The variety of conditions in which the formation of minerals occurred led to their uneven distribution across the Earth. However, a certain pattern in their distribution still exists. In flat areas formed in slow-moving areas of the platform, a thick layer of sedimentary rocks accumulates and conditions are created for the formation of minerals of sedimentary origin, including energy resources: gas, oil, coal. In folded areas, igneous minerals are formed as a result of earthquakes and volcanism. You already know about the existence of such a pattern in the distribution of minerals. However, you must remember that violations of this pattern are also observed quite often: in the mountains, in addition to ore minerals, coal, oil and gas are found, and on the plains - iron ore and non-ferrous metal ores.
Combustible minerals are confined to the sedimentary cover of platforms, foothill troughs, intermountain depressions and sedimentary strata of the shelf. Various metals are usually confined to folded areas and to protrusions of the crystalline basement within platform areas. Each era of folding is characterized by its own type of ore deposits. Non-metallic minerals are found both in the plains and in the mountains.
Russia is among the top ten countries in terms of reserves of natural gas, oil, amber, gold, nickel, iron, potassium and table salt, platinum, and diamonds. But large reserves are one thing, and another thing is the level of mineral extraction, which depends on a number of factors: availability of the deposit, demand, technical conditions of extraction, availability of financial resources. Therefore, reserves and production are two different figures, and a country can lead in reserves of a certain mineral, but lag behind in its production or not develop it at all.
In the European part there are mainly non-metallic and combustible minerals: coal from the Pechora and Donetsk basins, oil and gas in the foothill trough of the Urals and in the Middle Volga region, table salt and sulfur in the Lower Volga region, phosphorites near Moscow. A lot of different building materials (sand, clay, limestone, dolomite). Iron (KMA), iron and copper-nickel ores are confined to the protrusions of the crystalline basement in Karelia and on the Kola Peninsula. In the North Caucasus in the foothills there are deposits of combustible minerals and polymetallic ore deposits in the mountainous part.
The Urals are famous for their ornamental and precious stones (malachite, jasper, amethysts, corundums, beryls) and various metals (iron, nickel, copper, manganese, gold, platinum), including rare earths. In the Middle Ob region there are oil deposits, in the south of Western Siberia there are coal deposits. Deposits of non-ferrous and precious metals are concentrated in Eastern and North-Eastern Siberia (copper-nickel ores with platinum group metals from Norilsk, gold from the Aldan shield and Transbaikalia, tin from the Yana-Indigirka lowland, uranium from the Chita region, diamonds from Yakutia). In the Far East, mainly metallic minerals are concentrated: tin ores and polymetals in Primorye, gold in Chukotka, Kolyma, Lower Amur region, copper-nickel ores in Kamchatka, platinum in the Khabarovsk Territory. In the intermountain depressions there are small deposits of coal. There is oil on the shelf of the Okhotsk and Bering seas (industrial production is carried out off the coast of Sakhalin). Sources of sulfur have been discovered in Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands. Large oil reserves on the shelf of the Caspian, Barents and Kara seas.
The extraction and primary processing of mineral resources is included in the primary sector of the economy (mining and processing industry). Consumers include industries such as metallurgy, the fuel industry, chemicals and petrochemicals, and the construction industry.
Mineral resources are non-renewable, so they must be used rationally: extract as many useful components as possible from ore, reduce losses during mining and processing.
Oil and gas fields (Volga-Ural oil and gas region, fields in Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, underwater fields in the North Sea); a number of oil fields are confined to Neogene deposits of foothill and intermountain troughs - Romania, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Italy, etc.
Large deposits in Transcaucasia, on the West Siberian Plain, on the Cheleken Peninsula, Nebit-Dag, etc.; the areas adjacent to the coast of the Persian Gulf contain about 1/2 of the total oil reserves of foreign countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, southwest Iran). In addition, oil is produced in China, Indonesia, India, Brunei. There are flammable gas deposits in Uzbekistan, on the West Siberian Plain in the countries of the Near and Middle East.
In tectonic depressions filled with sedimentary rock deposits, deposits of coal, various salts, and oil and gas bearing strata were formed. This is the “coal axis of Europe”: the coal basins of Russia, deposits on the Great Chinese Plain, in the depressions of Mongolia, Hindustan and some other areas of the mainland.
Deposits of hard and brown coal are being developed - Donetsk, Lvov-Volyn, Moscow Region, Pechersk, Upper Silesian, Ruhr, Welsh basins, Karaganda basin, Mangyshlak Peninsula, Caspian lowland, Sakhalin, Siberia (Kuznetsk, Minusinsk, Tunguska basin), eastern parts of China, Korea and the eastern regions of the Hindustan Peninsula.
Powerful deposits of iron ore are being developed in the Urals, Ukraine, and the Kola Peninsula; the deposits of Sweden are of great importance. A large deposit of manganese ores is located in the Nikopol region. There are deposits in Kazakhstan, in the Angaro-Ilimsky region of the Siberian Platform, within the Aldan Shield; in China, North Korea and India.
Bauxite deposits are known in the Urals and in the areas of the East European Platform, India, Burma, and Indonesia.
Rich deposits of apatite-nepheline ores are being developed on the Kola Peninsula.
Large salt-bearing deposits of Permian and Triassic age are confined to the territories of Denmark, Germany, Poland, and France. Deposits of table salt are located in the Cambrian deposits of the Siberian Platform, Pakistan and southern Iran, as well as in the Permian deposits of the Caspian Lowland.
Yakut and Indian diamonds are associated with volcanism that manifested itself on ancient platforms. Diamonds are found in the crystalline foundation of ancient platforms that fell into the compression zone of the lithosphere. Compressed, the platforms split, and mantle material was introduced into the cracks in the foundation. This process is called trap magmatism (or volcanism). Very high pressure in the fractures led to the formation of concentric structures - explosion pipes, or kimberlite pipes. And they contain diamonds - the hardest minerals on Earth.
Remember
What minerals do you know?
There are fuel minerals - peat, coal, oil (sedimentary origin).
Ore minerals – ores of non-ferrous and ferrous metals (magmatic and metamorphic origin).
Non-metallic minerals – mining chemical raw materials, building materials, mineral waters, medicinal mud.
This I know
1. What are land resources? Mineral resources?
Land resources are a territory suitable for settling people and locating objects of their economic activity.
Mineral resources are natural substances of the earth's crust suitable for obtaining energy, raw materials and supplies.
2. What is the importance of mineral resources in human life?
Mineral resources are the basis of a modern economy. Fuel, chemical raw materials, and metals are obtained from them. The well-being of the country most often depends on the quantity and quality of mineral resources.
3. What determines the placement of mineral resources?
The placement of minerals is determined by their origin.
4. What patterns can be established in the distribution of minerals?
Deposits of ferrous and non-ferrous metal ores, gold, and diamonds are confined to the outcrops of the crystalline basement of ancient platforms. Oil, coal, and natural gas deposits are confined to thick sedimentary covers of platforms, foothill troughs, and shelf zones. Non-ferrous metal ores are also found in folded areas.
