Friedman, Jason

APES, per 5
4/4/13
Ch. 14 Minerals and Soil Resources
Earths Structure
The earths core is surrounded by a thick solid zone called the mantle
Plastic region of the mantle is called the asthenosphere
Outermost and thinnest zone of the earth is crust
Lithosphere: rigid, outermost region of mantle
Plates are composed of lithosphere and float slowly on asthenosphere
Plate Tectonics and Faults
Continental drift: continents split and join as plates move
Divergent plate boundary: plates move apart
Convergent plate boundary: plates pushed together, oceanic lithosphere carried
down under continentsubduction zone
Transform fault: plates move in opposite but parallel directions
Mineral Resources
Mineral resources: naturally occuring solid, liquid, or gas in crust that can be
affordably extracted and processed
Ore: metal-yiedling material, extractable
Identified resources: known location and quality
Undiscovered resources: supplies assumed to exist
Reserves: indentified resources that can be profitably extracted with current
technology
Depletion Time
Time that it takes to use up a certain proportion (~80%) of the reserves of a mineral
at a given rate of use
Mining and Mineral Extraction
Deep deposits removed by subsurface mining
Shallow deposits removed by surface mining
Surface mining: equipment strips away overburden and discards it as spoil
Open-pit mining: digs holes and remove ores like iron and copper
Dredging: draglines scrape up underwater mineral
Strip mining: bull dozers remove overburden in strips, used for extracting coal
Mining (Continued)
Subsurface mining is used to extract coal and ores too deep to be removed by
surface mining
Less disruptive to environment but also less efficient than surface mining
More dangerous and more expensive
Room-and-pillar method leaves half of the ores behind as pillars to support the
mining tunnels
Soil Erosion
Movement of soil components, especially surface litter and topsoil
Main agents: wind and water, but agriculture and logging leave soil vulnerable to
erosion
Losing topsoil makes soil less fertile and pollutes water
Desertification
Process by which productive potential of arid or semi-arid land fall by 10% of more

Causes: overgrazing, deforestation, surface mining, irrigation, salt buildup, human

activity
Consequences: drought, famine, env. refugees
Prevention: engage in sustainable farming and mining practices
Plant trees to hold soil and water in place
Desertification and Poverty
Desertification is seen in at least 90% drylands in developing nations, where they
also suffer from poor economic and social conditions.
A downward spiral is created in many underdeveloped countries by overgrazing and
land exhaustion
Desertification often causes rural lands to become unable to support the same sized
populations that previously lived there, mass migrations out of rural areas and into
urban areas, particularly in Africa. Leads to unemployment in cities and
development of slums
Salinization and Waterlogging
Irrigation water not absorbed into soil evaporates, leaving behind salts in topsoil,
this salinization stunts plant growth and lowers crop yields
Irrigation also causes waterlogging: farmers apply large amounts of water to leach
out salts but this raises the water table and saline water envelops the roots of
plants and decreases productivity
Sustainable Agriculture
Terracing: reduces soil erosion on steep slopes by retaining water at each level
Contour farming: reduces soil erosion on gentle slopes by planting across slope
Strip cropping: alternating crops with plant that covers soil (i.e. grass) and those
traps and retains eroded soil
Agroforestry: intercropping with trees to provide shade and prevent water
evaporation
Bibliography
"Desertification." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 04 Apr. 2013. Web. 04
Apr. 2013.

Cash Crops Under Glass and Up on

the Roof

Guy Calaf for The New York Times

BrightFarms Systems, which was founded to advise rooftop growers, built a greenhouse atop a school on West 93rd Street in Manhattan.

By GLENN RIFKIN
Published: May 18, 2011

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When Lufa Farms began selling produce to customers in Montreal in late April, it signaled what could be the
beginning of a tantalizing new era in the gastronomic fortunes of that Canadian metropolis.
Related
Small Business Adviser: Sustainability
Enlarge This Image

Guy Calaf for The New York Times

A BrightFarms worker picked herbs at a greenhouse atop a school on West 93rd Street in Manhattan.

In all but the short summer season, the availability of fresh, locally grown fruit and vegetables has been little more
than a pipe dream for Montreal residents.
But Lufa Farms, founded by Mohamed Hage and Kurt Lynn, turned an unassuming office rooftop into a 31,000square-foot greenhouse that grows tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other produce year-round and is a working
example of a developing trend known as urban rooftop farming.
It has taken a timely convergence of technologies and consumer attitudes to bring rooftop farming to the fore. The
advance of hydroponic growing techniques and innovative, cost-effective greenhouse systems, together with
increasing consumer desire for organic produce, has redefined the term locally grown and spurred entrepreneurs to
create a variety of greenhouse technologies and business models.
The Lufa Farms model is to sell directly to consumers through a co-op. Other urban farmsare forming partnerships
with supermarket chains by building large greenhouses on supermarket roofs and selling their produce to the store
below.
A third concept, called vertical farming, involves growing food in skyscrapers or even warehouses using artificial light
and organic growing materials. In theory, a 30-story, one-square block farm could yield as much food as 2,400
outdoor acres, and with less spoilage because it would travel less distance, according to Dickson D. Despommier, a
Columbia University emeritus professor of public health and microbiology and a leading proponent of vertical
farming.

