Mineral and Energy Resources Class 12 Notes Geography Chapter 7 - CBSE

Chapter : 7

What Are Mineral And Energy Resources ?

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    • Due to variation in geological structure, we can find variation in availability of minerals in India. For e.g., Chota Nagpur plateau have abundance of mineral reserves and northern plains are total deprived of it.
    • A mineral is a natural occurring substance with certain chemical and physical properties.
    • An easy classification of minerals can be:

    Minerals

    Metallic Mineral

    • Ferrous (e.g.) Iron, Manganese, etc.
    • Non-ferrous (e.g.) Copper, Bauxite, etc.

    Non-metallic Mineral

    • Fuel Mineral (e.g.) Coal, Petroleum, Natural gas, etc.
    • Other non-metallics (e.g.) Mica, Limestone, Graphite etc.
    • Broadly Minerals can be classified as Metallic (which have metallic composition like (Iron and Bauxite) and Non-metallic minerals (Organic minerals have no metallic composition like fossil fuels).
    • Metallic minerals can be further divided into ferrous minerals (which contain iron) and non-ferrous metallic (metals other than iron like copper and bauxite).

    Characteristics Of Minerals

    • Minerals are not evenly distributed over earth.
    • Superior quality minerals are found in less quantity and the low-grade minerals are found in abundance.
    • All minerals have unique lustre, density, permeability, malleability and crystalline structure.
    • Superior quality minerals are found in less quantity and the low-grade minerals are found in abundance.
    • All minerals have unique lustre, density, permeability, malleability and crystalline structure.
    • All minerals are exhaustible. This means they are limited in amount and we should use them in sustainable way.

    Distribution Of Minerals In India

    • Minerals are uniquely distributed in India as coal is distributed in river valleys of central south India, Crude oil off shore reserves are in Mumbai High and on shore are in Assam.
    • Mountainous belt of Himalayan region is too popular for copper, lead, zinc, cobalt and tungsten.
    • Major mineral belts of India are as under:
    Mineral Belt Mineral Region
    North Eastern Plateau Belt Iron Ore, Manganese, Coal, Bauxite, Mica, Chromite, Copper, Beryl etc. This belt Accounts for 90% of country's 93% iron ore production and 84% coal production Mainly Chotanagpur plateau and Jharkhand plateau region consist of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha states.
    South Western Plateau Belt This belt is rich in garnet Iron ore, manganese, limestone Covers mainly southern states of Karnataka, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerela.
    North Western Belt Rajasthan and Gujarat along the Aravalli Range Rajasthan and Gujarat along the Aravalli Range

    Ferrous Mineral

    These are the minerals which contain iron (Fe). For e.g., iron ore, manganese, chromite, etc. and most commonly  used in Iron and steel industries.

    Iron Ore

    • Iron ore varies in term of quality. Most commonly available iron ore in India are magnetite, haematite, limonite and Siderite. The quality decreases from magnetite to siderite.
    • One-fourth of the world's finest iron-ore deposit is found in India.
    • The sequence of India states producing iron-ore from highest to lowest is Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Jharkhand.
    • The detailed distribution state wise is as under:
    State Mines
    Odisha Sundergarh, Mayurbhanj, Sundergarh, Kendujhar and koraput.
    Chhattisgarh Datewada, Kanker, Durg, Bailadila-Rowghat hill ranges
    Karnataka Bellary, Chitradurga, Chikmagalur, Bijapur, Dharwar, Tumkur, Uttar Kanara, Dakshin Kanara and Shimoga.
    Jharkhand Noamundi, Gua mines, Singhbum, Ranchi, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh, Santhal Pargana, Durg, Dantewara and Bailadila
    Andhra Pradesh Chandrapur, Bhandara and Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, Karimnagar and Warangal district of Telangana, Kurnool, Cuddapah and Anantapur
    Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Salem and Nilgiris districts

    Manganese

    • Manganese is used in making steel. Nearly 10 kg of manganese is required to manufacture one tonne of steel.
    • Manganese is also used in manufacturing bleaching powder, insecticides and paints.
    • The state wise distribution of manganese is as under:
    State Mines
    Odisha Bonai, Kendujhar, Sundergarh, Gangpur, Koraput, Kalahandi and Bolangir.
    Maharashtra Nagpur, Bhandara and Ratnagiri districts
    Karnataka Dharwar, Ballari, Belagavi, North Canara, Chikkmagaluru, Shivamogga, Chitradurg and Tumakuru
    Madhya Pradesh Balaghat and Chhindwara

    Non-ferrous Mineral

    India has less reserves of non-ferrous minerals comparing with ferrous minerals.

