G352U Lectures (Audio Only)

I discuss coal, it's energy content, how it's mined, where it's mined, and some impacts on the environment and society.

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I talk a lot about diamonds, both as placer and in kimberlites, but also touch on a couple other gemstones.

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We follow up on our discussion of Gold to talk about Mercury, which is used to isolate gold ore, among other things.

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I talk about Gold, a very interesting precious metal, its geologic occurrence, how it's processed, and some economic considerations.

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Here, I build off our discussion of sand to discuss some applications of "aggregate", why it's mined in and near urban centers, and its broad use in drilling wells.

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Here, I talk about porosity and permeability as applied to groundwater and introduce some of the contentious issues around water resources, particularly in water-stressed (arid) environments.

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I describe the industrial and geologic benefits of clays, and talk a bit about where and how they're mined.

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Here, I talk about the structure of the Earth, where this data comes from, and how this is related to the natural concentration of valuable minerals and sources of energy.

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Here, I discuss the global lithium trade, the geology of lithium ore, hint towards some environmental and cultural considerations, and talk briefly about battery types and recycling!

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Here, I continue the lecture about global and US Energy usage, go into some of the units used to describe power and energy, and how energy usage is related to "quality of life".

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