GEOGRAPHYNatural ressources

UNIT 1: The water

and the ground

Natural ressources: every material or energy that the humanity can obtain from the physical environment to cover its biological

needs or to satisfy its social needs.

We can distinguish two types of natural ressources:

Not renewable ressources: are those that are generated in

nature so slowly that for practical reasons we consider that there are finite quantities.

Renewable ressources: they are naturally generated in the

same tempo or higher than the tempo of exploitation of

society.

DEFINITION AND TYPES OF RESSOURCES

HydraulicsBiomassTidalSolarWind Geothermal

CoalOilNatural gasNuclear

Not renewable ressources:

Energetic

Not energetic

Fossil fuels

Nuclear fuels mainly uranium. (distribution of production)

Coal

Oil

Natural gas

A big quantity of not energetic minerals, whether metalic or

non-metalic

Not renewable ressources

COAL: DEFINITION

Coal or carbon minerals is a sedimentary stone used like a fossil fuel. It is black and rich in carbon. Usually located under a layer of slate and a layer of sand and chalk. It is believed that the mayority of the coal was formed during the coal era. (280 to 345

millon years ago).

COAL: WORLDWIDE PRODUCTION

The 10 biggest producing countries of coal bituminous and anthracite in the year 2006 were:

Country ProductionChina 2.482 MtUnited States of America 990 MtIndia 427 MtAustralia 309 MtSouth Africa 244 MtRussia 233 MtIndonesia 169 MtPoland 95 MtKazakhstan 92 MtColombia 64 Mt

Coal reserves are widely dispersed,in 70

countries with useable ressources. In the tempo it is used it is calculated

that there are save reserves for the next 147

years, 41 and 63 of oil and gas, respectively. 68% of the reserves of oil and 67% of the gas

reserves can be found in the middle East and

Russia.

COAL: WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION OF THE RESERVES

COAL: EXPLOITATION OF THE COAL

The methods of exploitation of the coal are the following:

Underground exploitation:Openair exploitation

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF COAL

Cheap energy with a high energetic power since you can achieve a lot of energy with a small amount of coal.

Coalproduction causes contamination of the atmosphere and sour rain. Loss of parts of the fertile mantle of the ground. Also the loss of the forests is a big problem on the industrialized continents like Europe and North America. The contamination of the water and lakes damages the life in the lakes and deteriorates the water we consume. Visual impact is produced in the environment, especially by the openair exploitations.

Advantages

Disadvantages(environment)

OIL: DEFINITION AND ORIGEN

What is it?

It is a fosile hydrocarbon that comes from descomposition by the action of some bacteria from a platonic marine organism, in absence of oxygen, under pressure and with high temperature. It can be found in the inside of big balls in the underground that can be under the sea, too.

Origen Factors needed to form

• Absence of oxygen•Rests of plants and animals (especially, marine plancton) •A lot of pressuer from the earth plates •High temperature•action of the bacteria

The rests of the animals and plants, covered by clay and earth for many million years–sumitted to a lot of pressure and high temperature–,along with the work of the anaerobic bacteria (bacterias who live without oxygen) cause the formation of oil.

EXPLOITATION OF THE OILThe phases of the industrial oil exploitation are listed in the following:

1. Prospection: It is a combination of geological studies , in which land for future extraction is studied (with images of the area), and gravimetric, magnetic or seismic geophysical studies, which are useful to determinate the presence of porous rocks and sparse which could contain oil.

2. Sounding and extraction: When the oil is located through the prior studies, the next step is making various perforations tu determine the magnitude of the deposit, layers of water, gas or espesory and porosity of the rock. In stadistics it is said that only 1 out of 50 perforation are satisfactory. Once extracted it is submitted to an stabilisation in which the raw oil is seperated of the water and the solids.

DEFINITION AND TYPES OF RESOURCES

3.Transport. Two of the most used transportation methods:• Big oil ships, which is the bigger operation of transport that is done• Oil flow

4. Refine. The stabilized oil is treaded accorting to the place it is delivered to. In a refinery 4 objectives are chased:1.- Division of the raw oil with destilation 2.- Convert the fractions of less demand in fractions like gasoline etc. With cracking3.-Raise the quality of the gasoline by reforming 4.- Debug the priviously obtained products for the final refine

Oil:WORLDWIDE PRODUCTION

Principal oil producers

Map of the worldwide oil reserves

Principal oil consumers

Principal oil importers Principal oil exporters

Principal oil reserves

OIL: OPEP

The abbreviations mean: Organization of exporting countries of oil

What is it?It is an international economical organization, based in Viena (Austria). It was created in 1960, because of the falling oil price and its aim, it is the unification and coordination of the oil policies.

