Exhaustible water resources. Natural resources

Natural resources are used by humanity everywhere throughout its existence. But unfortunately, not all of them are eternal. They can be either exhaustible or inexhaustible.

These are objects of living and inanimate nature that are used by humans to satisfy their needs. Natural resources include: plants, animals, land, soil, minerals, etc.

The economic well-being of the country directly depends on the amount of natural resources. Thus, states with access to the oceans, large areas of land, forests and mineral reserves are initially in an advantageous position.

Without natural resources, humanity would not survive as they are our means of livelihood

Exhaustible

Exhaustible resources are those objects of the surrounding world that, with their constant use, can run out. They are divided into three types:

1. Renewable (plants, animals). When resources are depleted, there is the possibility of their artificial restoration.
2. Non-renewable. They cannot be renewed. The depletion of these resources will lead to their complete disappearance. These include minerals and oil.
3. Not completely renewable. These are objects whose recovery speed is inferior to the speed of their use in economic activity. For example, agricultural land.

Inexhaustible

These are resources that will never be depleted: climate, water, space, etc. But, despite the inexhaustibility of these objects, as a result of the impact of humanity, their condition is significantly deteriorating.

Thus, the amount of water on the planet is inexhaustible, but its quality is becoming worse every year due to the impact of industrial waste and toxic chemicals. Water pollution and shallowing of fresh water bodies leads to the fact that the supply of fresh water needed by humans is constantly decreasing.

The human task is to take care of natural resources and realize that the future of the next generations directly depends on the state of our planet.

Inexhaustible natural resources

Inexhaustible natural resources are resources, the decrease of which is imperceptible even during very long use: energy from solar radiation, wind, sea tides, climatic resources, etc.

Finam Financial Dictionary.

See what “Inexhaustible natural resources” are in other dictionaries:

See natural resources. Geography. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. M.: Rosman. Edited by prof. A. P. Gorkina. 2006 ... Geographical encyclopedia

- (natural resources) components of nature used by humans. The main types of natural resources can be classified: based on their genesis, mineral resources, biological resources (flora and fauna), land, climatic,... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

NATURAL RESOURCES, components of nature used by humans. The main types of natural resources can be classified: based on their genesis, mineral, biological (flora and fauna), land, climatic, water resources; By… … Modern encyclopedia

Natural resources- (Natural Resources) History of the use of natural resources, world natural resources Classification of natural resources, natural resources of Russia, the problem of exhaustibility of natural resources, rational use of natural resources... ... Investor Encyclopedia

Components and processes of the natural environment that, at a given level of economic development, are used to satisfy a variety of human needs. The origin and distribution of natural resources is determined by natural laws.… … Geographical encyclopedia

- (natural resources), components of nature used by humans. The main types of natural resources can be classified: based on their genesis, mineral resources, biological resources (flora and fauna), land, climatic... Encyclopedic Dictionary

The request "Non-renewable resources" is redirected here. A separate article is needed on this topic. Natural resources natural resources: bodies and forces of nature, which at a given level of development of productive forces and knowledge can be ... ... Wikipedia

Natural resources, part of the totality of natural conditions for the existence of mankind and the most important components of the natural environment surrounding it, used in the process of social production for the purpose of satisfying material... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (natural resources), components of nature used by humans. Ch. species of P. r. can be classified: based on their genesis, mineral resources, biol. resources (plants and fauna), land, climatic, water resources] according to the method... ... Natural science. Encyclopedic Dictionary

NATURAL RESOURCES- natural resources, the most important components of the natural environment surrounding humanity, used to create the material and cultural needs of society. From the point of view of continuity in time, they are divided into inexhaustible resources and resources... ... Ecological dictionary

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Exhaustible natural resources

Exhaustible natural resources are in turn divided into renewable and non-renewable; renewable resources include flora and fauna, soil fertility, and non-renewable resources include minerals.

The use of minerals began in the Neolithic era. At first, man began to use gold and copper, later tin, silver and lead. Nowadays, man uses most of the known mineral resources in his activities, extracting from the bowels of the planet more and more various ores, coal, oil and gas. It was noted above that technological progress makes it possible to use low-grade ores, extract minerals from the bottom of the sea, and also find new areas of application for both metals and non-metallic raw materials. At the same time, it was pointed out that, in general, the situation on Earth with the supply of the chemical elements we need is fine. But the problem is that they are mainly concentrated in poor deposits, which are unprofitable to develop, or in compounds that we do not yet know how to use. Therefore, at the current rate of consumption, oil reserves will last until 2050, natural gas – for 80 years, and all modern industry and energy are built on them. Thus, our industrial civilization faces a serious problem, which our children and grandchildren will have to solve.

