Huge Holes in the Earth: Open-Pit Mines Seen From Space

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6 x) m3 m3 J7 j" ~, S6 qTVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。People have become significant earth movers, outpacing all sources of natural erosion. More and more * S) |' \, u. y9 c, b) d( l9 ^8 U
of our footprint can be seen from space in many forms, including cities, reservoirs,agriculture and www.tvboxnow.com) f( E* P8 A! B7 F$ u4 s3 F1 ^. l8 ]
deforestation. Among the most impressive human scars on the planet are open-pit mines.公仔箱論壇2 I% m/ z+ N' h8 _/ @
We’ve gathered some of the biggest, most spectacular and interesting mines, as captured by
4 r( G/ j/ t) L/ Z. K, _" a" q( e9 castronauts and satellites on the following pages.
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Above: Berkeley Pit, Butte, Montana5 n! L  g7 R2 i3 B1 X/ `0 K8 r% I) _8 |
This former copper mine operated between 1955 and 1982. Gold and silver were also mined.
' S7 b# k& `4 R# pAn elaborate system of pumps and drains kept the local water level low enough for mining. 0 N0 T9 @6 X6 ?0 t0 V' J. ~3 B
Today, the 1,780 foot-deep pit is filled with around 900 feet of very contaminated water filled
6 J6 P$ h" j- dwww.tvboxnow.comwith metals and chemicals such as arsenic, cadmium, pyrite, zinc,copper and sulfuric acid. The TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。! E5 ?/ a1 s  L7 u9 W" j: h, m) ]
water can be as acidic as battery acid,and copper can actually be “mined” directly from the water.www.tvboxnow.com( J& E! ]* \0 F2 m% W& N0 V4 o
Currently, the 1-mile-by-0.5-mile pit is listed as a federal Superfund site with the potential to 公仔箱論壇" B8 o& f# _( i* z, }: Q
contaminate surrounding ground water, and,surprisingly, is also a tourist attraction, complete www.tvboxnow.com& ]1 r5 v# N! U  `7 p, L
with gift shop and$2 admission fee.; m! O& ?! W# G2 t3 i. ^7 G- f( k
This photograph was taken Aug. 2, 2006, by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。, [& C: t& u4 I7 Q, K

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Escondida Mine, Chile% m" f* j& c2 w
The Escondida mine, opened in 1990 at 10,000 feet in northern Chile’s Atacama desert, currently produces
# x1 a5 ^, C+ _' w$ nmore copper than any other mine in the world, with 1.5 million tons in 2007, worth more than $10 billion and   E  s3 ^1 y* s6 P2 b7 B5 b( j3 ]; s
representing nearly a tenth of world copper production. More than 6,000 people work at the mine.公仔箱論壇+ ]6 \# V3 J# m9 A+ \
This image was captured in 2000 by the Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer
6 I  W8 d, l( A% vaboard NASA’s Terra satellite.
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5 z+ o: D7 L- D) EBingham Canyon Mine, UtahTVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。8 d" M9 q8 c/ [" S& S
Located 20 miles outside Salt Lake City in the Oquirrh Mountains, the Bingham Canyon copper pit has produced , Y0 `% a0 w8 t7 n3 f
more than 18million tons of copper over its lifetime, more than any other mine in the world. The pit is about 2.75 9 b! M. s/ e" C* D( X1 K
miles wide and 4,000 feet deep. Two Empire State buildings stacked one on top of the the other wouldn’t reach www.tvboxnow.com4 [' ~3 G: @2 J' s, {
the top. By 2015, the mine will be 500 feet deeper, and a third Empire State building will fit inside. The terraces
) X3 k. Q0 d+ g; O! |公仔箱論壇inside the pit,which provide a base for the digging equipment and also stabilize the slopes, can be more than 80
8 j* N# Y% g8 ]2 ]3 s& _& @feet high. Opened in 1904, the site has been named a historic landmark.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb3 j& N% ^& C/ f6 U) b/ G
This photograph was taken Sept. 20, 2007, by astronauts aboard the International Space Station with a digital
2 p- ]# n/ w* r2 z! P6 X& N7 Lwww.tvboxnow.comcamera and an 800mm lens.