5. Where are the main oil and gas deposits concentrated?
The main oil and gas bearing areas are concentrated in shelf zones - the North Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea; sedimentary covers of platforms – Western Siberia; foothill troughs - the Andes and the Ural Mountains.
7. Choose the correct answer. Minerals of sedimentary origin are mainly confined to: a) platform shields; b) to platform slabs; c) to folded areas of ancient age.
B) to the platform slabs
I can do this
8. Using the “Formation of Rocks” diagram (see Fig. 24), explain what transformations occur in rocks as a result of the cycle of substances.
As a result of the cycle of substances, the transformation of some minerals into others occurs. Igneous rocks can be considered primary. They were formed from magma that poured onto the surface. Under the influence of various factors, igneous rocks are destroyed. Debris particles are transported and deposited elsewhere. This is how sedimentary rocks are formed. In folded areas, rocks are crushed into folds. At the same time, some of them dive to depth. Under the influence of high temperatures and pressure, they melt and turn into metamorphic rocks. After the destruction of metamorphic rocks, sedimentary rocks are formed again.
This is interesting to me
9. It is believed that in the Stone Age, almost the only mineral was flint, from which arrowheads, axes, spears, and axes were made. How do you think people's ideas about mineral diversity have changed over time?
People's ideas about the diversity of minerals have changed very quickly since the Stone Age. After flint, people very quickly found copper. The Copper Age has arrived. However, copper products for use were weak and soft. A little more time passed, and people became acquainted with a new metal - tin. Tin is a very brittle metal. We can assume that what happened was that pieces of copper and pieces of tin fell into the fire or fire, where they melted and mixed. The result was an alloy that combines the best qualities of both tin and copper. This is how bronze was found. The Bronze Age period is the time from the end of the fourth to the beginning of the first millennium BC.
As we all know, iron in its pure form is not found on Earth - it must be extracted from ore. To do this, the ore must be heated to a very high temperature, and only then can iron be smelted from it.
That centuries were named after minerals speaks to their enormous importance. The use of ever new mineral resources opens up new opportunities for humans and can radically change the entire economy.
A lot of time has passed since then and now people use a huge amount of mineral resources for various purposes. Exploration and extraction of mineral resources is an urgent task for the economy at all times.
10. Famous domestic geologist E.A. Fersman wrote: “I want to extract raw, at first glance unsightly material from the bowels of the Earth... and make it accessible to human contemplation and understanding.” Reveal the meaning of these words.
Mineral resources, when extracted from the earth's crust, most often have an appearance that is far from the appearance of the product that is obtained from it. They really are unsightly stuff. But with the right approach and processing, a lot of value for humans can be extracted from this material. Fersman spoke about the value of the Earth's interior, the need to study them and a reasonable approach to this.
Minerals- this is that part of mineral resources that can be used profitably in the economy. For example, an iron ore deposit is most profitable to develop if its iron content is more than 50%. And platinum or gold is mined, even if their content in the rock is very small. Over the course of their history, people have found a lot of mineral deposits and have already developed a lot, often causing harm to the environment. But production requires more and more raw materials and energy, so the work of geologists does not stop. Specialists from various industries are looking for new technologies for the extraction and processing of minerals located in hard-to-reach places or containing a not too high proportion of useful minerals.
By comparing the map showing the deposits of minerals with the map of the structure of the earth's crust (Fig. 23), one can see, firstly, that minerals are found on all continents, as well as on the bottom of the seas near the shores; secondly, the fact that mineral resources are distributed unevenly and their composition in different territories is different.
| Rice. 23. Structure of the earth's crust |
For example, in Africa, which is an ancient platform with numerous basement outcrops, there is a huge amount of minerals. The platform shields contain deposits of ferrous, non-ferrous and rare metal ores (name which ones by studying the map legend), as well as gold and diamonds.
Ore minerals are most often confined to the shields of ancient platforms and ancient folded areas.
Place of Birth oil And natural gas associated with plates of ancient and young platforms, sea shelves, foothills or intermountain depressions.Material from the site
Comparing the location of the shields of ancient platforms and the placement of ore deposits on other continents, one can find approximately the same picture. In addition, there are, of course, ore minerals in the mountains - igneous and metamorphic rocks also occur there. Mining is carried out mainly in older destroyed mountains, because those igneous and metamorphic rocks that contain ore minerals are located closer to the surface. However, in the Andes the richest deposits of non-ferrous metals, primarily copper and tin, are being developed.
The importance of fuel minerals - gas, oil, coal - in the modern world is colossal. Areas of the world rich in oil and gas reserves: Western Siberia, the North Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Gulf Coast of North America, the Caribbean coast of South America, the foothills of the Andes and the Ural Mountains.
The placement of minerals is related to the structure of the earth's crust and the history of its development.
On this page there is material on the following topics:
Roztashuvannya of the ancestors of the brown scorching copalins
Geography report on minerals
Summary of minerals in brief
A short report about minerals
World map location of mineral deposits
Questions about this material:
EARTH'S CRUST AND ECONOMY
Under our feet is solid earth - the earth's crust formed over a long geological time, composed of various igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, with a complex topography. The earth's crust is the main treasury of humanity. It is where they are concentrated
the main fossil resources, without the extraction of which modern production is impossible. Soils formed on the land surface, on parent rocks. Humanity lives on land, here people plow and sow their fields, build homes, create industry, and lay roads. It is the surface of the land that is the area where a person can simultaneously use in production both the energy of solar heat coming from the Sun to the Earth, and the “concentrated” energy of the Sun, preserved in the depths of the earth’s crust for many hundreds of millions of years in the form of coal, oil and other forms fossil fuel. The land surface is an area where a person can simultaneously use in production objects of modern life activity of organisms and the results of ancient life activity of organisms - a significant part of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, including limestones, iron ores, apparently bauxite and many other minerals.
The opportunity for a person to put himself in his service not only
including solar energy, flora and fauna resources, river energy, soil fertility, but also natural energy and raw materials hidden in the depths of the earth’s crust are of great importance in the development of productive forces. Over time, the importance of the riches of the earth's crust increases more and more.
Earth's crust resources
The thickness of the earth's crust is very large. We know best of all its upper strata, which have been successfully studied by geophysical exploration methods. To calculate the content of various resources in this strata, its thickness is conventionally assumed to be 16 km.
The main elements of the earth's crust are oxygen (47.2% by weight) and silicon (27.6%), i.e. these two elements alone make up 74.8% (i.e. almost three-quarters!) of the weight of the lithosphere (up to depth 16 km). Almost a quarter of the weight (24.84%) is made up of: aluminum (8.80%), iron (5.10%), calcium (3.60%), sodium (2.64%), potassium (2.60%) and magnesium (2.10%). Thus, only 73 percent falls on the remaining chemical elements that play a very important role in modern industry - carbon, phosphorus, sulfur, manganese, chromium, nickel, copper, zinc, lead and many others 1.
In modern industry, the following 25 most important types of fossil raw materials are distinguished: oil, natural gas, coal, uranium, thorium, iron, manganese, chromium, tungsten, nickel, molybdenum, vanadium, cobalt, copper, lead, zinc, tin, antimony, cadmium, mercury, bauxite (aluminium), magnesium, titanium, sulfur, diamonds. To these types of raw materials for industry it is necessary to add the basic chemical elements necessary for agriculture - nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, as well as the main elements used in construction - silicon, calcium. A total of 30 most important types of raw materials in a modern economy 2.
