Ecological functions of the lithosphere. Definition, meaning and structure of the resource ecological function of the lithosphere. Average chemical composition of plant and human, % of dry matter

20.09.2019

People in ancient times learned to use some of these resources for their needs, which found its expression in the names of the historical periods of human development: “ stone Age"," Bronze Age", " iron age". More than 200 are in use today. various kinds mineral resources. According to the figurative expression of academician A.E. Fersman (1883-1945), now the entire periodic system of Mendeleev is laid down at the feet of mankind.

Minerals are mineral formations of the earth's crust that can be effectively used in the economy, accumulations of minerals form deposits, and with large areas of distribution - pools.

The distribution of minerals in the earth's crust is subject to geological (tectonic) patterns (Table 7.4).

Fuel minerals are of sedimentary origin and usually accompany the cover of ancient platforms and their internal and marginal troughs. So the name "pool" reflects their origin quite accurately - "sea pool".

On the the globe more than 3.6 thousand are known. coal basins and deposits, which together occupy 15% of the earth's land area. The main part of coal resources falls on Asia, North America and Europe and is concentrated in the ten largest basins of China, the USA, Russia, India, and Germany.

oil and gas bearing More than 600 pools have been explored, 450 are being developed. Total number oil fields reaches 35 thousand. The main reserves are located in the Northern Hemisphere and are deposits of the Mesozoic. The main part of these reserves is also concentrated in a small number of the largest basins. Saudi Arabia, USA, Russia, Iran.

Ore minerals are usually confined to the foundations (shields) of ancient platforms, as well as to folded areas. In such areas, they often form huge ore (metallogenic) belts, connected by their origin with deep faults in the earth's crust. Geothermal energy resources are especially large in countries and regions with increased seismic and volcanic activity (Iceland, Italy, New Zealand, Philippines, Mexico, Kamchatka and North Caucasus in Russia, California in the USA).

For economic development, territorial combinations (accumulations) of minerals are most beneficial, which facilitate complex processing raw materials.

Extraction of mineral resources closed(mine) method on a global scale is carried out in overseas Europe, the European part of Russia, the USA, where many deposits and basins located in the upper layers earth's crust, are already well developed.

If minerals occur at a depth of 20-30 m, it is more profitable to remove the top layer of rock with a bulldozer and mine open way. For example, iron ore is mined in the open pit in the Kursk region, coal in some deposits in Siberia.

In terms of reserves and production of many mineral wealth, Russia occupies one of the first places in the world (gas, coal, oil, iron ore, diamonds).

In table. 7.4 shows the relationship between the structure of the earth's crust, topography and the distribution of minerals.

Tableia 7.4

Deposits of minerals depending on the structure and return of a section of the earth's crust and landforms

Landforms	The structure and age of a section of the earth's crust	characteristic minerals	Examples
Plains	Shields of the Archean-Proterozoic platforms	Abundant iron ore deposits	Ukrainian Shield, Baltic Shield of the Russian Platform
	Plates of ancient platforms, the cover of which was formed in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic times	Oil, gas, coal, building materials	West Siberian Lowland, Russian Plain
The mountains	Young folded mountains of Alpine age	Polymetallic ores, building materials	Caucasus, Alps
	Destroyed fold-block mountains of the Mesozoic, Hercynian and Caledonian folding	Structures richest in minerals: ores of ferrous (iron, manganese) and non-ferrous (chromium, copper, nickel, uranium, mercury) metals, placers of gold, platinum, diamonds	Kazakh small hillock
	Rejuvenated mountains of Mesozoic and Paleozoic folding	Ores of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, primary and alluvial deposits of gold, platinum and diamonds	Ural, Appalachians, mountains of Central Europe
Continental shelf (shelf)	marginal deflections	Oil Gas	gulf of mexico
	Flooded part of slabs, platforms	Oil Gas	Persian Gulf
Ocean floor	abyssal plains	Iron-manganese nodules	Bottom of the North Sea

Hydrosphere

Hydrosphere(from Greek. hydro- water and sphaira- ball) - the water shell of the Earth, which is a combination of oceans, seas and continental water basins - rivers, lakes, swamps, etc., groundwater, glaciers and snow covers.

It is believed that the water shell of the Earth was formed in the early Archean, that is, approximately 3800 million years ago. During this period of the history of the Earth, a temperature was established on our planet at which water could be largely in a liquid state of aggregation.

Water as a substance has unique properties, which include the following:

♦ ability to dissolve very many substances;

♦ high heat capacity;

♦ being in a liquid state in the temperature range from 0 to 100 °С;

♦ greater lightness of water in the solid state (ice) than in the liquid state.

Unique properties water allowed it to play an important role in the evolutionary processes occurring in the surface layers of the earth's crust, in the circulation of matter in nature and to be a condition for the emergence and development of life on Earth. Water begins to fulfill its geological and biological functions in the history of the Earth after the formation of the hydrosphere.

The hydrosphere consists of surface water and groundwater. surface water hydrospheres cover 70.8% earth's surface. Their total volume reaches 1370.3 million km 3, which is 1/800 of the total volume of the planet, and the mass is estimated at 1.4 x 1018 tons. Surface waters, that is, waters covering land, include the World Ocean, continental water basins and continental ice. World Ocean includes all the seas and oceans of the Earth.

Seas and oceans cover 3/4 of the land surface, or 361.1 million km2. The bulk of surface water - 98% - is concentrated in the World Ocean. The world ocean is conditionally divided into four oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic. They believe that modern level ocean was established about 7000 years ago. According to geological studies, ocean level fluctuations over the past 200 million years have not exceeded 100 m.

The water in the oceans is salty. The average salt content is about 3.5% by weight, or 35 g/l. Them qualitative composition the following: Na +, Mg 2+, K +, Ca 2+ prevail from cations, from anions - Cl-, SO 4 2-, Br -, C0z 2-, F -. It is believed that the salt composition of the oceans has remained constant since Paleozoic era the time of the beginning of the development of life on land, that is, approximately within 400 million years.

Continental water basins are rivers, lakes, swamps, reservoirs. Their waters make up 0.35% of the total mass of surface waters of the hydrosphere. Some continental water bodies - lakes - contain salt water. These lakes are either of volcanic origin, or are isolated remnants of ancient seas, or formed in an area of thick deposits of soluble salts. However, mostly continental water bodies are fresh.