    Bauxite

    • Bauxite is a source of alumina which later on aluminium is obtained.
    • India’s total bauxite reserves are estimated at 27.40 crores tonnes.
    • The major bauxite producing states in India are Odisha (1/3rd of national output), Jharkhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Goa in a descending order of importance.
    • The detail state wise distribution of bauxite is as under:

    Copper

    State Mines
    Odisha Kalahandi, Bolangir, Koraput, Sundargarh and Sambalpur
    Jharkhand Ranchi and Palamau
    Gujarat Jamnagar, Kaina, Sabarkantha, Kachchh and Surat
    Maharashtra Kolaba, Ratnagiri and Kolhapur
    Madhya Pradesh Amarkantak plateau area in Shahdol district, Mandala and Balaghat districts and Katni area of Jabalpur
    • This non-ferrous metal is a soft, malleable and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Thus, it is most commonly used in electrical cables, electronics and chemical industries.
    • The metal is extracted from common ores like chalcopyrite.
    • This distribution of copper is as follows:
    State Mines
    Jharkhand Hazaribagh and Singhbhum
    Madhya Pradesh Betul and Balaghat
    Rajasthan Jhunjhunu and Alwar

    Non-metallic Minerals

    • These minerals do not contain any metal and are usually found in sedimentary rocks. e.g., Mica, limestone, dolomite and phosphate
    • India is not fortunate of having sufficient amount of non-metallic minerals.

    Mica

    • Mica can be clear, black, green, red yellow or brown in colour.
    • Mica has excellent di-electric strength, low power loss factor, insulating properties and resistance to high voltage, thus used in electric and electronic industries.
    • Distribution of Mica:
    State Mines
    Jharkhand Koderma Gaya – Hazaribagh belt
    Andhra Pradesh Nellore
    Rajasthan Jaipur-Ajmer- Bhilwara belt
    Karnataka Mysuru and Hasan districts

    Energy Resources

    • Minerals fuels are the non-renewable sources of generating energy. Foe e.g., coal, petroleum and natural gas (known as fossil fuels), nuclear energy.
    • This means we should reduce our dependency on these exhaustible resources and switch to green energy sources.

    Coal

    • Coal is consumed in thermal power plants to generate energy and in blast furnaces to produce pig iron.
    • The amount of carbon decides the quality of coal. The four types of coal if Anthracite (More than 80% carbon), Bituminous (carbon 60-80%), Lignite (less than 60%) and peat (Less than 50%).
    • About 80 per cent of the coal deposits in India is of bituminous type and is of non-coking grade.
    • In India coal occurs in rock series of two main geological ages, namely Gondwana, a little over 200 million years in age and in tertiary deposits which are only about 55 million years old.
    • The distribution of coal in India is as under:
    State Mines
    Jharkhand (Gondwana coal) Jharia,Bokaro and Giridih
    West Bengal (Gondwana coal) Raniganj
    Madhya Pradesh (Gondwana coal) Singrauli
    Chhattisgarh (Gondwana coal) Korba
    Odisha (Gondwana coal) Odisha
    Meghalaya (Tertiary Coal) Darangiri, Cherrapunji, Mewlong and Langrin
    Assam (Tertiary Coal) Makum, Jaipur and Nazira
    Arunachal Pradesh (Tertiary Coal) Namchik – Namphuk

    Petroleum

    • The word 'Petroleum' has been derived from the word 'petra' which means rock and 'oleum' which means oil. It is a dark, thick liquid, which is the product of decomposition of organic remains embedded in the sedimentary rocks of the tertiary period.
    • Crude oil or Petroleum when refined provides ample by products like such as fertiliser, synthetic rubber, synthetic fibre, medicines, Vaseline, lubricants, wax, soap and cosmetics.
    • Major Oil Fields of India are as under:

    a) Mumbai High: An offshore oilfield discovered by ONGC in 1974, which is located in the Arabian Sea, 176 km west of the Mumbai coast. It is the mostproductive oilfield with a reserve of 5 crore tonnes of oil.

    b) Assam-Arakan Belt: (runs from the extreme north-east of Assam to the eastern border of the Brahmaputra and Surma Valley) Popular oil fields of this region are Digboi, Naharkatiya and Moran.

    c) Gujarat Cambay Belt: (extends from Mahesana (Gujarat) in the north to the continental shelf off the coast of Ratnagiri (Maharashtra) in the south. Oil fields of the region are Kalol, Mehsana, Nawagam, Kosamba and Lunej.

