Natural Resources

What is a resource
• Resource: a source of raw material that society uses. It include all types
of matter and energy that are used to run and build the society.
• E.g.: minerals, trees, soil, water, coal and all other naturally occurring material.
• A natural resource: the goods and services supplied by our environment.
This includes fresh air, fresh water, lakes, rivers, soil, land forest,
grasslands, biodiversity, fisheries, minerals, salts, fossil fuel and others.
Classification of resources
Natural Resources

Non-
Renewable
renewable

Unconditiona Conditionally
Fossil fuels Minerals
lly renewable Renewable

Abiotic flow Abiotic Simple biotic Coal

Res. Complex
Biogeochemi Reproduction Petroleum, Metallic Non-metallic
Biotic
Sun cal Cycles and growth natural gas

Water,
phosphate, Fisheries and Iron, copper,
Ecosystem phoshorus
nitrate, trees Aluminium
oxygen
Resource degradation
• If sustained use of a biological resource has exceeded, the base supply
begins to decline. This is known as resource degradation.
• A resource is economically depleted when 80% of its total estimated
supply has been removed.
• The highest rate at which a renewable resource can be used without
decreasing its potential for its natural replacement is called its Natural
Replacement Rate.
Why to conserve resources
• To ensure continuous yield of plants, animal and material.
• To maintain ecological processes and life support system.
• To preserve the quality of environment.
• Conserve biological diversity.
• Achieve sustainable use of species and ecosystems.
Land…. A resource
Land Resources
• Minerals
• Soil
• Agricultural crops
• Natural forest products
• Medicinal Plants
• Forests based livelihood and industries
• Land cover
• Land use change
• Degradation
• Soil Erosion
• Desertification
• Deforestation causes
• Impact of mining and dams on environment, forests, biodiversity and tribal Communities
Land resources and land use change
• A precious resource
• Used to produce various goods and services
• The use of land results in the change in structure and function of
ecosystems.
• Change in the land use pattern can be due to
• Development of urban areas
• Clearing of land for agriculture
World Resource Institute
• Grazing land All India Soil Survey and
Land Use Survey
Land degradation
• It is the temporary or permanent lowering of productive capacity of land
OR the reduction or loss of biological productivity
• Sum of all degraded lands around the world is close to 5 billion hectare.
• Degraded land have reduced capacity to supply products for direct uses
like food, seed, biomass, energy, fibre, timber, biodiversity, etc.
Land Degradation
Rehabilitation of degraded land
• To produce more food, biomass and other similar goods.
• For proper biogeochemical cycles
• For preserving biodiversity which depends on high net production
• For maintaining economic growth and social structure
Land degradation/soil erosion…..causes
• Overgrazing 35%
• Deforestation 30%- aggravated by destroying vegetation and leaving
precious top soil exposed.
• Agricultural activities 25%-agriculture on steep slope/reduced amount of
dung/diminishing organic matter.
• Overharvesting for firewood 7%
Soil erosion…..Means
• Water erosion 56%
• Wind erosion 28%
• Chemical degradation 12%
• Physical degradation 4%
Soil formation is a natural process… to form one inch of soil it takes 200-
1000 years. it becomes a non-renewable resource when erosion is faster.
Desertification
• It refers to soil degradation in hyper-arid, arid, semi-arid and sub-humid
areas (together called drylands) resulting mainly from adverse climatic
conditions and human activities.
• Such a degraded land looks like a desert and its productivity is drastically
lower than its potential value.
Desertification
Desertification………..effects
• It makes area more prone to floods, soil erosion and loss of soil fertility
• Huge economic consequences (annual income from areas affected by
desertification amounts to US$42bn/yr and annual cost of fighting land degradation
is US $ 2.4bn/yr)
• It brings hunger and poverty, people are forced to move elsewhere and
find other means of livelihood.
• Results in loss of biodiversity, limits the production of food and forage,
fibre, provisioning services and effects global climate change.
Desertification………..mitigation
• Preparation of desertification hazard map.
• Reducing the pressure of grazing and harvesting and bringing it down
within sustainable range.
• Stabilising sand dunes.
• Construction of wind breaks or shelter belts in the windward side of
cropland and raising other plantations.
• Treatment of saline soil and waterlogged land.
Forest resources
• According to global Forest Resource assessment (2000): Forested lands
are those areas having an extent of at least 0.5 ha with the tree crown
cover of more than 10%.
• World’s forest cover has been reduced to 30% from >50%.
World distribution of forests
• Tropical zone: 47%
• Boreal zone: 33%
• Temperate zone: 11%
• Subtropical zone: 09%
Indian Forest Resources

• At the beginning of 20th century, 30% of India was covered with forest
that has been reduced to less than 20% now.
• This is less than the national goal of 1/3rd geographical area under
forests.
• World average of per capita forests: 0.64ha
• Indian average of per capita forests: 0.06ha
Deforestation…………….. causes
• Forests are shrinking, especially in developing countries located in tropics
and arid regions(>40%) Only 1% of the temperate forests are lost
• Expansion of agriculture
• Urbanisation
• Industrialisation
• Excessive commercial use of timber, fuel wood, NTFP(Non-timber
forests products) and cattle grazing.
• Mining
Deforestation……..impact of mining
• Requires clearing of forests
• Acid mine drainage
• Contamination of water bodies
• Afforestation is difficult
Deforestation……………..impacts
• Frequent flooding: amount of run-off water flowing into the river
increases several fold
• Increased soil erosion: loss of soil fertility, in drier areas it can lead to
desertification
• Extinction of plant, animal and microbial species which threatens the
indigenous people
• Induces regional and global climate change
• It effects budget of green house gases.
National Forest Action Programme
• Protect existing forests resources
• Improve forest productivity
• Reduce total demand
• Strengthen policy and institutional framework and expand forest area.
Water Resources
• Natural and man-made sources
• Uses of water
• Overexploitation of surface and ground water resources
• Droughts
• Floods
• International and inter state conflicts over water
Water Resources
• Most remarkable substance on earth
• Essential for all life
• 70% of the earths surface is covered with water
• ~97% of this is salt water(not usable by land life)
• Fresh water(3%)is not uniformly distributed because of variable climatic
and geologic conditions.
Distribution of water Resources
Water on Earth
(100%)

(97.4%) Salt
(2.6%) Fresh
water in seas and
water
oceans

(0.59%) Ground (1.98%) Ice caps

water and glaciers

(0.014%)

(0.005%) (0.007%) (0.001%)

Soil Moisture Lakes Atmospheric, rivers, plants
and animals
Water resources…………..uses
• Of the total usable water
• 69% is used for agriculture
• 21% is consumed by various industries
• 10% for domestic and municipality supplies
• Approximately 1.5bn people across the globe do not have access to safe
drinking water and nearly 3bn lack access to adequate sanitation services.
This is due to mismanagement of water resources in the form of
• Lack of water conservation
• Water pollution
Surface and ground water
• It is mostly runoff water found in rivers that is used for irrigation,
industrial production and household. We also depend on it for
maintenance of aquatic life, navigation, dilution of pollutants and
electricity generation.
• Wherever runoff water is accessible, humans intervention has greatly
effected its river systems through diversion and impoundment. Major
rivers like Ganga, Nile, Colorado are used so much that very little water
reaches the sea.
 • The water pours
down and fills the
Groundwater pores with water until
a large impermeable
rock stops it.
• The water table is the
boundary between
Suspended water
Zone of zones of aeration and
Aeration Capillary saturation.
fringe Water Table

Zone of
Saturation
Use and over exploitation of water resources
• 25% of world’s population draws water from the underground water
supplies for drinking and irrigation. The underground water resources
are overexploited.
• Poor management has led to the salination of world’s 20% irrigated lands
in the arid and semi-arid regions.
• Pollution of fresh water limits the possible use of fresh water.
Exploitation…………
• 60% of world’s rivers are fragmented because of construction of dams,
diversions and canalisation.
• Global warming has led to decrease in snow covered ice caps.
• About 150 of world’s major 200 rivers are shared between two countries
that leads to conflicts over exploitation/extraction and pollution
What are dams and why they are build?
• Structure that are built to obstruct a river or stream flow to make
lake/reservoirs. It is one of the ways of increasing our water resources
by
• Increased efficiency
• Reservoirs and canalisation
• Hydroelectric power generation
Impacts of Dams
• Sediment accumulation
• Scouring downstream
• Water loss due to evaporation
• Salination
• Dam breaks
• Biological disturbances
• Social disturbances
Floods
• Flood is a high flow of river that overruns its normal confinement area
and covers land that is usually dry.
• Natural floods are common and part of normal physical environment.
• They are most destructive of all natural hazards as they
• Cause damage to life and property
• Spread of diarrhoea, lack of safe drinking water and sanitation.
Floods…………………..

http://www.year7geo.com/7-the-effects-of-the-2011-thailand-floods-part-b/
Floods……….types
• Riverine floods: occurs along rivers when heavy rainfall or rapid melting
of snow causes large amount of water to flow through drainage basin.
Also occurs in case of a dam break.
• Flash floods: when soil absorption, runoff or drainage cannot disperse
intense rainfall. Usually caused by slow moving thunderstorms.
Developing in six hrs or less from rainfall to the onset of flooding.
Floods……………………….types
Cloud bursts: A cloudburst is an
extreme amount of precipitation,
sometimes accompanied by hail and
thunder, that normally lasts no
longer than a few minutes but is
capable of creating flood
conditions.
Flood…………….. Types
• Storm surge: when sea levels are
elevated above the usual tidal limit
due to action of intense low
pressure systems over the open
ocean.
Droughts……causes
• Periods of abnormally low rainfall over an extended period of time in a
particular area can have devastating effects.
• Changing human land pattern especially destruction of tropical forests
and human induced desertification may effect circulation pattern globally
increasing local droughts.
Droughts
Energy Resources
• Renewable and non-renewable energy resources
• Use of alternate energy resources
• Growing energy needs
• Energy content of Coal petroleum and natural Gas and bio gas
• Agro-residues and bio-mass energy sources
Energy Resources
• Human society is dependent on a continuous flow of energy. As the
technology is advancing the amount of energy required by humans has
increased dramatically. There are two types of energy sources
• Non-renewable/conventional: Fossil fuels like coal, petroleum and products and
natural gas
• Renewable sources/non-conventional: Hydroelectric power, solar energy, tidal
energy, geothermal energy, biomass energy.
Why fossil fuels
• They are the primary sources of conventional energy used world wide.
• Historically they have been available in plenty, they were easy to mine.
• Source of concentrated energy, that can be easily transported and can be
used for different purposes.
Petroleum/Oil
• Petroleum and its products are the most widely used forms of
commercial energy. Used for
• Fuelling vehicles(more than half of all oil is used for transportation~96%)
• Running machinery
• Heating buildings
• Laying down roads(tar and asphalt)
• Raw material to manufacture plastics, synthetic rubbers, fertilisers, medicines and
detergents
Crude oil distillation unit
Petroleum …………..
• Two-third (66%) of all reserves are found in middle east. Quarter of
global oil reserve is in Saudi Arabia.
• Reserves found elsewhere are of lower quality and their extraction costs
more.
• Even if we extend the use of oil, it will remain a non-renewable resource.
Currently burning of oil release around 9.5bn tonnes of carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere.
• Accidental dumping of oil in nature
Coal
• Fossil fuel in solid form.
• Much more abundant than oil and more evenly distributed across the
world.
• Current supply would last for another 200 years
• It emits 25% more carbon dioxide than an equivalent amount of oil and
80% more than gas.
• Also releases sulphur dioxide, contributing to acid rain.
• Since the middle of 20th century global consumption of coal has
doubled.
An open cast mine at Singrauli, Madhya
Pradesh
An underground coal mine
Thermal Power Plant
A Thermal Power Plant
Natural Gas
• Fuel that takes gaseous form
• Composition: mostly methane and other alkenes, CO2,N and H2S
• Burns cleaner
• Natural gas reserves would deplete by the end of 21st century
• Deposits are more evenly distributed than oil
Fossil fuels………….concerns
• Where will the energy come from in future, if we
deplete the conventional sources of energy (fossil fuels
are depleted)
• How can we avoid the environmental degradation so
often associated with the levels of energy consumption.
Why stop fossil fuel use
• They are hydrocarbons containing H and C, on combustion release H2O
and CO2
• Natural gas contain methane, release less CO2 but unused natural gas
release CH4, a highly potent GHG
• Fossil fuel procurement also damage environment visibly
• Oil spills during drilling or transportation from wells pipes and tankers.
Why stop fossil fuel use…….
• Coal mining takes a toll on environment.
• Strip mining, removal up to 30m of soil to get the coal, reclamation takes a lot of
money.
• Underground coal mines
• can lead to land subsidence
• Water seeping into them can form acids, contaminate land streams and lakes
• Underground coal fires are impossible to extinguish.
Renewable sources of Energy
• Hydroelectric power
• Wind power
• Solar power
• Geothermal power
• OTEC
• Biomass burning
They account for very small percentage of world energy budget.
Hydropower or Hydroelectric power
• It is the fourth largest source of commercial energy production after oil,
coal and natural gas. Nuclear power is close in fifth place.
• Principle: creation of artificial waterfall, for which a big reservoir is
needed. The running water falling down rotates the turbines that are
connected to generators.
Schematic diagram of a hydroelectric plant