The situation with renewable resources is not very good either. In modern conditions, a significant part of the Earth's surface is plowed or is fully or partially cultivated pastures for domestic animals. The development of industry and agriculture required large areas for the construction of cities, industrial enterprises, the development of mineral resources, and the construction of communications. Thus, to date, about 20% of the land has been transformed by humans.

In one calendar year, more than 4,000 km 3 of soil and soil are moved during plowing of fields, construction and other work in the world, 120 billion tons of ores, fossil fuels, and building materials are extracted from the bowels of the earth, and 800 million tons of various metals are smelted. At the same time, the final product contains no more than 5–7% of the amount of raw materials put into production, and 93–95% goes to waste, polluting the atmosphere and natural bodies of water. Therefore, significant areas of land are excluded from economic circulation due to the accumulation of industrial waste on them. This is how dumps, quarries, waste heaps appear - earthen cones, sinkholes that appear in places of voids underground. The total area of ​​destroyed and degraded soils throughout human history is approximately 20 million km2, which is more than the total area used for agricultural purposes in the world today.

In addition, the development of the lithosphere goes not only in breadth, but also in depth. Minerals are mined from ever greater depths. The number of deep mines and quarries is growing, and the depth of boreholes is increasing (up to 12 km). Due to the lack of space in cities, people are increasingly exploring and using underground space - subways, passages, tunnels, storage facilities, etc. This acts as a powerful geological factor. The result is such a phenomenon as induced seismicity - man-made earthquakes, most often occurring in connection with the creation of large and deep reservoirs.

Today we can talk about technogenic changes in the geophysical fields of the Earth - gravitational, magnetic, electrical, radiation, thermal. All of them are no longer pristine in their structure and properties. They are more or less technogenically distorted, and these changes cannot be considered favorable for humans.

Among the renewable natural resources, forests play a major role in human life. It prevents soil erosion, retains surface water and helps maintain groundwater levels. In addition, forests are home to animals - ungulates, fur-bearing animals, and game that are used by humans. Finally, forests produce oxygen. Therefore, an equally formidable warning is the reduction in the areas of tropical forests, which, along with the northern taiga, are the “lungs” of the planet - they produce the bulk of the oxygen necessary for the life of the entire animal world.

Over the past 50 thousand years, humans have destroyed 60% of the world's forests. Over the past 200 years, Australians have cut down 75% of their rainforests. Over the past 40 years alone, Africa has lost 23% of its forest area, Latin America - 38%. Today the United States breathes with someone else's “lungs.” Deforestation is one of the causes of desertification of vast areas. Desertification covers an area equal in size to North and South America.

Despite the long history of agriculture and cattle breeding, wildlife continues to serve humans as a source of food. First of all, we are talking about fishing, since fish makes up from 17 to 83% of the human protein diet. The main share of fish resources is concentrated in the seas. There is also fishing for marine mammals - whales, pinnipeds, which are a source of meat and fat, and their skins and fur are used to make clothing.

But, unfortunately, along with deforested forests, areas given over for development, industrial enterprises, etc., plants and animals disappear. And mass visits to the forests remaining in the reach zone (this zone increases every year thanks to the development of technology) leads to trampling, pollution and disruption of the circulation of substances in biocenoses. In addition, man directly exterminates those species of plants and animals that provide food or other material benefits to him.

It is believed that since 1600, more than 160 species and subspecies of birds and at least 100 species of mammals have been exterminated by humans. The aurochs (a wild bull that lived throughout Europe), the Steller's cow (sea cow), and the wild Tarpan horse have disappeared forever. Many species are on the verge of extinction or are preserved only in nature reserves. Among them are bison, tens of millions of which inhabited the prairies of North America, bison, sika deer, and some species of whales.

The disappearance of each species causes irreparable damage to the biosphere. And the point here is not the economic importance of these species - people will find a replacement for them. Each species occupies a certain place in the biocenosis, in the food chain. Therefore, its disappearance leads to a decrease in the stability of biocenoses, which, accordingly, can lead to their death. In addition, each species has unique properties inherent only to it, selected as a result of long evolution. Therefore, its disappearance deprives us of the opportunity in the future to use them for our practical purposes.

Some of the riches of the earth's interior, which people use every day, exist in limited quantities. In order to understand the prospects for industry and the ecology of the planet, it is worth understanding what natural resources are and which of them can be used without restrictions.