If we arrange the first 30 chemical elements that are most common in the lithosphere (in order of their weight percentages) and serve as raw materials in the economy, we will get the following sequence, partly already familiar to us: silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, titanium , carbon, chlorine, phosphorus, sulfur, manganese, fluorine, barium, nitrogen, strontium, chromium, zirconium, vanadium, nickel, zinc, boron, copper, rubidium, lithium, yttrium, beryllium, cerium, cobalt.
Thus, comparing these two rows of main elements - economic and natural - we will not see in the second row (natural) the following important types of raw materials: uranium and thorium, tungsten, molybdenum, antimony, cadmium, mercury, lead, tin, i.e. nine elements.
We can say that the economy mainly relies on those elements from fossil resources that are contained in the lithosphere in the greatest quantities compared to the rest: iron, aluminum, magnesium, silicon. It should, however, be noted that the ratios between the first and last of the listed 30 elements in terms of their content in the earth’s crust reach a very large value: the former are tens of thousands and thousands of times more than the latter.
The aluminum and magnesium industry has developed especially rapidly in the last quarter of a century. Iron alloys, where possible, began to replace scarce non-ferrous metals. It has developed greatly over the past decades. ceramic
1 See V.I. Vernadsky. Favorite soch., vol. 1. M., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1954, p. 362.
2 Oxygen and hydrogen are excluded from this list.
an industry that is based on the use of clays and sand. Ceramic products (pipes, tiles, etc.) replace more scarce metals. At the same time, dozens of relatively rare chemical elements acquired industrial importance, most of which serve as an additive to the most common metals in nature (iron, aluminum, etc.) and impart new valuable qualities to their alloys. Modern industry has entered the period of creating super-strong metals (steel, cast iron, aluminum alloys, magnesium, titanium) and concrete. A ton of these new materials replaces many tons of metals produced at the beginning of this century.
The subsoil of the earth's crust can provide the world's population with a variety of resources for a long time.
People still know relatively little about the depths of the earth's crust and, in fact, are just beginning to learn about their riches.
In order to be able to rationally use minerals, it is necessary to determine their reserves. There are geochemical and geological reserves. Geochemical reserves are the amount of a particular chemical element in the earth’s crust as a whole and within any large area. Industry is primarily interested in geological reserves, i.e. those that are of direct importance can be mined and brought to the surface. In turn, geological reserves are divided into three categories: A - industrial reserves; B - explored reserves; C - probable reserves.
Some scientists in capitalist countries write about the threat of depletion of the earth's interior. But proven geological reserves of the main types of fossil raw materials and fuels are increasing, as a rule, at a much faster rate than their production. With the exception of chromium, tungsten, cobalt, bauxite and sulfur with pyrites, the ratio of production to geological reserves does not increase, but decreases. Humanity is increasingly provided with basic types of fossil raw materials and there are no signs of modern depletion of the earth's interior.
Geological reserves of mineral resources could have been increased even more if in capitalist countries the main resources of the earth's interior had not been seized by a small number of large capitalist monopolies interested in high prices for fossil raw materials and fuel. In this regard, the largest monopolistic companies strive in every possible way to slow down new geological exploration and often hide the true proven reserves of the most important resources of the earth's subsoil.
The fall of the colonial regime and the weakening of the power of large monopolies after the Second World War in many countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America led to increased geological exploration and the discovery of gigantic new riches: oil, gas, iron, copper, manganese ores, rare metals, etc. If we compare the maps of mineral resources from pre-war and recent
years, then one can see strong changes towards greater uniformity in the distribution of the largest mineral deposits through the exploration of those continents and countries whose resources were not previously used by the main capitalist countries.
Patterns of geographical locationmineral raw materials
Mineral resources are distributed relatively unevenly across the land surface.
The spatial distribution of minerals is determined by natural laws. The earth's crust is heterogeneous in its composition. There is a regular change in chemical composition with depth. Schematically, the thickness of the earth's crust (lithosphere) can be divided into three vertical zones:
The surface zone is granitic, acidic, with the following typical elements: hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, oxygen, fluorine, sodium, aluminum, (phosphorus), silicon, (chlorine), potassium, (titanium), (manganese), rubidium, yttrium, zirconium, niobium, molybdenum, tin, cesium, rare earths, tantalum, tungsten, (gold), radium, radon, thorium, uranium (less typical elements in brackets).
The middle zone is basaltic, basic, with a number of typical elements: carbon, oxygen, sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, calcium, manganese, bromine, iodine, barium, strontium.
The deep zone is peridotite, ultrabasic, with typical elements: titanium, vanadium, chromium, iron, cobalt, nickel, ruthenium-palladium, osmium-platinum.
In addition, a typical vein group of chemical elements with a predominance of metals is distinguished. Sulfur, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, gallium, germanium, arsenic, selenium, molybdenum, silver, cadmium, indium, tin, antimony, tellurium, gold, mercury, lead, bismuth 3 are usually concentrated in the veins.
As you go deeper into the earth's crust, the content of oxygen, silicon, aluminum, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, barium, and strontium decreases, and the proportion of magnesium, calcium, iron, and titanium 4 increases.
In very deep mines, it is not uncommon to see a change in the ratio of elements as one goes deeper. For example, in the mines of the Ore Mountains, the tin content increases from top to bottom; in a number of areas, tungsten is replaced by tin, lead by zinc, etc. 5.
3 See A.E. Fersman. Favorite works, vol. 2. M„ Publishing house of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1953, p. 264.
4 See ibid., pp. 267-^268.
5 See t;1 m e, p. 219.
Mountain building processes disrupt the ideal arrangement of typical groups of chemical elements (geochemical associations). As a result of mountain building, deep rocks rise to the surface of the Earth. The greater the amplitude of vertical displacements in the lithosphere, which is partially reflected in the amplitude of mountain heights, the greater the differences in the combination of chemical elements. Where the mountains have been severely destroyed by exogenous forces of nature, various riches of the earth's interior are revealed to man: all the treasures according to the periodic table.
The time of formation of different minerals is not the same. The main geological eras differ greatly from each other in the concentration of various elements. There are also large differences in the concentration of minerals in one era or another across continents.
The Precambrian era is characterized by ferruginous quartzites and rich iron ores (68% of the reliable reserves of iron ores of all capitalist countries), ores of manganese (63%), chromites (94%), copper (60%), nickel (72%), cobalt (93 %), uranium (66%), mica (almost 100%), gold and platinum.
The Lower Paleozoic era is relatively poor in large mineral deposits. The era produced oil shale, some oil deposits, and phosphorites.
But in the Upper Paleozoic era, the largest resources of coal (50% of world reserves), oil, potassium and magnesium salts, polymetallic ores (lead and zinc), copper and large deposits of tungsten, mercury, asbestos, and phosphorites were formed.
