EARTH SCIENCE QUARTER SUMMARY

EARTH’S RESOURCES – For subsystems, types of rocks, and important minerals please refer to
your first reviewer.

Minerals are naturally occurring substances that are harnessed and used by humans in
everyday life. Minerals are the building blocks of rocks.

Common elements found in the Earth's rocks

Minerals are present everywhere and some examples can be found at home.
Example of these are:

• Hematite (hinges, handles, make-up color)

• Chromite (chrome plating, dyes)
• Copper (electric wiring)
• Quartz (clocks, mirrors)
• Gold (jewelries),
• Feldspar (porcelain, ceramics)
• Fluoride (toothpaste

PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF MINERALS

Physical properties include habit, luster, cleavage and fracture, hardness,
color, and streak.

1. Crystal Habit – refers to the overall shape or growth pattern of the mineral. opaque
2. Luster - describes the appearance of a mineral when light is reflected from its
surface.
3. Cleavage and Fracture – Cleavage refers to the tendency of minerals to break
along very smooth, flat and shiny surfaces. It can be described as one, two, three,
four or all direction.
4. Hardness – is a measure of the mineral’s resistance to scratching. Harder
minerals will scratch softer minerals.
5. Color - is one of the most obvious properties of a mineral but not reliable alone.
Some minerals come in just one color, while others come in many colors and
varieties. Quartz varies widely in color, due to minor (parts per billion) impurities
and even defects in its crystalline structure.
6. Streak - refers to the color of the mineral in its powdered form, which may or may
not be the same color as the mineral. According to Bayo-ang (2016) streak is obtained
by scratching the mineral on an unpolished piece of white porcelain called a streak
plate. When the excess powder is blown away, what remains is the color of the streak.
Streak is a more reliable property than color as streak shows the true color of
minerals. It does not vary even if color does.
ORE MINERALS: HOW THEY ARE FOUND, MINED, AND PROCESSED FOR HUMAN USE

Minerals have been extracted from the earth since prehistoric times and the history of
civilization and industrial advancement has been linked with man’s ability to harness and use
the minerals available. Once a mineral deposit has been found, it must be extracted from the
ground to access the valuable minerals it contains.

Origin of Mineral Resources

Mineral deposits can be classified based on the mechanism responsible for concentrating the
valuable substance.

Magmatic Ore Deposits - substances are concentrated within a body of igneous rock by
magmatic processes like crystal fractionation and crystal settling.

Examples:
Pegmatites - During fractional crystallization water and elements that do not enter the minerals
separated from the magma by crystallization will end up as the last residue of the original
magma.
Crystal Settling. As minerals crystallize from a magma body, heavy minerals may sink to the
bottom of the magma chamber. Such heavy minerals as chromite, olivine, and ilmenite contain
high concentrations of Chromium, Titanium, Platinum, Nickel, and Iron. These elements thus
attain higher concentrations in the layers that form on the bottom of the magma chamber.
FOSSIL FUELS IN THE PHILIPPINES

1. Petroleum and other liquids: According to the Oil & Gas Journal, the Philippines had
139 million barrels of proved crude oil, including lease condensate, reserves in 2019.

The Philippines has only two active petroleum fields: Galoc, an offshore field in the
Northwest Palawan Basin, and Alegria, an onshore field in the Province of Cebu.
However, the Philippines Department of Energy (DOE), working with Searcher Seismic, is
assessing more than 5,000 miles of the East Palawan Basin for fresh hydrocarbon
exploration potential.

Reed Bank, located near the Spratly Islands (a portion of which are claimed by the
Philippines) in the South China Sea, holds unexplored hydrocarbon stores and is claimed
by China and the Philippines.

2. Natural Gas: According to the Oil & Gas Journal, the Philippines holds 3.5 trillion cubic
feet (Tcf) of proved natural gas reserves. The Philippines consumes all of the natural gas
produced domestically. The country produced 124 billion cubic feet (Bcf) and consumed
127 Bcf of natural gas in 2018.
 Malampaya, the deep-water gas-to-power project located in the West Philippine Sea
near the Province of Palawan, was launched in 2001 with a single offshore platform. An
additional platform began operating in 2015. The project in the Malampaya-Camago
natural gas reservoir is operated by Shell and is a joint venture between Shell Philippines
Exploration B.V. (45%), Chevron (45%), and state-owned Philippine National Oil
Corporation-Exploration Corporation (10%). Malampaya is critical to the country’s
energy needs and provides up to 20% of the country’s power.

3. Coal: Coal production in the Philippines increased for the fourth consecutive year.
Production grew by 14% to 16,832 million short tons (MMst) in 2019.

Philippines-listed Semirara Mining and Power Corporation (SMPC) is the primary coal
producer in the Philippines and contributes to about 98% of total coal production
annually.
OTHER ENERGY RESOURCES:

1. Geothermal energy is heat that is generated within the Earth. (Geo means “earth,” and
thermal means “heat” in Greek.) It is a renewable resource that can be harvested for
human use. About 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) below the Earth's crust, or surface, is
the hottest part of our planet: the core.