Classifications of natural resources

According to the natural classification, resources are water, climatic, land, biological mineral, and so on. The most important characteristic seems to be the principle of their exhaustibility. There are two groups here: inexhaustible and exhaustible natural resources (renewable, partially renewable and non-renewable).

All this necessitates strict adherence to the environmental-economic approach to the exploitation of natural resources. In the countries of the socialist system, the rational use of natural resources, concern for their conservation and increase are organic principles of management.

Exhaustible and inexhaustible resources of Russian regions

Inexhaustible natural resources are those resources whose quantity does not noticeably decrease during even prolonged consumption or use. 4. Soil and intraterrestrial heat. The inexhaustibility of this resource is relative. The most fundamental classifications of natural resources are based on their genesis and method of use.

Natural objects and phenomena that people use in the labor process are called natural resources. These include atmospheric air, water, soil, minerals, solar radiation, climate, vegetation, and fauna. According to the degree of their depletion, they are divided into exhaustible and inexhaustible. Renewable natural resources - soil, vegetation, wildlife, as well as mineral salts such as Glauber's salt and table salt, deposited in lakes and sea lagoons. Inexhaustible resources include water, climate and space. The total reserves of water on the planet are inexhaustible.

1. Climatic. 2. Water. Water resources include fresh water and ocean waters.

Natural resources are, definition

NATURAL RESOURCES - natural resources, the most important components of the natural environment surrounding humanity, used to create the material and cultural needs of society. Among the bodies and natural phenomena of resource significance, there are those that are practically inexhaustible. These include climatic and water resources. Although most renewable natural resources have a low recovery rate, these resources are difficult to deplete. Natural resources are a set of natural objects and phenomena that are used by humans to maintain their existence. Historically, the idea of ​​the relationship between natural conditions and natural resources has changed. The exhaustibility of natural resources is determined by their reserves in nature and the intensity of use by human society.

Natural resources are the natural forces of nature that a person can use to the best of his ability in economic and industrial activities. Natural resources are the components and forces of nature that are used by humans in life and production. Natural resources are the means of subsistence without which man cannot live and which he finds in nature.

Natural resources are distinguished between exhaustible and inexhaustible depending on their ability to be naturally renewed. Regardless of the volume of use, non-renewable natural resources will only decrease during exploitation. 1. Non-renewable which includes: a) all types of mineral resources or minerals. Land resources in their natural form are the material basis on which the life of human society takes place.

TABLES ON THE AVAILABILITY OF EXHAUSTABLE AND INEXHAUSTABLE NATURAL RESOURCES

Russia is a country richly endowed with a wide variety of natural resources. In terms of reserves of many of them, Russia holds first place in the world. Foreign travelers, scientists and diplomats have long admired the fabulous riches of the Russian mineral resources. The main wealth of Russia is its generous nature: endless forests, fields, seas. These are its regions, each of which plays its own irreplaceable role in the life of the country, giving it oil and gas, cars and scientific discoveries. The earth, its subsoil, forests, wildlife and other resources form the basis of human life and activity.

Currently, almost throughout the world, every year there is a gradual global deterioration in the state of the natural environment. This is especially evident in our country, since the level of technical development leaves much to be desired, and the degree of security of enterprises is no good. This occurs under the influence of various factors, mainly due to the necessity of life, the ever-increasing active activity of a person to adapt the environment for himself and his needs. And all this leads to the need to take measures to preserve both the lands themselves and their valuable qualities.

I believe that every person is obliged to rationally use natural resources, since they are not unlimited. The most fundamental classifications of natural resources are based on their genesis and method of use. According to genesis, land, water, biological, mineral resources, resources of the World Ocean, energy resources, atmospheric, climatic, lithosphere resources, consumer resources, decomposer resources, reactionary-anthropo-ecological, cognitive-recreational, labor resources, space resources and time.