During the Mesozoic era, the formation of the largest deposits of oil, coal, and tungsten continued, and new ones were formed - tin, molybdenum, antimony, and diamonds.
Finally, the Cenozoic era gave the world the main reserves of bauxite, sulfur, boron, polymetallic ores, and silver. During this era, the accumulation of oil, copper, nickel and cobalt, molybdenum, antimony, tin, polymetallic ores, diamonds, phosphorites, potassium salts and other minerals continues.
V.I. Vernadsky, A.E. Fersman and other scientists identified the following types of areas where minerals naturally combine with each other: 1) geochemical belts. 2) geochemical fields and 3) geochemical centers (nodes) of raw materials and fuel.
Several other terms are also used: metallogenic belts; shields and platforms; metallogenic provinces, which roughly correspond to the territorial units listed above
Metallogenic belts extend for hundreds and thousands of kilometers. They border crystalline shields that have remained more or less unchanged since the earliest geological
eras. Many important complexes of mineral deposits are associated with metallogenic belts.
The greatest ore belt on earth surrounds the Pacific Ocean. The length of the Pacific belt exceeds 30 thousand. km. This belt consists of two zones - internal (facing the ocean) and external. The internal zone is more fully expressed on the American continent and weaker on the Asian continent, where it covers a chain of islands (Japanese, Taiwan, the Philippines). Deposits of copper and gold are concentrated in the inner zone, and tin, polymetals (lead, zinc and other metals), antimony and bismuth are concentrated in the outer zone.
The Mediterranean ore belt includes the mountain ranges surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, and goes further through Transcaucasia, Iran, Northern India to Malacca, where it connects with the Pacific belt. The length of the Mediterranean belt is about 16 thousand km.
One of the world's largest metallogenic belts is also the Ural belt.
A number of mountain systems are characterized by a regular distribution of minerals in the form of strips parallel to the axis of the mountain system. Thus, in many cases, very different combinations of ores are located at a relatively short distance from each other. Along the axis of the belts there are predominantly the deepest formations (Cr, N1, P1, V, Ta, Nb), and on the sides of this axis: Sn, As. Аn,W ; , even further - Cu, Zn, Pb, even further - Ag Co, finally Sb, Hg and other elements 6. Approximately the same geographical distribution of chemical elements is observed in the Urals, whose minerals are grouped in five main zones: 1) western, with a predominance of sedimentary rocks: cuprous sandstones, oil, sodium chloride and potassium-magnesium salts, coal; 2) central (axial), with heavy deep rocks: platinum, molybdenum, chromium, nickel; 3) metamorphic (deposits of copper pyrites); 4) eastern granite (iron ore, magnesites and rare metals) and 5) eastern sedimentary, with brown coals, bauxites.
Geochemical fields are huge spaces of crystalline shields and platforms overlain by sedimentary rocks located between the belts of folded mountain systems. These sedimentary rocks owe their origin to the activity of the sea, rivers, wind, organic life, i.e., factors associated with the influence of solar energy.
Deposits of many minerals are associated with ancient crystalline rocks of vast spaces of shields and platforms: iron ores, gold, nickel, uranium, rare metals and some others. The usually flat terrain of ancient shields and platforms, dense population and good provision of many of them with railways led to the fact that
deposits of shields and platforms of the globe (without the USSR) provide approximately 2/3 of the production of iron ore, 3/4 of the production of gold and platinum, 9/10 of the production of uranium, nickel and cobalt, almost all of the mined thorium, beryllium, niobium, zirconium, tantalum , a lot of manganese, chromium 7.
The distribution of minerals in sedimentary rocks is governed by the laws of ancient and modern climatic zonation. Most often, the geography of sedimentary rocks is affected by the zoning of past eras. But modern zonal natural processes also significantly affect the formation and geographic distribution of various salts, peat and other minerals.
The patterns of distribution of ore and non-metallic minerals are determined by the tectonics of the country. Therefore, for an economic geographer, knowledge of a tectonic map and the ability to read it and economically evaluate the features of the geological development of different tectonic regions of the country are very important.
Thus, in most cases, the largest deposits of oil and natural gas are associated with areas of deep subsidence of ancient folded crystalline sections of the earth’s crust. Platform marginal troughs, intermountain depressions, basins and arches connecting them, which arose when thick sedimentary rocks were crushed by hard blocks, attract the attention of search engines, since oil, natural gas, and salt deposits are often associated with them.
The so-called caustobiolites (fuel minerals) have their own patterns of geographical distribution that do not coincide with the patterns of metal distribution.
In recent years, significant progress has been made in establishing the patterns of geographical distribution of oil-bearing regions of the globe. In the summary of O. A. Radchenko 8 four huge oil-bearing belts are identified: 1. Paleozoic (the oil in it is almost exclusively confined to Paleozoic deposits); 2. Latitudinal Meso-Cenozoic; 3. Western Pacific Cenozoic and 4. Eastern Pacific Meso-Cenozoic.
According to 1960 data, 29% of world oil production was produced within the Paleozoic belt, in the Shirotny - 42.9, in the Eastern Pacific - 24.5, in the Western Pacific - 2.8 and outside the belts - 0.8% 9 -
The main zones of coal accumulation are, as a rule, confined to marginal and internal troughs and to internal syneclises of ancient and stable platforms. For example, in the USSR the largest
7 See P. M. Tatarinov. Conditions for the formation of deposits of ore and non-metallic minerals. M., Gosgeoltekhizdat, 1955, pp. 268-269.
8 See O. A. Radchenko. Geochemical patterns of distribution of oil-bearing regions of the world. L., "Nedra", 1965.
9 See ibid., p. 280.
coal basins are confined to the Donetsk trough of the Russian platform, to the Kuznetsk trough, etc.
The patterns of coal distribution have not yet been fully established, but still some of the existing ones are interesting. Thus, according to G.F. Krasheninnikov, in the USSR 48% of coal reserves are confined to marginal and internal troughs, 43% to ancient stable platforms; in the USA, most of the coal reserves are located on stable platforms, and in Western Europe almost all coals are confined to marginal and internal troughs. The largest coal basins are located in the interior of the continents; the great row belts (Pacific, Mediterranean and Ural) are relatively poor in coal.
Largest mineral deposits
Among the many thousands of exploited deposits, relatively few, especially large and rich ones, are of decisive importance. The discovery of such deposits is very important for the development of productive forces and they greatly influence the location of industry and can significantly change the economic profile of individual regions and even countries.
Coal basins: Kansko-Achinsky, Kuznetsky, Pechora, Donetsk (USSR), Appalachian (USA);
Iron ore basins: Kursk magnetic anomaly, Krivoy Rog (USSR), Minas Gerais (Brazil), Lake Superior (USA), Labrador (Canada), North Swedish (Sweden); Oil-bearing regions: West Siberian, Volga-Ural, Mangyshlak (USSR), Maracaida (Venezuela), Middle East (Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia), Saharan (Algeria);
Manganese deposits: Nikopolskoye, Chiaturskoye (USSR), Franceville (Gabon); Nagpur-Balaghat (India).