http://www.ukerc.ac.uk/support/Hydroelectric
Hydropower …….merits
• It is a renewable resource
• After the dam is built, it is relatively cheap and clean source of electrical
energy
• No waste, no release of CO2, no hazardous or radioactive waste.
Hydropower …….demerits
• Construction requires large amount of fossil fuel to power machinery
and move materials
• Small scale dams or dam less facilities would be more useful but they
require fast rate of water flow which may not be available every where
Wind Power
• It supplies 1.5-2.0% of the world’s power supply. One of the fastest
growing sources of commercial energy.
• Principle: conversion of wind energy to electrical energy through wind
mills.
Wind energy
Wind power….merits
• It is safe and generally environmentally benign
• Does not generate any waste and produce CO2
• Can be installed on croplands as they are very tall
• On farms cattle can graze and crops can be planted around wind turbines
Wind power demerits
• Intermittent nature of energy source.
• Can lead to death of birds
• Large generators may interfere with TV and radio reception.
• For some people, they are noisy, ugly and they destroy the aesthetic
qualities of a landscape.
Solar energy
• It is the ultimate source of energy
• Wind power: Unevenly heats the atmosphere causing winds
• Hydel power: Evaporates water and recycle it as rains
• There are two ways of trapping solar energy
• Tapping solar energy directly
• Converting it into electricity
Solar Energy

