Announcements and News:
Click here to read the announcements with a non-Java enabled browser Site Navigation:
 

As a magma plume rises and cools, crust material melts into it, and dense, high melting point minerals begin to crystallize on the bottom.

Hotter areas of the mantle cause rock in the asthenosphere to rise.

As dense, high melting point minerals crytallize, chromium, iron, and oxygen combine to form the mineral chromite.

As that area of the continent becomes lighter due to erosion, the continent rises, bringing the chromite closer to the surface.

Two tectonic plates push together at a converging boundary.

Melted rock in a subduction zone begins to rise and to cool.

The magma that did not solidify at the base of the magma chamber cools slowly to solid rock such as granite.

Radioactive decay of elements in Earth's core and mantle cause extreme heat.

Erosion removes miles of rock from above the chromite.

A convection current of slow moving rock in the asthenosphere moves the more rigid rock of the lithosphere horizontally.

Thin, basaltic crust is pushed under another plate, and melts in a subduction zone.

After many years the kitchen sink is replaced, and gets melted down to make something new.

The ore is heated to melt the chromium away from the iron, and a chemical reaction removes the oxygen.

A shaft is blasted through overlying rock to the chromite deposit, and the overburden is piled nearby.

The ore is crushed, and chromium rich rock is separated from rock with less chromium.

Geologic studies and drilling into the crust indicate a rich chromite deposit.

The chromite and other rock is dug out and transported to the surface.

The gangue is piled and covered with plastic.

The purified chromium is combined with iron and other metals to make stainless steel.

The stainless steel is manufactured into a kitchen sink.