Chromite deposits: South Ural (USSR), Great Dike (Southern Rhodesia), Guleman (Turkey), Trans-Vaal (South Africa);
Nickel deposits: Norilsk, Monchegorsko-Pechengskoye (USSR), Sudbury (Canada), Mayari-Barakonskoye (Cuba); Copper deposits: Katanga-Zambia 10 (Congo with its capital in Kinshasa and Zambia), with copper reserves of about 100 million tons, Udokan, Central Kazakhstan, South Ural DSSSR, Chuquicamata (Chile);
Deposits of polymetallic ores (lead, zinc, silver): Rudny Altai in the USSR, Pine Point (12.3 million). T zinc and lead) and Sullivan (more than 6 million). T) in Canada, Broken Hill (more than 6 million) t) in Australia. The world's largest source of silver (with production of about 500 T per year) - Coeur d'Alene - in the USA (Idaho).
10 The Katanga-Zambia copper belt is also very rich in cobalt.
Bauxite deposits (for aluminum production): Guinea (Republic of Guinea), with reserves of 1,500 million. T, Williamsfield (Jamaica), with reserves of 600 million. T, a number of deposits in Australia, with gigantic, still quite unexplored deposits, the total size of which is estimated at 4000 million. T.
Tin deposits: Malacca tin province (Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia), with gigantic tin reserves of 3.8 million. T, and Colombia.
Gold deposits: Witwatersrand (South Africa), North-East of the USSR and Kzylkum (USSR).
Phosphorite deposits: North African province (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria), Khibiny massif (USSR).
Deposits of potassium salts: Verkhnekamskoye and Pripyatskoye (USSR), Main Basin (GDR and Germany), Saskatchewan (Canada).
Diamond deposits: Western Yakut (USSR), Kassai (Congo with its capital in Kinshasa).
Geological, geophysical and geochemical searches, the scope of which is increasingly increasing, are leading and will continue to lead to the discovery of new unique mineral deposits. How great these discoveries can be is shown, for example, by the fact of the establishment in 1950-1960. boundaries and reserves of the West Siberian oil and gas region with an area of promising areas of 1,770 thousand. km 2 , With high density of oil and gas reserves. In the next one and a half to two decades, Western Siberia will not only satisfy its needs with its own oil, but will also supply large quantities of oil and gas both to the European part of the USSR, and to Siberia and the countries of Western Europe.
Historical sequence of usecrustal resources
During their history, people gradually involved in the sphere of their production more and more chemical elements contained in the earth's crust, thus using more and more the natural basis for the development of productive forces.
V.I. Vernadsky divided chemical elements according to the time of the beginning of their economic use by man into a number of historical stages:
used in ancient times: nitrogen, iron, gold, potassium, calcium, oxygen, silicon, copper, lead, sodium, tin, mercury, silver, sulfur, antimony, carbon, chlorine;
added until the 18th century: arsenic, magnesium, bismuth, cobalt, boron, phosphorus;
added in the 19th century: barium, bromine, zinc, vanadium, tungsten, iridium, iodine, cadmium, lithium, manganese, molybdenum, osmium, palladium, radium, selenium, strontium, tantalum, fluorine, thorium, uranium, chromium, zirconium, rare earth;
added in the 20th century: all other chemical elements.
Currently, all chemical elements of the periodic table are involved in production. In the laboratory and in industrial installations, man created, using the laws of nature, such new elements (superuranium), which currently no longer exist in the thickness of the earth’s crust.
In fact, now there is no element that does not have economic significance to one degree or another. However, the participation of chemical elements in production is far from equal.
Depending on their modern economic use, chemical elements can be divided into three groups 12:
elements of capital importance in industry and agriculture: hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sodium, potassium, aluminum, magnesium, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, calcium, iron, uranium, thorium;
the main elements of modern industry: chromium, manganese, nickel, copper, zinc, silver, tin, antimony, tungsten, gold, mercury, lead, cobalt, molybdenum, vanadium, cadmium, niobium, titanium;
common elements of modern industry: boron, fluorine, arsenic, bromine, strontium, zirconium, barium, tantalum, etc.
Over the past decades, the comparative economic importance of different chemical elements in the earth's crust has changed greatly. The development of large-scale industry based on steam energy necessitated a dramatic increase in the production of coal and iron. Electrification of the economy has led to a colossal increase in the demand for copper. The widespread use of internal combustion engines caused a gigantic increase in oil production. The advent of cars and the increase in the speed of their movement created a demand for high-quality metal with an admixture of rare elements, and aircraft construction needed alloys, first of aluminum and magnesium with rare metals, and then, at modern speeds, titanium.
Finally, modern intranuclear energy has created a huge demand for uranium, thorium and other radioactive elements and for lead, necessary for the construction of nuclear power plants.
Even in recent decades, the rate of growth in the production of various minerals has varied greatly, and it is difficult to predict which chemical elements will grow the most in the coming decades. In any case, the development of technology can lead to the fact that in certain periods the need for non-
11 See V.I. Vernadsky. I.chbr. cit., vol. 1. M., Scientific Research Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. 195!, page "112.
12 See A.E. Fersman. Geochemistry, vol. 4. L., 1939, p. 9 Introduced some p. 726.
which rare elements (necessary for modern “homeopathic metallurgy”) 13, non-ferrous metals, types of chemical raw materials will come into temporary conflict with their explored reserves. These contradictions will be resolved by using other, more common elements (changes in industrial technology) and intensifying searches, in particular at great depths.
Geochemical role of humans
Man has now begun to play a very important geochemical role on Earth. In the process of production and consumption, it first, as a rule, concentrates and then disperses chemical elements. It produces a number of chemical compounds in a form in which they are not found in nature, in the thickness of the earth's crust. It produces metallic aluminum and magnesium and other metals that are not found in nature in their native form. It creates new types of organic, silicon and organometallic compounds unknown in nature.
Man has concentrated in his hands gold and a number of other precious metals and rare elements in quantities not found in nature in one place. On the other hand, man mines iron in thick deposits, concentrates it, and then sprays it over most of the land surface in the form of rails, roofing iron, wire, machinery, metal products, etc. Man sprays it even more. carbon stored in the earth's crust (coal, oil, shale, peat), in the full sense of the word, releasing it into the chimney, increasing the carbon dioxide content in the air.
A.E. Fersman subdivided all chemical elements according to the nature of the relationship between natural and technological processes into six groups 14, which can be combined into two large sections:
A. Consistent action of nature and man.
Nature concentrates and man concentrates (platinum and platinum group metals).
Nature dissipates and man dissipates (boron, carbon, oxygen, fluorine, sodium, magnesium, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, calcium, arsenic, strontium, barium).
3."Nature concentrates, man first concentrates in order to then disperse (nitrogen and partly zinc).
B. Discordant action of nature and man. .
4. Nature concentrates, man disperses (rare case: partially hydrogen, tin).
5. Nature disperses, man concentrates (helium, aluminum, zirconium, silver, gold, radium, thorium, uranium, neon, argon).
13 See E. M. Savitsky. Rare metals. "Nature", 1956, No. 4.
14 See A.E. Fersman. Favorite works, vol. 3. M., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1955, p. 726.
6. Nature disperses, man concentrates in order to then disperse (lithium, titanium, vanadium, chromium, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, selenium, bromine, niobium, manganese, cadmium, antimony, iodine, tantalum, tungsten, lead, bismuth) .
