GEO 106: Environmental Geology Brian McAninch

Topics to be covered: Basic building blocks of geology & the environment –Minerals and their chemistry –Rocks and the rock cycle How the Earth works –Plate tectonics –The scientific method Hazards of the environment –Earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding, landslides, and hurricanes Our impact on the environment –On soil, water resources, and climate

Mineral Resources What is the most valuable material that we mine on Earth?

Mining for energy resources How do we mine For coal? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Hazardous minerals What is this magnified mineral?

Earthquake damage in California

Landers (1992) Earthquake in SoCal (southern California)

Volcanic eruptions

Mount St. Helens

Flooding on the Mississippi What’s the feature cutting across the bottom half of the picture?

Confluence of the Mississippi, Illinois and Missouri rivers

Same confluence at the height of the 1993 flooding of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers

Coastal erosion

Los Angeles Orange County San Andreas Fault Combinations of natural and man-made disasters

Our impact on the environment: Soil Erosion

Water Resources: water supply water pollution

The famous ‘hockey stick’ graph Temperature ( o Celsius) Global Warming

What can we do about these hazards and impacts on the environment by humans? Plan ahead. EQ Hazard map for Portland Oregon

Flood hazard Planning Map

Now for some examples Cycles and systems –What is a system? –What are open & closed systems? –What are some examples? –What is environmental unity? Population growth –What is linear & exponential growth? –What does sustainable mean? –Carrying capacity? Human population growth –How many humans will there be in 40 years?

Earth systems

Exponential versus Linear Growth

Is the growing human population resulting in more disasters? What is causing this increase in the cost of natural disasters? In the U.S.

Is this due to an increase in the number of disasters? No.

So how many people will there be in the future? Is this the major environmental concern for Earth?

Current estimate (2007) is for the peak to be approximately 9.2 billion in 2050, with the other estimates at 12, 10.8, and 7.9 billion. UN estimates for human population growth

And UN estimates for human population growth into the future

So why does the exponential growth of human slow and then peak?

Example of how short-term famine/death do not result in significant decrease in population China From: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

Population projections from BBC News website (2005)

Rural versus Urban Population Current data from U.N. Dept of Economic & Social Affairs, Population Division (2007)

Projected Chinese population (in grey) and birthrates (in red). Note the substantial decline in birthrates (starting ~1970) resulting in the projected decline in population beginning around From: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

Projected population curves for China and India These are somewhat Inaccurate as are from 1996 India China From: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis