The world population has already exceeded 6.6 billion people. All these people live in 15-20 million different settlements - cities, towns, villages, villages, farms, etc. But these settlements are extremely unevenly distributed across the earth's land. So, according to available estimates, half of all mankind lives on 1/20 of the inhabited land area.
The uneven distribution of the population on the globe is explained by four main reasons.
The first reason is the influence of the natural factor. It is clear that vast areas with extreme natural conditions (deserts, ice expanses, tundra, highlands, tropical forests) do not create favorable conditions for human life.
The second reason is the effect historical features settlement of the earth's land. After all, the distribution of the population on the territory of the Earth has evolved throughout the history of mankind. The process of formation of modern humans, which began 40–30 thousand years ago, took place in Southwest Asia, Northeast Africa and Southern Europe. From here, people then spread throughout the Old World. Between the thirtieth and tenth millennia BC, they settled North and South America, and at the end of this period, Australia. Naturally, the time of settlement to some extent could not but affect the population.
The third reason is the differences in modern demographic situation. It is clear that the number and density of the population increase most rapidly in those countries and regions where its natural increase is the highest.
The fourth reason is the impact socio-economic conditions people's lives, their economic activity, the level of development of production. One of its manifestations can be the “attraction” of the population to the coasts of the seas and oceans, more precisely, to the “land-ocean” contact zone.
The area located at a distance of up to 50 km from the sea can be called zone of direct coastal settlement.
22. International and internal migration: causes, forms, scales and directions).
Population migrations(from Latin migratio - resettlement) is the movement of people across the borders of certain territories associated with a permanent or temporary change of residence. Sometimes the term “mechanical movements of the population” is also used to designate them (as opposed to its natural movement).
Depending on which borders migrants cross - internal or external - migrations are usually divided into two large types: internal migrations and external (or international) migration. At the same time, the term is used to refer to migration flows that are sent from a particular country. emigration, and for flows into the country - immigration.
International migrations of the population, in turn, are classified according to several different criteria (criteria, directions) that determine the nature of migrations.
First, based on the criterion of time, they are divided into
· permanent
· temporary.
Permanent (irrevocable) migration is aimed at obtaining a new permanent place of residence in another country, usually accompanied by a change of citizenship. Among temporary migrations, the most common seasonal, associated with more or less short-term (within a year) departure to another country - for work, study, treatment, etc. Seasonal migration also includes nomadism, pilgrimage to holy places. As for international tourism, there are two points of view on this matter: according to one of them, such movements of people do not belong to the category of migrations, and according to the other, they represent a special type of episodic migrations. Sometimes they also talk about transitional, temporarily-permanent, migration - for a period of one to six years. It can be added that if earlier the world was completely dominated by permanent migrations, then recently the resettlement of people on a temporary basis has also become very widespread.
Secondly, according to the method of implementation, international migrations are divided into
· voluntary
· forced.
Voluntary migrations predominate among them, but the role of forced migrations cannot be underestimated either. Their most striking historical examples are the "transfer" from Africa to America in the 16th-19th centuries. tens of millions of Negro slaves, as well as the forced deportation to Germany of 9-10 million people from the countries it occupied during the Second World War.
Among a kind of voluntary-compulsory migration, one can, apparently, include those that have become so characteristic of our time forced migrations. While forced migration is based on the orders of the civil or military administration, people mostly resort to forced migration themselves, but under the pressure of external circumstances - natural disasters, man-made accidents and catastrophes, military operations, changes in the political system, violations of human rights, etc.
Thirdly, in legal terms, international migrations of the population are divided into
· legal
· illegal.
Illegal (underground) migrants are people who enter another country illegally, without proper permission and registration. From the second half of the 1970s. The world is witnessing a rapid increase in the number of illegal migrants. Back in the mid 1990s. illegal immigration was estimated at least 30 million people. The interest of the host country in this case lies in the fact that it receives an additional source of the cheapest labor resources. And the sending country is counting on the employment of at least some of its unemployed and, moreover, on receiving additional income (from remittances) to the state treasury. In its most general form, the growth of illegal migration reflects the division of the modern world into rich and poor countries.
What are the reasons for external migrations? According to experts in this field of knowledge, the main was and remains economic reason, that is, the natural desire of people either to find a job at all, or to get a higher paying job.
Along with economic, external migrations are often caused and political reasons(hence the word "political immigrant"). Examples of this kind are the emigration of almost half a million citizens, mostly intellectuals (Albert Einstein, Lion Feuchtwanger, Enrico Fermi and others) from fascist Germany and Italy, from Francoist Spain. After General Pinochet came to power in Chile, more than 1 million people left this country. Political emigration on a large scale also took place in pre-revolutionary Russia and the USSR, in Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia and many other countries.
Other reasons for external migration include social, family, national, racial, and religious reasons. For example, the formation of independent India and Pakistan on the territory of the former British India, followed by the transformation of East Pakistan into the state of Bangladesh, led to the resettlement of a total of 18 million people. It was carried out mainly on a religious basis: Hindus went to India, and Muslims to Pakistan and Bangladesh.
In the modern world, labor migration undoubtedly plays a leading role, ultimately due to the search for a new place of application of labor outside the country. The scale of labor migration is increasing all the time, contributing to the involvement in the global migration cycle of labor from an increasing number of countries. The main incentive for labor migration is the very large differences in the availability of labor resources to countries and, to an even greater extent, the differences between them in wages. The labor force migrates mainly from labour-abundant countries with high unemployment and low wages to countries with labor shortages and high wages. At least 2/3 of labor migrants come from developing countries who are looking for work in the developed countries of the West. These are usually workers applying for low-paid, unskilled, low-prestige, hard, and often unhealthy jobs.
Of course, the demographic factor also has a great influence on labor migration. As a rule, migration flows are directed from countries that are at one stage or another of a population explosion to countries that are experiencing a demographic crisis and depopulation or are approaching them. Examples of countries with the largest negative balance of external migrations are Pakistan (-2.2 million), Bangladesh (-1.3 million), Philippines, Thailand, Iran, Mexico (-500 thousand - 1 million), and examples of countries with the largest the positive balance of such migrations is the USA (+4.5 million), Germany (+3 million), Canada and Australia (+600 thousand).
Recently, in the literature, including geographical, more and more attention is paid to the study of the consequences of international migrations of the population (primarily labor), which, in turn, can be divided into positive and negative. At the same time, these and other consequences for countries supplying and receiving labor resources can be different.
In countries that supply labor, labor migration helps to reduce unemployment, provides additional sources of foreign exchange income in the form of remittances from migrant workers to their families. After returning home, such migrants usually join the ranks of the middle class, using the money they earn to start their own business in their homeland, and this, among other things, leads to the creation of new jobs. On the other hand, experience shows that not all labor migrants, even temporary and permanent ones, return to their country. Many of them seek to hide their income. In addition, in a foreign land, they, as a rule, hardly improve their skills.
Countries that receive labor migrants face even more problems of various kinds. Of course, in this way they to some extent compensate for the lack of labor resources (especially in industries with low qualifications of employees) and receive some other economic benefits. However, labor migration, as a rule, only exacerbates social problems.
Only a part of the newcomers manage to obtain the citizenship of the host country and become its full-fledged citizens. The rest have to be content with the so-called residence permit, which does not make them full members of society.
As for the concept of "migration policy" then it has existed for a long time, but usually referred mainly to internal migrations. Recently, migration policy is increasingly trying to extend to international migration. Many developed countries have already introduced anti-immigration cordons, trying to repatriate at least some of the migrants who arrived earlier. However, the migration policy also provides for a number of measures for better adaptation of migrants in host countries.
The main features of the geography of migrations
International migrations of the population were typical for most stages of human development and had a significant impact on this development itself, contributing to the adaptation of people to different conditions of existence. The main features of the geography of international migration have changed over time.
In the 19th century The main center of emigration was Europe, from which about 30 million people left for the USA, Canada, Australia, South America, and South Africa. There were also significant migrations from China mainly to Southeast Asia and from India to some parts of Africa and South America. In the first half of the XX century. (before the Second World War), the former trends and directions of migrations have largely been preserved. Europe again gave about 30 million migrants who left for approximately the same overseas regions. During the Second World War, forced and involuntary migration prevailed. And after it, the geography of international migration began to gradually change. Along with intercontinental migrations, intracontinental migrations also began to increase. Completely new centers of attraction and outflow of migrants have appeared, mainly due to economic factors.
First of all, attention should be paid to the fact that geographical shifts in international migrations occur against the background of their rapid quantitative growth. The first place in terms of the total number of migrants is occupied by foreign Asia - the most populous region of the Earth. In terms of the share of migrants in the total population, Australia and Oceania stand out - the most sparsely populated region. Foreign Asia, Latin America and Africa act as the main suppliers of migrants in the modern world, and North America, foreign Europe, Australia and Oceania act as the main receiving regions.
The main directions of international (mainly labor) migration:
1) migration from developing to economically developed countries;
2) migration within economically developed countries;
3) migration within developing countries;
4) migration from countries with economies in transition to economically developed countries.
Migration from developing to economically developed countries has been and remains predominant. These include primarily labor migration from Afro-Asian countries to Western Europe, from Latin America and Southeast Asia to the United States. A more frequent example of this kind is the attraction of labor to South Africa from neighboring countries. An example of migration between economically developed countries is the movement of labor resources from the countries of Southern Europe to the countries of Western Europe proper. Labor migration within developing countries includes flows of migrants from North and East Africa, from South, Southeast and East Asia to the Gulf countries
As a result, it can be argued that the main areas of attraction for migrants in the modern world are Western Europe, North America, the countries of the Persian Gulf, Australia, South Africa, the newly industrialized countries of Asia, some Latin American countries, and Israel. Some countries of South (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), Southeast (Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand) and Southwest (Iran) Asia, North and Tropical Africa, Southern Europe, as well as Mexico and some other Latin American countries.
Russia became a country of mass international migration only on the eve and after the collapse of the USSR. Emigration from Russia peaked in 1990, when more than 700,000 people left the country.
The influx of immigrants to Russia, which in the early 1990s amounted to 20th century approximately 1 million people a year, then decreased to 500 and further to 200 thousand. Almost all immigrants come to Russia from other CIS countries and the Baltic countries, i.e., according to B. S. Khorev, they are “secondary” migrants, for economic, social, psychological, national reasons, those who did not adapt in the regions of the former Union and were forced to return to Russia. There is also an influx of temporary foreign labor into Russia in the amount of approximately 300 thousand people a year. Its main suppliers to the Russian labor market are five countries: Ukraine, Belarus, Turkey, China and North Korea. But in general, the migration influx of the population only partially makes up for its natural decline.
23. Socio-economic and political consequences of migrations.
See the first part of the previous ticket, where the classification of migrations. It describes in detail what is what, what influences what, what is positive, what is negative and why.
24. Brain drain against remittances back home.
In the second half of the XX century. when characterizing international migrations of the population, another term began to be used - "brain drain" or "brain drain". It means the migration of people of intellectual professions - scientists, engineers, medical and other specialists, creative intelligentsia, as well as potential workers in these professions (students, graduate students, trainees). All of them can migrate for a long time, under contracts, or they can leave for permanent work with a change of citizenship.
Intellectual migration began at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s. 20th century Then it went through several stages in its development, reflecting the stages of the scientific and technological revolution itself and changes in the international situation.
First stage The “brain drain” covered the second half of the 1940s, when several thousand specialists in the field of physics, rocket science and other similar specialties were taken from defeated Germany to the United States on a semi-compulsory basis.
Second phase- this is the 1950s, when a massive voluntary departure of talented scientists and university graduates from Germany, Great Britain, Italy, to a lesser extent from France, to the USA, as well as to Canada and Australia began. As a result, only the United States in the 1950s. received at least 100,000 additional highly qualified specialists. At the same time, many scientific schools in Western Europe became noticeably poorer. But in any case, the "brain drain" at this stage occurred from one economically developed country to another.
third stage, covering the period from the beginning of the 1960s to the end of the 1980s, made very big changes in the geography of international intellectual migrations. At this stage, developing countries, especially Asian ones, but also Latin American and African ones, became the main breeding ground for such migrations. According to some estimates, only in the 60-70s. 20th century 700-800 thousand specialists from the developing world - scientists, engineers, doctors, medical personnel, programmers, etc. - moved from these regions to the USA, Great Britain, Canada and Australia. India (engineers and doctors) was most affected by the brain drain , Philippines (nurses), as well as China, the Republic of Korea, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, the countries of the West Indies. To this we must add tens of thousands of students-"refugees" from developing countries, who, after graduating from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, remained there without returning to their homeland. Needless to say, such intellectual emigration inflicted great economic, and not only economic, damage on the underdeveloped donor countries. According to UN estimates, the financial losses of developing countries over the past 30 years amounted to more than $60 billion.
fourth stage, started in the late 1980s and continues to this day. The "brain drain" at that time covered primarily the countries of Central-Eastern Europe and the CIS, from where began the mass emigration of scientists, technical specialists, freelancers to the USA, Canada, Germany, Israel and some other countries.
In total, according to UN experts, during the post-war period (until the mid-1990s), the “brain drain” led to the displacement of about 2 million people around the world.
In the geographical and economic literature, attempts have already been made more than once to study and explain the causes (factors, conditions) of the "brain drain". Scientists came to the conclusion that the main reason for intellectual migration - as one of the varieties of labor migration in conditions of special attention to the quality of labor resources - is economic benefits, acquired by intellectual migrants in the new host country compared to the donor country.
A. Stoker in the book "The Work of Foreigners" gives the following example-comparison: Filipino nurses in their country can count on a monthly salary of $ 150, while in the USA their salary can be $ 2.5 thousand per month. However, not all highly qualified specialists leave with the sole purpose of making good money. Many are simply forced to leave their country, because in it they cannot find work in their specialty at all, to realize their scientific, technical and general intellectual potential. However, to this must be added a number of non-economic reasons"brain drain" - social, racial, ethnic, political, etc.
As for the geography of this process, the decisive influence on it was and continues to be exerted by the United States, which has been and remains the main center of attraction for intellectual migrants, attracting approximately 2/3 of their total number. Back in the mid 1960s. In the United States, a new immigration law was passed that stimulated the influx of specialists from developing countries. In the 1990s a special amendment to the immigration law was adopted, which increased the quota for highly qualified specialists from the former USSR to 50 thousand people a year.
As a result, the proportion of immigrants among all qualified specialists in the United States is about 1/5, and among engineers - even 2/5. Since the cost of training one specialist is usually much higher in the United States than in other countries, this influx of intellectuals saves them many billions of dollars. It has been noted more than once that over the 100 years of the existence of the Nobel Prize, approximately 400 people have become its laureates, of which half are in the United States. But very many of the American laureates are emigrants, including those in the first generation (for example, world-famous economists - immigrants from Russia - S. Kuznets and V. Leontiev).
Russia in the 1990s became one of the world's leading suppliers of intellectual personnel for foreign countries. As a result of a protracted socio-economic and political crisis, mass lack of demand, the inability to realize knowledge and experience in one’s own country, a constant financial deficit, infrastructural insecurity of science and education, on the one hand, and the emergence of unprecedented openness, on the other, in the 1990s . hundreds of thousands of scientists of various ranks, including promising young scientists, left the country. Most of them left for good, many on long business trips on all kinds of grants. The result of all these processes was that over the years of reforms, the number of people employed in Russian science has halved. Such an outflow of scientists and specialists from the country not only causes enormous material damage to it, but also impoverishes its intellectual potential, thereby creating a real threat to national security.
25. Rural and urban population.
Population geography studies the geographical features of the formation and development of the population and settlements in various social, economic and natural conditions. It establishes patterns, primarily spatial ones, that determine the development of the structure, distribution and territorial organization of the population.
Although the characteristics of the population occupied a prominent place in the geographical works of ancient authors, population geography developed into an independent scientific branch only in the 19th century, primarily in the form anthropogeography(Germany) and human geography(France).
Population geography is primarily an integral part of socio-economic geography. Hence its closest ties with social geography, the geography of the economy, natural resources, political geography, regional studies, economic and social cartography, etc.
The scientific core of population geography should be considered the theory of settlement, which considers the settlement of people under the influence of socio-economic (the level of development and location of production and non-production areas), natural (relief conditions, climate, water supply, etc.) and demographic (type of population reproduction) factors. The geography of the population undertakes the study of the two main forms of human settlement - urban and rural, as well as networks and systems of settlement, and in their interaction with all three factors mentioned above. In the West, population geography, more commonly referred to as ekistika, also proceeds from the need for a broad approach to the subject of research, considering the entire hierarchy of possible habitats as a “home” of a person - from an apartment and a house to the entire Oikoumene
The theory of settlement, as it should be, includes a number of separate scientific concepts.
The first example of this kind is the concept of a unified settlement system(ESR). In the domestic geography of the population, the ESR is understood as a system of interconnected urban and rural settlements, united by transport and production links, a single infrastructure, a common network of social and cultural service centers and recreation areas. It is generally accepted that the concept of a unified system of resettlement was widely used in Soviet times to draw up the General Schemes for the resettlement of the country.
Another example - the concept of the supporting frame of settlement, which forms the most significant and long-term part of the settlement, ensuring its integrity and stability. As a rule, large cities and urban agglomerations act as the main nodal elements of such a framework, and if we are talking about a global framework, then super-cities and megalopolises. But when considering individual areas, medium-sized and even small cities can act as central places.
In economically developed countries, which for two centuries have been implementing, one might say, the classical model of urbanization, its process has stabilized to a certain extent. The outflow of the population from the countryside to the cities is no longer massive, so that the urban population is growing mainly due to its own natural increase. Moreover, as many authors note, in these countries there is a process deurbanization, i.e., the outflow of the population - primarily the representatives of the middle class - to the countryside. As a result, the growth rate of the urban population in developed countries decreased in 2005 to 0.5%. Recently, urbanization in them has been predominantly "deep" manifesting itself in new forms of urban settlement - agglomerations, urbanized areas and zones, megalopolises, in the development of processes of suburbanization, urbanization.
Developing countries, having embarked on the path of urbanization actually only in the middle of the 20th century, are guided in many respects by a different model of this global process. We can say that they seem to be making up for lost time, combining a population explosion with a phenomenal scale "urban explosion". The latter is expressed here primarily in high and very high growth rates of the urban population: on average, they amount to about 2.8% per year, which is much higher than in developed countries. Another important difference of this type of urbanization is that it spreads mainly "in breadth", covering new territories. And its main driving force is still the influx of migrants from rural areas, which the host cities cannot fully provide with either housing or work.
As a result of such differences in the unified urbanization process, many quantitative proportions that determine the ratio between developed and developing countries began to change in favor of the latter. Thus, the total number of urban residents in developed countries increased from 442 million people in 1950 to 925 million people in 2005, or more than doubled.
26. Zonality of rural settlement.
I don't know what should be here. Possibly the second part of the previous question.
27. Criteria of the city.
Difficulties in formulating the definition were reflected in the selection of cities among others settlements. One of the most common approaches to this problem is formal, in which the main criterion is the population. This approach is used, for example, in Denmark, where a locality with more than 250 inhabitants is considered a city.
However, most often combined with formal functional approach, in which, in addition to the number of inhabitants, the nature of their labor activity is taken into account. So, in Russia, to give the status of a city, it is necessary that 75% of the inhabitants of the settlement be employed in the non-agricultural sector, as well as population should be at least 12 thousand people.
There is no single methodology for identifying cities for all countries of the world, although the UN proposes to consider settlements with 20 thousand inhabitants or more as cities. Meanwhile, settlements with a smaller number of inhabitants than the threshold value are often called cities. As a rule, this is due to the preservation of the historical status of the city. For example, Vereya in the past it was a rather large city, but over time it lost its importance and its population was reduced to several thousand people.
Cities are divided by population(small, medium, large, large, largest, millionaire cities) and functions(administrative, industrial, transport, scientific, commercial, cultural, military, recreational). Most of the cities multifunctional. However, there are cities that have a “specialization” - about monofunctional. These include mining centers, resort towns, scientific centers, and some capitals.
According to the nature of city-forming functions, cities are divided into central(serving the population and economy of the surrounding areas) and special(branch centers).
28. Forms of urban settlements.
Term "urbanization" appeared only in the second half of the 19th century, when, in fact, urbanization began in a more rigorous, scientific sense of the term. As early as the beginning of the 19th century. rates of global urbanization were very low, one might say rudimentary, but then they began to increase - slowly at first, and then faster and faster
There are three stages in the process of global urbanization.
Its first (initial) stage covered mainly the 19th century, and in the territorial aspect - Europe and North America. The second stage took place in the first half of the 20th century. This stage is characterized by an acceleration in the growth of the urban population (according to the table, it is easy to calculate that over the entire 19th century it increased by about 170 million people, and in the first half of the 20th century by 518 million people) and the spread of urbanization to almost all regions of the world. Finally, the third stage corresponds in time to the second half of the 20th century. It is typical for it not only to accelerate the growth rate of the urban population (growth by 2188 million people), but also the emergence of such new qualitative parameters as the predominant growth of large cities, the formation of urban agglomerations, megalopolises, the spread of an urban lifestyle to the countryside, etc. On this stage, urbanization finally became a global process that covered all regions of the globe.
It is this third stage that rightly received the name "urban explosion". It is easy to see that in time it coincided with the population explosion. The characteristic features of the "urban explosion" can be defined as follows.
First, this accelerating growth urban population. Over the past few decades, it has increased annually in the world by 2.5–2.6%, and only at the beginning of the 21st century. this rate dropped to 2%.