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; |8 H! k- R% f1 m% K公仔箱論壇Yuba River Goldfields, California.
) D. i, B  C. K8 O% KThe Yuba Goldfields are a strange culmination of years of pressure-jet mining for gold upstream in the Sierra Nevada, TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。. e* ^+ P  f5 s8 D7 f+ \
dredging the tailings out of the river, and mining the tailings for gold and then later for gravel. The result is an odd
) H3 C3 S: A& b, j% X" r9 b* g. \公仔箱論壇landscape of reddish-brown and gray hills of gravel with water-filled ravines in between.
8 S# R: q6 ^% p% F9 F8 f# ?* x5 Utvb now,tvbnow,bttvbShortly after gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevadain 1848, panning gave way to highly destructive hydraulic www.tvboxnow.com. q  h. ^. s$ w1 E; `
mining, which involves blasting sediment away with high-powered jets of water. Gold was extracted from the gravel,
# R3 w* Q! K0 m9 rwhich was then dumped and carried downstream by rivers into the Sacramento Valley. The Yuba River ended up with
8 G- O1 K9 N# _5 O' I1 g685 million cubic feet of the mine waste, which raised the level of the river, overflowed the banks and buried farms.
* J3 j0 i# ^% H; i  Htvb now,tvbnow,bttvbDredging of the Yuba began in 1893, and soon after,mining companies began to sift and re sift through the debris to
; N  s- s0 N9 t5 |' ]2 q6 xextract ever-smaller bits of gold. By 1970, all economically feasible gold removal had been completed, and mining of the TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。+ c; F" Q. ^0 ~3 j& G' j
gravel for concrete began. Today, ownership of the land is disputed among mining companies, private owners and the government.公仔箱論壇0 ]( h/ m. \0 N& x% J
This image was taken by the Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite Aug. 29, 2001.6 {8 P+ }) P1 e' |
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4 ?' k/ N- ?* o; htvb now,tvbnow,bttvbToquepala Copper Mine, Peru公仔箱論壇: e  O0 {, e; e) [  M3 ]1 w
Located in the Andes Mountains in southern Peru, the Toquepala mine is 1.5 miles wide and 2,300 feet deep. www.tvboxnow.com/ V3 Y* B3 m8 a+ ~% W; C
The mine’s main output is copper, but it also produces gold, silver and molybdenum. The railroad that was ' H" k5 }" p% a. H
constructed to carry the ore 60 miles to the coast can be seen winding down a canyon left of the center,
8 i( a% x  i$ \8 t1 V2 }公仔箱論壇heading southwest from the mine. This image was captured by astronauts aboard the International Space
; \5 D" v+ X7 \7 WTVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。Station on Sept. 22, 2003.TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。' V' D% M. a) B7 k3 j
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9 m, Q% V: [% _( J# |/ xTVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。Freeport Mine, Indonesia
. X7 h; ?% S5 r( bwww.tvboxnow.comThe Freeport Mine, also known as the Grasberg complex,is a huge mining operation in Indonesia’s Sudirman tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb+ \& D3 _$ h8 d: P
Mountains. Copper was discovered here in 1936, and gold was first found in 1988. Today,the mine is one of
: x; s1 O/ t9 P/ w. i' Etvb now,tvbnow,bttvbthe largest gold- and copper-extraction operations in the world. The open pit is 2.5 miles wide, and there is
6 y0 |1 h" S6 ]  a; n6 hTVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。extensive underground mining in the area as well. Glaciers are also visible in the image.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb( |3 r0 ], h# H9 m
This photograph was taken June 25, 2005, by astronauts on the International Space Station.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb/ Y# M& e" g$ `+ Q& z* ?

