Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Geology

National Water Plan

Project coordinating river basin management plans and water resources. The 2008 plan, aligned with EU guidelines, focuses on environmental actions (supply, treatment, purification, irrigation, forestry impact, channels) and works regularization, including the Ebro water transfer and construction of new dams.

Water Transfer

Interbasin transfer from water surplus to deficit areas. Currently, 38 are operational, including the Tajo-Segura. The National Hydrological Plan proposes new transfers, like the Ebro to the Mediterranean. However, protests in regions like Aragon and potential environmental impacts (Ebro Delta) have led to exploring alternatives, such as the Rhone-Catalonia transfer.

Reservoirs

Artificially stored water extensions... Continue reading "Spanish Environmental Management: Plans, Laws, and Initiatives" »

Types of Rocks

Sedimentary: Rock formed by material eroded and transported by geologic agents, including sedimentary basins, which have been compacted over time.

Magmatic (Igneous): Originated by the cooling of a molten rock mass. There are two types:

• Plutonic: Cooling magma within the Earth's crust. They have a crystal texture.
• Volcanic: Rapid cooling of lava on Earth's surface. They have a microcrystalline texture.

Metamorphic: Rocks formed in the interior of the crust due to the high pressures and temperatures that produce changes in the minerals.

Definitions

Volcanism: The surface expression of rocks melting within the crust.

Earthquake: Brief and sudden movements of the Earth's crust.

Continental Drift: Slow, horizontal movement of continents.

Isostasy:

Raw Materials and Their Properties

Raw materials are substances extracted directly from nature. They can be classified as:

• Animal: Leather, wool, silk
• Vegetable: Flax, esparto, wood
• Mineral: Iron ore (hematite), clay

A material ready for processing is called a field-ready material. These materials undergo physical and chemical transformations to create products like paper, board, and wood.

Technological Products

A technological product is any object created by humans to meet their needs and improve their quality of life. These objects are made from various materials (e.g., books, tables). The process of creating technological products involves transforming raw materials into usable materials and then into the final product.

Common Technological Materials

The... Continue reading "Understanding Raw Materials, Properties, and Technological Products" »

What is Energy?

Energy is the ability or property of bodies and physical systems to produce changes around them. During transformation, energy is exchanged through two mechanisms: work or heat. Energy is conserved and degraded in each transformation, losing the capacity to make further changes.

Thermal Energy or Heat

Thermal energy, or heat, is the energy exchanged between bodies with different temperatures. Heat is a form of energy transferred from one body to another as a consequence of the temperature difference between them.

Body temperature can be measured using the following scales:

• Celsius Scale: The fixed point 0 is the temperature at which water freezes, and point 100 is the temperature at which water begins to boil.
• Kelvin Scale: The fixed

Understanding Material Properties and Classifications

A material is any substance used for the construction of an object. Raw materials are those funds derived from nature in order to use them in any subsequent process of production. The evolution of materials is due to technological progress.

Properties

Properties may be classified as electromagnetic, thermal, chemical, and optical. The mechanical properties are the most important. The main ones are:

• Hardness: The resistance of a material to being pierced or scratched by another.
• Tenacity: The ability of a material not to deform or break when a force is applied.
• Plasticity: The ability of a material to deform under the action of a force and retain the new shape.
• Elasticity: The ability of a material

Dry Columns: Firefighter Access

Dry columns are designed exclusively for firefighters. They consist of galvanized steel studs, typically 80 mm in diameter, and are empty. A water outlet is usually located on the front of the building, on the ground floor. The column ascends or descends within the stairwell of buildings, providing hydrants on each floor. In the event of a fire, dry columns facilitate water flow and pressure for firefighters.

Dry columns are required in all buildings exceeding 24 meters in height, except for hospitals, where the limit is 15 meters. They are also required in parking lots with more than 3 floors below ground or 4 floors above ground, on all floors.

Sprinkler Systems: Automatic Fire Suppression

Sprinkler systems, often... Continue reading "Fire Protection Systems: Dry Columns and Sprinklers Explained" »

Natural Resources

Renewable resources are exploited at a rate slower than their formation. They are virtually inexhaustible, and we can use them in a potentially unlimited way. Renewable resources are those that are replenished by natural processes in a relatively short time, provided that their exploitation does not exceed the capacity for regeneration. They can become non-renewable resources if used for a long time more rapidly than they can be renewed by natural processes. When the rate of resource exploitation is faster than its replacement process, it is called environmental degradation. The highest rate at which a potentially renewable resource can be used without lowering is called sustained yield.

Renewable Energy Resources

• Biomass energy:

Prestressing Classes and Environments

Classes

• Class I: Elements whose conditions of use require the absence of cracking.
• Class II: Elements whose conditions of use can accept some risk of cracking under certain conditions.
• Class III: Elements whose conditions of use can support a controllable amplitude of cracking.

Environments

• I: Inside buildings or outside of moisture.
• II: External, non-aggressive contact with water or ground.
• III: Aggressive atmosphere, industrial or marine, or land contact with water or aggressive substances.

Active Reinforcement Types (P)

• Wire: A product of solid section from a cold drawn or drawn from alumbrón, normally supplied in a roll. Diameter: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7.5, 8, 9.4, 10 mm.
• Bar: A solid product that is supplied

Air Pollution in Spain

Atmospheric Emissions

Air pollution in Spain is largely due to the emission of pollutants such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, chlorine, and particles of dust and smoke. These pollutants primarily originate from the burning of fossil fuels in power stations. The problems caused by these pollutants are diverse and far-reaching.

Acid Rain

Acid rain, precipitation with higher than normal acidity, occurs when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides react with water vapor in the atmosphere, forming acidic solutions that fall to the earth's surface as rainwater. This phenomenon negatively impacts water bodies, vegetation, soil, and buildings. The areas most affected by acid rain in Spain are those... Continue reading "Air Pollution and Environmental Challenges in Spain" »

The Formation of Mountains

The thickening of the crust, caused by the collision of continents, results in mountain ranges. The relief is formed by the collision of lithospheric plates, by volcanic activity, or hot spots in the crust. Both mechanisms are related to upstream and downstream flows that exist in the mantle.

• Oceanic Ridges: Present intense volcanic activity.
• Oceanic Trenches: Deep areas of the oceans.
• Abyssal Plains: Flat underwater areas, are the most extensive.
• Submarine Volcanoes: Isolated reliefs, which in some cases emerge from the ocean and cause volcanic archipelagos.

Interaction of Internal and External Processes

Isostatic movements are vertical movements of the lithosphere, which tends to sink in some places and rise in others.... Continue reading "Mountain Formation and Tectonic Plate Interactions" »