1. Human Impact on the Lithosphere

2. Urbanization
Destroying natural areas can reduce the beauty of an area and have a potential economic impact.
Rapid development can result in very high levels of erosion and sedimentation in river channels.
Pollution of soils is possible by leaking gas tanks and other chemicals.

3. Deforestation
Cutting down all the trees in an area loosens the soil and makes it very easy for extreme erosion to occur.
One solution is replanting and a system of harvesting that thins out the area.

4. Agriculture Agriculture takes space.
Use of chemical pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers can contaminate soil and affect soil fertility.
Organic fertilizers are better.
Planting the same crop over and over can strip vital minerals out of the soil.
Crop rotation can help.

5. Overgrazing
Overgrazing is the removal of excessive amounts of plant growth by animals in one area. This accelerates erosion and strips away topsoil, resulting in no plants able to grow.
It is best to rotate animals among pastures.

6. Harvesting Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation. Eventually, peat can turn into coal and be burned for fuel.
Advantages
low sulphur content
minimal mercury content
low ash content energy
values equivalent to coal, less expensive than oil and natural gas and competitive with other biofuels
minor engineering retrofit needed when substituted for, or blended with, coal
Since peat forms nearer to the surface, it requires less digging.

7. Mining
Mountaintop Removal: entire mountaintops are blasted off in the Appalachian Mountains
Causes deforestation and mudslides
Pollutes the waterways *

8. Mining
Underground mining requires digging out large areas, increasing the risk for sinkholes and cave ins.
Strip mining destroys the environment.
Mine operators must reclaim the land after mining is finished.
Strip Mining

9. Open pit mining is used where deposits are close to the surface and underground mining is used for deep deposits, typically greater than 120m deep.
Nuclear reactors use mined Uranium to convert to Plutonium through fission (splitting of atoms).
Uranium and Plutonium

10. Drilling for Oil and Natural Gas
Oil and Natural Gas are nonrenewable resources.
Drilling can cause the lithosphere to be disturbed and can cause earthquakes.
Soil and groundwater can also be contaminated.
Fracking is a hot political topic.

11. Human Activity and the Coast
As more and more people retire, there is more development on our coast.
Removal of vegetation at the coast can cause serious erosion.
Man made erosion control, like sandbags, can make erosion worse downshore.
Erosion causes houses to be condemned and potentially fall into the ocean.

12. Human Activities and Mountainsides
Blasting away rock to build roads
Erosion by building houses and other buildings
Remove tops of mountains for mining
Logging forests