    Natural Gas

    • Natural gas, a fossil fuel comprised mostly of methane, is one of the cleanest burning alternative fuels.
    • The Gas Authority of India Limited was set up in 1984 as a public sector undertaking to transport and market natural gas.
    • Apart from the oilfields, the eastern coast of India Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh), Tripura, Rajasthan and off-shore wells in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

    Non-conventional Energy Sources

    The sources of energy which are not exhaustible and are ecologically safe are termed as non-conventional sources of energy. Foe e.g. solar, wind, hydro geothermal and biomass.

    Nuclear Energy Resources

    • It is a result of recent development, Nuclear energy has immense potential in India.
    • Uranium is most common ore of Nuclear energy in India and is found in Singbhum Copper belt, Udhaipur-Alwar- Jhunjhunu belt of Rajasthan.
    • Some part of uranium is also found in Durg district of Chhattisgarh, Bhandara district of Maharashtra and Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh.
    • Another ore of Nuclear energy is Thorium and is found in monazite and ilmenite in the beach sands along the coast of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
    • The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is India's premier nuclear research facility, headquartered in Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra.
    • The list of India’s major Nuclear Power Plants is as under:
    Nuclear Power Plant Mines
    Tarapur Maharashtra
    Rawatbhata Rajasthan
    Kalpakkam Tamil Nadu
    Narora Uttar Pradesh
    Kaiga Karnataka
    Kakarapara Gujarat
    Kudankulam Tamil Nadu

    Solar Energy

    Solar energy is generated through two ways:

    a) Solar Electricity using Photo-Voltaic (PV) Cells: Photo-voltaic (PV) technology converts sunlight directly into electricity using specially designed fabricated cells arranged in suitable arrays.

    b) Solar Thermal Technology: This system works when sun rays fall on the panel mounted on roof top at a suitable angle to absorb maximum solar energy.

    Benefits of Solar Energy

    • It is renewable, green and cost-efficient source of energy.
    • India, being tropical country has vast potential of tapping solar energy in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
    Project State Capacity
    Bhadla Solar Park Jodhpur, Rajasthan 2,250MW
    Shakti Sthala solar power project Tumakuru district, Karnataka 2,050MW
    Ultra-Mega Solar Park Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh 1,000MW
    Rewa Solar Power Project Rewa, Madhya Pradesh 750MW
    Kamuthi solar power plant Ramanathapuram district, Tamil Nadu 648MW

    Wind Energy

    • Wind energy is green and sustainable source of energy. The initial cost of setting up a wind farm is high but regular cost is comparatively lower.
    • Wind energy can be harnessed in the areas of high wind velocity like coastal India and Western desert part of India.
    • When wind blows it moves the wind mill which is connected to a turbine. Thus, kinetic energy of wind is transferred to electric energy.

    Tidal and Wave Energy

    • It is generated from the periodic rise and fall of waters of the ocean, sea and gulf.
    • India’s long coastline i.e., 7,516.6 km enables it to harness huge amount of energy. But due to its limitations like high set up coast, threat to marine ecosystem and location limits it is still a potential resource for us.

    Geothermal Energy

    • The heat of the earth when comes out, is used to run turbines. This way earth’s heat energy is changed into electrical energy.
    • The advantages of using geo-thermal source of energy are it is ecological friendly, affordable and constantly available.
    • India has more than 300 hot springs, located in different parts of the country.
    • Famous hot spring sites in India are Manikaran in Parvati Valley of Himachal Pradesh and Puga Valley of Ladakh.

    Bio Energy

    • This system uses animal dung, household waste, municipal and agricultural waste and turn it into electrical energy.
    • Apart from generating power, this system helps in organic waste management too.
    • Bio gas or Gobar gas system is more useful in rural areas in comparison with urban areas, where self-reliant bio gas plants function smoothly.
    • One such plant in Okhla near New Delhi turn municipal waste into source of energy.

    Mineral Conservation

    • Reducing the dependency on exhaustible minerals and replacing them with renewable minerals is the need of an hour. 
    • Using 3R method in mineral conservation is must at all the levels.