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People have become significant earth movers, outpacing all sources of natural erosion. More and more tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb/ H: M1 I8 @3 }1 _0 W* X+ t
of our footprint can be seen from space in many forms, including cities, reservoirs,agriculture and - S* h1 [! T, {2 G8 i/ Q0 }
deforestation. Among the most impressive human scars on the planet are open-pit mines.
' P. X7 h: ], Z/ b7 u9 U: a# SWe’ve gathered some of the biggest, most spectacular and interesting mines, as captured by
3 }3 f$ |" n! g; X# q  G8 y+ `3 ~astronauts and satellites on the following pages.
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Above: Berkeley Pit, Butte, Montana0 h/ T3 R' j$ m% }7 k
This former copper mine operated between 1955 and 1982. Gold and silver were also mined. 公仔箱論壇) B9 ]! f3 V  V" t( c/ k
An elaborate system of pumps and drains kept the local water level low enough for mining.
8 h$ E4 k2 N' ?4 X! ~Today, the 1,780 foot-deep pit is filled with around 900 feet of very contaminated water filled
7 C7 u, n, J; T5 |4 G8 {) [0 F- s- utvb now,tvbnow,bttvbwith metals and chemicals such as arsenic, cadmium, pyrite, zinc,copper and sulfuric acid. The tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb( T* J8 Q1 q: K9 ?7 B$ P
water can be as acidic as battery acid,and copper can actually be “mined” directly from the water.* v- P) C" C  S3 o$ U8 l& ~
Currently, the 1-mile-by-0.5-mile pit is listed as a federal Superfund site with the potential to
! @6 Y& y. I! Y* p5 Dos.tvboxnow.comcontaminate surrounding ground water, and,surprisingly, is also a tourist attraction, complete 8 v1 D+ Z' l% K+ m/ A
with gift shop and$2 admission fee.
1 A% a, g  }: w0 v& `公仔箱論壇This photograph was taken Aug. 2, 2006, by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.$ C7 {& e6 i# _5 q1 d  r
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Escondida Mine, Chile
! b1 @* w1 d4 Q公仔箱論壇The Escondida mine, opened in 1990 at 10,000 feet in northern Chile’s Atacama desert, currently produces
! L: ^+ o. ~8 E, 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。more copper than any other mine in the world, with 1.5 million tons in 2007, worth more than $10 billion and
: f, h) j% {) a! H4 ^$ U# aTVBNOW 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.# A- R, k( E# J( W7 H
This image was captured in 2000 by the Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer
3 a$ ]1 @, q' r3 d- H4 utvb now,tvbnow,bttvbaboard NASA’s Terra satellite.os.tvboxnow.com0 o8 v& l4 N, ?7 ?1 L8 q8 @