Second, there is a rapid increase in the number big cities and their shares in the general and urban population. Statistics show that in 1900 there were about 360 cities in the world with a population of over 100 thousand people, in which a little more than 5% of the total population lived. By 1950, the number of such cities had increased to 950, and their share in the world population had grown to 16%. The corresponding figures for 2000 are about 4,000 large cities and 1/3 of the world's population.
Thirdly, it is the rapid growth in the number and role of urban agglomerations, which have actually replaced the former "point" city. Only large agglomerations with a population of more than 500 thousand people in each in 1950 were 185, in 1970 - 340, in 1995 - 665. In 1950, 36% lived in them, in 1970 - 41, 5, and in 1995 - 47% of the total urban population of the world.
Fourth, it is even faster growth agglomerations - "millionaires". Information about them, based on international statistics, is given in their latest works by E. N. Pertsik, Yu. L. Pivovarov, N. A. Sluka and some other authors. Regarding the number of such agglomerations, we refer to N. A. Sluka (Table 63), and in relation to their location and share in the urban population of the world - to Yu. L. Pivovarova (Fig. 49 and 50).
The total number of “millionaire” agglomerations in the world has apparently already approached 400, and their share in the urban and general population has increased even more.
Fifth, it is an increasingly clear manifestation of various forms of the process hyperurbanization. Here and the accelerated growth of super-large agglomerations, which are often called supercities, or megacities megalopolises.
29. Urban agglomerations, megalopolises.
B- Accelerated growth of super-large agglomerations, which are often called supercities, or megacities(UN demographers include cities with a population of more than 8 million people, but more often they use the criterion of 10 million people). It is interesting that in 1950 New York was one of the super cities, in 1960 Tokyo was added to it, in 1970 - Shanghai, in 1980 there were already 5 such cities, in 1990 - 12 ( according to other sources, 10), and in 2000 their number reached 20. Here and the emergence of such forms of urbanized settlement as urbanized areas, urbanized zones, stripes (axes) of urbanization, and in particular megalopolises.
Since the criteria for approaching this important concept have not yet been fully formed, estimates of the total number of megalopolises vary greatly. So, the Athens center of ekistics (ekistics is the theory of the formation and evolution of human settlements) back in the early 1980s. singled out 66 megalopolises in the world (including 43 established and 23 emerging ones) and predicted an increase in their number to 160 by the end of the century. Along with this clearly maximalist approach, there are also minimalist ones. For example, according to one of the UN forecasts, by the year 2000 there should have been 23 megalopolises in the world. And many scientists recognize as well-established only 6 megalopolises - Tokaido (Japan), Northeast, Lakeside and California (USA), English (Great Britain) and Rhine (Germany). Although they also believe that a number of megalopolises in Canada, Brazil, India, China and other countries are in one stage or another of formation.
If we try to classify “millionaire” urban agglomerations by population, it turns out that 90% of all citizens lived in agglomerations with a population of 1 to 5 million people in 2005, and in developing countries there were three times more of them. In the same year, there were only 22 inhabitants of 5 to 10 million people, of which 16 were in developing and 6 in developed countries. The highest level of the agglomeration with a population of over 10 million people each. In total, there are also 22 of them. Of these supercities and developing countries, there are 15, and in developed countries - 7.
As for the distribution of the large urban population by individual countries of the world, in terms of the total number of “millionaire” agglomerations, the top five countries include China (50), the USA (50), India (34), Brazil (16) and Russia (15).
Finally, the question of regional differences in the levels of urbanization (urbanization) in the modern world also arises. The ratio between the two main groups of countries on this indicator is largely different, demonstrating the persistence of a noticeable superiority of developed countries.
Agglomeration criteria used
Under the agglomeration, the authors of the study understand the “actual city”, which is an area of continuous building. To highlight such urbanized areas of continuous development, the authors used a "light imprint" - an area of artificial lighting in the city and its suburbs, which can be observed from an airplane on a clear night. In Australia, Canada, France and Great Britain, as well as the United States, national statistical offices distinguish similar urbanized areas. Only in Australia, a population density threshold of 400 people per square kilometer is used as a criterion for belonging to an urban area. In a number of cases, the authors of the study divided the actually fused urbanized areas into agglomerations that continue to be considered independent. At the same time, the authors proceeded from the fact that the urbanized area is essentially a central city and a continuously built-up suburban area connected with the central city by daily labor migrations. That is why the authors admit that in a number of cases the definition of the boundaries of agglomerations was conditional, because it became necessary to “cut” the boundaries of actually merged agglomerations, each of which nevertheless forms an independent zone of daily labor migrations. So the authors of the study had to divide the Japanese megalopolis Tokaido, as well as the merged agglomerations of the Pearl River Delta in China, while the merged agglomerations of the cities of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Dongguan were taken into account separately, and the agglomeration of the cities of Guangzhou and Foshan together.
30. Geography of the largest cities.
The classical geography of cities, as one of the most important scientific areas, originated in our country in the 1930s. 20th century during the formation of the regional school of economic geography. The most prominent domestic geographers also stood at its origins. After a period of stagnation in the 1960s and 1970s, the geography of cities received a new intensive development in the works of urban geographers, whose works in most cases affect both domestic and foreign problems related to cities.
For a long time, ordinary “point” cities were subjected to such research, but as the process of urbanization deepened, agglomerations developed, suburbanization, urbanization, hyperurbanization appeared, complex and branched systems of cities of different ranks became more and more objects of study. At the same time, some scientists believe that the concepts of "urban geography" and "geo-urban studies" remain, if not completely identical, then similar. Others (for example, Yu. L. Pivovarov) see a qualitative difference between them, believing that today the geography of cities in its traditional sense has actually already grown into geo-urbanism, which is fundamentally different from it. One of its offshoots was the already mentioned urban ecology.
Understood nothing.
31. The concept of "central places" by Walter Christaller.
In accordance with this theory, there is an optimal frame-network structure of settlements, which provides access to service facilities, the fastest possible movement between cities and effective territory management. The system of settlements has a certain hierarchy, the number of levels of which is directly proportional to the socio-economic development of the territory. With the growth of the hierarchy level, the settlement provides an increasing range of services to an increasing number of lower settlements.
The system of central places (the so-called "Cristaller grid") has the form of honeycombs (adjacent hexagonal cells). The centers of some cells are nodes of a hexagonal lattice of a higher order, the centers of its cells are nodes of a lattice of an even higher order, and so on up to the highest level with a single center.
This model has been criticized for being unrealistic for several reasons. Firstly, such a geometrically correct one is quite rare, since many historical, political and geographical factors violate the symmetry and strict hierarchy of distribution; secondly, a numerical study of the evolutionary model based on the ideas of Christaller showed that the symmetrical distribution is unstable - small fluctuations are enough to create zones with a high concentration of activity and cause an outflow of population and a decrease in activity in other zones.
32. Zipf's rule.
In 1913, the German scientist Felix Auerbach, analyzing the actual data on the ratio of the number of cities of different sizes, revealed a pattern that the population of a city and its serial number are in the following relationship: the population of any city is equal to the population of the largest city divided by the serial number (rank) of the first . Auerbach's law was not widely known, however, soon such
regularity in the distribution of other types of human activity was again
found by sociologist George Zipf (in another Russian transcription - Zipf), according to
whose name it is now called usually Zipf rank-size.
According to Zipf's rule, if the territory is an integral economic region, the population of the nth largest city is 1/n of the population of the largest city. - population of the city of rank r. Thus, if the population of the largest city (city with rank 1) of a hypothetical country is 1 million people, then the estimated population of the 2nd city is 500 thousand people, the 3rd city is 333 thousand people, the 4th - 250 thousand
people, 5th - 200 thousand people. Deviations in the distribution of cities from the rank-size rule are associated with the history and features of the development of the economy, natural conditions, and violations of the natural course of the formation of the state space. Particularly significant deviations from the ideal distribution exist in developing countries, where during the colonial period the Europeans transformed the territorial and economic structure of the economy that existed before their arrival. Major cities in most
developing countries are located on the coasts and founded by Europeans as
colonial capitals - the gate for the economic development of the territory,
ports of export of mineral raw materials and products of tropical agriculture. All
the rest of the territory for a long time was deprived of large cities, and often
cities in general. The lights of the capitals, where all modern
industry, banking, education and culture of the Western type, and often almost
the entire urban population, attracted rural migrants from all over the country in search of
higher wages and a better life. According to the schedule built
according to Zipf's rule, one can judge the distribution of cities and the formation
urban settlement systems in which large, medium and small
cities, and, if relevant statistical data are available, on the dynamics in
time of the system of urban settlement of the study area. If in the country
there is only one large city, where the main part of the urban
population, the curve will look like the so-called primate
distribution. This type is typical for a country with a short history.
development of the economy of the modern type, an undeveloped system of cities with
the dominant role of the only major city operating to a greater extent
outside, not inside the country. If the territory is characterized by a high population density and it is saturated with cities, then the real curve will be located above the ideal one.
Again some bullshit. That's simpler, but still nichrome is not clear
Zipf's rule ("rank-size")
Model for calculating the population of any city in the country (hierarchy of cities). If the territory is an integral economic region, then the population of the n-th largest city is 1/n of the population of the largest city.
33. World cities.
A global city is a city considered to be an important element of the global economic system. Such a city is usually of key importance for large regions of the Earth and has a serious political, economic or cultural influence on them.
In contrast to the concept of "metropolis", which can also be used in relation to the center of a particular agglomeration or region, "global city" makes sense only within the framework of a system of cities throughout the globe. The term "global city" was first used by Saskia Sassen in her work The global city (1991) in relation to London, New York and Tokyo and contrasted with the term "megalopolis"; the term "world city" goes back to Patrick Geddes' 1915 description of cities with a disproportionate number of business meetings.
It should also be taken into account that, in fact, the population and significance of cities, including global ones, largely determine their agglomerations.
The writing
The intrepid travelers of our day tend to regard the globe as small and cramped. They travel around it in no more than a few days, tirelessly plow unfamiliar seas in all directions, trying to visit unexplored, unexplored places, boldly rush over the once inaccessible ice cap of the Arctic.
Neither at the poles, nor in the bowels of sun-baked Africa, nor in the virgin forests of Brazil - nowhere science expects to find any special secrets. And some people begin to think that there are too few undiscovered lands, unknown seas left in the world, and that soon science will have nothing to discover. But this is not true. No matter how much people have already learned about the world around them, no matter how immeasurable progress science has made, the unexplored still surrounds us from all sides. It is hard to believe that animals unknown to science have survived in our time, but, nevertheless, they exist. There are many places on the globe where, in the literal sense of the word, no human foot has set foot. Many wild and inaccessible territories people have seen only from the air, but have never been there. There are also areas that have not been surveyed at all or poorly studied by zoologists and botanists, where one or two expeditions have visited in the entire history of mankind. But land is only 29 percent of the globe. The rest is the oceans. And there are still not so many places where a person descended to a depth of more than a thousand meters. But the average depth of the ocean reaches four kilometers, and the limit is more than eleven.