Members

It consists of five founding countries (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and Venezuela). Subsequently, the organization was expanded to seven more members (Algeria, Angola, Nigeria, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Libya and Ecuador)(Map)

Aim

•Coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of member countries•Find the best ways to ensure the stability of prices in international markets•Consuming nations provide a supply of efficient, economical and regulate oil

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF OIL

It is a cheap and high energy, although with low energy as much energy coal volume is achieved.

Transport

Extraction: in this phase the oil is poured directly into space surrounding the prospecting, which is especially harmful when it comes to offshore holdings.

Consumption (combustion): the burning of petroleum, both in transport and heating boilers, power plants or releases chemicals such as sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2) Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), which are the direct cause of serious environmental problems such as the greenhouse effect and acid rain..

Advantages

Disadvantages (environmental

)

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF OIL

The transport is harmful and polluting, by obsolete and unsafe and infrastructure involved and the performances of the actors in it. So we can list the following:

The loading and unloading of crude causes uncontrolled dumping in locations where they occur.

The oil leaks that occur in the pipeline due to poor maintenance.

Large tankers suffer too often from serious accidents that once again have fatal consequences as dumping at sea

When downloading fill tankers( 40%)empty tanks with sea water in order to gain stability and ease of navigation. When it comes to reloading crude performs what is called “bilge ballast” which is to expel the sea water in the tanks. This water carries residues containing petroleum and again pollute the sea.

Oil deposits cleaned regularly so that the quality of oil is not alteredin transit. To this end they introduced a considerable amount of soap to clean the tanks; these substances together with the oil that remains in the tanks will be ejected into the sea, making a new episode of contamination.

Advantages and disadvantages of Oil

RENEWABLE RESOURCES

Renewable ressources: are generated so naturally at a rate equal to or greater than rate of exploitation by society.

We can distinguish two types of renewable resourses

Those who flow rate is not affected by human action

Whose flow is demonstrably affected by

human action.

WaterForestsAgricultural soils

Solar EnergyWind PowerMaritime EnergyGeodesic Energy

RENEWABLE AND NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES AS A

SOURCE OF ENERGYRenewable and non-renewable resources for

energy

RENEWABLE RESOURCESNONRENEWABLE RESOURCES

Carbon

Natural gas

Oil

Solar energyWind powerHydroelectricMunicipal wasteGeodesic energyBiomass

Fossil fuels

Nuclear power

SOLAR ENERGY

It is from the sun and transferred to the earth's surface can be utilized in thermal applications (for heat) and photovoltaic (to generate electricity)

We have two systems to harness this energy:

Photovoltaic conversionThermal conversion

Converts solar radiation into heat for water heating and drying grain

Direct generation of electricity from sunlight

SOLAR ENERGY: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGESADVANTAGES

Ideal for locations away from

the commercial power grid

Not require fuel

Minimum maintenance

Long lifetime

Quiet system

Does not pollute

Easy transportation and

installation

High initial cost

Reduced capacity

It requires a program of recovery and management of used batteries

HYDRO ENERGYHydropower is a renewable energy that is based on taking advantage of falling water from a height. Potential energy becomes kinetic during the fall. It has been used for a long time to grind wheat, but it was with the Industrial Revolution, and especially since the nineteenth century, when it began to be very important to the appearance of the water wheels to produce electricity.

HYDROELECTRIC PLANTS

HYDRO ENERGY: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGESADVANTAGES

Availability: It is an inexhaustible resource, as long as the water cycle will last.                "It does not pollute" (in the proportion that make the oil, coal, etc.) does not emit gases "greenhouse" or cause acid rain.

Prevents flooding to regulate the flow.

Storing water for irrigation and domestic consumption.

Visual impact on the surrounding countryside.

Deprivation of sediment to lower reaches. Sediments accumulate in the reservoir nutrient impoverished the rest of the river to the mouth.

Environmental problems in aquatic ecosystems by disruption of the river and creation of microclimates (environmental flow).

Flooding of fertile land and residential areas.

WIND POWER

It is known as wind energy exploitation by man of wind energy. Formerly it was used to propel marine vessels and move grain mills. Today it is used to mainly generate clean and safe energy.

WIND FARMS

WIND POWER: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

ADVANTAGES

It is inexhaustible

It is clean and not polluter.

It is native and universal. It is worldwide.

The facilities are easily reversible. Non-marking.

It can be installed in areas unsuitable for other purposes, such as in desert areas near the coast, arid hillsides and steep to be cultivated.

DISADVANTAGES

The air being a fluid low specific weight, involves making large and therefore expensive machines.

It also has to take special care when selecting a nearby park where birds live, mortality risk on impact with the blades.

Another negative impact is the noise produced by the rotation of the rotor.

Visual impact on the surrounding countryside.