Exhaustible resources. They are formed in the earth's crust or landscape, but the volumes and rates of their formation are measured on a geological time scale. At the same time, the need for such resources from production or for organizing favorable living conditions for human society significantly exceeds the volumes and rates of natural replenishment. As a result, depletion of natural resources inevitably occurs. The group of exhaustible resources includes resources with unequal rates and volumes of formation. This allows for further differentiation. Based on the intensity and speed of natural formation, resources are divided into subgroups:

1. Non-renewable which includes: a) all types of mineral resources or minerals. As is known, they are constantly formed in the depths of the earth’s crust as a result of the continuously ongoing process of ore formation, but the scale of their accumulation is so insignificant, and the rates of formation are measured in many tens and hundreds of millions of years (for example, the age of coal is more than 350 million years), which is practically they cannot be taken into account in business calculations. The development of mineral raw materials occurs on a historical time scale and is characterized by ever-increasing volumes of withdrawal. In this regard, all mineral resources are considered not only exhaustible, but also non-renewable. b) Land resources in their natural form are the material basis on which the life of human society takes place. The morphological structure of the surface (i.e., relief) significantly affects economic activity and the possibility of developing the territory. Once disturbed lands (for example, by quarries) during large-scale industrial or civil construction are no longer restored in their natural form.

2. Renewable resources (see Appendix No. 1), which include: a) resources of flora and b) fauna. Both are restored quite quickly, and the volumes of natural renewal are well and accurately calculated. Therefore, when organizing the economic use of accumulated reserves of wood in forests, grass in meadows or pastures, and hunting wild animals within limits not exceeding annual renewal, resource depletion can be completely avoided.

3. Relatively (not completely) renewable. Although some resources are restored over historical periods of time, their renewable volumes are significantly less than the volumes of economic consumption. That is why these types of resources turn out to be very vulnerable and require especially careful control by humans. Relatively renewable resources also include very scarce natural resources: a) productive arable soils; b) forests with mature tree stands; c) water resources from a regional perspective. There are relatively few productive arable soils (according to various estimates, their area does not exceed 1.5-2.5 billion hectares). The most productive soils, belonging to the first fertility class, occupy, according to FAO estimates, only 400 million hectares. Productive soils form extremely slowly - it takes more than 100 years to form a 1 mm layer, for example, chernozem soils. At the same time, processes of accelerated erosion, stimulated by irrational land use, can destroy several centimeters of the upper, most valuable arable layer in one year. Anthropogenic soil destruction has been occurring so intensely in recent decades that it gives grounds to classify soil resources as “relatively renewable.”

The fact of the practical inexhaustibility of water resources on a planetary scale is well known. However, fresh water reserves are unevenly concentrated on the land surface, and vast areas experience a shortage of water suitable for use in water management systems. Arid and subarid areas suffer especially greatly from water shortages, where irrational water consumption (for example, water intake in volumes exceeding the volume of natural replenishment of free water) is accompanied by rapid and often catastrophic depletion of water supplies. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately account for the amount of permissible withdrawal of water resources by region. P.

Inexhaustible resources. Among the bodies and natural phenomena of resource significance, there are those that are practically inexhaustible. These include climatic and water resources.

A) climate resources. The most stringent requirements for climate are imposed by agriculture, recreational and forestry, industrial and civil construction, etc. Usually, climate resources are understood as the reserves of heat and moisture that a specific area or region has. Total heat reserves received per year per 1 sq.m. surface of the planet are equal to 3.16 x 10 J (radiation budget on average for the planet). Heat is distributed unevenly geographically and across seasons, although the average air temperature for the Earth is approximately + 15°C. The land as a whole is well supplied with atmospheric moisture: an average of about 119 thousand cubic meters falls on its surface annually. km of precipitation. But they are distributed even more unevenly than heat, both spatially and temporally. On land, there are known areas that receive more than 12,000 mm of precipitation annually, and vast areas where less than 50-100 mm falls per year. On average, long-term, both heat reserves and volumes of falling atmospheric moisture are quite constant, although significant fluctuations in the provision of heat and moisture to the territory may be observed from year to year. Since these resources are formed in certain parts of the thermal and water cycles, constantly operating over the planet as a whole and over its individual regions, the reserves of heat and moisture can be considered inexhaustible within certain quantitative limits, precisely established for each region.

B) water resources. Water resources mainly include the waters of the world's oceans, although fresh waters too. For example, in Lake Baikal, if it happens that there is no water, there will be enough fresh water in Baikal for 100 years! And for everyone! But despite this, we still need to protect nature, and especially fresh water, because a person is 90% water, and therefore fresh water, in my opinion, should be classified as an exhaustible resource.

Let's consider the depletion of forest resources using the example of several economic regions:

If a person does not come to his senses now, then we can lose everything... forests, fields, animals, fresh water, minerals, various reserves, fertile soil, plants and oases.

Every year this becomes less and less. In my opinion, there are no inexhaustible resources, all resources are exhaustible, but people just haven’t fully understood this.

Classification of natural resources by renewability and intensity of use

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