Jacques Yves Cousteau recently described more than a hundred previously unknown fish off the coast of Argentina. Often, scientists discover creatures that seem to have died out long ago. Among these relic animals, tuatara is a contemporary of dinosaurs, and a deep-sea mollusk neopilina that lived in the ocean 400-500 million years ago. Recently, hunters in Paraguay shot some animal. In the seas, rivers and lakes you can find an abundance of fish and various underwater animals.
The life of the underwater world is complex and interesting. Biologists, for example, study the lifestyle of fish. When searching for food, fish are assisted by the organs of taste. Fish distinguish between sour and salty, sweet and bitter. Based on numerous observations, we can conclude that many fish make sounds. The biological significance of the sounds produced by fish is very great. Fish make sounds mainly during periods of spawning and feeding. Consequently, they try to attract each other, call to places that are safer or with abundant food. Sounds contribute to greater organization of the flock, and sometimes the sounds of fish warn each other of danger. Fish have hearing organs, they hear well. Especially well fish perceive low sounds. Currently, biologists are studying the sounds made by fish. Their results can be used in the development of special equipment and methods for reconnaissance of fish concentrations.
An equally important indicator is population density. This value represents the number of inhabitants per 1 sq. km. km. The calculation of the population density of each country in the world is made with the exception of uninhabited territories, as well as minus vast expanses of water. In addition to the general population density, its individual indicators can be used, both for rural and urban residents.
Given the above facts, it should be borne in mind that the population on the globe is unevenly distributed. The average density of each country differs quite significantly from each other. In addition, within the states themselves there are many deserted territories, or densely populated cities, in which one square. km may account for several hundred people.
The most densely populated territories of South and East Asia, as well as the countries of Western Europe, while in the Arctic, in deserts, tropics and highlands, it is not at all dense. absolutely independent of their population density. Exploring the uneven distribution of the population, it is advisable to highlight the following statistics: 7% of the globe occupies 70% of the total number of people on the planet.
At the same time, the eastern part of the globe is occupied by 80% of the world's population.
The main criterion that acts as an indicator of the distribution of people is population density. The average value of this indicator is currently 40 million people per square meter. km. This indicator can vary and is directly dependent on the location of the area. In some areas, its value may be 2 thousand people per square meter. km, and on others - 1 person per sq. km.
It is advisable to single out countries with the lowest population density:
- Australia;
- Namibia;
- Libya;
- Mongolia;
Greenland is one of the countries with the lowest population density
As well as countries with low density:
- Belgium;
- Great Britain;
- Korea;
- Lebanon;
- Netherlands;
- El Salvador and a number of other countries.
There are countries with an average population density, among them are:
- Iraq;
- Malaysia;
- Tunisia;
- Mexico;
- Morocco;
- Ireland.
In addition, there are areas on the globe that are classified as territories unsuitable for life.
As a rule, they represent an area with extreme conditions. These lands account for approximately 15% of all land.
As for Russia, it belongs to the category of low-populated states, despite the fact that its territory is quite large. The average population density in Russia is 1 person per 1 sq. km. km.
It is worth noting that the world is constantly undergoing changes, in which there is a decrease in either the birth rate or the death rate. This state of affairs indicates that the density and size of the population will soon be kept at about the same level.
The largest and smallest countries by area and population
China is the largest country in the world by population.
The number of people currently in the state is 1.349 billion people.
Next comes India with a population of 1.22 billion, followed by the United States of America with 316.6 million people. The next place in terms of number belongs to Indonesia: today 251.1 million citizens live in the country.
Next comes Brazil with a population of 201 million, then Pakistan with 193.2 million citizens, Nigeria with 174.5 million, and Bangladesh with 163.6 million citizens. Then Russia, with a population of 146 million people, and finally Japan, whose population is 127.2 million.
For a more detailed understanding of the issue, it is advisable to study the statistics regarding the smallest countries in the world in terms of population. In this scenario, it will suffice to consider the gradation of several independent states, which also include associated countries. The number of people in countries, in descending order, is as follows:
- Saint Kitts and Nevis with a population of 49,898 people;
- Liechtenstein, with a population of 35 thousand 870 people;
- San Marino, the number of citizens of the country is 35 thousand 75 people;
- Palau, a state belonging to the association of the United States of America, with a population of 20,842;
- with a population of 19 thousand 569 people;
- Order of Malta, which consists of 19 thousand 569 people;
- Tuvalu with a population of 10,544 people;
- Nauru - the population of the country is 9 thousand 322 people;
- Niue is an island with a population of 1,398 people.
The smallest country in terms of population is considered to be the Vatican.
At the moment, only 836 people live in the country.
Table of population of all countries of the world
The world population table looks like this.
| No. p / p | Countries | Population |
| 1. | 1 343 238 909 | |
| 2. | India | 1 205 073 400 |
| 3. | USA | 313 847 420 |
| 4. | Indonesia | 248 700 000 |
| 5. | Brazil | 199 322 300 |
| 6. | Pakistan | 189 300 000 |
| 7. | Nigeria | 170 124 640 |
| 8. | Bangladesh | 161 079 600 |
| 9. | Russia | 142 500 770 |
| 10. | Japan | 127 122 000 |
| 11. | 115 075 406 | |
| 12. | Philippines | 102 999 802 |
| 13. | Vietnam | 91 189 778 |
| 14. | Ethiopia | 91 400 558 |
| 15. | Egypt | 83 700 000 |
| 16. | Germany | 81 299 001 |
| 17. | Turkey | 79 698 090 |
| 18. | Iran | 78 980 090 |
| 19. | Congo | 74 000 000 |
| 18. | Thailand | 66 987 101 |
| 19. | France | 65 805 000 |
| 20. | Great Britain | 63 097 789 |
| 21. | Italy | 61 250 001 |
| 22. | Myanmar | 61 215 988 |
| 23. | Korea | 48 859 895 |
| 24. | South Africa | 48 859 877 |
| 25. | Spain | 47 037 898 |
| 26. | Tanzania | 46 911 998 |
| 27. | Colombia | 45 240 000 |
| 28. | Ukraine | 44 849 987 |
| 29. | Kenya | 43 009 875 |
| 30. | Argentina | 42 149 898 |
| 31. | Poland | 38 414 897 |
| 32. | Algeria | 37 369 189 |
| 33. | Canada | 34 298 188 |
| 34. | Sudan | 34 198 987 |
| 35. | Uganda | 33 639 974 |
| 36. | Morocco | 32 299 279 |
| 37. | Iraq | 31 130 115 |
| 38. | Afghanistan | 30 420 899 |
| 39. | Nepal | 29 889 898 |
| 40. | Peru | 29 548 849 |
| 41. | Malaysia | 29 178 878 |
| 42. | Uzbekistan | 28 393 997 |
| 43. | Venezuela | 28 048 000 |
| 44. | Saudi Arabia | 26 529 957 |
| 45. | Yemen | 24 771 797 |
| 46. | Ghana | 24 651 978 |
| 47. | North Korea | 24 590 000 |
| 48. | Mozambique | 23 509 989 |
| 49. | Taiwan | 23 234 897 |
| 50. | Syria | 22 530 578 |
| 51. | Australia | 22 015 497 |
| 52. | Madagascar | 22 004 989 |
| 53. | Ivory Coast | 21 952 188 |
| 54. | Romania | 21 850 000 |
| 55. | Sri Lanka | 21 479 987 |
| 56. | Cameroon | 20 128 987 |
| 57. | Angola | 18 056 069 |
| 58. | Kazakhstan | 17 519 897 |
| 59. | Burkina Faso | 17 274 987 |
| 60. | Chile | 17 068 100 |
| 61. | Netherlands | 16 729 987 |
| 62. | Niger | 16 339 898 |
| 63. | Malawi | 16 319 887 |
| 64. | Mali | 15 495 021 |
| 65. | Ecuador | 15 219 899 |
| 66. | Cambodia | 14 961 000 |
| 67. | Guatemala | 14 100 000 |
| 68. | Zambia | 13 815 898 |
| 69. | Senegal | 12 970 100 |
| 70. | Zimbabwe | 12 618 979 |
| 71. | Rwanda | 11 688 988 |
| 72. | Cuba | 11 075 199 |
| 73. | Chad | 10 974 850 |
| 74. | Guinea | 10 884 898 |
| 75. | Portugal | 10 782 399 |
| 76. | Greece | 10 759 978 |
| 77. | Tunisia | 10 732 890 |
| 78. | South Sudan | 10 630 100 |
| 79. | Burundi | 10 548 879 |
| 80. | Belgium | 10 438 400 |
| 81. | Bolivia | 10 289 007 |
| 82. | Czech | 10 178 100 |
| 83. | Dominican Republic | 10 087 997 |
| 84. | Somalia | 10 084 949 |
| 85. | Hungary | 9 949 879 |
| 86. | Haiti | 9 801 597 |
| 87. | Belarus | 9 642 987 |
| 88. | Benin | 9 597 998 |
| 87. | Azerbaijan | 9 494 100 |
| 88. | Sweden | 9 101 988 |
| 89. | Honduras | 8 295 689 |
| 90. | Austria | 8 220 011 |
| 91. | Switzerland | 7 920 998 |
| 92. | Tajikistan | 7 768 378 |
| 93. | Israel | 7 590 749 |
| 94. | Serbia | 7 275 985 |
| 95. | Hong Kong | 7 152 819 |
| 96. | Bulgaria | 7 036 899 |
| 97. | Togo | 6 961 050 |
| 98. | Laos | 6 585 987 |
| 99. | Paraguay | 6 541 589 |
| 100. | Jordan | 6 508 890 |
| 101. | Papua New Guinea | 6 310 090 |
| 102. | 6 090 599 | |
| 103. | Eritrea | 6 085 999 |
| 104. | Nicaragua | 5 730 000 |
| 105. | Libya | 5 613 379 |
| 106. | Denmark | 5 543 399 |
| 107. | Kyrgyzstan | 5 496 699 |
| 108. | Sierra Leone | 5 485 988 |
| 109. | Slovakia | 5 480 998 |
| 110. | Singapore | 5 354 397 |
| 111. | UAE | 5 314 400 |
| 112. | Finland | 5 259 998 |
| 113. | Central African Republic | 5 056 998 |
| 114. | Turkmenistan | 5 054 819 |
| 115. | Ireland | 4 722 019 |
| 116. | Norway | 4 707 300 |
| 117. | Costa Rica | 4 634 899 |
| 118. | Georgia | 456999 |
| 119. | Croatia | 4 480 039 |
| 120. | Congo | 4 365 987 |
| 121. | New Zealand | 4 328 000 |
| 122. | Lebanon | 4 140 279 |
| 123. | Liberia | 3 887 890 |
| 124. | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3 879 289 |
| 125. | Puerto Rico | 3 690 919 |
| 126. | Moldova | 3 656 900 |
| 127. | Lithuania | 3 525 699 |
| 128. | Panama | 3 510 100 |
| 129. | Mauritania | 3 359 099 |