V.I. Vernadsky wrote 15 that a person strives to fully utilize the chemical energy of an element and therefore brings it into a state free from compounds (pure iron, metallic aluminum). “In a curious way,” continued V.I. Vernadsky, “here But thatsarieps performs exactly the same work that in nature, in the weathering crust, is performed by microorganisms, which, as we know, are here the source of the formation of native elements.”
In recent years, technology has revealed an increasing tendency to obtain ultra-pure metals, so that people are increasingly acting in the direction noted by V.I. Vernadsky. Thus, man, using the natural resources of the earth’s crust, acts like nature itself. However, if microorganisms release native elements in the process of their biological life, then a person does the same with his production activities. Man, wrote V.I. Vernadsky, alone touched all chemical elements in his work, while in the life activity of microorganisms there is an extreme specialization of individual species. Man has increasingly begun to regulate the geochemical work of microorganisms and is moving on to its practical use.
In a very short time compared to the geological history of the Earth, man has accomplished colossal geochemical work.
Human production activity is especially great in geochemical sites with huge mining industries - in coal basins, where other minerals are mined in addition to coal, in ore areas, etc.
Behind each person are many tons of coal ores, building materials, oil and other minerals mined annually. At the current level of production, humanity extracts approximately 100 billion tons from the earth every year. T different rocks. By the end of this century, this value will reach approximately 600 billion. T.
A.E. Fersman wrote: “Human economic and industrial activity in its scale and significance has become comparable to the processes of nature itself. Matter and energy are not unlimited in comparison with the growing needs of man; their reserves in size are of the same order of magnitude as the needs of mankind: the natural geochemical laws of distribution and concentration of elements are comparable to the laws of technochemistry, i.e., with the chemical transformations introduced by industry and the national economy. Man geochemically remakes the world" 16.
15 See V.I. Vernadsky. Favorite cit., vol. 1, pp. 411-413.
16 A. E. Fersman. Selected works, vol. 3, p. 716.
Man goes deep into the depths of the earth not only for minerals. In recent years, natural cavities formed in easily soluble rocks (limestone, gypsum, salts, etc.), which are used to house enterprises and warehouses, have acquired great practical importance. At first, only natural cavities were used for these purposes, but now work is being done to create artificial underground cavities by leaching easily soluble rocks where these cavities are needed and, of course, where they can be formed due to natural conditions (in areas of shields they cannot be created; on the contrary, in areas with thick layers of sedimentary rocks, including limestones, salts, and gypsum, there are favorable conditions for artificial leaching of large cavities).
Economic use of earth's crust resources
Minerals can be divided into several technical and economic groups, based on their economic purpose:
1) fuel (energy) group; 2) chemical group; 3) metallurgical group; 4) construction group.
The first group usually includes coal, oil, natural combustible gas, oil shale, and peat. Now the same energy group of mineral raw materials should also include raw materials for extracting intranuclear energy - uranium and thorium.
All combustible minerals are also, as a rule, the most valuable chemical raw materials. By using them only as fuel, humanity irreversibly destroys valuable modern chemical raw materials. The transition to intranuclear energy will make it possible in the future to use coal, oil, gas, peat, and shale mainly as chemical raw materials.
In 1965, there were 62 nuclear power plants (NPPs) operating worldwide with a total capacity of more than 8.5 million. ket. They still produce a small part of the electricity produced in all countries, but the role of nuclear power plants will grow rapidly.
The actual chemical group of minerals includes salts (table salt, which serves as an important raw material for the soda industry, potassium salt for the production of mineral fertilizers, Glauber's salt, used in the soda industry, glass production, etc.), sulfur pyrites (for the production of sulfuric acid ), phosphorites and apatites (raw materials for superphosphate production and for the electric sublimation of phosphorus). An important raw material is deep water containing bromine, sodium, helium and other elements necessary for the modern chemical industry.
The metallurgical group of minerals is very diverse. The most important of them is iron ore. Iron ore deposits around the globe differ greatly in reserves, content, nature of impurities (harmful or foamy for
metallurgical production). The world's largest deposit of iron ore (in the form of mainly ferruginous quartzites) is located in the center of the European part of the USSR (Kursk magnetic anomaly). Iron has a number of “companions” that improve the properties of the ferrous metal: titanium, manganese, chromium, nickel, cobalt, tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium and a number of other elements rare in the earth’s crust. 1 *
The subgroup of non-ferrous metals includes copper, lead, zinc, bauxite, nephelines and alunites (raw materials for the production of alumina - aluminum oxide, from which metallic aluminum is then obtained in electrolysis baths), magnesium salts and magnesites (raw materials for the production of metal magnesium), tin, antimony, mercury and some other metals.
A subgroup of noble metals - platinum, gold, silver - is of great importance in technology, especially in instrument making. Gold and silver currently function as money.
The group of building materials is also diverse. Its importance is increasing due to the rapid construction of buildings, bridges, roads, waterworks and other structures. The area of the earth's surface covered with certain building and road materials is increasing sharply. The most important building materials: marl, limestone, chalk (raw materials for the cement industry and building stone), clay and sand (raw materials for the silicate industry), igneous rocks (granite, basalt, tuff, etc.), used as building and road materials.
The degree of industrial concentration of metal in ore varies greatly over time, as it depends on the level of production technology.
In addition to the absolute reserves and the degree of concentration of a particular chemical element, such a synthetic indicator as the ore-bearing (coal-bearing) coefficient, which shows the reserves of ore (coal) to the total volume of ore-bearing (coal-bearing) strata as a percentage, is of great importance for assessment.
In addition, it is important for an economic geographer to know the depth of mineral deposits, the thickness, frequency and nature of the strata (sloping, steeply dipping, disturbed by faults), the presence of impurities that complicate or facilitate the enrichment of ores and coals, the degree of gas saturation, the abundance of groundwater and other aspects of natural conditions of the thickness of the earth's crust, into which man goes deep with his mines and penetrates far from them with long adits diverging to the sides, or with huge open-pit mines.
It is very favorable for industry when minerals can be extracted in open-pit mines. In particular, cheap coal is mined in open-pit coal mines of the USSR in the coal basins of Karaganda, Kuzbass, Eki-
Bastuz, Kansk-Achinsk, Cheremkhovo basins and a number of other regions of the USSR.
Issues of the integrated economic use of mineral resources are increasingly becoming an area of economic geography, which should be closely related to geochemistry and geology and make extensive use of their data.
A.E. Fersman assessed the commonwealth of geography and geochemistry as follows:
“As a result of the interaction of tectonic forces and the chains created by them, the influence of isostasy, which tends to balance the continental massifs, the influence of water erosion, river systems and the general distribution of water and land, a whole cycle of phenomena is created that influence economic life, create hydropower reserves, and modify the laws of distribution chemical elements and geographically direct the course of the country's development. They could, according to Penck, be united by the term geographical factors, meaning by this word not only purely spatial relationships, but also their genetic connection, not only the morphology of objects, but also their dynamics and the very chemical essence, and if in recent years the concept of geography expanded significantly, covering the most diverse aspects of life and nature, and created the most important branch of this science - economic geography, then the introduction of the term geochemical geography is just as fair...” 17 .