Fresh water of open reservoirs also contains soluble salts, but in a small amount. Depending on the content of dissolved salts, fresh water is divided into soft and hard. The less salts are dissolved in water, the softer it is. The hardest fresh water contains salts no more than 0.005% by weight, or 0.5 g/l.

continental ice make up 1.65% of the total mass of surface waters of the hydrosphere, 99% of the ice is in Antarctica and Greenland. total weight snow and ice on Earth is estimated at 0.0004% of the mass of our planet. This is enough to cover the entire surface of the planet with a layer of ice 53 m thick. According to calculations, if this mass melts, then the ocean level will rise by 64 m.

The chemical composition of the surface waters of the hydrosphere is approximately equal to the average composition sea water. Of the chemical elements, oxygen (85.8%) and hydrogen (10.7%) predominate by weight. Surface waters contain significant amounts of chlorine (1.9%) and sodium (1.1%). Significantly higher than in the earth's crust, the content of sulfur and bromine is noted.

Groundwater hydrosphere contain the main supply of fresh water: It is assumed that the total volume of groundwater is approximately 28.5 billion km 3. This is almost 15 times more than in the oceans. It is believed that it is groundwater that is the main reservoir that replenishes all surface water bodies. The underground hydrosphere can be divided into five zones.

Cryozone. Ice area. The zone covers the polar regions. Its thickness is estimated within 1 km.

liquid water zone. Covers almost the entire earth's crust.

Vaporous water zone limited to a depth of 160 km. It is believed that the water in this zone has a temperature of 450 °C to 700 °C and is under pressure up to 5 GPa 1 .

Below, at depths up to 270 km, there is zone of monomeric water molecules. It covers layers of water with a temperature range from 700 °C to 1000 °C and pressure up to 10 GPa.

Dense water zone extends, presumably, to depths of 3000 km and encircles the entire mantle of the Earth. The water temperature in this zone is estimated in the range from 1000° to 4000°C, and the pressure is up to 120 GPa. Water under such conditions is completely ionized.

The Earth's hydrosphere performs important functions: it regulates the temperature of the planet, ensures the circulation of substances, and is an integral part of the biosphere.

Direct impact on temperature regulation surface layers of the Earth, the hydrosphere provides due to one important properties water - high heat capacity. For this reason, surface waters accumulate solar energy, and then slowly release it into the surrounding space. The temperature equalization on the Earth's surface occurs solely due to the water cycle. In addition, snow and ice have a very high reflective

ability: it exceeds the average for the earth's surface by 30%. Therefore, at the poles, the difference between the absorbed and radiated energy is always negative, that is, the energy absorbed by the surface is less than the emitted. This is how the thermoregulation of the planet occurs.

Security cycling is another important function of the hydrosphere.

The hydrosphere is in constant interaction with the atmosphere, the earth's crust and the biosphere. The water of the hydrosphere dissolves air in itself, concentrating oxygen, which is further used by aquatic living organisms. Carbon dioxide in the air, which is formed mainly as a result of the respiration of living organisms, fuel combustion and volcanic eruptions, has a high solubility in water and accumulates in the hydrosphere. The hydrosphere also dissolves in itself heavy inert gases - xenon and krypton, the content of which in water is higher than in air.

The waters of the hydrosphere, evaporating, enter the atmosphere and fall out in the form of precipitation, which penetrate the rocks, destroying them. So water is involved in the processes weatheringrocks. Rock fragments are being demolished flowing waters into rivers, and then into the seas and oceans or into closed continental reservoirs and are gradually deposited on the bottom. These deposits subsequently turn into sedimentary rocks.

It is believed that the main cations of sea water - cations of sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium - were formed as a result of weathering of rocks and the subsequent removal of weathering products by rivers into the sea. The most important anions of sea water - anions of chlorine, bromine, fluorine, sulfate ion and carbonate ion, probably come from the atmosphere and are associated with volcanic activity.

Part of the soluble salts is systematically removed from the composition of the hydrosphere by means of their precipitation. For example, when carbonate ions dissolved in water interact with calcium and magnesium cations, insoluble salts are formed, which sink to the bottom in the form of carbonate sedimentary rocks. Organisms inhabiting the hydrosphere play an important role in the precipitation of some salts. They extract individual cations and anions from sea water, concentrating them in their skeletons and shells in the form of carbonates, silicates, phosphates and other compounds. After the death of organisms, their hard shells accumulate on seabed and form thick strata of limestones, phosphorites and various siliceous rocks. The vast majority of sedimentary rocks and such valuable minerals as oil, coal, bauxite, various salts, etc., were formed in the past geological periods in various reservoirs of the hydrosphere. It has been established that even the most ancient rocks, whose absolute age reaches about 1.8 billion years, are highly altered sediments formed in aquatic environment. Water is also used in the process of photosynthesis, which produces organic matter and oxygen.

About 3,500 million years ago, life on Earth originated in the hydrosphere. The evolution of organisms continued exclusively in the aquatic environment until the beginning of the Paleozoic era, when about 400 million years ago the gradual migration of animal and plant organisms to land began. In this regard, the hydrosphere is considered as a component of the biosphere. (biosphere - sphere of life, area inhabited by living organisms).

Living organisms are extremely unevenly distributed in the hydrosphere. The number and diversity of living organisms in certain areas of surface waters is determined by many factors, including a complex of environmental factors: temperature, water salinity, illumination, and pressure. With increasing depth, the limiting effect of illumination and pressure increases: the amount of incoming light decreases sharply, and the pressure, on the contrary, becomes very high. So, in the seas and oceans, mainly littoral zones are populated, that is, zones no deeper than 200 m, most warmed by the sun's rays.

Describing the functions of the hydrosphere on our planet, V. I. Vernadsky noted: “Water determines and creates the entire biosphere. It creates the main features of the earth's crust, up to the magmatic shell.

Atmosphere

Atmosphere(from Greek. atmos- steam, evaporation and sphaira- ball) - the shell of the Earth, consisting of air.

Part air includes a number of gases and particles of solid and liquid impurities suspended in them - aerosols. The mass of the atmosphere is estimated at 5.157 x 10 15 tons. A column of air exerts pressure on the surface of the Earth: the average atmospheric pressure at sea level is 1013.25 hPa, or 760 mm Hg. Art. Pressure of 760 mm Hg. Art. equated to an off-system unit of pressure - 1 atmosphere (1 atm.). average temperature air near the Earth's surface - 15 ° C, while the temperature varies from about 57 ° C in subtropical deserts to 89 ° C in Antarctica.

The atmosphere is not uniform. There are the following layers of the atmosphere: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere, which differ in the features of temperature distribution, air density and some other parameters. The areas of the atmosphere that occupy an intermediate position between these layers are respectively called tropopause, stratopause and mesopause.

Troposphere - the lower layer of the atmosphere with a height of 8-10 km in polar latitudes and up to 16-18 km in the tropics. The troposphere is characterized by a drop in air temperature with height - with the distance from the Earth's surface for each kilometer, the temperature decreases by about 6 ° C. The air density decreases rapidly. About 80% of the total mass of the atmosphere is concentrated in the troposphere.

Stratosphere located at altitudes on average from 10-15 km to 50-55 km from the Earth's surface. The stratosphere is characterized by an increase in temperature with height. The increase in temperature occurs due to the absorption of short-wave radiation from the Sun, primarily UV (ultraviolet) rays, by ozone in this layer of the atmosphere. At the same time, in the lower part of the stratosphere, up to a level of about 20 km, the temperature changes little with height and may even decrease slightly. Higher, the temperature begins to rise - slowly at first, but from a level of 34-36 km much faster. In the upper part of the stratosphere at an altitude of 50-55 km, the temperature reaches 260-270 K.

Mesosphere- layer of the atmosphere, located at altitudes of 55-85 km. In the mesosphere, the air temperature decreases with increasing altitude - from approximately 270 K at the lower boundary to 200 K at the upper boundary.

Thermosphere extends at altitudes from about 85 km to 250 km from the Earth's surface and is characterized by a rapid increase in air temperature, reaching 800-1200 K at an altitude of 250 km. meteors slow down and burn out here. Thus, the thermosphere performs the function of the Earth's protective layer.

Above the troposphere is exosphere, the upper limit of which is conditional and is marked by a height of about 1000 km above the Earth's surface. From the exosphere, atmospheric gases are dispersed into the world space. So there is a gradual transition from the atmosphere to interplanetary space.

Atmospheric air near the Earth's surface consists of various gases, mainly nitrogen (78.1% by volume) and oxygen (20.9% by volume). The composition of the air in a small amount also includes the following gases: argon, carbon dioxide, helium, ozone, radon, water vapor. In addition, air can contain various variable components: nitrogen oxides, ammonia, etc.

In addition to gases, air contains atmospheric aerosol, which is very fine solid and liquid particles suspended in the air. Aerosol is formed during the life of organisms, economic activity man, volcanic eruptions, the rise of dust from the surface of the planet and from cosmic dust entering the upper atmosphere.

The composition of atmospheric air up to a height of about 100 km is generally constant, over time, and homogeneous in different regions of the Earth. At the same time, the content of variable gaseous components and aerosols is not the same. Above 100-110 km there is a partial decay of oxygen, carbon dioxide and water molecules. At an altitude of about 1000 km, light gases - helium and hydrogen - begin to predominate, and even higher, the Earth's atmosphere gradually turns into interplanetary gas.

water vapor- important component air. It enters the atmosphere by evaporation from the surface, water and moist soil, as well as by transpiration by plants. The relative content of water vapor in the air varies near the earth's surface from 2.6% in the tropics to 0.2% in polar latitudes. With distance from the Earth's surface, the amount of water vapor in the atmospheric air falls rapidly, and already at a height of 1.5-2 km it decreases by half. In the troposphere, as the temperature drops, water vapor condenses. When water vapor condenses, clouds form, from which precipitation in the form of rain, snow, hail. The amount of precipitation that falls on the Earth is equal to the amount that evaporates from the surface. Lands of water. Excess water vapor over the oceans is carried to the continents by air currents. The amount of water vapor transported in the atmosphere from the ocean to the continents is equal to the volume of river flow that flows into the oceans.

Ozone 90% is concentrated in the stratosphere, the rest is in the troposphere. Ozone absorbs UV radiation from the Sun, which has a negative effect on living organisms. Areas with low levels of ozone in the atmosphere are called ozone holes.

The greatest fluctuations in the thickness of the ozone layer are observed at high latitudes, so the likelihood of ozone holes in areas close to the poles is higher than at the equator.

Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere in large quantities. It is constantly released as a result of the respiration of organisms, combustion, volcanic eruptions and other processes occurring on Earth. However, the content of carbon dioxide in the air is low, since most of it is dissolved in the waters of the hydrosphere. Nevertheless, it is noted that over the past 200 years, the content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by 35%. The reason for such a significant increase is the active economic activity of man.

The main source of heat for the atmosphere is the Earth's surface. Atmospheric air passes well enough to the earth's surface Sun rays. Solar radiation entering the Earth is partially absorbed by the atmosphere - mainly by water vapor and ozone, but the vast majority of it reaches the earth's surface.

The total solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface is partially reflected from it. The amount of reflection depends on the reflectivity of a particular area of the earth's surface, the so-called albedo. The average albedo of the Earth is about 30%, while the difference between the albedo value is from 7-9% for chernozem to 90% for freshly fallen snow. When heated, the earth's surface releases heat rays into the atmosphere and heats its lower layers. In addition to the main source of thermal energy of the atmosphere - the heat of the earth's surface; heat enters the atmosphere as a result of condensation of water vapor, as well as by absorption of direct solar radiation.

The unequal heating of the atmosphere in different regions of the Earth causes an unequal distribution of pressure, which leads to displacement air masses along the surface of the earth. Air masses move from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. This movement of air masses is called wind. Under certain conditions, the wind speed can be very high, up to 30 m / s or more (more than 30 m / s - already Hurricane).

The state of the lower layer of the atmosphere at a given place and at a given time is called weather. The weather is characterized by air temperature, precipitation, wind strength and direction, cloudiness, air humidity and atmospheric pressure. The weather is determined by the conditions of atmospheric circulation and geographic location terrain. It is most stable in the tropics and most variable in middle and high latitudes. The nature of the weather, its seasonal dynamics depend on climate in this territory.

Under, climate are understood as the most frequently repeated weather features for a given area that persist for a long time. These are characteristics averaged over 100 years - temperature, pressure, precipitation, etc. The concept of climate (from Greek, klima- slope) arose in Ancient Greece. Even then it was understood that weather depends on the angle at which the sun's rays hit the earth's surface. The leading condition for establishing a certain climate in a given area is the amount of energy per unit area. It depends on the total solar radiation incident on the earth's surface and on the albedo of this surface. Thus, in the region of the equator and near the poles, the temperature changes little during the year, and in the subtropical regions and in the middle latitudes, the annual temperature amplitude can reach 65 °C. The main climate-forming processes are heat exchange, moisture exchange and atmospheric circulation. All these processes have one source of energy - the Sun.

The atmosphere is a sine qua non for all forms of life. Highest value for the life of organisms have the following gases that are part of the air: oxygen, nitrogen, water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone. Oxygen is essential for respiration by the vast majority of living organisms. Nitrogen, assimilated from the air by some microorganisms, is necessary for the mineral nutrition of plants. Water vapor, condensing and falling out as precipitation, is the source of water on land. Carbon dioxide is the starting material for the process of photosynthesis. Ozone absorbs hard UV radiation harmful to organisms.

It is assumed that the modern atmosphere is of secondary origin: it was formed after the completion of the formation of the planet about 4.5 billion years ago from gases released by the solid shells of the Earth. During geological history Earth's atmosphere influenced various factors underwent significant changes in its composition.

The development of the atmosphere depends on the geological and geochemical processes occurring on the Earth. After the emergence of life on our planet, that is, approximately 3.5 billion years ago, living organisms began to have a significant impact on the development of the atmosphere. A significant part of the gases - nitrogen, carbon dioxide, water vapor - arose as a result of volcanic eruptions. Oxygen appeared about 2 billion years ago as a result of the activity of photosynthetic organisms that originally originated in the surface waters of the ocean.

In recent years, there have been noticeable changes in the atmosphere associated with the active economic activity of man. Thus, according to observations, over the past 200 years there has been a significant increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases: the content of carbon dioxide has increased by 1.35 times, methane - by 2.5 times. The content of many other variable components in the composition of the air has increased significantly.

The ongoing changes in the state of the atmosphere - an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases, ozone holes, air pollution - are global ecological problems modernity.

People in ancient times learned to use some of these resources for their needs, which found its expression in the names of historical periods in the development of mankind: "Stone Age", "Bronze Age", "Iron Age". Today, more than 200 different types of mineral resources are used. According to the figurative expression of Academician A.E. Fersman (1883–1945), now the entire periodic system of Mendeleev is laid down at the feet of mankind.

Minerals are mineral formations of the earth's crust that can be effectively used in the economy, accumulations of minerals form deposits, and with large areas of distribution - pools.

The distribution of minerals in the earth's crust is subject to geological (tectonic) patterns (Table 7.4).

More than 3,600 are known worldwide. coal basins and deposits, which together occupy 15% of the earth's land area. Most of the coal resources are in Asia, North America and Europe and is concentrated in the ten largest basins of China, USA, Russia, India, Germany.

oil and gas bearing More than 600 basins have been explored, 450 are being developed. The total number of oil fields reaches 35 thousand. The main reserves are located in the Northern Hemisphere and are Mesozoic deposits. The main part of these reserves is also concentrated in a small number of the largest basins of Saudi Arabia, the USA, Russia, and Iran.

For economic development, the most advantageous are territorial combinations (accumulations) of minerals, which facilitate the complex processing of raw materials.

Extraction of mineral resources closed(mine) method on a global scale is carried out in foreign Europe, the European part of Russia, the USA, where many deposits and basins located in the upper layers of the earth's crust are already heavily developed.

If minerals occur at a depth of 20–30 m, it is more profitable to remove the top layer of rock with a bulldozer and mine open way. For example, iron ore is mined in the open pit in the Kursk region, coal in some deposits in Siberia.

In terms of reserves and production of many mineral wealth, Russia occupies one of the first places in the world (gas, coal, oil, iron ore, diamonds).

In table. 7.4 shows the relationship between the structure of the earth's crust, topography and the distribution of minerals.

Table 7.4

Deposits of minerals depending on the structure and return of a section of the earth's crust and landforms

Hydrosphere

Hydrosphere(from Greek. hydro- water and sphaira- ball) - the water shell of the Earth, which is a combination of oceans, seas and continental water basins - rivers, lakes, swamps, etc., groundwater, glaciers and snow covers.

Water as a substance has unique properties, which include the following:

♦ ability to dissolve very many substances;

♦ high heat capacity;

♦ being in a liquid state in the temperature range from 0 to 100 °C;

♦ greater lightness of water in the solid state (ice) than in the liquid state.

The unique properties of water allowed it to play an important role in the evolutionary processes occurring in the surface layers of the earth's crust, in the circulation of matter in nature and to be a condition for the emergence and development of life on Earth. Water begins to fulfill its geological and biological functions in the history of the Earth after the formation of the hydrosphere.

The hydrosphere consists of surface water and groundwater. surface water hydrospheres cover 70.8% of the earth's surface. Their total volume reaches 1370.3 million km 3, which is 1/800 of the total volume of the planet, and the mass is estimated at 1.4 h 1018 tons. Surface waters, that is, waters covering land, include the World Ocean, continental water basins and continental ice.

World Ocean includes all the seas and oceans of the Earth.

Seas and oceans cover 3/4 of the land surface, or 361.1 million km2. The bulk of surface water is concentrated in the World Ocean - 98%. The world ocean is conditionally divided into four oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic. It is believed that the current level of the ocean was established about 7000 years ago. According to geological studies, ocean level fluctuations over the past 200 million years have not exceeded 100 m.

The water in the oceans is salty. The average salt content is about 3.5% by weight, or 35 g/l. Their qualitative composition is as follows: cations are dominated by Na +, Mg 2+, K +, Ca 2+, anions - Cl -, SO 4 2-, Br -, CO 3 2-, F -. It is believed that the salt composition of the oceans has remained constant since the Paleozoic era - the time when life began to develop on land, that is, for about 400 million years.

Continental water basins are rivers, lakes, swamps, reservoirs. Their waters make up 0.35% of the total mass of surface waters of the hydrosphere. Some continental reservoirs - lakes - contain salt water. These lakes have either volcanic origin, either represent isolated remains of ancient seas, or formed in the area of powerful deposits of soluble salts. However, mostly continental water bodies are fresh.

continental ice make up 1.65% of the total mass of surface waters of the hydrosphere, 99% of the ice is in Antarctica and Greenland. The total mass of snow and ice on Earth is estimated at 0.0004% of the mass of our planet. This is enough to cover the entire surface of the planet with a layer of ice 53 m thick. According to calculations, if this mass melts, then the ocean level will rise by 64 m.

The chemical composition of the surface waters of the hydrosphere is approximately equal to the average composition of sea water. Of the chemical elements, oxygen (85.8%) and hydrogen (10.7%) predominate by weight. Surface waters contain a significant amount of chlorine (1.9%) and sodium (1.1%). Significantly higher than in the earth's crust, the content of sulfur and bromine is noted.

Groundwater hydrosphere contain the main stock fresh water. It is assumed that the total volume of groundwater is approximately 28.5 billion km 3. This is almost 15 times more than in the oceans. It is believed that it is groundwater that is the main reservoir that replenishes all surface water bodies. The underground hydrosphere can be divided into five zones.

Cryozone. Ice area. The zone covers the polar regions. Its thickness is estimated within 1 km.

liquid water zone. Covers almost the entire earth's crust.

Vaporous water zone limited to a depth of 160 km. It is believed that the water in this zone has a temperature of 450 °C to 700 °C and is under pressure up to 5 GPa.

Below, at depths up to 270 km, there is zone of monomeric water molecules. It covers layers of water with temperatures ranging from 700 °C to 1000 °C and pressures up to 10 GPa.

The Earth's hydrosphere performs important functions: it regulates the temperature of the planet, ensures the circulation of substances, and is an integral part of the biosphere.

Direct impact on temperature regulation The surface layers of the Earth are provided by the hydrosphere due to one of the important properties of water - high heat capacity. For this reason, surface waters accumulate solar energy, and then slowly release it into the surrounding space. The temperature equalization on the Earth's surface occurs solely due to the water cycle. In addition, snow and ice have a very high reflectivity: it exceeds the average for the earth's surface by 30%. Therefore, at the poles, the difference between the absorbed and emitted energy is always negative, that is, the energy absorbed by the surface is less than the energy emitted. This is how the thermoregulation of the planet occurs.

Security cycling is another important function of the hydrosphere.

The hydrosphere is in constant interaction with the atmosphere, the earth's crust and the biosphere. The water of the hydrosphere dissolves air in itself, concentrating oxygen, which is further used by aquatic living organisms. Carbon dioxide in the air, which is formed mainly as a result of the respiration of living organisms, fuel combustion and volcanic eruptions, has a high solubility in water and accumulates in the hydrosphere. The hydrosphere also dissolves heavy inert gases - xenon and krypton, the content of which in water is higher than in air.

The waters of the hydrosphere, evaporating, enter the atmosphere and fall out in the form of precipitation, which penetrate the rocks, destroying them. So water is involved in the processes weathering rocks. Fragments of rocks are carried by flowing waters into rivers, and then into the seas and oceans or into closed continental reservoirs and are gradually deposited on the bottom. These deposits subsequently turn into sedimentary rocks.

It is believed that the main cations of sea water - cations of sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium - were formed as a result of weathering of rocks and the subsequent removal of weathering products by rivers into the sea. The most important anions of sea water - anions of chlorine, bromine, fluorine, sulfate ion and carbonate ion, probably originate from the atmosphere and are associated with volcanic activity.

Part of the soluble salts is systematically removed from the composition of the hydrosphere by means of their precipitation. For example, when carbonate ions dissolved in water interact with calcium and magnesium cations, insoluble salts are formed, which sink to the bottom in the form of carbonate sedimentary rocks. Organisms inhabiting the hydrosphere play an important role in the precipitation of some salts. They extract individual cations and anions from sea water, concentrating them in their skeletons and shells in the form of carbonates, silicates, phosphates and other compounds. After the death of organisms, their hard shells accumulate on the seabed and form thick layers of limestones, phosphorites and various siliceous rocks. The vast majority of sedimentary rocks and such valuable minerals as oil, coal, bauxites, various salts, etc., were formed in past geological periods in various reservoirs of the hydrosphere. It has been established that even the most ancient rocks, the absolute age of which reaches about 1.8 billion years, are highly altered sediments formed in the aquatic environment. Water is also used in the process of photosynthesis, which produces organic matter and oxygen.

About 3,500 million years ago, life on Earth originated in the hydrosphere. The evolution of organisms continued exclusively in the aquatic environment until the beginning of the Paleozoic era, when about 400 million years ago the gradual migration of animal and plant organisms to land began. In this regard, the hydrosphere is considered as a component of the biosphere. (biosphere- the sphere of life, the area where living organisms live).

Atmosphere

Atmosphere(from Greek. atmosphere steam, evaporation and sphaira- ball) - the shell of the Earth, consisting of air.

Part air includes a number of gases and particles of solid and liquid impurities suspended in them - aerosols. The mass of the atmosphere is estimated at 5.157 × 10 15 tons. The air column exerts pressure on the Earth's surface: the average atmospheric pressure at sea level is 1013.25 hPa, or 760 mm Hg. Art. Pressure of 760 mm Hg. Art. equated to an off-system unit of pressure - 1 atmosphere (1 atm.). The average air temperature at the Earth's surface is 15°C, with temperatures varying from about 57°C in subtropical deserts to -89°C in Antarctica.

Troposphere- the lower layer of the atmosphere with a height of 8-10 km in polar latitudes and up to 16-18 km in the tropics. The troposphere is characterized by a drop in air temperature with height; with distance from the Earth's surface for every kilometer, the temperature decreases by about 6 ° C. The air density decreases rapidly. About 80% of the total mass of the atmosphere is concentrated in the troposphere.

Stratosphere located at altitudes on average from 10–15 km to 50–55 km from the Earth's surface. The stratosphere is characterized by an increase in temperature with height. The increase in temperature is due to the absorption of short-wave radiation from the Sun, primarily UV (ultraviolet) rays, by ozone in this layer of the atmosphere. At the same time, in the lower part of the stratosphere, up to a level of about 20 km, the temperature changes little with height and may even decrease slightly. Higher, the temperature begins to rise, slowly at first, but much faster from the level of 34–36 km. In the upper part of the stratosphere, at an altitude of 50–55 km, the temperature reaches 260270 K.

Mesosphere- atmospheric layer located at altitudes of 55–85 km. In the mesosphere, the air temperature decreases with increasing altitude, from approximately 270 K at the lower boundary to 200 K at the upper boundary.

In addition to gases, air contains atmospheric aerosol, which is very fine solid and liquid particles suspended in the air. Aerosol is formed in the process of vital activity of organisms, human economic activity, volcanic eruptions, the rise of dust from the surface of the planet and from cosmic dust that enters the upper atmosphere.

The composition of atmospheric air up to a height of about 100 km is generally constant in time and homogeneous in different regions of the Earth. At the same time, the content of variable gaseous components and aerosols is not the same. Above 100–110 km, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water molecules partially decompose. At an altitude of about 1000 km, light gases - helium and hydrogen - begin to predominate, and even higher, the Earth's atmosphere gradually turns into interplanetary gas.

water vapor is an important constituent of air. It enters the atmosphere by evaporation from the surface of water and moist soil, as well as by transpiration by plants. The relative content of water vapor in the air varies near the earth's surface from 2.6% in the tropics to 0.2% in polar latitudes. With distance from the Earth's surface, the amount of water vapor in the atmospheric air rapidly decreases, and already at a height of 1.5–2 km it decreases by half. In the troposphere, as the temperature drops, water vapor condenses. When water vapor condenses, clouds form, from which precipitation falls in the form of rain, snow, hail. The amount of precipitation that falls on the Earth is equal to the amount of water evaporated from the Earth's surface. Excess water vapor over the oceans is carried to the continents by air currents. The amount of water vapor transported in the atmosphere from the ocean to the continents is equal to the volume of river flow that flows into the oceans.