| 130. | Uruguay | 3 316 330 |
| 131. | Mongolia | 3 179 917 |
| 132. | Oman | 3 090 050 |
| 133. | Albania | 3 002 497 |
| 134. | Armenia | 2 957 500 |
| 135. | Jamaica | 2 888 997 |
| 136. | Kuwait | 2 650 002 |
| 137. | West Bank | 2 619 987 |
| 138. | Latvia | 2 200 580 |
| 139. | Namibia | 2 159 928 |
| 140. | Botswana | 2 100 020 |
| 141. | Macedonia | 2 079 898 |
| 142. | Slovenia | 1 997 000 |
| 143. | Qatar | 1 950 987 |
| 144. | Lesotho | 1 929 500 |
| 145. | Gambia | 1 841 000 |
| 146. | Kosovo | 1 838 320 |
| 147. | Gaza Strip | 1 700 989 |
| 148. | Guinea-Bissau | 1 630 001 |
| 149. | Gabon | 1 607 979 |
| 150. | Swaziland | 1 387 001 |
| 151. | Mauritius | 1 312 100 |
| 152. | Estonia | 1 274 020 |
| 153. | Bahrain | 1 250 010 |
| 154. | East Timor | 1 226 400 |
| 155. | Cyprus | 1 130 010 |
| 156. | Fiji | 889 557 |
| 157. | Djibouti | 774 400 |
| 158. | Guyana | 740 998 |
| 159. | Comoros | 737 300 |
| 160. | Butane | 716 879 |
| 161. | Equatorial Guinea | 685 988 |
| 162. | Montenegro | 657 410 |
| 163. | Solomon islands | 583 699 |
| 164. | Macau | 577 997 |
| 165. | Suriname | 560 129 |
| 166. | Cape Verde | 523 570 |
| 167. | West Sahara | 522 989 |
| 168. | Luxembourg | 509 100 |
| 169. | Malta | 409 798 |
| 170. | Brunei | 408 775 |
| 171. | Maldives | 394 398 |
| 172. | Belize | 327 720 |
| 173. | Bahamas | 316 179 |
| 174. | Iceland | 313 201 |
| 175. | Barbados | 287 729 |
| 176. | French polynesia | 274 498 |
| 177. | New Caledonia | 260 159 |
| 178. | Vanuatu | 256 166 |
| 179. | Samoa | 194 319 |
| 180. | Sao Tome and Principe | 183 169 |
| 181. | Saint Lucia | 162 200 |
| 182. | Guam | 159 897 |
| 183. | Netherlands Antilles | 145 828 |
| 184. | Grenada | 109 001 |
| 185. | Aruba | 107 624 |
| 186. | micronesia | 106 500 |
| 187. | Tonga | 106 200 |
| 188. | US Virgin Islands | 105 269 |
| 189. | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 103 499 |
| 190. | Kiribati | 101 988 |
| 191. | Jersey | 94 950 |
| 192. | Seychelles | 90 018 |
| 193. | Antigua and Barbuda | 89 020 |
| 194. | Isle Of Man | 85 419 |
| 195. | Andorra | 85 100 |
| 196. | Dominica | 73 130 |
| 197. | Bermuda | 69 079 |
| 198. | Marshall Islands | 68 500 |
| 199. | guernsey | 65 338 |
| 200. | 57 700 | |
| 201. | American Samoa | 54 950 |
| 202. | Cayman islands | 52 558 |
| 203. | Northern Mariana Islands | 51 400 |
| 204. | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 50 690 |
| 205. | Faroe islands | 49 590 |
| 206. | Turks and Caicos | 46 320 |
| 207. | Sint Maarten (Netherlands) | 39 100 |
| 208. | Liechtenstein | 36 690 |
| 209. | San Marino | 32 200 |
| 210. | British Virgin Islands | 31 100 |
| 211. | France | 30 910 |
| 212. | Monaco | 30 498 |
| 213. | Gibraltar | 29 048 |
| 214. | Palau | 21 041 |
| 215. | Dhekelia and Akroiti | 15 699 |
| 216. | Wallis and Futuna | 15 420 |
| 217. | England | 15 390 |
| 218. | Cook Islands | 10 800 |
| 219. | Tuvalu | 10 598 |
| 220. | Nauru | 9 400 |
| 221. | Saint Helena | 7 730 |
| 222. | Saint Barthelemy | 7 329 |
| 223. | Montserrat | 5 158 |
| 224. | Falkland (Malvinas) Islands | 3 139 |
| 225. | Norfolk Island | 2 200 |
| 226. | Svalbard | 1 969 |
| 227. | Christmas Island | 1 487 |
| 228. | Tokelau | 1 370 |
| 229. | Niue | 1 271 |
| 230. | 840 | |
| 231. | coconut islands | 589 |
| 232. | Pitcairn Islands | 47 |
soil-geographical zoning consists of the following units.
1. Soil-bioclimatic zone.
2. Soil bioclimatic area.
For flat areas For mountainous areas
3. Soil zone 3. Mountain soil province
(vertical structure of soil zones)
4. Soil province 4. Vertical soil zone
5. Soil district 5. Mountain soil district
6. Soil region 6. Mountain soil region
Soil-Bioclimatic Belt is the totality of soil zones and vertical soil structures (mountain soil provinces) combined
similarity of radiation and thermal conditions. There are five of them: polar, boreal, subboreal, subtropical, tropical. The basis for their selection is the sum of average daily temperatures above 10°C during the growing season (see Chapter 5).
Soil-bioclimatic area - a set of soil zones and vertical structures united within the belt by similar conditions of moisture and continentality and the peculiarities of soil formation, weathering, and vegetation development caused by them. The regions are distinguished by the moisture coefficient (KU) of Vysotsky-Ivanov. There are six of them: very humid, excessively humid, humid, moderately dry, arid (dry), very dry. The soil cover of the region is more homogeneous than in the belt, but intrazonal soils can be distinguished within it.
soil zone- an integral part of the region, the area of distribution of the zonal soil type and its accompanying intrazonal soils. Each region includes two or three soil zones.
Subzone - part of the soil zone extended in the same direction as the zonal soil subtypes.
Soil facies - part of the zone that differs from other parts in terms of temperature and seasonal humidification.
Soil province - a part of a soil facies that differs in the same features as the facies, but with a more fractional approach.
Soil district - It stands out within the province according to the features of the soil cover, due to the nature of the relief and parent rocks.
Soil region - part of the soil district, characterized by the same type of structure of the soil cover, i.e. regular alternation of the same combinations and complexes of soils.
Vertical soil structure - the area of distribution of a clearly defined kind of vertical soil zones, due to the position of a mountainous country or part of it in the system of a bioclimatic region and the main features of its general orography.
Mountain soil province similar to the soil zone on the plain. The value of other taxonometric units is the same for the plains and mountainous areas.
The basic units of soil-geographical zoning in the plains are soil zones, and in the mountains - mountainous soil provinces.
polar belt
polar belt. Its area without continental ice is about 0.6 billion hectares. In the northern hemisphere, two rather vast regions stand out: Eurasian and North American. Each of them has arctic and subarctic soil zones.
The Arctic zone is located closer to the pole and is divided into two subzones: the Arctic deserts and the Arctic proper. The soil cover of the Arctic deserts is represented by primitive arctic desert soils, as well as saline soils that develop with low precipitation and when salts freeze to the surface under conditions of extreme hypothermia (Antarctica, northern Greenland, and the sea coasts of the Arctic).
The subarctic zone is characterized by tundra soils. It is divided into three subzones: northern or arctic, typical and southern tundra. The main soil processes in the tundra occur under conditions of increased moisture and a stagnant water regime due to low evaporation. Gley processes are confined to the upper part of the soil layer. The northern tundra is dominated by arctotundra soils, while the rest of the subarctic zone is dominated by tundra-gley soils.
The circumpolar position of the Arctic zone determines its harsh climatic conditions: a short cold summer, a long severe winter, and the presence of permafrost almost everywhere. The zone is represented on the islands and the extreme coast of Asia and North America. An extremely important role in such conditions is played by currents and air masses that bring heat and moisture. A cold transarctic current passes from Chukotka to the west. Along the North American shelf, the same current flows eastward. Along Iceland, the warm North Atlantic Current emerges to the north. In the area where these two powerful currents meet, cyclones are born that regulate the climate of the Arctic. On Svalbard precipitation falls up to 400 mm per year, on Franz Josef Land - 200-300, Severnaya Zemlya 100-200 mm, that is, the severity of the climate increases to the east. In the south of Greenland, up to 1000 mm of precipitation, in the north - 25 mm. In the northeast of Canada and in Greenland, the January temperature reaches -40 ° C, in Svalbard - only -12 ° C. The movement of heat and air masses is reflected in the nature of vegetation. The degree of coverage of the territory, biomass, productivity depend on moisture content. Evaporation in the conditions of the Arctic zone is 100-200 mm, therefore, at 300-400 mm of precipitation, there may even be an excess of moisture, and at less than 100 mm - a lack. The vegetation of the tundra is represented mainly by mosses and lichens, there is a dwarf willow, saxifrage, cassiopeia, dryads, and individual cereals. The vegetation of the polar deserts is dominated by lichens. The phytomass of the tundra is 3-7 t/ha, the Arctic desert is 0.1-0.2 t/ha, the annual production is 1-1.5 t/ha and 10-15 kg/ha, respectively. The vegetation biomass in depressions is several times higher due to additional moisture.
Soil-forming rocks are diverse: loose glacial clastic deposits, sandy-argillaceous marine terraces, coarse clastic products of cryogenic destruction of dense rocks, eluvial-deluvial deposits in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
The relief is dominated by glacial abrasion and accumulative forms (Eurasia) and denudation surfaces (America). Upland areas of low marine terraces are most favorable for the formation of arctic soils. The thickness of the soil profile is determined by the depth of thawing of the soil and ground strata, rarely more than 0.3 m. Profile differentiation is weak due to cryogenic processes. Only the vegetative-peaty horizon Ao is well expressed, and thinner A1 is worse. In areas of normal and excessive moisture, brown arctic-tundra soils are formed. Ao 0-3 cm, thin A13 6 cm, V / C 6-13 cm, C - up to 30-40 cm, to permafrost. In these soils, there is always high humidity, moderate acidity (pH 5.5-6.6), 2.5-3.0% humus. The increase in climate humidity is accompanied by an increase in phytomass in upland habitats, and it enhances the decomposition of organic residues, so the pH drops to 5 and below.
An important geochemical factor in Arctic soil formation is the carbonate composition of rocks that actively migrate with the soil solution and increase pH to 7 and above. There are many such arctic rendjins in the Canadian archipelago.