Economic-geographical, along with geological and technological, study of mineral resource areas is extremely important. When carrying out geographical work in geochemical nodes, as A.E. Fersman wrote about this, it is necessary to determine:
the exact geographical location of the field area and its relationship with communication routes, railway points, and large populated centers;
general climatic conditions of the area (temperature and its fluctuations, precipitation, winds and their directions, etc.);
clarification of transport possibilities and the most profitable directions both for the export of minerals and for communication with central economic regions;
availability of labor, opportunities for the economic development of these areas and for the organization of workers’ settlements (and their supplies);
water supply issues for both the enterprise itself and workers’ settlements;
energy issues, availability of local sources of fuel or other types of energy; possibility of connections with large power lines;
7) the availability of building and road materials necessary for the organization of workings and for residential and industrial construction.
The most important thing that an economic geographer can give is, together with technologists and economists, to determine and economically justify ways for the integrated use of fossil raw materials in certain geochemical belts, sections of geochemical fields, geochemical nodes, or usually combinations of one, the other and the third.
In capitalist countries, in metallogenic (ore, geochemical) belts and nodes that are complex in nature, only those minerals that bring maximum profit are extracted. The same “satellites” of the most valuable minerals, which today do not promise maximum profit, go to waste or are released into the air (gases).
In a socialist society, new social relations, higher technology and careful use of the earth's interior make it possible to combine raw materials and fuel. “...The combined use of mineral resources is not an arithmetic addition of individual different industries - this is a technical and economic task of enormous importance, it is an economic and organizing principle of individual territories of the Union” 18, wrote A. E. Fersman.
Ore (geochemical) belts, zones and the richest sections of shields and platforms, and especially geochemical nodes, are in some cases the “cores” (bases) of economic regions of different countries. At the same time, it must be emphasized that the productive forces of mining economic regions cannot be considered as a simple reflection (“cast”) of the complexes of their mineral resources. Mineral resources are usually not discovered and used in industry all at once, but gradually, in many cases over a long period of time, depending on certain economic requirements of society, the development of technology, the historical sequence of settlement of the area, the construction of communication routes, etc. First, some production units of an economic region arise on the basis of local raw materials and fuel, then others, and the history of the economic development of mining regions shows that in many capitalist countries the emergence of new units based on newly discovered mineral resources occurred in a fierce struggle with old industries.
At the current level of development of the productive forces of a socialist society, it is possible for a large production complex to be born “from scratch”, using not individual types of natural resources, but their complex combination. Examples are numerous in the eastern regions of the USSR.
A. E. F s r s m a n. Favorite Proceedings, vol. 2, p. 215.
A. E. F s r s m I And. Favorite Proceedings, vol. 2, pp. 569.
The economic needs of the country and its individual regions lead to the fact that in the process of development of mining regions and centers, various interconnected industrial productions rely not only on local, but also on imported mineral raw materials and fuel, since the requirements of developing modern large-scale industrial production wider than the natural combinations of minerals of the most resource-rich geochemical unit. There is a need to attract from the outside the missing types of mineral raw materials and fuel, and the very concept of “missing” is associated primarily with the ways of economic development of a particular economic region.
When considering the problems of the integrated use of mineral raw materials and fuels of one or another geochemically integral territory, one must also keep in mind that the natural proportions of various minerals often do not satisfy the needs of society and hinder the development of individual industrial production. For the development of industry, in most cases, different economic (production) proportions of raw materials and fuel are needed. Of course, it is very favorable for the development of industry when, at one stage or another, economic needs are fully satisfied by the natural proportions of mineral raw materials and fuel. Otherwise, additional funds are needed to overcome difficulties associated with the peculiarities of combinations of natural resources, in particular for the delivery of missing resources from other geochemical belts and nodes.
An example of the integrated use of fossil resources in a mining economic region is the Donetsk basin, where coal, table salt, limestone, fire- and acid-resistant clays, mercury, and quartz sand are mined. However, these resources are not enough for the development of modern industrial Donbass. The following are imported into the Donbass: Krivoy Rog iron ore, Nikopol manganese and other “companions” of iron for the development of ferrous metallurgy. Using cheap fuel from the Donbass, zinc is smelted from imported zinc concentrate, and waste sulfur dioxide gases and imported Ural pyrites serve as raw materials for the production of sulfuric acid. In turn, this acid is necessary for the production of mineral fertilizers based on waste from coal coking and imported Kola apatites. Industrial Donbass has a certain economic structure of interconnected industries, a developing structure in which one link necessitates the emergence of others, more and more complex.
Inextricably linked with the integrated use of mineral resources is the issue of including low-grade (poor) types of fossil raw materials and fuels in production. It is not always economically feasible to bring rich raw materials and
fuel; in many cases it is more profitable to use poorer, but local raw materials and fuel. The use of local fuels for electrification is especially important. V.I. Lenin in “Outline of a plan for scientific and technical work” (April 1918) attached great importance to this: “The use of sub-prime grades of fuel (peat, coal of the worst grades) to produce electrical energy with the lowest costs for the extraction and transportation of fuel” 19 .
Rich raw materials and first-class fuel are not always found in the ground where they are needed for production. Low-grade raw materials and sub-prime fuel can be found and used for farming more or less everywhere and long-distance, expensive transportation of richer raw materials and fuel can be avoided. Subprime fuel can be very cheap, especially if its reserves are large and the fuel lies close to the surface (brown coals, shale) or on the surface (peat). Therefore, it is profitable to extract it and use it at the mining site in the furnaces of power plants and for the production of chemical products, and transmit electricity through wires to centers of its large consumption. It should be especially noted that the development of the chemical industry makes it possible to transform many types of poor raw materials into rich ones when it finds valuable components in them.
Further, there are not always many rich sources of raw materials and fuel; we need to look far ahead and involve in production now low-grade sources of raw materials and fuel, in many cases very large in absolute reserves. Modern industry is a large consumer of minerals, and if it were based only on rich deposits alone, it could not remain so large and increase its production. That is why the problem of using substandard fuels and poor sources of raw materials is of great practical importance.
At the same time, of course, rich sources of raw materials and fuel are of very great economic importance. At the present time, when there is economic competition between socialist countries and capitalist countries, when the gain in time becomes of great importance, the widest use of primary, rich sources of raw materials and fuel becomes very important. It is no coincidence that the plans for the development of the national economy of the USSR provide for the creation of new industrial centers and regions based on the richest deposits of raw materials and cheap fuel. Socialism brings its industry closer to sources of raw materials and fuel, decisively redistributing production geographically and thereby achieving higher productivity of social labor. In ore mining centers remote from the main production sites, other vi- V.I. Lepi l. Poly. collection cit., vol. 36, p.
It is difficult to count on the comprehensive use of these raw materials. On the contrary, when industry, including manufacturing, is brought closer to natural sources of raw materials and fuel, the possibilities for the integrated use of resources greatly increase.
