Instructions: You are given a science question (hard-level) and four answer options (associated with "A", "B", "C", "D"). Your task is to find the correct answer based on scientific facts, knowledge, and reasoning. Do not generate anything else apart from one of the following characters: 'A', 'B, 'C', 'D'. There is only one correct answer for each question.
Input: Surface mining for coal involves removing all the vegetation and rock above the coal being mined. Which two of Earth's subsystems are most immediately affected by surface mining?
(A) lithosphere and atmosphere (B) biosphere and hydrosphere (C) lithosphere and biosphere (D) atmosphere and hydrosphere
Output:
C