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People have become significant earth movers, outpacing all sources of natural erosion. More and more www3.tvboxnow.com# y; N+ M" i+ P! T" U0 N: A
of our footprint can be seen from space in many forms, including cities, reservoirs,agriculture and 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。; Z9 e, C/ s3 y9 b, Q0 C- B
deforestation. Among the most impressive human scars on the planet are open-pit mines.
7 [0 U, ?- ]+ r公仔箱論壇We’ve gathered some of the biggest, most spectacular and interesting mines, as captured by tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb" C" x$ f6 S8 v; h) }
astronauts and satellites on the following pages.
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- p/ @) i) v* f1 x  t& z& c公仔箱論壇Above: Berkeley Pit, Butte, Montana
, w9 [/ r/ L1 Rtvb now,tvbnow,bttvbThis former copper mine operated between 1955 and 1982. Gold and silver were also mined. % w, e* i, Q1 e& F! ]
An elaborate system of pumps and drains kept the local water level low enough for mining.
) s/ N) {& m, [5 C' F3 x  EToday, the 1,780 foot-deep pit is filled with around 900 feet of very contaminated water filled
5 o' U" c, i7 G9 Qwith metals and chemicals such as arsenic, cadmium, pyrite, zinc,copper and sulfuric acid. The
% x3 x* U* C* f6 I$ Mwater can be as acidic as battery acid,and copper can actually be “mined” directly from the water.* F" Z% Q0 B! e; N, C) k0 t% G( r
Currently, the 1-mile-by-0.5-mile pit is listed as a federal Superfund site with the potential to 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。+ g* G" x- q. E. K$ U2 i1 K
contaminate surrounding ground water, and,surprisingly, is also a tourist attraction, complete 公仔箱論壇  T) \% C! J; c( E/ i
with gift shop and$2 admission fee.
- f$ v! f9 V- F/ S公仔箱論壇This photograph was taken Aug. 2, 2006, by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
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Escondida Mine, Chile
4 A$ a* t% G1 J# M( }; _; E' P+ |tvb now,tvbnow,bttvbThe Escondida mine, opened in 1990 at 10,000 feet in northern Chile’s Atacama desert, currently produces
2 M4 S2 \6 u% etvb now,tvbnow,bttvbmore copper than any other mine in the world, with 1.5 million tons in 2007, worth more than $10 billion and
8 B' Q: B' `- ~$ vTVBNOW 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。representing nearly a tenth of world copper production. More than 6,000 people work at the mine.
, A5 b% A" {7 n  R  C0 l2 l( z7 F8 \This image was captured in 2000 by the Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer
) \& f2 P4 {- L6 `aboard NASA’s Terra satellite.www3.tvboxnow.com! k4 ~3 D5 m: A3 K" @9 a  l

& K2 }2 ?5 @1 P+ w$ ]公仔箱論壇
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, ]# X$ E7 Y) U0 K6 aBingham Canyon Mine, Utah
9 ^; z* W' f7 X) G- p公仔箱論壇Located 20 miles outside Salt Lake City in the Oquirrh Mountains, the Bingham Canyon copper pit has produced www3.tvboxnow.com: ?! T5 Q; K2 H" L# e, W
more than 18million tons of copper over its lifetime, more than any other mine in the world. The pit is about 2.75 / G' M* M+ d0 C! S) f' y% x
miles wide and 4,000 feet deep. Two Empire State buildings stacked one on top of the the other wouldn’t reach
# \. w2 `; p, F% }the top. By 2015, the mine will be 500 feet deeper, and a third Empire State building will fit inside. The terraces
. M: Y% V  y6 w0 d' j8 kwww3.tvboxnow.cominside the pit,which provide a base for the digging equipment and also stabilize the slopes, can be more than 80
' O" B( U# y9 `/ Q2 zfeet high. Opened in 1904, the site has been named a historic landmark.5 q0 |3 D1 N2 T$ g4 B6 G
This photograph was taken Sept. 20, 2007, by astronauts aboard the International Space Station with a digital
! V* q  b- @( E1 K! x2 sTVBNOW 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。camera and an 800mm lens.www3.tvboxnow.com9 x5 h' _; P1 j) ^% w0 \4 _

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Yuba River Goldfields, California.
