Vocabulary Notes

caving (n) - осідання, розробка з осіданням

entry (n) - штрек

haulage (n) - транспортування

longwall (n) - стовбова система розробки

pillar (n) - стовп

pillar mining - виїмка повністю

shield - щит

longwall advancing on the strike - виїмка лавами прямою ходою по простяганню

longwall to the dip - суцільна система розробки з зануренням

longwall advancing to the rise - суцільна система розробка з підвищенням

room-and-pillar-method -камерно-стовбова система розробки

stowing(n) - укладення (виробленого простору)

methods of working - система розробки

the sequence of working the seams – послідовність обробки пластів

Exercises:

1. Define the main idea of the text.

2. Make the short plan of the text.

3. Make up dialogues to the text.

20.The earth

The Earth is made up of four main layers : the inner core, the outer core, the mantle and the crust. The crust, or the surface layer is the thinnest layer. It is usually made of bedrock, subsoil in various layers, and soil. In some places, however, there is no soil formation and bedrock is exposed.

Soil contains minerals, plant and animal material called humus, water, and air. When rock is weathered, or broken down, an eroded, or moved, small particles of the rock are mixed with plant and animal materials. In this process, it is also mixed with water and air and creates soil. Because soil is a result of weathering and erosion, the amount of soil in an area depends on the parent rock, weather in the area, existing landforms, and the plants and animals indigenous to the area. These factors affect the kind of soil that is made.

There are over 3000 different minerals that make up rocks.

Each of these minerals has a different chemical makeup which is why they exhibit different properties. For example different minerals crystallize at different temperatures. This gives rocks various textures. Magma is a solution of melted minerals. If the magma cools slowly, some minerals will begin to crystallize while other remain in the liquid state. The remaining minerals will crystallize when the magma cools to the crystallization temperatures of the minerals. As the minerals crystallize independently of each other, they form individual grains of crystals. When you look at a piece of granite, for example, there are visible grains of different minerals, like black grains of biotite, an milky grains of quartz. If the magma cools guickly, all of the minerals will crystallize at more or less the same time causing the crystals to be mixed together and very small.

Notes.

core – ядро, серцевина

bedrock – корінна порода, бедрок

humus – гумис, перегній

erosion – ерозія, роз’їдання

indigenous – місцевий, туземний

texture – тканина, структура.

biotite – біотит

crust – земна кора, твердий пласт поверхні

subsoil – недра

Exercises:

1. Answer the questions:

1.What are the main layers the Earth is made of?

2.What is the thinnest one? What is it made of ?

3.What is humus?

4.What minerals do you know?

5.What is magma?

2. Make up dialogue according to the text.

3. Retell the text

4. Put the proper word:

1. The thinnest layer of the Earth is … (surface layer; the inner core; the crust; the mantel; the outer core).

2. The surface layer contains …, the soil contains.. (minerals; bedrock; subsoil; humus; water; soil; air; plant).

Home reading:

21. EARTH’S ROCKS STUDY

To visualize Earth as it was in the beginning scientists study Earth’s rocks. They begin by determining the relative ages of rock layers to find clues about the sequence of events of Earth’s history.

Modern scientists assume processes taking place on Earth today also took place in the past. This assumption is called uniformitarianism. To learn about the past, scientists study Earth processes today.

One such Earth process is sedimentation, which includes breaking rocks into small particles, transportation of the particles, and their deposition. Over time, sedimentation leads to the formation of layers of sedimentary rock.

Scientists look for clues in sedimentary rocks that can help them to discover the sequence of events in Earth’s history. One such clue is fossils, the remains or imprints of organisms.

Absolute dating of rocks is based on the breakdown, or decay, of radioactive isotopes in rocks, which occurs at a constant rate that can be measured.

A major conceptual model of how Earth changes is the theory of plate tectonics. This theory holds that Earth’s crust is divided into large segments, called plates, that move around on a semimolten layer of rock. This theory has unified much of the observed phenomena of Earth’s surface.

Although many of Earth’s phenomena remain to be explained, the evidence of sea-floor spreading and associated magnetic reversals has provided solid support for the plate tectonics theory. Currently, plate tectonics is the favored theory to explain continental motion, earthquakes and volcanoes, sea-floor spreading, and other associated Earth phenomena.