The greatest fluctuations in the thickness of the ozone layer are observed at high latitudes, so the likelihood of ozone holes in areas close to the poles is higher than at the equator.

The main source of heat for the atmosphere is the Earth's surface. Atmospheric air transmits the sun's rays to the earth's surface quite well. Solar radiation entering the Earth is partially absorbed by the atmosphere - mainly by water vapor and ozone, but the vast majority of it reaches the earth's surface.

The total solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface is partially reflected from it. The amount of reflection depends on the reflectivity of a particular area of the earth's surface, the so-called albedo. The average albedo of the Earth is about 30%, while the difference between the albedo values is from 7–9% for chernozem to 90% for freshly fallen snow. When heated, the earth's surface releases heat rays into the atmosphere and heats its lower layers. In addition to the main source of thermal energy of the atmosphere - the heat of the earth's surface, heat enters the atmosphere as a result of condensation of water vapor, as well as by absorbing direct solar radiation.

The unequal heating of the atmosphere in different regions of the Earth causes an unequal distribution of pressure, which leads to the movement of air masses along the surface of the Earth. Air masses move from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. This movement of air masses is called wind. Under certain conditions, the wind speed can be very high, up to 30 m / s or more (more than 30 m / s - already Hurricane).

The state of the lower layer of the atmosphere at a given place and in given time called weather. The weather is characterized by air temperature, precipitation, wind strength and direction, cloudiness, air humidity and atmospheric pressure. The weather is determined by the conditions of atmospheric circulation and the geographical position of the area. It is most stable in the tropics and most variable in middle and high latitudes. The nature of the weather, its seasonal dynamics depend on climate in this territory.

Under climate are understood as the most frequently repeated weather features for a given area that persist for a long time. These are characteristics averaged over 100 years - temperature, pressure, precipitation, etc. The concept of climate (from the Greek. klima- tilt) originated in ancient Greece. Even then it was understood that weather conditions depend on the angle at which the sun's rays fall on the surface of the Earth. The leading condition for establishing a certain climate in a given area is the amount of energy per unit area. It depends on the total solar radiation incident on the earth's surface and on the albedo of this surface. Thus, in the region of the equator and near the poles, the temperature changes little during the year, and in subtropical regions and in middle latitudes, the annual temperature amplitude can reach 65 °C. The main climate-forming processes are heat exchange, moisture exchange and atmospheric circulation. All these processes have one source of energy - the Sun.

The atmosphere is a sine qua non for all forms of life. The most important for the life of organisms are the following gases that are part of the air: oxygen, nitrogen, water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone. Oxygen is essential for respiration by the vast majority of living organisms. Nitrogen, assimilated from the air by some microorganisms, is necessary for the mineral nutrition of plants. Water vapor, condensing and falling out as precipitation, is the source of water on land. Carbon dioxide is the starting material for the process of photosynthesis. Ozone absorbs hard UV radiation harmful to organisms.

It is assumed that the modern atmosphere is of secondary origin: it was formed after the completion of the formation of the planet about 4.5 billion years ago from gases released by the solid shells of the Earth. During the geological history of the Earth, the atmosphere under the influence of various factors has undergone significant changes in its composition.

The ongoing changes in the state of the atmosphere - an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases, ozone holes, air pollution - are global environmental problems of our time.

The lithosphere is one of the most important components of the geological environment, with geodynamic activity and the composition of which humanity faces every minute. The resource function of the lithosphere is predetermined by the mineral, organomineral and organogenic resources that take part in its structure. They are essential for the life and activity of the biota, acting as one of the components of ecosystems, as well as for life. human society. Lithosphere resources include the following aspects: resources necessary for the life of the biota; resources necessary for the life and activities of human society; resources as a geological space that is necessary for the settlement and existence of biota and human society. If the first two aspects are associated with the mineral resources of the Earth, then the latter is exclusively with the geological space, which covers the near-surface and surface parts of the lithosphere.

Mineral resources belong to the category of exhaustible resources and the vast majority of them are non-renewable. They play a primary role in the life of human society, determining its material and scientific and technical level. Since ancient times, the number of mineral resources and the volume of their extraction and use have continuously increased. In the Paleolithic, the extraction of raw materials was limited only to those rocks that could be raw materials for the manufacture of stone tools. Later, metal ores began to be involved in the sphere of activity - first tin and copper, and then iron. The dynamics of extraction and use of mineral raw materials has increased dramatically over the past century. Based on existing forecasts, the reserves of a number of types of mineral raw materials will begin to dry up by the middle of the 21st century. Resources of the lithosphere necessary for the life of the biota are represented by rocks and minerals, which include chemical elements of the biophilic series, vital for the growth and development of organisms, kudyurites - the mineral substance of kudyurs, which is the mineral food of lithophages, and groundwater. Carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, calcium, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, sodium and a number of other elements are required by organisms in significant quantities, therefore they are called macrobiogenic. Microbiogenic elements for plants are Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, B, Si, Mo, CI, V, Ca, which provide the processes of photosynthesis, nitrogen metabolism and metabolic function. Animals require the same elements, except for boron. Some of them they get using food producers, and some - from mineral compounds and natural waters. In addition, animals (consumers of the first and second orders) additionally require selenium, chromium, nickel, fluorine, iodine, etc. These elements in small quantities are vital for the activity of organisms and the performance of biogeochemical functions.

Some of the listed elements are in a gaseous state in the atmosphere, others are dissolved in the waters of the hydrosphere or are in a bound state in the soil cover or lithosphere. Plants (producers) extract these elements in the course of their life activity directly from soils together with soil and ground waters.

Mineral substances of kudyurs are episodic food of herbivores (first-order consumers) and omnivores (third-order consumers) animals. They consume them with food at least twice a year. Kudyury are designed to regulate the salt composition of the body. These are mainly minerals of the zeolite group. In addition to zeolites, clay minerals such as bentonites, glauconite, and diatomite are stimulants for the growth of plants, animals, and fish.

Groundwater is the basis for the existence of biota, determines the direction and speed biochemical processes plants and animals.

Mineral resources necessary for life and activities of human society. These include all existing minerals that are used by mankind to produce necessary materials and energy. Currently, more than 200 types of minerals are being extracted from the subsoil and the volume of annual production of mineral raw materials reaches about 20 billion tons of rock mass per year. The most important groups of minerals and the main directions of their use are shown in fig. 8.4.

geological space. It consists in considering - the lithosphere as the habitat of the biota (burrowing and digging animals and microorganisms), and the engineering-geological activity of man.

