of sedimentary rocks of materials is washed westward from the old Appalachian Mountains. Some rock layers( the bituminous coal seams), were laid in swampy environments.
Natural Resources of the region Natural resources of the region include minerals such as coal, timber, parkland( the Cumberland Plateau contains some of the largest stretches of contiguous forest in the eastern US) and wildlife( the plateau's rivers sustain a great variety of fish and mollusk species).
Environmental effect of strip mining Strip mining( the cheapest method of mining) is one of the most controversial because it jeopardizes the environment that causes the strip-mined land to either be very expensive or impossible to reclaim.
Increased erosion
Removing vegetation removes the root systems, which help hold soil in place. Running water can now more easily wash soil and rock away, increasing erosion.
Permanent land
The Northeast region is the best region because it has a lot of very important, historical landmarks. Also it has amazing products & natural resources that you might love. Best of all we got the most beautiful climates that I personally love and I think you should too.
The Bullfrog Valley gang was a notorious counterfeiting ring that operated in the wilderness of Pope County during the depression of the 1890’s.The gang’s origin and and methods were mysterious, but the New York Times reported ist demise on June 28, 1897.The remote valley, which follows Big Piney Creek from Long Pool to Booger Hollow, was named for Chief Bullfrog, a Cherokee Who, according to legend, settled there after his tribe’s forced removal from Georgia (the Trail of Tears by the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Bullfrog Valley, an unincorporated community not typically recognized on current Arkansas state maps, is located along the Big Piney Creek near the community of Silex. According to Dumas, historically the
...ified rocks are usually inclined due to the structure folding and faulting because of the Paleozoic rock. (Adams, Butts, 23). Charles Butts states, “In its general relations the Paleozoic area of Alabama falls into the large geographic division of the eastern United States known as the Appalachian Highlands which extends from the Coastal Plain on the east to the Interior Lowlands of the Mississippi Valley region on the west.” (Adams, Butts, 43)
Before we ponder in the exquisite Appalachian cultural practices and beliefs, let us know more about its geographic region. “Appalachia is a 205,000-square-mile region that follows the spine of the Appalachian Mountains from southern New York to northern Mississippi. It includes all of West Virginia and parts of 12 other states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia” (The Appalachian Region paragraph 1) . Appalachia is the name of a Spanish empire that was drilling for gold and plunders (Williams 19). It is considered the second largest mountains of North America (Brescia 40). The Appalachian towns that include the mines have its own fascinating history. Appalachia is a place that you can visit in all seasons and each season has its unique spirit and mood. So, if you are seeking spring break, it would be a brilliant idea to visit the holy Appalachian Mountains to enjoy some refreshing outdoor entertainment and relaxation activities such as, fishing or eve...
The Appalachian population extends across thirteen states in the United States including: Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania. These regions are divided into categories of Northern Appalachia, Central Appalachia and Southern Appalachia. West Virginia is the only state that is entirely within Appalachia.1 The environment these individuals encounter is within the mountains, valley and rivers with varying degrees. There are few cities within this culture and many still live in small communities.
Valley Region of the Appalachian Mountains and Subsequent Karst Regions in the State of Virginia
In order to define the music of Appalachia, one must first define the area in which the Appalachians encompass. This mountainous area extends 1500 miles and covers an area that extends from Maine to Georgia. There are eighteen states which make up the Appalachians. According to most Europeans, they consider the Appalachians to be only the southeastern region of the United Stated. However, the Appalachians are actually a combined combination of states that include all eighteen states. During the 1920’s these areas were considered 1“Back Country” areas.
All of Maine was once covered by glaciers, the last of which receded about 10,000 years ago. Because of the glaciers, much of Maine is covered with stones, boulders, and clays. Many of the hills and mountains have been rounded, lakes have been formed, and river courses have been changed. Although glaciers covered all of Maine, there are nevertheless substantial physiographic differences in the regions of the state. Maine can be divided into three major natural regions: the White Mountain section, the New England Upland, and the Seaboard Lowland. These three regions are part of the New England province, which in turn forms part of the Appalachian Region.
For example, Hydrofracking; What is hydrofracking? Gas industries use hydrofracking to extract natural gases from shale ground in order to power Americans homes. When gas industries hydrofrack, they dig ten-thousand feet into the mantle of the earth and turn perpendicular to the t into shale layers with cement and steel casing to prevent leaks. Then rupture the layer of sediment with high pressures of water, sand and a plethora of chemicals. Once the chemicals are saturated in the crevices of the drill site, they extract the excess fluid and then ship them to market.
How coal is formed is quite an interesting topic. It started over millions of years ago in ancient swamps when vegetation and trees died and formed peat (it is where vegetation builds up and turns into a super messy pile of stuff). This peat was eventually covered with either dirt or sand. As the peat is covered and pressure the gas that the peat gives off starts to get trapped in the new forming coal. Several years the peat now turns to rock known as coal. As the planetary plates shift the coal moves and forms pockets and runs in the earth. Then people came along and found out how to harness is power. People had to get the coal out of the earth. One way they found out how to get it out was to dig it out of the underground tunnels to find where the coal runs. Another way to get the coal is to strip mine the coal this is where the miners remove huge amounts of dirt to get to the coal. Both of these mining techniques are extremely dangers.
Coal has a very negative impact on the environment, one of the main impacts on the environment is the actual process of extracting the coal from the ground. The two ways that coal is mined, underground and surface, both have different effects on the environment. The first way that coal is mined is by digging tunnels and creating mineshafts underground and then removing the coal from th...
...eral development and deposits in ways that is not high in environmental impact or harm.
Mining is the process or industry of obtaining minerals from the earth. Topics in this paper I’ll be specifically discussing are pros and cons of mining, structures of a mine, mining in general, California gold rush, diamonds in Africa, and comparison of diamond and gold mines.
Left behind are tailings, which are large piles of crushed rock left over when minerals have been extracted from rocks that once contained them. These tailings are then left prone to wind dispersion and water erosion. This wind dispersion occurs since the sand-like tailings are easily swept up by the atmosphere by wind and spread throughout the environment as dust particles. Figure 1 shows the wind erosion of a mine tailings pile being blow up into the air, creating dust. These tailings contain metal contaminants like arsenic, lead, and cadmium, which creates a problem for the environment and they can persist for decades due to the low pH levels and can cause problems in soil stabilization (arizona.edu, 2008).
Mountain top removal mining has been in practice since the 1960’s. In order to reach the coal around 400 to 500 feet of the mountain top is blasted off to expose the seam. All the excess material from blasting and bulldozing is piled up in the surrounding valleys and streams. The landscape is a pitiful sight resembling a moonscape. There are no trees, no wildlife, just rocks, dirt and mud. However, in 1983 the Federal Government took notice of environmentalist’s actions aga...