With excessive moisture, peat-frozen soils are formed, confined to depressions. In summer, these are swamps with bumps, in the middle of which there is an ice stock. At (0-5 cm) is replaced by A2t (5-15 cm) and B/C (up to 40 cm).
Limited gelation possible. Peat horizons in the Arctic are limited by hydromorphic landscapes.
In the arid regions of the Arctic zone, the soils are alkaline (7-8), there is little humus (1% or less). They are usually called polar desert. The landscapes of the Arctic deserts are characterized by salt accumulation, sometimes salt marshes of marine origin.
The soils of the Arctic are extremely susceptible to impacts on them, they are poorly restored, which is a certain environmental problem.
boreal belt
the area of the belt is about 2.4 billion hectares, of which 1.6 billion hectares occupy mountainous territories. Soils and vegetation receive a lot of moisture, but not enough heat. 16% of the flat territories are occupied by hydromorphic and semi-hydromorphic soils. * The area of the belt falls on taiga-forest areas with podzolic, soddy-podzolic and partially gray forest soils, the rest is colder, continental and less moistened permafrost-taiga (cryogenic) soils. In accordance with this, boreal-
taiga-forest and meadow-forest regions: North American, European-Siberian, Icelandic-Norwegian, Bering-Okhotsk and Ognezemelskaya, as well as boreal permafrost-taiga regions: East Siberian and North American
To the south of the taiga forests are mixed coniferous-deciduous forests. They are widespread on the East European Plain, but do not form a continuous zone in the Asian part.
The climate is warmer compared to the taiga, 500-600 mm of precipitation per year. Continentality to the east increases, but everywhere precipitation exceeds evaporation.
In the European part of the forest, they consist of spruce, birch, aspen, fir appears in the Cis-Urals, and birch and aspen appear in Western Siberia. The grass cover is well developed. The biomass is 200-300 t/ha, the litter is greater than in the taiga, but it mineralizes more intensively, so the forest floor is smaller.
Soil-forming rocks are mainly boulder loams and sandy loams of glacial genesis. Over the course of several thousand years, the moraine leached out, the abundance of boulders makes farming difficult. Heavy lacustrine-glacial deposits and introductory glacial sandy loams are also common, there are loess-like loams (south of the last glaciation boundary) and ancient alluvial deposits.
The most characteristic are soddy-podzolic soils, which are especially typical on mantle loams A0-A1-A2-B-C.
In the interfluves, surface swamping of the soil may occur, peat-podzolic-gley soils are formed.
Soddy-calcareous soils (rendzins) are formed under automorphic conditions on carbonate rocks. There are especially many of them in the Baltics. A1(15cm)-B(15-18cm)-C(D).
Automorphic soils of the zone of mixed forests develop under a well-defined leaching water regime. With an increase in the content of the coniferous component, the mass of dead organic matter on the soil surface increases.
In Belarus, in spruce forests, about 50 t/ha, in coniferous-broad-leaved forests - 20 t/ha. The abundance of fulvic acids contributes to an acidic reaction that becomes significantly less acidic further down the profile. The most important role is played by the process of movement of dispersed particles with filtering water - lessivage. Acidic waters remove the main coagulant - calcium - from the soil, which makes it possible to release and move down the silt particles.
The process of seasonal gleying also takes part in the formation of the soil profile of mixed forests, which is associated with the formation of a significant amount of iron-manganese nodules in the mountains. The name soddy-podzolic inaccurately reflects the essence of these soils - they are acidic loessial soils with a differentiated profile (podzol-visols).
In these soils, many elements are bound in mountains. Ao and vigorous removal of the most active components in the mountains. C. The hydromorphic soils of the zone of mixed forests are quite diverse. With excessive moisture in the watershed spaces and a lack of nutrients, mosses develop, and not grasses - raised low-ash (1-5%) sphagnum bogs are formed due to excessive atmospheric moisture.
Most of the chemical elements come with water to the lower parts of the slopes, where low-lying swamps are formed, characterized by a high ash content, amounting to tens of percent. In the profile of such soils, humus A1 often occurs under the peat horizon and gley, bluish-gray, below.
Groundwater is enriched with iron and manganese as a result of soil formation, therefore ferruginous and manganese neoplasms are formed. Sometimes there are so many of them that they can be mined as ore. There is also a layer of accumulations of iron phosphates (vivianite, bosphorite, etc.). There is a fairly clear geochemical subordination in the watershed system - a closed depression.
A more complex interaction between automorphic and hydromorphic soil formation takes place in river floodplains. Floodplain soils occupy up to 8% of the zone soils.
A characteristic feature is the annual floods or floods, the proximity of groundwater.
On the river floodplain, underdeveloped soddy soils, sometimes podzolized, usually form. In summer, there is even a lack of moisture for asthenia. Layering is clearly expressed. On the central floodplain, the surface is usually flat, stable water regime, many nutrients - lush floodplain meadows. Meadow soils here are characterized by a high thickness of the humus horizon (up to 1 m), gleying in the lower part of the profile.
The near-terrace floodplain is lowered, swamped, and the most finely dispersed particles from the hollow waters are deposited here. Floodplain swamps often form.
There are especially many silty soils such as lowland marshes. Many elements from the conjugated parts of the landscape are concentrated here.
In general, the zone of mixed forests has a rather variegated soil cover. To the south, soddy-podzolic soils are becoming more and more similar in properties to gray forest soils. Soddy-podzolic soils are usually formed on loamy deposits, while illuvial ferruginous podzols and acidic sandy soils without an illuvial horizon develop on loose rocks, especially in Polissya. A strip of sandy podzols stretches along the coast of the Baltic Sea, on the wetlands of which (geests) peat-bog soils develop. In this zone, in places there are soddy-calcareous soils and brown forest soils (under coniferous-broad-leaved forests on residual calcareous rocks.
In North America, in the zone of mixed forests in the Atlantic part, soils of the acid brown type are developed, in more continental regions, gray brown soils with a clarified A2 horizon.
The loamy soils of the zone are most favorable for agriculture, but the acidic reaction and in some places swamping make their use difficult. In the territory covered by the last glaciation, the use is hindered by a strong boulder. The degree of agricultural development is 30-45%. Liming, application of organic and mineral fertilizers are extremely important methods.
subboreal
subboreal belt. Its total area is about 2.2 billion hectares. Mountainous territories occupy about 33% of the belt's surface. Semiarid and arid regions account for about 71% of the area, of which deserts occupy 46%. Automorphic soil formation predominates: hydromorphic soils account for only 9% of the belt's surface. Latitudinal zonality is expressed in the vast interior plains of Eurasia. The subborel belt is one of the main suppliers of agricultural products; 1/3 of the world's agricultural area is located on its territory. Almost half of all agricultural products are produced here.
Three series of soil regions are distinguished within the belt: 1. subboreal humid forest regions; 2. subboreal arid steppe regions; 3. subboreal semi-desert and desert areas. The first are located on the oceanic margins of the continents: Western European, North American Atlantic, North American Pacific, East Asian; in the southern hemisphere, the South American and New Zealand-Tasman regions are distinguished. In the second row, three steppe regions with chernozems and chestnut soils are distinguished: Eurasian, North American and South American. In the third row, the Central Asian and South American semi-desert and desert regions stand out.
Within the subboreal zone, deciduous forests with a rich ground cover are widespread. Some formed in a mild oceanic climate, others in inland regions. The landscapes of these forests have been greatly altered by man, the vegetation has either been completely destroyed or replaced by a secondary one.
gray forest soils are formed in inland regions, from Belarus to Baikal. To the east, the severity and dryness of the climate is growing, the average annual temperatures vary from +7 in the west to -5 in the east, the duration of the frost-free period - from 250 to 180 days, precipitation - from 600 to 300 mm.
The dominant vegetation is deciduous herbaceous forests, in the west hornbeam-oak, between the Dnieper and the Volga - linden-oak with an admixture of ash, in Western Siberia - birch-aspen, and even to the east larch appears. The weight of the litter is 7-9 t/ha, which is much more than in the taiga. The litter is rich in ash elements, especially calcium, which reaches up to 100 kg/ha.
The soil-forming rocks are usually covering loess-like loams, often carbonate.
Gray forest soils have a thick (20-30 cm) humus horizon A1 with a cloddy structure, under which lies a less thick A2 (A1A2) of gray color and a leafy-lamellar structure, replaced by a powerful brown-brown intrusion horizon B (up to 100 cm).
Three subtypes are distinguished: light gray, gray, dark gray, and dark gray soils do not have an A2 horizon. The clear differentiation of the soil profile is due to intensive processes of lessivage. The content of silt in the mountains. Twice as high as in layer A.
The formation of subtypes of gray forest soils is determined by bioclimatic conditions: light gray - to the north, dark gray - to the south. There are serious provincial peculiarities. In Ukraine, they have a very powerful A1 (up to 50 cm), in the Cis-Urals, the power is less, but the humus content is higher.
For a long time, the origin of gray forest soils was explained either by the degradation of chernozems when the forest invaded the steppe, or by the progradation of forest soils (according to Williams) when the steppe invaded the forest. At present, they are considered as zonal soils of deciduous forests of moderate moisture.
In North America, the distribution of gray forest soils also does not extend beyond the interior.
As a result of long-term use, gray forest soils are often depleted and eroded and require chemical reclamation. Grain, fodder, horticultural crops, flax, sugar beets are grown here.
Gray forest soils are zonal soils of the forest-steppe, in which treeless spaces alternate with forests, gray soils - with typical northern and podzolized chernozems. In the northern part of the zone, they are in contact with soddy-podzolic soils, in the southern part - with steppe chernozems. Their total area on the territory of Eurasia is 303.6 thousand km2. They are formed within the Perm and Ufa plateaus, the middle part of the Central Russian, Dnieper and Volga uplands, in the foothills of the Carpathians, in the foothills of the Stara Planina mountain range, part of the Dobrudzhsky plateau (Bulgaria) and others, in North America they occupy 615.2 km2 , mostly in Canada.
A number of assumptions have been made about the genesis of gray forest soils, which can be summarized in four groups.
1. The theory of primary origin as an independent soil type under broad-leaved forests (V.V. Dokuchaev, 1886).
2. The theory of secondary origin through the degradation of chernozems, due to the settlement of forest vegetation on them (SI. Korzhinsky, 1887).
3. The theory of the formation of gray forest soils from forest soddy-podzolic soils during the development of the soddy process under the influence of a change in woody vegetation from grassy-meadow-steppe (V.I. Galiev, 1904; V.R. Vilyame, 1920).
4. Gray forest soils are formed under the influence of the following processes: humus accumulation and the associated accumulation of ash substances, leaching of carbonates and easily soluble salts, lessivage, claying, migration of humic substances and decomposition products of minerals in the form of organometallic and oxide compounds (B.P. Akhtyrtsev, 1979 ).
