Geology and Natural Resources Brought to you by: Western Michigan University Department of Geosciences and The Michigan Geological Repository for Research and Education s K-12 Outreach Program Core Kids
Geologists wear many hats. Lots of geologists study natural resources.
Geology and Natural Resources What do geologists do? What is under Michigan? How did it get there? Why study Michigan geology? Michigan s geological natural resources.
JMA
Michigan Geological Repository for Research and Education (MGRRE) Department of Geosciences College of Arts & Sciences Western Michigan University
Drill down into the earth and Bring up core samples" Bring them to the repository to keep them safe and dry Study them to learn about the rocks under Michigan
What is underneath our feet in Michigan?
How do geologists look beneath the surface to find out?
How did the rocks under Michigan get there?
Long ago, Michigan was an ocean basin! How do we know? Ancient Corals Found in Michigan We have fossilized coral and other marine plants and animals in the rocks beneath our feet! Living Corals in the Bahamas
Tropical Coral Reef (Bahamas)
Geologists study today s environments to find out what the earth was like in the past. What they learn about the past and present helps us to plan for the future. Modern Sediment Deposition In the Bahamas Ancient Deposition in the Michigan Basin 100 miles
Successive layers of rock record ancient environments. Geologists study rock samples and data from beneath the surface and construct a stratigraphic ti column describing the geologic history of the area. Citation to be added
From Under Michigan by Charles Barker, 2005 used with permission
Why do we study the rocks from underneath Michigan? Why do we care what is in the rock? Think.. What is in the rock that we use every day?
What Is Under Michigan? What are some examples of the natural resources found in Michigan s rocks? Water for Oil for Natural gas drinking, washing gasoline and for heating and cooking making WMU-MGRRE plastics Core Kids our homes Minerals Iron, Copper, others
Minerals In the wintertime, i trucks spread a mineral on the roads in Michigan to make it safer to drive. Do you know what this mineral is? mineral is?
HALITE also know as SALT
From Under Michigan by Charles Barker, 2005 used with permission
Detroit Salt Mine www.detroitsalt.com
How did d layers of salt get into the rocks under Michigan? From http://www.saltinstitute.org/mich-1.html
Evaporate Evaporite Halite is an evaporite mineral
Virtually every city, county, and municipality has a storehouse of Michigan salt, to be used on roads in winter. This one is a small storage shed of salt for the Meridian Mall in Okemos.
Halite is found in layers and coal is found in layers. What about water, oil and natural gas? Where are liquids and gases found?
Name What Is Under Michigan? Natural Gas Where are these natural resources found? Are they in underground rivers, lakes and pools?
Name What Is Under Michigan? Natural Gas Or, could they be inside the rocks?
First, where do sedimentary rocks come from?
First, where do sedimentary rocks come from? SEDIMENTS!
Experiment What happens to water or oil that is poured on top of sediments? What do you think will happen? Will the water pool on top?
What happens to those sediments over millions of years?
They turn into sedimentary rocks! Microscopic view of sandstone sandstone
Name What Is Under Michigan? Rocks Have Holes? Sedimentary rocks are made when sediments are buried and cement together over many millions of years. Just like there is space between grains of sand and sediment on a beach, there can also be space between sediment grains after they have turned to rock. These spaces are called pores. Some of these spaces can be filled with the remains of algae and tiny animals that turn into oil over many millions of years. The oil then fills the pore space.
What is the answer to our question? Are oil, water and natural gas found in underground rivers, lakes and pools?
NO Water, oil and natural gas are in the pore spaces between grains within rocks. The job of many geologists is to find and recover these natural resources.
Porous rocks have pore spaces that can be filled with water, salt water, oil or natural gas.
If those pore spaces are connected together th so that t liquid id or gas can flow through the rock, the rocks are called permeable, and we can extract the resource.
How do geologists measure permeability? We measure permeability in the field and in the laboratory with a permeameter. This model is a portable minipermeameter. Gas is forced into a rock sample and then measurements of how fast the gas travels through the rock are sent to the computer.
In the classroom We measure permeability using a bicycle pump! Experiment
Porous and permeable rocks are critical for storing water, oil and natural gas, and even the pore space itself is a natural resource.
We can also push gas back into the rocks below us and push out oil or salt water that is in the pore spaces. This means that we could put unwanted greenhouse gases into the ground instead of releasing them into the atmosphere. This procedure is called carbon dioxide sequestration.
Everything we have and everything we use comes from our natural resources. Most of the natural resources we use are Earth Materials minerals, water, oil and natural gas.
What Is Under Michigan? Natural Resources! What other geologic natural resources do we use use every day?
Ready for a game? Where in the world do we use that? With a partner, think of as many uses for the rock or mineral listed as you can.