Solar Energy

Indirect Use,
Direct Uses Conversion to
Electricity

Solar Thermal Photovoltaic

Passive Active
Technology Cells

Solar Water
Building
Solar Heating Heater/Solar
Designs
Cooker
Solar power …….direct uses
• Direct sunlight
• is diffuse due to clouds, haze
• Use of passive solar design in houses
• Active solar techniques
• Can reduce buildings energy consumption.
• To produce hot water (flat plate collectors) and secondarily provide space heating
for buildings interiors.
Flat Plate Collector
Solar power…..indirect uses
• Solar Thermal technology
• Mirrors, reflectors and lenses can be
used to concentrate sun’s energy to
superheat a liquid.
• Sunlight falling on a trough shaped
mirror is used to heat liquid in steel
pipes that heats water and run
turbines to generate electricity.
• Others include parabolic dish
collectors that focus sunlight onto a
single point, the heat can be used to
generate electricity.
Solar power…..indirect uses
• Photovoltaics: they use semiconductor technology to generate electricity
directly from sunlight, various silicon substances are used for this
purpose.
• Photovoltaic cells are used in calculators
• Used in signaling and telecommunication devices in space.
• Real potential lies in powering houses and factories.
• Provide power to recreational equipment, houses and small villages.
Solar panel
Photovoltaics………demerits
• Major disadvantage is the intermittent source of power, diurnal and
seasonal variation.
• Direct storage is difficult, batteries are large and bulky; can be used as a
supplement to conventional energy.
• Main constraint in its use is the cost.
• Manufacturing in large scale requires highly poisonous chemicals such as
HF, BF3, As, Cd, Te, Se
• Solar energy systems have a life expectancy of 30 yrs
Biomass
• Biomass burning especially fuelwood.
• It provides 10-15% of all energy needs of the world.
• Major consumption is through
• Households that burns wood
• Bio gas
• Waste to energy facility/Incineration
• Bio Fuel
Fuelwood Burning
• Creates air pollution
• Hazard for women.
Bio-gas usage
Incineration
Biomass…….. sources
• Natural standing forests
• Non-renewable resource unless harvested in a sustainable manner
• Wastes
• Wood scraps, unusable parts of trees, pulp residue, paper scraps and municipal
solid wastes.
• Energy crops
• Fast growing variety of trees as well as grasses
Biomass………………merits/demerits?
• It is assumed that the sources of these energy are renewable but actually
they are not.
• Wood used for fuel is often harvested in an unsustainable manner
• Major cause of deforestation and desertification
• Burning of fuelwood and charcoal derived from fuel wood releases CO2,
NOx and particulate matter. it is a major problem as half of the world’s
population use fuel wood on a daily basis.
Biomass………………merits/demerits
• Traditional biomass burning is very inefficient in developing countries.
• Waste to energy plants releases harmful amount of carcinogens.
• Energy crops are inefficient too.
• Biomass energy can be good on a transitional basis
Geothermal Energy
• Principle: to tap and harness earth’s internal heat which comes to surface
in the form of molten rock, erupting volcanoes, hot geysers and springs.
• It can be used directly to heat buildings and indirectly to produce
electricity.
• Major users of geothermal energy are USA, Philippines, Indonesia,
Japan, Mexico, Italy and Iceland.
• It is not present practically everywhere. Most easily used along plate
margins and other points where hot magma come close to surface.
Geothermal Deposits
• Geo-pressurised Brines: Naturally occurring deposits of salty water
under pressure at a depth of 3000-6000m.
• Magmas: They reach near surface around active volcanoes.
• Hot Dry Rocks: Geothermal gradient is pronounced in some areas
reaching 70deg C in some areas.
Merits and demerits
• Relatively clean.
• It tends to expel excessive quantities of heat and cause thermal pollution.
• Some of the hot underground water also contained dissolved salts, other
minerals and heavy metals that are pollutant on the surface
• H2S may be released from the vents.
• Contamination of fresh water aquifers
• Require large quantities of fresh water.
Nuclear power
• Supplies 6.5% of world’s commercial energy.
• There are ~ 430 commercial plants in some 30 countries.
• In US, 19.9% of it’s electricity supply by nuclear power.
• India is trying to develop its nuclear capacity.
Encompasses two different types of reactions:
FUSION
• Fusion: isotopes of some lighter
elements are fused together to
make a heavy element. The energy
is released in the process. The sun
produces energy using fusion
reaction.
• Nuclei of two hydrogen isotope
fuse to form heavier element
(Helium) and the energy is
released.
Fission
• Fission: U and Pu splits into
daughter products and energy is
released. All commercial nuclear
reactors are based on this.
• Neutron penetrates the nucleus of
a fissionable atom(U235) and
causes nucleus to split into two or
more smaller nucleus.
Nuclear Power Plant
Nuclear power plant
• Principle: A modern nuclear reactor with a sustained but controlled
fission chain reaction can generate tremendous amount of heat. The heat
is then used to heat water to steam to run turbine and generate electricity.
A typical nuclear reactor has a core of U or Pu.
Uranium Resources
• Like fossil fuels U is a non-renewable source of energy. A typical Light
Water Reactor with 1000MW capacity may require 140000 metric tons of
U ore to produce the fuel it requires in a year.
• U needs to be extracted from U ore. Typically 0.1% U by weight. After
mining the ore is concentrated using milling process.
• Assessing potential U resource is very difficult. Concentrated U resource
are not distributed evenly across the globe.
Nuclear Power……………….merits
• It does not produce harmful carbon based GHG such as CO2,
particulate and SO2.
• A large amount of energy is generated using small amount of U as fuel.
Demerits
• Primary Impacts
• Types of impacts as with any other
large power plants. Enormous
amount of energy, land and
materials.
• Large quantities of water are used
for cooling and disruptive amounts
of waste heat is generated and
dumped into the environment.
• After 30 years, a nuclear plant has to
be decommissioned requiring large
amount of energy and materials.
• Secondary impacts
• Dangers of radioactivity
• A modern nuclear reactor contains
radiation equivalent to that of 1000
Hiroshima bomb.
• There is still no long term
satisfactory method of disposing
off radioactive waste.
• Accidents and malfunctions incurs
significant monetary loss.
Nuclear Hazards
• Radioactive material that decay spontaneously produce ionising
radiations (which has enough energy to create two charged ions).
• Any living tissue can be damaged by ionising radiation.
• In general, the amount and duration of radiation exposure effects the
severity of or type of health effect.
Types of health effects