TerraSphere, a unit of Converted Organics with offices in Surrey, British Columbia, and Boston, designs and builds
vertical farm systems and sells its lettuce and spinach through Choices Markets, an organic grocery chain in western
Canada.
As the technologies have been conquered and viability studies have evolved into real enterprises, a crucial question
remains: Can rooftop farmers make a profit?
After four years of developing the business, building the greenhouse and refining growing techniques, Lufa Farms has
started delivering baskets of produce to local subscribers: $22 for a six-pound basket and $30 for a basket weighing
about nine pounds.
With more than 400 customers signed up and more joining daily, Mr. Lynn, a 60-year-old technology entrepreneur
who founded, ListenUP! Canada, a hearing aid chain, says Lufa Farms can enroll a thousand customers, break even
this year and reap a 15 percent profit in the future.
Unlike a lot of start-ups, were not trying to find a market, Mr. Lynn said. We know there is a demand for this.
Montreal, like other cold-climate cities, has its share of small organic farms. But a land-based farmer is restricted to a
24- to 28-week growing season while a rooftop greenhouse can produce year-round.
The capital costs to get started are higher for rooftop farms from $1.2 million to $2 million to find a building and
set up a greenhouse but the operating costs are much lower. That is because rooftop farms require less labor, land,
water, fertilizer and heavy equipment and because they all but eliminate shipping costs by selling to the local market.
The result, proponents say, is a fresher, tastier, longer-lasting, more nutritious product.
Most rooftop gardens use hydroponic cultivation, a water-based growing system in which no soil is required,
nutrients are carefully controlled and natural pest control using insects is favored over pesticides. These greenhouses
extend the already popular green-roof concept, using recycled water and lowering energy consumption in the
buildings upon which they sit. Lufa Farms says it has saved its host building 25 percent in heating costs since it
completed its greenhouse.
Rooftop farms can command a similar or slightly higher price for their produce, but the biggest advantage for Lufa is
that its urban location means it can attract more customers and deliver more than a thousand baskets of produce a
week, compared with 200 to 300 for a typical land-based co-op. The companys business plan calls for rapid
expansion to more rooftops in Montreal and other cities with similar climates.

California State Agency Backs BHUSD

Experts: No Faults Under Beverly Hills High
Westside Subway Extension

By Matt Lopez
The California Geological Survey, the ultimate
authority of the state of California responsible for
evaluating geological information in the state, last
Friday in a letter to the Beverly Hills Unified School
District, affirmed that there are no active earthquake
faults at or adjacent to Beverly Hills High School.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority hit Beverly
Hills Unified School District below the belt when it
alleged that earthquake faults ran underneath Beverly
Hills High School. If that was true, existing buildings
could be declared seismically unsafe and new construction blocked.
In response, the board decided
to challenge the alleged
scientific evidence with evidence
of its own. District experts,
led by noted engineer
Tim Buresh, considered Metros
data faulty and its research superficial
at best. The only way
to get a definitive answer was
to dig trenches very expensive
but the gold standard in
geologic investigations of this
kind. Buresh was chief engineer
for the multi-billion dollar
Alameda Corridor Transportation
Project, was an engineer
on the Metro Red Line and former
chief operating officer of
the Los Angeles Unified School
District.
We had no choice, board
member Lisa Korbatov told The
Courier at the time. We could
not send kids to school unless
we knew the campus was safe.
There was no other choice.
Metro told us there were faults
under the high school. We had
to find out.
The Board of Education
then hired Leighton Consulting,
Inc., to trench, core and evaluate.
The trenching and coring
showed no active faults underneath
the Beverly High campus.

Armed with this information,

Beverly Hills Unified,
joined by the City of Beverly
Hills, asked Metro to delay a final
decision so that it could
consider the new data.
Metro refused. The alleged
existence of these faults the
West Beverly Hills Lineament
and the Santa Monica Fault
formed the sole scientific basis
for Metros rejection of a Santa
Monica Boulevard station and
its selection of the corner of
Constellation and Avenue of
the Stars. This location requires
tunneling underneath Beverly
High for the Westside Subway
Extension.
In response, the Board of
Education asked the CGS to review
the trenching, coring,
sampling and analysis. Now,
the state of California confirms
Beverly Hills Unifieds position
of no faults:
The consultants [hired by
the Beverly Hills Board of Education]
performed a thorough
fault investigation program at
the subject site and it appears
evidence of active faulting related
to the west Beverly Hills
Lineament or the Santa Monica
Fault Zone was not encountered
within the limits of this
investigation . . . CGS has reviewed
the interpretations and
much of the original data provided
by the consultants and
finds that their conclusions are
consistent with the available
data.
CGS professionals visited
BHHS and observed Leightons
work. CGS also observed
trenching north of the campus
on the 10000 S. Santa Monica
Blvd. property.
CGS confirmed fractures
and other features identified by
Metro are not related to active
faulting. CGS reported,
[Leighton Consulting] conclude
there are no active faults

along [the campus]. This interpretation

appears reasonable
based on the data and explanations
provided in the referenced
reports and no additional
information is requested.
Metro has used the alleged
existence of these non-existent
faults not only to justify the
routing of the tunnels underneath
the high school, but also
to assert in its budgets that
Metro would owe Beverly Hills
Unified nearly nothing for taking
the land underneath the
high school for its campus.
This confirms our districts
belief that our campus is safe to
build out and the MTA was
patently wrong in their science
and approach, Board President
Jake Manaster told The
Courier. I think any responsible
governing body would have
to pause and take this information
into account.
Having attended a lot of
MTA meetings, there was a lot
of discussion about letting the
science prevail, Manaster
added. Its pretty clear that the
option of Santa Monica that
was summarily passed over...
needs to be revisited.
Boardmember Brian Goldberg
told The Courier he hopes
with this finally put to rest,
and with new MTA leadership
and a soon-to-be-elected new
Mayor, we can get past personal
attacks and misinformation
and focus on the science.

CGS