Along with this, the assessment of the resource function of the lithosphere is associated with the placement in the geological space of burials of highly toxic and radioactive waste. It should be borne in mind that the volumes of geological space suitable for these purposes are very limited. It becomes more and more problematic to find suitable and safe places for waste disposal and industrial and domestic landfills. A prime example in this regard, Japan has become, which is forced to fill up coastal areas of marine areas and carry out construction on bulk soils. Other countries, such as Holland, use dams to protect land from being flooded by the sea. Therefore, not only agricultural land is a valuable natural resource, but also land intended for industrial, civil and transport construction is of great value.

Rice. 8.4. Scheme of using the main natural resources of the lithosphere

The lithosphere is the upper solid shell of the planet with a thickness of 50 to 200 km, which has great strength and passes without a definite sharp boundary into the underlying asthenosphere. From above, the lithosphere is limited by the hydrosphere and the atmosphere, which partially penetrate into it. The lithosphere is the geological basis of the landscape, soils, the medium for the exchange of matter and energy with the atmosphere and the surface hydrosphere, through which the water cycle is carried out in nature. It serves as a reservoir of fresh waters that are part of the structure of terrestrial biota, providing the processes of its vital activity. The lithosphere is an environment of concentration of natural mineral resources necessary for the functioning and development of mankind as a social social structure. In this regard, the properties of the lithosphere require special consideration, primarily from the standpoint of its geoecological functions, as a product of natural and technogenic development of the upper part of the earth's crust. The geoecological functions of the lithosphere are understood as the whole variety of functions that determine its role and significance in the life support of the biota and human society. All geoecological functional relationships between the natural and technogenically transformed lithosphere, on the one hand, and biota and humanity, on the other, can be reduced to four main groups: resource, geodynamic, geophysical, and geochemical.

The resource geoecological function of the lithosphere determines the role of mineral, organic and organomineral resources, the geological space of the lithosphere for the life of the biota and human society. It includes the mineral resources of the lithosphere necessary for the life of the biota; mineral resources necessary for human society as a social structure; geological space resources - areal and volumetric resources of the lithosphere necessary for the settlement and existence of biota, including humans as a biological species and humanity as a social structure. The first two aspects are related to the study and evaluation of mineral, organic and organomineral resources of the lithosphere, including groundwater. The latter type of resources is due to the geoecological capacity of the geological space, covering the near-surface part of the lithosphere, both in areal and volumetric dimensions. The resources of the lithosphere necessary for the life of the biota, including man as a biological species, are represented by four components: 1) rocks, which include elements of the biophilic series - soluble elements that are vital for organisms and are called biogenic elements; 2) kudyurites - mineral substances of kudyurs, which are the mineral food of animals - lithophages; 3) groundwater. Elements and their compounds, which form the basis of the biophilic series and are required by the biota in large quantities, are called macrobiogenic (carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, calcium, phosphorus, sulfur), and in small quantities - microbiogenic. For plants it Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, b, Si, Mo, Cl, V, Ca, which provide the functions of photosynthesis, nitrogen metabolism and metabolic function. Animals require both the listed elements (except for boron) and additionally selenium, chromium, nickel, fluorine, iodine and tin. Despite small amounts, all these elements are necessary for the life of biosystems and the performance of biogeochemical functions by living organisms. An important aspect associated with understanding the vital activity of biota are biogeochemical cycles. These are, to a greater or lesser extent, closed pathways for the circulation of chemical elements that make up the cellular protoplasm from the external environment into the body and again enter into the body. external environment . In such a cycle of matter, two funds are distinguished - reserve and exchange. The first, as a rule, non-biological component is a large mass of slowly moving substances, the second is a rapid exchange between organisms and their environment. On this basis, two types of biogeochemical cycles are distinguished: 1) circulation of gaseous substances with a reserve fund in the atmosphere and ocean; 2) sedimentary cycle with a reserve fund in the earth's crust, which is the subject of study of geological sciences. It includes such elements as phosphorus, iron, sulfur, etc. Mineral substances of kudyurs are episodic food of herbivores and omnivores, consumed by them twice a year in order to regulate the salt composition of the body. These are mainly minerals of the zeolite group. This group of mineral resources includes the so-called "non-traditional" sources of mineral raw materials, which include zeolites, bentonites, polygorskites, glauconites, diatomite. All of them are growth stimulants for plants, animals and fish. Groundwater as the basis for the existence of biota does not require explanation. As V. I. Vernadsky noted, “living matter passes through itself such an amount of water for only 7–10 million years that is equal in volume and quantity to the World Ocean.” The mineral resources necessary for the life and activity of human society belong to the category of exhaustible resources and the group of non-renewable, with the exception of fresh groundwater. They play a particularly important role in the socio-economic development of human society. In fact, mineral resources are the basis of the pyramid, reflecting the socio-economic and geo-ecological problems of the development of the material basis of modern society. These problems are interconnected and together determine the role of the resource function of the lithosphere (the state of its mineral resource base) in the functioning of geosystems of a high level of organization. Currently, about 200 types of minerals are extracted from the bowels, including all elements of the periodic table, and the annual volume of world production of mineral raw materials reaches about 17–18 billion tons of rock mass per year. According to the forecasts of some economists, the reserves of many types of mineral raw materials will run out by 2050, and lead and zinc will last only until the beginning of the 21st century. The geoecological significance of groundwater is determined by the volumes and directions of their use. The main ones are: domestic and drinking water supply, technical water supply, land irrigation, irrigation of pastures, medical (use of mineral waters for balneological purposes), geothermal (use of geothermal waters for heating and electricity generation), industrial (use of groundwater to extract a number of useful components - iodine, bromine, boron, lithium, strontium, table salt, etc. ). Considering the geological space as a resource necessary for the settlement and existence of biota, it can be stated that here, too, its reserves are limited. At present, 56% of the land surface has been developed on our planet. The underground space of the lithosphere is intensively developed in urban areas and in places of burial and storage of environmentally hazardous (toxic and radioactive) waste.

The impact of human economic activity on the geological environment is increasing every year and is becoming more and more uncontrollable. Depending on the size of the manifestation of such processes, there are large-scale (regional), local (areal, limited), linear (lateral) and point anthropogenic impact. In time, the impact can be permanent and episodic. Under natural conditions, it is difficult to single out the predominant impact factor; in most cases, the result of the total influence of several is observed. According to the nature of the impact on the geological environment, impacts are distinguished that lead, on the one hand, to the depletion of its resources (water withdrawal for water supply needs, drainage reclamation, mining, etc.), and on the other hand, to positive and negative changes (artificial replenishment of reserves, land irrigation, flooding, etc.).