Nuclear Health Effects

Non
Radiation
Radiation

Non-
Stochastic
stochastic
Stochastic health effects
• Associated with long term, low level, chronic exposure to radiation.
• Cancer is considered to be a primary health effect.
• Radiation can cause changes in DNA. Changes in DNA are called
Mutations.
• Mutation are of two types
• Terratogenic: exposure of fetus in the uterus and effect only the individual.
• Genetic: passed on to offspring
Non-stochastic health effects
• Effects appear in cases of exposure of high level of radiation and
become more severe as exposure increases. Short term, high level
exposure is known as “acute” exposure.
• Includes non-cancerous health effects. Includes burns and radiation
sickness, also known as radiation poisoning, nausea, weakness, hair loss
and diminished organ function.
Non radiation health effects
• The type and pathway of radiation influence the health effects.
• Radionuclides have non-radiation health effects.
• Radioactive iodine concentrates in thyroid, leading to thyroid cancer.
• Sr 90 and Ra 226 tend to accumulate in Ca rich areas contributing to bone cancer.
• Non cancer health effects would include terratogenic and genetic disease. Fetus is
most susceptible b/w 8-15 weeks.
Key words
• Salinity
• Alkalinity
• Aquifer: Rock that contains the zone of saturation.
• Aquiclude: rock that obstruct the water flow.
• CNG: compressed natural gas: natural gas stored at high pressure
Key words……..
• Hydraulic fracturing/fracking: drilling down into the earth before a high
pressure water mixture(water, gas and sand) is directed at the rock to
release gas inside.
• Disadvantages
• Uses large amount of water, needed to be transported to site
• Potentially carcinogenic chemicals can contaminate the ground water
• It can cause small earth tremors.
Case Studies
• Contemporary Indian issue related to mining, dams, forest, energy etc.
• Waste to energy
• Cauvery conflict
• Sardar sarovar dam Chipko Appiko movement
• Tarun Bharat Sangh
Assignment/tests
• Test 1: MM:10
• Test 2: MM: 05
• Presentation: MM: 10
• Total 25
• Attendance : 66.67~67-70%: 1 mark
• 70-75%: 2marks
• 76-80%: 3 marks
• 80-85%: 4 marks
• >85%: 5 marks