6 y0 R* k6 \& B' M0 E* H0 P6 r. xThe 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。; ]/ n5 B4 u3 X1 P0 m' R
dredging the tailings out of the river, and mining the tailings for gold and then later for gravel. The result is an odd 2 {4 U+ n, l4 \0 W
landscape of reddish-brown and gray hills of gravel with water-filled ravines in between.www3.tvboxnow.com0 J! _7 q! O9 l& v9 @. Z
Shortly after gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevadain 1848, panning gave way to highly destructive hydraulic
+ ^4 G3 f" Q. ~) R' S9 |公仔箱論壇mining, which involves blasting sediment away with high-powered jets of water. Gold was extracted from the gravel,
. ^: M2 ?! P6 a. @3 ]; A% uwhich was then dumped and carried downstream by rivers into the Sacramento Valley. The Yuba River ended up with
7 r/ A+ a6 l4 V" dtvb now,tvbnow,bttvb685 million cubic feet of the mine waste, which raised the level of the river, overflowed the banks and buried farms.
" [' _6 O* {0 ]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。Dredging of the Yuba began in 1893, and soon after,mining companies began to sift and re sift through the debris to
- q* H& o. E; \+ t8 N- ?9 F4 tTVBNOW 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。extract ever-smaller bits of gold. By 1970, all economically feasible gold removal had been completed, and mining of the ) R( W# P* T% E  c  c4 K0 c
gravel for concrete began. Today, ownership of the land is disputed among mining companies, private owners and the government.公仔箱論壇; B! d# T* Y  y3 K) V: k3 K
This image was taken by the Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite Aug. 29, 2001.9 F- ^/ ^- \# H8 ]1 P' r% T
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4 T3 {& L& B. _. D- j9 Z% Rtvb now,tvbnow,bttvbToquepala Copper Mine, Peruwww3.tvboxnow.com  A4 u4 _6 {+ ]+ {& v
Located in the Andes Mountains in southern Peru, the Toquepala mine is 1.5 miles wide and 2,300 feet deep.
0 s( K3 i% {% b: OThe mine’s main output is copper, but it also produces gold, silver and molybdenum. The railroad that was
! Z$ x! m- L5 A1 {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。constructed to carry the ore 60 miles to the coast can be seen winding down a canyon left of the center,
$ O4 V6 ~' F* I3 t( z; G0 `3 C' G公仔箱論壇heading southwest from the mine. This image was captured by astronauts aboard the International Space 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。5 D* v3 _9 f* g5 B
Station on Sept. 22, 2003.
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% ]. [- g8 u4 }+ C  K- O4 i0 Gwww3.tvboxnow.comTVBNOW 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。* i' M4 l3 F+ D! u, h6 Y0 r
Freeport Mine, Indonesia
; i0 r8 g# I7 l9 P% ]3 s+ M; aThe Freeport Mine, also known as the Grasberg complex,is a huge mining operation in Indonesia’s Sudirman
1 A0 A" h8 Q1 z- i- twww3.tvboxnow.comMountains. Copper was discovered here in 1936, and gold was first found in 1988. Today,the mine is one of
$ R8 x) y  k& C2 r/ pwww3.tvboxnow.comthe largest gold- and copper-extraction operations in the world. The open pit is 2.5 miles wide, and there is
" @' W8 U. s; `; c- o$ q" ?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。extensive underground mining in the area as well. Glaciers are also visible in the image.( ~% Z( }5 p) Q/ B, Q7 j  C5 K9 |4 k
This photograph was taken June 25, 2005, by astronauts on the International Space Station.