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Cananea Mine, Mexico( {4 c8 Z6 ^/ u. V8 D1 d- M5 t
The Cananea mine is located 25 miles south of the United States border in Sonora, Mexico. The active Colorada
, h& M* O) m, z! D2 K公仔箱論壇Pit in the upper right is 1.6 miles across. It is one of the largest copper producers in the world and also contains
" |& ~; r! l9 [# D5 Z6 F公仔箱論壇gold. Those two metals are often found together where hot magma forced its way up into the overlying bedrock.
& S' n1 @# P0 M* m: ~4 v公仔箱論壇The magma crystallized there while hot fluids circulated through it and into fractures in the surrounding rock,altering
1 s# x$ p3 L* L! h& rtvb now,tvbnow,bttvbthe rock to produce copper-rich minerals and gold.
8 W7 ^3 _! }, B) b  Z, vA 1906 miner’s strike at Cananea turned violent and resulted in 19 deaths, contributing to events that led to the 公仔箱論壇0 e% [3 k& T+ B6 R* A
Mexican Revolution in 1910. Another strike stopped work at the mine in 2007.公仔箱論壇) f, I  y9 h8 `. S1 d0 V' ^" P: ~
This image was taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station on March 3, 2008.
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! X* k5 f- y$ k' U# E: aPhosphate Mines, Jordan
. g, Z# }5 p7 P# Z) H: w+ CPhosphate mining is an important industry in Jordan,which has abundant deposits of the mineral on approximately 60 TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。: L" a; z) C' F. o
percent of its territory. Phosphorus is essential to living things, and food can’t be produced without it. Some scientists
9 T4 e2 [. G; r2 i2 M7 h+ j公仔箱論壇fear a shortage of this critical resource is impending and have predicted the world will reach “Peak Phosphorus,” the TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。6 ~" N4 S- _4 q" s; Q( f3 Y
point at which production will begin to decline, just 30 years from now. There is currently no synthetic alternative.$ j3 t; ]4 j( T$ I
This image was capture by the Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer on NASA’s Terra
# P/ }  a# C7 X, Ntvb now,tvbnow,bttvbsatellite Sept. 17, 2005. It is a false-color composite of visible and infrared images. Vegetation appears red, water is
  ^5 @% L. n. Z0 M7 p" L公仔箱論壇blue, and rock and soil can be anywhere from buff to black. The mining operation is the area just left of center in the
" q" r3 O+ x" v- FTVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。lower part of the image that appears striped.
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New Cornelia Mine, Arizona
& E  {' C0 v" j1 ?- o0 Mtvb now,tvbnow,bttvbCopper was first mined from this area just south of the mining town of Ajo, Arizona, around 1750. The open-pit mine pictured
& C4 ^6 V3 X8 T8 H) [TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。above began being excavated in earnest in 1912. It was shut down in 1983 when the price of copper dropped. The scalloped
  \3 u$ I- J+ M$ Wland just to the right of the mine is covered in tailings, and the large gray rectangles above that are containment ponds where 公仔箱論壇0 {' }5 i0 }! T3 p& P$ b
the metal was extracted.www.tvboxnow.com, N1 p- D0 A3 C3 n( r

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' |1 @  c2 e; @0 P6 v4 P% nwww.tvboxnow.comHambach Coal Mines, Germany公仔箱論壇8 B4 O6 ^/ p* e" b
The bright white-and-dark-blue–striped areas on the right side of this image are opencast coal mines in mid western Germany. 公仔箱論壇- t0 ^( \. F! w( W
One of the mines is currently being worked by the Bagger 293, the largest machine in the world.The bucket-wheel excavator 0 k! A  C, L% |& e" J
is twice as long as a soccer field and a stall as a 30-story building, and digs up 30 million tons of lignite per year.公仔箱論壇+ J/ p9 E; g( A: U" b
This image, captured by the Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer aboard NASA’s Terra satellite
2 s* C, p; r: E& w5 Stvb now,tvbnow,bttvbAug. 26, 2000, is a simulated natural-color image. The bright-green rectangular patches are crops, the gray patches are tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb" W3 x- S" n8 P- C6 _$ b
bare ground, and the bluish-gray areas are towns.