5 p3 |& ]: B6 B6 @2 o- d: a, |公仔箱論壇公仔箱論壇- e; W* l% q# |/ h
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Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah
. D0 I) {/ V% e0 ~( P2 K" Ios.tvboxnow.comLocated 20 miles outside Salt Lake City in the Oquirrh Mountains, the Bingham Canyon copper pit has produced os.tvboxnow.com9 t# Q0 H4 N7 B5 o
more than 18million tons of copper over its lifetime, more than any other mine in the world. The pit is about 2.75
& b5 F7 H- r* {  I& j3 Pmiles wide and 4,000 feet deep. Two Empire State buildings stacked one on top of the the other wouldn’t reach os.tvboxnow.com- [! r" i4 x* ?- d
the top. By 2015, the mine will be 500 feet deeper, and a third Empire State building will fit inside. The terraces
6 C' m3 y6 Z: E5 w8 B! s1 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。inside the pit,which provide a base for the digging equipment and also stabilize the slopes, can be more than 80 os.tvboxnow.com4 v! f/ ^& D. c1 H7 ]
feet high. Opened in 1904, the site has been named a historic landmark.
$ B. ?- l( k8 R- e  L. Ztvb now,tvbnow,bttvbThis photograph was taken Sept. 20, 2007, by astronauts aboard the International Space Station with a digital tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb) c! x6 X+ q2 I, L6 Y
camera and an 800mm lens.
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Yuba River Goldfields, California.
! {8 i3 y8 S" T& _2 e) gThe Yuba Goldfields are a strange culmination of years of pressure-jet mining for gold upstream in the Sierra Nevada, 公仔箱論壇5 C/ c) T% X7 Y$ m$ D
dredging the tailings out of the river, and mining the tailings for gold and then later for gravel. The result is an odd
% T$ _2 G% E7 x! h+ e4 u( s, @landscape of reddish-brown and gray hills of gravel with water-filled ravines in between.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。. Z* v' @. Q3 H+ r: |8 }/ I) c
Shortly after gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevadain 1848, panning gave way to highly destructive hydraulic 0 h) Q# c+ D9 J
mining, which involves blasting sediment away with high-powered jets of water. Gold was extracted from the gravel,
+ U# g( ~  V7 ]! ?1 E; ?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。which was then dumped and carried downstream by rivers into the Sacramento Valley. The Yuba River ended up with
8 h7 e7 p: ]+ J9 @2 k  H( D1 C4 t4 i685 million cubic feet of the mine waste, which raised the level of the river, overflowed the banks and buried farms.
- I' H# F% j2 F5 c% R6 u+ o5 ~tvb now,tvbnow,bttvbDredging of the Yuba began in 1893, and soon after,mining companies began to sift and re sift through the debris to
# P1 N: i) k4 L公仔箱論壇extract ever-smaller bits of gold. By 1970, all economically feasible gold removal had been completed, and mining of the   d' g. }* J+ Y# Z* S0 n
gravel for concrete began. Today, ownership of the land is disputed among mining companies, private owners and the government.
' w9 U& X$ r% w- A( cos.tvboxnow.comThis image was taken by the Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite Aug. 29, 2001.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。# i) H  x/ y" R2 k: ]8 P5 S

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# d; p8 M* M" D& RToquepala Copper Mine, Peru
+ h, C: @4 k# o5 R: O. xLocated in the Andes Mountains in southern Peru, the Toquepala mine is 1.5 miles wide and 2,300 feet deep.
" b- m9 P6 t9 F! _# |The mine’s main output is copper, but it also produces gold, silver and molybdenum. The railroad that was
6 Q2 D# x% m* \1 d) B5 c( V! K1 d公仔箱論壇constructed to carry the ore 60 miles to the coast can be seen winding down a canyon left of the center,
' s9 t: G7 W& U3 xos.tvboxnow.comheading southwest from the mine. This image was captured by astronauts aboard the International Space os.tvboxnow.com1 y7 j9 ^, j5 ?8 p) W. Z9 ^
Station on Sept. 22, 2003.
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1 k9 ]- K) N8 Z* v5 ^4 D公仔箱論壇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 V3 u+ s" q( ?; r# o* d/ R
Freeport Mine, Indonesia公仔箱論壇# u2 P% s$ q5 m
The Freeport Mine, also known as the Grasberg complex,is a huge mining operation in Indonesia’s Sudirman
) F% J2 c2 D& X" z) x8 l7 ?2 aos.tvboxnow.comMountains. Copper was discovered here in 1936, and gold was first found in 1988. Today,the mine is one of
' R2 P- U& o" q! btvb now,tvbnow,bttvbthe largest gold- and copper-extraction operations in the world. The open pit is 2.5 miles wide, and there is
8 Q) t: Y8 g6 X: {! k0 ?! yos.tvboxnow.comextensive underground mining in the area as well. Glaciers are also visible in the image.
, Y7 y: F- M) \3 D: CTVBNOW 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。This photograph was taken June 25, 2005, by astronauts on the International Space Station.
& U) j6 m! u# ^8 U  D- {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。公仔箱論壇& E5 S5 }/ o( r7 p: i; o+ Q! ^