2. Hydroelectric energy is a form of renewable energy that uses the power of moving
water to generate electricity.
PROS & CONS: Hydropower is fueled by water and driven by the sun, therefore; it is a
sustainable fuel source. Other benefits formed from hydropower efforts is flood control,
irrigation, and water supply. Geothermal energy is limited to suitable locations and cannot be
found everywhere.

Water Resources

Nearly three-fourths of the earth's surface is covered with water. Most of which is found in the
ocean. Great amount of the freshwater is found below the earth's surface called ground water
and the rest of the freshwater is found in lakes, rivers, streams. Water is also present in air in the
form of water vapor.

Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful. Uses of water include
agricultural, households, recreational and environmental activities. Moreover, about 70 percent
of the human body is water and bodies of all plants and animals also contain water. All living
things require water to grow and reproduce. A whopping 70% of all freshwater supply globally is
used for agriculture.

Sources of Water: Rainwater, oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, ponds and springs are natural
sources of water. Dams, wells, tube wells, hand-pumps, canals, etc, are man- made sources of
water.

Rain Water: Rain water is collected on Earth in the form of surface water and underground water.

Two Main Sources of Water

1. Surface Water: Water present on the surface of the earth in the form of oceans, rivers, lakes,
reservoir, ponds and streams is called surface water. The water in rivers and lakes comes from
rain and melting of snow on mountains. Rivers flow into the sea.

2. Underground Water: Some of the rainwater seeps through the soil on to the non-porous rocks
below. This is underground water. Sometimes due to high pressure, this water sprouts out in the
form of springs. It can be obtained by digging wells or sinking tube wells, etc. Groundwater lies
under the surface of the land, where it travels through and fills openings in the rocks. The rocks
that store and transmit groundwater are called aquifers.

Human Activities that Affect the Quality and Quantity of Soil

Philippines is an agricultural country with a land area of 30 million hectares, 47% of which is
agricultural land (https://pinas.dlsu.edu.ph/2020).
Soil can be defined as the organic and inorganic materials on the surface of the earth that provide
the medium for plant growth. Soil develops slowly over time and is composed of many different
materials through the process of weathering. Soil is a necessary resource because it helps sustain
life on Earth including humans, animals and plants. Aside from life sustaining roles, soil helps
purify, or clean, water as it drains through the ground and into rivers, lakes, and oceans. In
addition, decomposers in soil also help recycle nutrients by breaking down the remains of plants
and animals, releasing nutrients that living plants use to grow. Soil also provides a home for a
variety of living things, from tiny one-celled organisms to small mammals.

Salinity is one of the most brutal environmental factors limiting the productivity of crop plants
because most of the crop plants are sensitive to salinity caused by high concentrations of salts in
the soil, and the area of land affected by it is increasing day by day. For all important crops,
average yields are only a fraction – somewhere between 20% and 50% of record yields; these
losses are mostly due to drought and high soil salinity, environmental conditions which will
worsen in many regions because of global climate change.
WAYS TO CONSERVE SOIL RESOURCES
WASTE MANAGEMENT: The United Nations Environment described wastes as unwanted or
unusable materials which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or are required to
be disposed of by the provisions of national law.

Kinds of Waste
There are different kinds of wastes generated by the people around the world.

A. Solid Waste. This type of wastes is in solid form like domestic, commercial and industrial
wastes such as plastics, styrofoam, papers, scrap iron, andsludge from a wastewater treatment
plant or air control facility.

B. Liquid Waste. This type of wastes is in liquid form such as chemicals, oils, and waste water
from ponds and manufacturing industries. It includes sewage as well as wastewater from
industrial processes and agricultural processing.

C. Gaseous Waste. This type of waste is in gaseous form which usually originates from chopping
and dissolution operations. As an example, volatile radionuclides are discharged to the stack after
scrubbing with sodium hydroxide and filtration through charcoal filter devices. Electrostatic
precipitation, wet scrubbers and gaseous waste treatment are some ways of minimizing gaseous
waste.

Wastes According to Generation (Origin)

Municipal Solid Wastes: Solid wastes that include household garbage, rubbish, construction and
demolition debris, sanitation residues, packaging materials, trade refuges, and others managed
by any municipality. The use of plastics is one of the rising problems in municipal waste. It takes
approximately 450 years for a plastic to decompose in a landfill.

Industrial Wastes: Liquid and solid wastes that are generated by manufacturing and processing
units of various industries like chemical, petroleum, coal, metal, gas, sanitary, and papers.
Agricultural Wastes: Wastes generated from farming activities. These substances are
mostlybiodegradable.

Fishery Wastes: Waste generated due to fishery activities like fish viscera, fish bones, and scales.
These are extensively found in coastal and estuarine areas.

Radioactive Wastes: Wastes containing radioactive materials. These are commonly by-products
of nuclear processes. Sometimes industries that are not directly involved in nuclear activities may
also produce some radioactive waste such as radio-isotopes and chemical sludge.

E – Wastes: Electronic wastes generated from any modern establishments. They may be
described as discarded electrical or electronic devices. Some electronic scrap components such
as CRTs may contain contaminants such as lead, cadmium, and beryllium or brominated flame
retardants.
Biomedical Wastes: Solid or liquid wastes including containers, intermediate or end products
generated during diagnosis, treatment, and research activities of medical sciences.