The theory of degradation of chernozems under the forest has not been confirmed over time. It has been established that the distribution zone of gray forest soils is stable and that modern soil formation under broad-leaved forests leads to the formation of soils similar to gray forest soils.
Depending on the thickness of the humus horizon and the content of humus the type of gray forest soils is divided into three subtypes: light gray, gray and dark gray. The profile of gray soils consists of horizons Ao - Aa - A1A2 -A2B - Bm - BC - C and has the following structure:
Ao - forest litter with a thickness of up to 5 cm of varying degrees of decomposition; Ad - humus horizon from light gray to dark gray in color depending on the subtype; A1A2 - transitional humus-eluvial horizon (may be absent in dark gray soils), with brownish spots, lamellar or platy-nutty structure, abundant whitish powder is characteristic; A2B - transitional eluvial-illuvial horizon, heterogeneous, gray-brown in color with spots, nutty-prismatic structure, abundant whitish powder along the edges; W - illuvial horizon, gray-brown or brown-brown, large nutty structure, whitish powder and varnish, dense; BC - horizon transitional to the parent rock, accumulation of carbonates is possible. Transitions into source rock (C), which usually contains carbonates in the form of veinlets and cranes.
In the light gray soil, the humus, transitional and podzolized horizons are lighter; in the dark gray soil, the color is darker with less distinct differentiation by the eluvial-illuvial type. Horizon A1A2 may be absent. In areas with increased moisture, sulfur forest gley soils stand out, within which there are three subtypes: 1) surface gleyic; 2) ground-gley; 3) ground-gley. On the western landscape of the Oka-Don Plain, gray forest surfaces, gley-eluvial and gray forest solodized-alkaline soils are found.
The following genera are distinguished in each subtype: ordinary, residually carbonate, developed on carbonate rocks; contact-meadow on two-membered sediments; variegated on indigenous variegated rocks; gray forest with a second humus horizon.
The division into species is made according to the thickness of the humus horizon (Ai + A1A2) - thick (> 40 cm), medium thick (20–40 cm) and thin (< 20 см) и по глубине вскипания – высоковскипающие (100 см) и глубоковскипающие (ниже 100 см).
Properties of gray forest soils in many respects they are close to soddy-podzolic. In them, the upper horizons are depleted in the clay fraction compared to the rock, enriched in SiO2 and depleted in sesquioxides, which is due to the processes of podzolization and lessivage. However, the content of humus in them is higher, it varies from 1.5 to 12.0%. Features of the genesis clearly reflect their physico-chemical properties. Light gray forest soils are acidic, base saturation is about 70%, CEC in loamy soils is about 14–16 in the humus horizon and increases in the illuvial to 90 meq/100 g of soil.
Dark gray forest soils characterized by a higher supply of nutrients, slightly acidic reaction, high (80–90%) degree of saturation
base ratio and cation exchange capacity (35–45 meq), i.e. according to these indicators, they approach podzolized chernozems.
Physical and physico-mechanical properties depend on the degree of humus content and particle size distribution. Dark gray soils have the best properties, which differ from other subtypes by high humus content and a well-defined water-resistant structure. They are less favorable in light gray soils, which are characterized by low moisture capacity and water permeability, easily swim and form a crust. In the agricultural use of light gray and gray forest soils, the measures are of the same type. Their effective use requires the application of organic and mineral fertilizers, liming, and sowing of perennial grasses. Phosphorite is effective on these soils. It is advisable to gradually deepen the arable layer with the simultaneous introduction of lime and organic fertilizers. On dark gray forests
In some soils, deepening can be done in one step, their liming is carried out in exceptional cases.
Erosion is developed in the forest-steppe zone, therefore, it is necessary to carry out anti-erosion measures: soil-protective crop rotations, strip placement of crops, cultivation across slopes, furrowing, ditching, creation of forest belts.
On gray forest gley and solod soils, it is necessary to loosen the compacted illuvial horizon and apply manure with superphosphate. Of great importance are measures for the conservation and accumulation of moisture (snow retention, methods of tillage).
Brown forest soils are formed under deciduous forests in a humid and mild oceanic climate. There are no such soils on the plains of
trawling parts of Eurasia, but many in Western Europe. There are many brown forest soils in the Atlantic part of North America, where they occupy an intermediate position between soddy-podzolic and red-brown forest and red soils in the south.
With a significant amount of precipitation (600-650 mm), the profile of brown forest soils is weakly washed out, since most of the precipitation falls in summer and the flushing regime is very short. The mild climate contributes to the activation of organic matter transformation processes. A significant part of the litter is vigorously processed by numerous invertebrates, forming a mulled humus horizon. Quite a lot of brown humic acids are formed in the subordinate position of quantitatively predominant fulvic acids, giving complexes with iron. These compounds are deposited in the form of weakly polymerized films on fine particles. An unstable nutty structure is formed.
The presence of this type has been generally recognized since 1930 under the name of either "brown forest" soil or "burozem".
For the development of burozems, the following ecological conditions are necessary: 1) broad-leaved (coniferous-broad-leaved) forests with a rich ground grass cover with a powerful nitrogen-calcium cycle of substances; 2) washing water regime; 3) subsoil drainage; 4) short freezing of soils, providing intensive weathering; 5) a relatively short age of soil formation due to the tendency of burozems to evolve into other types.
In burozems, two soil forming processes dominate: claying of the entire soil stratum without the movement of weathering products down the profile and humus formation with the formation of a dark, but with brown tones due to the predominance of brown humic and fulvic acids of the humus horizon stained with iron oxides. Brown forest soils are always soils of drained slopes or dissected hilly territory. There are no burozems on the lowlands. The higher the slope, the more humus.
A very common particular soil-forming process is lessivage, that is, the slow washing of silt particles in the form of suspensions into horizon B. The profile of brown forest soils is characterized by weak differentiation, thin (20-25 cm) humus (humus 4-6%, closer to the litter up to 12 %) horizon. The gray-brown humus horizon is replaced by the Bm horizon (50-60 cm) with a lumpy-nutty structure. A diagnostic feature of such soils is the presence of clayey mountains. B in the absence of eluvial horizons. The degree of browning depends on the content of free iron hydroxides.
Clay formation in the profile of burozems can be both the result of the transformation of primary minerals and the synthesis of clays from ionic components.
Transformations of micas into illite are especially common, and the brown color mainly determines the deposition of goethite.
The soil-forming rock is usually loess-like pale yellow loam, sometimes with carbonate new formations. The aqueous extract has a reaction close to neutral. A large amount of silty particles causes a significant absorption capacity with a predominance of calcium.
Burozems have a lot of transitional forms with other types. On the FAO/UNESCO International Map of the World, such soils are called cambisols. In addition to the usual burozems, Soviet systematics distinguished gley, podzolic-brown, podzolic-brown gley, and meadow podbel burozems (especially common in the Far East). High moisture capacity with good water permeability, good thermal properties, significant absorption capacity with a predominance of calcium, stable lumpy structure determine the high level of natural fertility. These soils are very fertile with a sufficient amount of fertilizers and optimal agricultural practices. The highest grain yields in Europe are obtained on brown forest soils, part of which is occupied by vineyards and orchards. Due to the high water permeability, burozems are resistant to water erosion, and the clay composition prevents deflation.
What is the difference between natural and economic resources? Which countries have almost all types of natural resources? How can the national wealth of a country be measured?
The role of natural resources in the life of society. The ascent of mankind to the heights of socio-economic progress is closely connected with the use of various gifts of nature - natural (or natural) resources.
Human need for different types of natural resources is not the same. So, without oxygen - a priceless gift of nature - a person cannot live for even a few minutes, while without uranium and plutonium - sources of nuclear fuel - he managed for thousands of years. The costs of developing natural resources are also different: sometimes they are minimal, but much more often the development of natural resources requires large investments, especially when it comes to the use of expensive equipment and technology, the inaccessibility of deposits, etc.
Many natural resources, explored and mined, become raw materials for a wide variety of branches of material production. In turn, the raw materials involved in social production and repeatedly transformed in it are already converted into economic resources. Thus, the elements of nature as a result of labor impact on them appear before us in the form of tools, buildings, material goods.
The modern industry of the world consumes a huge amount of raw materials. Its cost (including the cost of fuel and electricity) in the total cost of industrial production is about 75%. This circumstance poses very acute problems for many countries in providing the main types of raw materials.
Many natural resources (primarily oil, gas, coal) are gradually becoming scarce. This is, of course, a sad fact. But, firstly, they have not only not yet been exhausted, but are far from being fully revealed. Secondly, extracted natural resources are still used inefficiently. Thirdly, it is difficult to predict the discoveries in the resource sphere that will be made in the coming decades. After all, even "the day before yesterday" we knew nothing about electricity, "yesterday" we knew nothing about the huge reserves of energy hidden in the atomic nucleus. There are many things we do not know even today, although, undoubtedly, we are “surrounded” by forces about which we do not yet have a clear idea. It is only necessary that the mental and industrial activity of human society serve the benefit of all the people of the Earth, that it ennobles nature, helps it to reveal its possibilities more fully, and does not leave behind a lifeless desert.
Along with the term "natural resources", the broader concept of "natural conditions" is often used. The line separating one concept from another is sometimes very conditional. For example, the wind can be considered as a component of nature, but at the same time it is also an important resource, primarily for energy production.
Natural conditions reflect all the diversity of the natural environment on our planet and are closely related to the history of mankind, its location. They have always influenced people's lives, and people have influenced the natural environment. Thus, a person cannot exist without the use of the riches of nature and in this sense we are dependent on it. But at the same time, man is able to actively influence nature. This is the essence of the relationship between man and nature. Allocation of resources and provision of them by different countries. From previous geography courses, you know that natural resources are mineral, land, water, vegetable, etc. This is one of the varieties of their classification on the basis of belonging to one or another circle of natural phenomena. Natural resources are also divided into renewable and non-renewable, on the basis of their intended use for a particular sector of the economy, by quality (i.e., the content of useful components in them), by the nature of education (mineral, organic), etc. Placement of natural resources according to the planet is uneven. This is due to differences in climatic and tectonic processes on Earth and different conditions for the formation of minerals in past geological epochs, etc. The reserves of individual types of natural resources are far from being the same. As a result, not only between countries, but also between large regions of the modern world, there are noticeable differences in the level and nature of their endowment with natural resources. Thus, the Middle East is distinguished by large resources of oil and gas, the Andean countries - copper and polymetallic ores, the states of Tropical Africa, which have large tracts of tropical forests - valuable timber, etc. There are several states in the world that have almost all known types of natural resources . These are Russia, the USA and China. India, Brazil, Australia and some other countries, although they are inferior to them in terms of the “range” of natural resources, are highly prosperous compared to other states. Many countries have large reserves of global importance of one or more resources. So, Gabon stands out for its manganese reserves, Kuwait for oil, Morocco for phosphorites. important for every country completeness available natural resources. For example, for organizing the production of ferrous metallurgy in a single country, it is very important to have resources not only of iron ore, but also of manganese, chromites, and coking coal. And if they are also located relatively close to each other, then this is a great success for the country.