The integrated use of all mineral resources of the country (economic region) increases the overall productivity of social labor, reduces the need for capital investments to achieve the planned volume of production, and makes it possible to eliminate the irrational transportation of raw materials and fuel.
The integrated use of subsoil resources in socialist countries acts not only as a tool for the comprehensive development of natural resources, but also for the correct distribution of productive forces throughout the country, ensuring the fastest possible expanded socialist reproduction. A.E. Fersman correctly wrote: “The geography of industry is, to a large extent, the geography of the combined use of local raw materials... A complex idea is a fundamentally economic idea, creating maximum value with the least expenditure of money and energy, but this is not only an idea of today, it is the idea of protecting our natural resources from their predatory waste, the idea of using raw materials to the end, the idea of possibly preserving our natural reserves for the future” 20.
Thus, the integrated use of raw materials and fuel is one of the laws of development of socialist industry. Science, having discovered this law and deeply developed it, must be able to apply it in practice, that is, fight for the integrated use of the riches of the earth's crust and other natural resources, prove and ensure its economic feasibility.
The distribution of mineral resources is subject to geological laws. Minerals of sedimentary origin are found within the sedimentary cover of platforms, in foothills and marginal troughs. Igneous minerals - in folded areas, where the crystalline basement of ancient platforms exposed (or was close to the surface). Fuel deposits are of sedimentary origin and form coal and oil and gas basins (the cover of ancient platforms, their internal and marginal troughs). The largest coal basins are located in Russia, the USA, Germany and other countries. Oil and gas are intensively produced in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Mexico, and Western Siberia.
Ore minerals include metal ores; they are confined to the foundations and shields of ancient platforms; they also occur in folded areas. Countries that stand out in terms of iron ore reserves are Russia, Brazil, Canada, the USA, Australia, etc. Often the presence of ore minerals determines the specialization of regions and countries.
Non-metallic minerals are widespread. These include: apatites, sulfur, potassium salts, limestones, dolomites, etc.
For economic development, the most advantageous are territorial combinations of mineral resources, which facilitate the complex processing of raw materials and the formation of large territorial production complexes. The rational use of resources is important - extraction of the maximum possible amount of resources, more complete processing, integrated use of raw materials, etc.
Minerals were formed throughout the history of the development of the earth's crust, as a result of endogenous and exogenous processes. The substances necessary for the formation of minerals come in magmatic melts, liquid and gaseous solutions from the upper mantle, the earth's crust and the surface of the Earth.
Magmatic (endogenous) deposits are divided into several groups. Thus, when magmatic melts penetrate into the earth’s crust and cool, igneous deposits are formed.
Ores of chromium, iron, titanium, nickel, copper, cobalt, the group of platinum metals, etc. are associated with basic intrusions; Ores of phosphorus, tantalum, niobium, zirconium and rare earths are confined to alkaline massifs of igneous rocks. Deposits of mica, feldspars, precious stones, beryllium, lithium, and cesium ores are genetically associated with granitic pegmatites. niobium, tantalum, part of tin, uranium and rare earths. Carbonatites associated with ultramafic - alkaline rocks are an important type of deposit in which ores of iron, copper, niobium, tantalum, rare earths, as well as apatite and mica accumulate.
Minerals. Photo: Rodrigo Gomez Sanz
Sedimentary deposits form at the bottom of seas, lakes, rivers and swamps, forming stratified deposits in the sedimentary rocks that host them. Placers containing valuable minerals (gold, platinum, diamonds, etc.) accumulate in coastal sediments of oceans and seas, as well as in river and lake sediments, and on valley slopes. Weathering deposits are associated with ancient and modern weathering crust, which is characterized by infiltration deposits of uranium, copper, native sulfur ores and residual deposits of nickel, iron, manganese, bauxite, magnesite, and kaolin.
In an environment of high pressures and temperatures that prevail in the deep interior, pre-existing deposits are transformed with the emergence of metamorphogenic deposits (for example, iron ore of the Krivoy Rog basin and the Kursk magnetic anomaly, gold and uranium ores of South Africa) or are formed again in the process of metamorphism of rocks (deposits marble, andalusite, kyanite, graphite, etc.).
Our country is rich in a variety of mineral resources. Certain patterns can be traced in their distribution throughout the territory. The ores were formed mainly from magma and hot aqueous solutions released from it. Magma rose from the depths of the Earth along faults and froze in the thickness of rocks at various depths. Typically, the intrusion of magma occurred during periods of active tectonic movements, so ore minerals are associated with folded areas of the mountains. On platform plains they are confined to the lower tier - the folded foundation.
Different metals have different melting points. Consequently, the composition of ore accumulations depends on the temperature of the magma intruded into rock layers.
Large accumulations of ores are of industrial importance. They are called deposits.
Groups of closely located deposits of the same mineral are called mineral basins.
The richness of ores, their reserves and the depth of occurrence in different deposits are not the same. In young mountains, many deposits are located under a layer of folded sedimentary rocks and can be difficult to detect.
When mountains are destroyed, accumulations of ore minerals are gradually exposed and end up near the surface of the earth. It’s easier and cheaper to get them here.
Deposits of iron ores (Western Sayan) and polymetallic ores (Eastern Transbaikalia), gold (highlands of Northern Transbaikalia), mercury (Altai), etc. are confined to ancient folded areas.
The Urals are especially rich in a variety of ore minerals, precious and semi-precious stones. There is a deposit of iron and copper, chromium and nickel, platinum and gold.
Deposits of tin, tungsten, and gold are concentrated in the mountains of northeastern Siberia and the Far East, and polymetallic ores are concentrated in the Caucasus.
Minerals platforms.
On platforms, ore deposits are confined to shields or to those parts of plates where the thickness of the sedimentary cover is small and the foundation comes close to the surface. The iron ore basins are located here: the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (KMA), the South Yakutia deposit (Aldan Shield). On the Kola Peninsula there are deposits of apatite - the most important raw material for the production of phosphate fertilizers.
However, the platforms are most characterized by fossils of sedimentary origin concentrated in the rocks of the platform cover. These are predominantly non-metallic mineral resources. The leading role among them is played by fossil fuels: gas, coal, oil shale.
They were formed from the remains of plants and animals accumulated in the coastal parts of shallow seas and lake-marsh land conditions. These abundant organic residues could accumulate only in sufficiently humid and warm conditions favorable for increased development of vegetation.
The largest coal basins in Russia are:
- Tunguska, Lensky, South Yakut (central Siberia)
- Kuznetsk, Kansko-Achinsk (in the regional parts of the mountains of Southern Siberia)
- Pechora, Moscow Region (on the Russian Plain)
Oil and gas fields are concentrated in the Ural part of the Russian Plain. From the Barents coast to the Caspian Sea, in the Ciscaucasia.
But the largest oil reserves are in the depths of the central part of Western Siberia - Samotlor and other gas - in its northern regions (Urengoy, Yamburg, etc.)
In hot, dry conditions, salt accumulation occurred in shallow seas and coastal lagoons. There are large deposits of them in the Urals, in the Caspian region and in the southern part of Western Siberia.