Page 9 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

 The crater of Mt Pinatubo. Sulphur can help predict an eruption. When a volcano is about to erupt, it produces more of the gases that will eventually burst forth, such as sulphur dioxide. Detecting an increase in sulphur dioxide emissions was one of the factors that led to the prediction of
the Mt Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines in 1991 and the eruption of Mt Unzen in Japan.
 Venus
Sulphur is common on other planets in the Solar System besides Earth. For example, the main materials making up the atmosphere of the planet Venus are sulphuric acid droplets and particles of solid sulphur.
hydrothermal: a process in which hot water is involved.
It is usually used in the context
of rock formation because hot water and other fluids sent outwards from liquid magmas are important carriers of metals and the minerals that form gemstones.
ore: a rock containing enough of a useful substance to make mining it worthwhile.
sulphide: a sulphur compound that contains no oxygen
(e.g. iron sulphide (FeS)).
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Sulphur and salt
Salt (sodium chloride) deposits are among the most common materials
left behind after the evaporation of
lakes in deserts. But along with the salt, other minerals are deposited, including calcium sulphate (see page 13). It is thought that sometimes the calcium sulphate was decomposed by bacteria, forming limestone and releasing native sulphur, which then formed veins within cracks in the limestone. This is a very valuable, concentrated resource, which can be melted out of the limestone using the Frasch process (described on page 17). Suitable domes of sulphur have been found in the rocks below the Gulf of Mexico, the Red Sea and Germany.
 Pure sulphur collects on rocks near the geysers of Rotorua, New Zealand.