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4 ]% z) w9 q) c( kwww3.tvboxnow.com
2 r5 r0 p, L; GTVBNOW 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。Cananea Mine, Mexicotvb now,tvbnow,bttvb$ v3 a3 g- `( n* d1 o
The Cananea mine is located 25 miles south of the United States border in Sonora, Mexico. The active Colorada 公仔箱論壇: W+ j# y+ a; m
Pit in the upper right is 1.6 miles across. It is one of the largest copper producers in the world and also contains
( a2 t- }% U* F7 r7 p0 V# X) [; [1 ETVBNOW 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。gold. Those two metals are often found together where hot magma forced its way up into the overlying bedrock.
8 q$ {9 ]3 Q8 K4 s7 rtvb now,tvbnow,bttvbThe magma crystallized there while hot fluids circulated through it and into fractures in the surrounding rock,altering www3.tvboxnow.com, q# [; g3 e1 V7 q0 S: S. d8 V
the rock to produce copper-rich minerals and gold.
0 A+ ^3 z! q1 P' IA 1906 miner’s strike at Cananea turned violent and resulted in 19 deaths, contributing to events that led to the
0 q% ~% f8 u+ i5 `$ lMexican Revolution in 1910. Another strike stopped work at the mine in 2007.
; F& N# `' B% E2 @9 Q1 g4 r( U公仔箱論壇This image was taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station on March 3, 2008.
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+ [- {0 P* \+ Y0 V0 `Phosphate Mines, Jordan
7 p2 [% V* H, z) a$ v; j( n$ Iwww3.tvboxnow.comPhosphate mining is an important industry in Jordan,which has abundant deposits of the mineral on approximately 60
+ \& a# p1 |" c6 T3 [: Z3 s  B公仔箱論壇percent of its territory. Phosphorus is essential to living things, and food can’t be produced without it. Some scientists
' x: U+ T8 U6 d7 c' [公仔箱論壇fear a shortage of this critical resource is impending and have predicted the world will reach “Peak Phosphorus,” the 5 D. W. [, v$ ~8 ~
point at which production will begin to decline, just 30 years from now. There is currently no synthetic alternative.
- A" n% h0 F" G. ^/ M( N9 k# WThis image was capture by the Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer on NASA’s Terra
5 P0 R4 y3 s4 Z  v& n% M3 ssatellite Sept. 17, 2005. It is a false-color composite of visible and infrared images. Vegetation appears red, water is $ c- f0 f) L1 m& ]1 f  }
blue, and rock and soil can be anywhere from buff to black. The mining operation is the area just left of center in the 公仔箱論壇4 H. q5 B# f5 e
lower part of the image that appears striped.
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; U* f; t4 b2 S& g3 a. wNew Cornelia Mine, Arizona! g; \( }4 m' J4 b) Y' l5 \! y
Copper was first mined from this area just south of the mining town of Ajo, Arizona, around 1750. The open-pit mine pictured
6 ]" |$ Y9 J2 e7 ^# n2 R# \1 r4 Vwww3.tvboxnow.comabove began being excavated in earnest in 1912. It was shut down in 1983 when the price of copper dropped. The scalloped
- c) Q5 z; ^& ~! k6 T6 jtvb now,tvbnow,bttvbland just to the right of the mine is covered in tailings, and the large gray rectangles above that are containment ponds where
: w6 x2 t1 ?' J: `5 C* J$ A公仔箱論壇the metal was extracted.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb6 o3 y: `5 S+ {! H$ @7 L: V

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' C% @8 E2 f8 \* ~Hambach Coal Mines, Germany
/ e4 H, |2 x7 {* F公仔箱論壇The bright white-and-dark-blue–striped areas on the right side of this image are opencast coal mines in mid western Germany. tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb- O, W. T4 [# x; X' F- j
One of the mines is currently being worked by the Bagger 293, the largest machine in the world.The bucket-wheel excavator
3 j6 k8 a  Z/ V& ~2 \  P/ Y9 `5 j公仔箱論壇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.4 N# C1 U; o& o) U. {+ }
This image, captured by the Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer aboard NASA’s Terra satellite
$ j3 s) z* a, Htvb now,tvbnow,bttvbAug. 26, 2000, is a simulated natural-color image. The bright-green rectangular patches are crops, the gray patches are 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( z/ v( }$ Z
bare ground, and the bluish-gray areas are towns.