Among the main factors of technogenic impact are the following: agricultural, industrial and residential, mining, water management, transport. Industrial-residential and mining factors have a significant impact on the course of development (dynamics) of the geological environment. Such an impact is produced by the transformation of the relief of the earth's surface, various deformations of rock masses, chemical pollution of soils and groundwater, activation of exogenous and seismotectonic processes.

Various factors of technogenic impact on the upper part of the lithosphere lead to a violation of the natural ecological state of the geological environment or to pollution of its components, primarily soils and groundwater.

The disturbance of the geological environment is due to the physical (mechanical, hydrodynamic, etc.) impact on rock masses, in which they are deformed and contribute to the development of adverse, often dangerous phenomena. On the example of systems for the development of mineral deposits, one can get an idea of the main processes and phenomena of this kind (Table 6).

The removal and movement of large volumes of rocks is due to the fact that the volumes of minerals in relation to the masses of the extracted rock are small. For iron and aluminum it is 15–30%, for lead and copper about 1%, for silver and tin it is 0.01%, and for gold and platinum it is 0.00001%. In this regard, the volumes of dumps are impressive, which on a global scale are equal to more than 1200 km 3 for ore minerals, about 100 for non-metallic and about 300 km 3 for fuel. Open pit mining of mineral raw materials is on average 3–4 times cheaper than mine mining, so the share of open pit mining is 70%. On average, open pits in the world deepen by 5–10 m per year, their maximum depths are 500–700 m, and the heights of dumps and waste heaps exceed 100 m. Currently, there are up to 1000–1500 waste heaps in large coal basins. Thus, the amplitudes of the technogenic relief approach 1 km. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of land have been disturbed by open-cast mining of minerals, on which peculiar quarry-dump landscapes have formed. Modern dredges process productive deposits into alluvial deposits to a depth of up to 50 m. Annually, technogenic landscapes of industrial zones expand by 35–40 thousand hectares.

The pumping of water from open pits, often necessary to create conditions for the development of deposits, causes a number of complex processes on the bottoms and walls of open pits.

There are various ways to extract minerals.

Mineral resources that are on the surface of the earth's crust or lie shallow in the bowels are mined open way . An open-pit mining method is the process of creating pits in a deposit, which are called cuts or quarries. The dimensions of such cuts and quarries depend on the vastness of the deposit and the depth of the mineral deposits. With the help of an open method, raw materials used for construction are mainly extracted: limestone, sand, chalk, and the like. Peat, some types of coal, as well as iron and copper ores are also mined in an open way.

Solid minerals that lie at great depths in the bowels of the earth are mined using underground mine structures. Most often, coal is mined in this way. The mining method of mining is considered the most dangerous for the life of employees of such enterprises.

Liquid and gaseous minerals are extracted from the earth by drilling special wells, from where minerals come to the surface through pipes. For the extraction of minerals of a certain type, additional methods are used. For example, to extract salt, it is dissolved underground by supplying water to a well. And raw materials such as sulfur are pre-melted under the action of hot steam supplied through the well.

Even in the extraction of some non-ferrous metals, water is used in the mining business, more precisely impurities from groundwater. This is how lithium is mined - it is found in groundwater, where it is dissolved and found in mineral water in the form of compounds. You can also find groundwater deposits from which copper is precipitated. A striking example is the Degtyarsky mine in the Urals. Copper dissolves in groundwater under the action of bacteria that can dissolve copper compounds with sulfur, turning them into copper sulfate.

Such raw materials as germanium, according to many experts, are profitable to extract from the processing of thermal power plants, more precisely from their ash.

Every year, new ways of extracting minerals are developed. The development of modern technologies contributes to the emergence of new methods and equipment for the extraction of certain minerals.

65. ECOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF THE LITHOSPHERE: RESOURCE, GEODYNAMIC, GEOPHYSICAL AND GEOCHEMICAL

Since ancient times, people have learned to use for their needs some of the resources of the lithosphere and other shells of the Earth, which is reflected in the names of the historical periods of human development: "Stone Age", "Bronze Age", "Iron Age". Today, more than 200 different types of resources are used. All Natural resources should be clearly separated from natural conditions.

Natural resources- these are the bodies and forces of nature, which at a given level of development of productive forces and knowledge can be used to meet the needs of human society in the form of direct participation in material activity.

Under minerals refers to the mineral formations of the earth's crust, which can be effectively used in human economic activity. The distribution of minerals in the earth's crust is subject to geological laws. The resources of the lithosphere include fuel, ore and non-metallic minerals, as well as energy internal heat Earth. Thus, the lithosphere performs one of the most important functions for mankind - resource - supplying a person with almost all types of known resources.

In addition to the resource function, the lithosphere also performs one more important function- geodynamic. Geological processes are continuously taking place on the Earth. All geological processes are based on different sources energy. The source of internal processes is heat generated during radioactive decay and gravitational differentiation of substances inside the Earth.

Various tectonic movements of the earth's crust are associated with internal processes, creating the main forms of relief - mountains and plains, magmatism, earthquakes. Tectonic movements manifest themselves in slow vertical oscillations of the earth's crust, in the formation of rock folds and tectonic faults. Change is constantly happening appearance the earth's surface under the influence of lithospheric and intraterrestrial processes. We can see with our own eyes only a few of these processes. These include, in particular, such menacing phenomena as earthquakes and volcanism caused by seismic activity of intraterrestrial processes.

The diversity of the chemical composition and physicochemical properties of the earth's crust lies next function lithosphere - geophysical and geochemical. According to geological and geochemical data to a depth of 16 km, the average chemical composition rocks of the earth's crust: oxygen - 47%, silicon -27.5%, aluminum - 8.6%, iron - 5%, calcium, sodium, magnesium and potassium - 10.5%, all other elements account for about 1.5 %, including titanium - 0.6%, carbon - 0.1%, copper - 0.01%, lead - 0.0016%, gold - 0.0000005%. Obviously, the first eight elements make up almost 99% of the earth's crust. The fulfillment by the lithosphere of this function, which is no less important than the previous ones, leads to the most effective economic use almost all layers of the lithosphere. In particular, the most valuable in terms of its composition and physical and chemical properties is the upper thin layer of the earth's crust, which has natural fertility and is called soil.

Ecological functions of the lithosphere. Definition, meaning and structure of the resource ecological function of the lithosphere. Average chemical composition of plant and human, % of dry matter

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