What are waste heaps? Detailed analysis

The article describes what waste heaps are, as a result of what activity they are formed, what processes are taking place in them and what they can be dangerous.

Industry

Even in ancient times, our ancestors drew attention to the fact that in the bowels of the earth the mass of various useful substances is concentrated. Because of the complexity of extraction or ignorance, their extensive development began only after many centuries, but first of all people were always interested in metal, both ordinary and precious. For a long time, copper remained the main one, and later bronze (an alloy of copper and tin), but the real industrial revolution in the beginning of the XIX century was made thanks to the wide production of steel.

Apart from metals, other useful substances are concentrated in the bowels of the earth, for example, coal, which for a long time was considered to be useless material, and only in the beginning of the 19th century it began to be widely mined all over the world. And it was used, in particular, for smelting iron ore. Obtain it in various ways: both open in quarries, and in mines. But in the process of mining both coal and other minerals, there is always a lot of empty and useless ore that needs to be disposed of somewhere. It is from this that the heaps are obtained. So what are waste heaps? In this we will understand.

Definition

To begin with, let's look at the terminology. The word "terrikon" has French roots: terri - blade of rock, conique - conical.

Terrikon is a heap of rock, which most often has a conical shape. Their dimensions can be either very small or reach a height of tens of meters. They may look like small mountains (especially if located near, form a chain and due to age are covered with vegetation). So what are waste heaps?

In the process of mining coal, another mineral or substance, a lot of gangue is formed, which you need to put somewhere. It is unreasonable to unload it near mines and mines, as they quickly increase in size. Therefore, it is unloaded in a specially designated place. Gradually, with the increase in size, further unloading of ore to the top of the waste tank becomes problematic, and the heap grows in a new place. So we sorted out what waste pits are.

Edge of waste heaps

Terrikons can be found in any part of the world, but, of course, they are especially widespread where there is extensive extraction of minerals. Speaking about the post-Soviet space, the most famous land of waste is the Donbass, Donetsk coal basin, which is located in the eastern part of Ukraine.

If you count all waste heaps, then there are more than a hundred of them, they are located almost everywhere and are a peculiar sight of the region, its business card. The oldest is more than a hundred years old, and they appeared even at a time when the foundation of the coal reserves of the region was just gaining strength, and Donetsk was called Yuzovka (named after John Hughes, an industrialist who started coal mining). So now we know what are the heaps in geography.

Kinds

Conditionally, you can divide the waste heaps into old and young ones, those that are still "growing", replenished with new portions of waste rock. It is very easy to distinguish them visually: the old ones even have a more dense texture and are more squat. And most importantly - they often grow different vegetation. By the way, not only grass, but also trees, usually acacia, since they are most unpretentious to the content of substances in the ground. So now we know what waste pits, definition of this word and their types.

Danger

Terrikons meanwhile carry danger. It would seem, what can harm the harmless mountains of the breed? But in fact, not everything is so rosy. Of course, they do not harm themselves as such, otherwise they would not have been erected in close proximity to residential buildings, but there are always those who decide to explore the man-made mountains on their own. By the way, they are called mountains not for nothing - some have an impressive height and form real, albeit small, but mountain ranges, with their cornices, ledges and gorges. But what is the danger?

It's all about the processes that take place in the depths of waste. If you do not go into long descriptions of chemical reactions, then in the depths of these "mountains" because of the high pressure, some substances begin to smolder with the emission of harmful gases. True, their concentration is small enough to harm an occasional passerby, but if you sit and sit on the heap for a long time and breathe them - nothing good will end there. In addition, over time, because of decay, voids are formed, where people often fail.

But not everything is so bad, and not all potholes are dangerous. For example, the old ones, which were formed long ago and covered with vegetation with trees, are safe, and you can walk on them without the threat of falling into the incandescent depths.

So we figured out what rubbish heaps are. 4 grade primary school - it is the period when in the lessons of geography and talk about these man-made mountains.