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& Z$ w. K: {# _5 T- Aos.tvboxnow.comCananea Mine, Mexicoos.tvboxnow.com& R. I0 n" l# j0 P% q3 z& S
The Cananea mine is located 25 miles south of the United States border in Sonora, Mexico. The active Colorada
. l! z% [2 K! u. d% E6 bPit in the upper right is 1.6 miles across. It is one of the largest copper producers in the world and also contains
3 g7 {2 s# c6 I# |, v% E- c7 E2 t2 Xgold. Those two metals are often found together where hot magma forced its way up into the overlying bedrock.
' g) S3 m. v' Y% L# o1 HThe magma crystallized there while hot fluids circulated through it and into fractures in the surrounding rock,altering
! i: q7 M+ p+ n/ }2 R: s1 qthe rock to produce copper-rich minerals and gold.os.tvboxnow.com2 X: `2 h& G2 G- I. [- `9 x8 J
A 1906 miner’s strike at Cananea turned violent and resulted in 19 deaths, contributing to events that led to the 公仔箱論壇+ d, g1 G+ R  T
Mexican Revolution in 1910. Another strike stopped work at the mine in 2007.
2 _) G) z4 p6 _% i% f  M" tThis image was taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station on March 3, 2008.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb6 ?. O% V2 u( J7 O/ h

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Phosphate Mines, Jordanos.tvboxnow.com) ~3 G" L& B$ u3 P7 s  j
Phosphate mining is an important industry in Jordan,which has abundant deposits of the mineral on approximately 60 5 O' _* p9 a: t7 A. u
percent of its territory. Phosphorus is essential to living things, and food can’t be produced without it. Some scientists 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。1 y9 Z! W4 D+ z! R
fear a shortage of this critical resource is impending and have predicted the world will reach “Peak Phosphorus,” the 公仔箱論壇7 t% z8 o# ?6 T# F9 u! C& t! d* ^
point at which production will begin to decline, just 30 years from now. There is currently no synthetic alternative.os.tvboxnow.com5 Z- ~0 M! H1 \" h* m
This image was capture by the Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer on NASA’s Terra
+ |9 N5 F* T3 ~公仔箱論壇satellite Sept. 17, 2005. It is a false-color composite of visible and infrared images. Vegetation appears red, water is
$ ~5 \& N  v1 A" j' W6 {blue, and rock and soil can be anywhere from buff to black. The mining operation is the area just left of center in the 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。+ s2 Y# x" r% d" R( E8 X* A( f5 L0 P
lower part of the image that appears striped.* ~7 s& ?- x% X' ?- i+ M( U

9 v' H* h) b: {' B3 _os.tvboxnow.com
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6 q, X5 w% d( f& `/ ?: \% U公仔箱論壇New Cornelia Mine, ArizonaTVBNOW 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。9 |/ |4 i7 ~9 u& s- S9 e+ s9 k
Copper was first mined from this area just south of the mining town of Ajo, Arizona, around 1750. The open-pit mine pictured
' {3 `' r4 \+ `. z( [; V0 }tvb now,tvbnow,bttvbabove began being excavated in earnest in 1912. It was shut down in 1983 when the price of copper dropped. The scalloped 公仔箱論壇4 c7 c" i* f- B0 U0 K, b7 H$ x
land just to the right of the mine is covered in tailings, and the large gray rectangles above that are containment ponds where ) A$ I* E  |; \
the metal was extracted.
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( K* j" f# t  ?& y/ H, D) A7 ?Hambach Coal Mines, Germany
% d0 c$ n" F% Q6 ?7 H% m4 H! J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.
, D. j* l" |/ Ytvb now,tvbnow,bttvbOne of the mines is currently being worked by the Bagger 293, the largest machine in the world.The bucket-wheel excavator
1 B& Z: e( N# v, A8 ~/ n8 h  L  vtvb now,tvbnow,bttvbis 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.; c# p& I  s+ R
This image, captured by the Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer aboard NASA’s Terra satellite 4 J1 E7 q) V6 o1 Q( M$ s* Z
Aug. 26, 2000, is a simulated natural-color image. The bright-green rectangular patches are crops, the gray patches are 6 d& W) T7 j2 [, _
bare ground, and the bluish-gray areas are towns.