There is not a single country in the world that does not possess certain natural resources. If there are few of them, and some do not exist at all, the state is not doomed to poverty. After all, the national wealth of any country can be measured not only by the totality of its material values and reserves of natural resources, but also by people, their experience and diligence, the degree of use of their energy, knowledge and skill.
For example, Japan, which has achieved outstanding success in the economy, has very limited mineral resources, both in assortment and in quantitative terms. It has only large reserves of sulfur and pyrites, while there is a sharp shortage of oil, natural gas, iron ore, ores of rare metals, phosphorites, potash salts, etc. In contrast to Japan, examples of many states with the richest mineral resources can be cited. raw materials, but did not achieve great success in socio-economic development.
The uneven distribution of natural resources around the planet, on the one hand, contributes to the development of the process of international division of labor and international economic relations, on the other hand, it gives rise to certain economic difficulties in countries that are deprived of some natural resources.
Science-based economic assessment of natural resources is of great importance in the process of nature management. Its constituent elements are exploration, identification, inventory, as well as quantitative and qualitative assessment of natural resources. Unlike the highly developed countries of the world, where a comprehensive assessment of such resources has already been carried out, such an assessment has not yet been made in the underdeveloped countries. Meanwhile, without a careful accounting of natural resources, without a well-established system of control over their consumption in all spheres of our life, without their every possible saving, one cannot hope for the "eternal" prosperity of mankind.
So, at all stages of the development of human society, natural resources were an important prerequisite for its socio-economic progress. However, their transformation into various economic resources ultimately depends on the person, on his diligence and talent.
Questions and tasks. one. Can it be argued that the economic activity of mankind is to a large extent the process of the development of natural resources by society? Justify your answer. 2. What factors influence the distribution of natural resources on the planet? 3. Give examples of states that have rich natural potential, but, in your opinion, have not achieved great success in socio-economic development. 4. Using the maps of the atlas, indicate the countries that have all the natural resources necessary for the development of ferrous metallurgy. 5. Based on the analysis of the atlas maps and application tables, complete the text of this paragraph with examples.
Mineral resources
Will mineral resources remain for future generations? What is the recycling of resources?
Placement of minerals. From time immemorial, man has widely used a variety of mineral raw materials.
Despite the implementation of resource-saving policies by many countries, the demand for mineral raw materials in the world is growing rapidly (by about 5% per year). This trend is explained, firstly, by a noticeable increase in demand for mineral raw materials in the developing countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and secondly, by the rapid development of construction, where it is more difficult to implement a material saving regime than in industry.
The scale of the use of mineral resources has grown tremendously in recent decades. The volume of mining operations since 1950 g. increased by 3 times, and of the entire mass mined in the XX century. 3/4 of the mineral resources were mined after 1960. Today, the growth in the consumption of mineral raw materials noticeably exceeds the growth in its proven reserves. At the same time, the provision of most countries with them is declining.
Every year more than 100 billion tons of various mineral raw materials and fuels. These are ores of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, coal, oil, gas, building materials, mining and chemical raw materials - more than 200 different types in total.
As you already know, the current distribution of the world's minerals is the result of the Earth's long geological history. In various places of the lithosphere formed
large, geologically isolated territories with certain groups of deposits confined to them. At the same time, fuel resources 1 of organic origin are confined to the margins and troughs of ancient platforms, while ore resources are most often found within platform faults and mobile folded areas of the earth's crust. Large accumulations of ore deposits formed as a result of tectonic processes are usually called ore belts. These include the Alpine-Himalayan, Pacific and other ore belts. Ore minerals are of great importance in the modern world, since metals (primarily iron) remain unsurpassed structural materials. In addition to various branches of material production, they are widely used in everyday life, in medicine, etc. The presence of ore minerals is a good prerequisite for economic development for any country. Iron is especially closely connected with the past, present and future destinies of mankind. Large reserves of iron ore raw materials that have been developed for a long time are concentrated in the USA, China, India, and Russia. The geological prospecting work carried out in recent decades has led to the discovery of many deposits
in Asia, Africa, Latin America. These include the iron ores of the Amazon basin in Brazil, deposits in Liberia, Guinea, Algeria, and others.
Of the non-ferrous metals, aluminum is the most common. Its content in the earth's crust by weight is slightly less than 10%. Large reserves of aluminum raw materials (bauxites, etc.) are found in France, Italy, India, Suriname, the USA, the states of West Africa, and the countries of the Caribbean. Our country is also rich in aluminum raw materials.
The main resources of copper ores are concentrated in Zambia, Congo (Kinshasa), Chile, the USA, Canada, lead-zinc - in the USA, Canada, Australia.
Not all industrial countries of the modern world have enough metal ores and are forced to import them (Fig. 4). Thus, Japan does not have industrial reserves of the vast majority of ore minerals, Germany is experiencing an acute shortage in iron ore, Italy in copper, France in polymetallic ores, etc.
At the same time, a careful study of the maps of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy (see atlas) shows that the leading positions in terms of reserves and production of a number of ore minerals are occupied either by developing countries or those that have recently left this “status”: Brazil and India - iron ore; Chile, Zambia, Congo (Kinshasa), Peru, Mexico - copper; Guinea, Jamaica, Suriname - bauxites; Gabon - manganese; Malaysia, Indonesia, Bolivia, Brazil, Thailand - tin, etc.
Among minerals, an important role in the modern world is also played by mineral chemical raw materials - sulfur, phosphates, potassium salts, building materials, refractory raw materials, graphite, etc. It is obvious that the degree of distribution of these resources in the earth's crust is different. Thus, building materials are found almost everywhere, while deposits of sulfur, phosphorites, and graphite are relatively rare. This circumstance, on the one hand, makes it possible to create a construction industry in almost every state, on the other hand, it significantly affects the economic specialization of countries.
The problem of depletion of mineral resources and ways to solve it. The most accessible mineral deposits in our time are rapidly depleted. Thus, the intensive development of iron ore deposits led to the depletion of many deposits not only of the Old, but also of the New World. The reserves of this ore in Lorraine (France), in the Urals, near the Great American Lakes have become scanty. The copper ore resources of Zambia and Zaire also became poorer. And the Pacific state of Nauru, once famous for its colossal reserves of phosphorites, has practically lost them.
Meanwhile, from the huge volume of rock mass annually extracted from the bowels of the planet, no more than 20% is used for the production of finished products. As a result of such irrational nature management, hundreds of billions of tons of various rocks have accumulated in dumps over the years. These technological "graveyards" also contain billions of tons of ash from power plants and slag - waste from metallurgical plants. Many overburden and fossil wastes are suitable for the production of a wide range of metals, chemicals, building materials - bricks, cement, lime, etc.
The rational use of mineral resources (the overwhelming majority of which are non-renewable) presupposes the integrated development of fossil raw materials, i.e., such that every gram of matter taken from nature must be put into action.
Many authoritative scientists of the world predict the onset of an era of recycling (i.e., reuse) of resources, when waste will become the main raw materials in the economy, and natural resources will play the role of reserve sources of supply.
The countries of Western Europe, the USA and especially Japan show examples of deep utilization of industrial and household waste. At the same time, their production of a huge amount of steel, aluminium, copper and other non-ferrous metals from secondary raw materials helps to save not only metal (and, consequently, mineral resources), but also energy. Automatic lines being created in these countries are capable, for example, of "grinding" a car in a matter of seconds, sorting ferrous and non-ferrous metals, synthetic materials, and glass.
Significantly wider use of complex processing of mineral raw materials, resource-saving equipment, low-waste and waste-free technology is also necessary in our country. This will create conditions for a more complete involvement in the circulation of local types of raw materials, for the deep utilization of secondary raw materials.
Waste-free is such a technology that provides the most rational and integrated use of raw materials and energy in the cycle "raw materials - production - consumption - secondary raw materials". In this case, the normal functioning of the natural environment should not be disturbed (Fig. 5).
Of course, zero-waste technology is the ideal model that modern production is focused on. Achieving 100% zero waste today is almost impossible. Therefore, the value of 90–98% is considered to correspond to waste-free production, and 75–90% to low-waste production.
The creation of waste-free and low-waste production is a complex process that requires the solution of a number of interrelated technological, economic, organizational, psychological and other tasks. However, he is the future.
So, mineral resources are the most important source of diverse
raw materials for the global economy. They are placed on the Earth in accordance with its geological evolution. Many types of mineral resources as a result of irrational use today are either almost exhausted or severely depleted. Mankind is on the verge of an era of recycling of many mineral resources.
Questions and tasks. one. Fill in the table "Classification of mineral resources". 2. Select on the map the most significant ore belts of the Earth. 3. Study the main mineral flows on the globe using the atlas maps. Make a conclusion (or conclusions) about their patterns. By comparing the maps of the atlas, indicate which countries use their own ore and mining chemical raw materials for the development of the manufacturing industry. 4. What, in your opinion, are the most typical features of the mismanagement of the use of mineral resources in the modern world? 5. Calculate how many years the world's reserves of these minerals will last at the current level of their production, taking into account growth by 2% per year.
§ 5. Land resources
Is it worth it to plow all the soils of the planet? Is there a way to food abundance with a relative and absolute reduction in the land fund?
The structure of the land fund of the world. Land resources are among those natural resources without which human life is unthinkable. There are as many of them on the planet as there is land, which, as you know, makes up 29% of the earth's surface. However, only 30% of the world's land fund is agricultural land, that is, land used by mankind for food production. And the rest is mountains, territories bound by permafrost, deserts, glaciers, swamps, impenetrable jungles, taiga forests. For example, the vast polar expanses in Greenland, in the north of Russia, Canada and the USA (Alaska), the Sahara desert, the desert regions of Central Australia, the highlands of Central Asia, etc., are unsuitable for processing.
In addition, millions of hectares of land are occupied by urban and rural settlements, highways, power lines, various warehouses, bases and other facilities. As you remember, agricultural land is arable land, as well as land occupied by meadows and pastures. The share of arable land, meadows and pastures varies markedly across countries and continents, depending on natural conditions, the degree of agricultural development of the territory, and some other indicators (Table 1). The most valuable and fertile lands of the planet are about 1,5 billion hectares The largest arrays of agricultural landscapes are concentrated in the forest-steppe and steppe zones of the temperate zone and humid zones of the warm and hot zones of the continents (Fig. 6). About half of all cultivated land in the world is concentrated in six countries - Russia, the USA, India, China, Canada and Brazil. At the same time, each inhabitant of the planet accounts for an average of 0.28 hectares (including only 0.15 hectares in densely populated foreign Asia). In other words, in Asia 1 hectare feeds 7 people, Europe - 4, South America - 2, North America - 1.5 people. The true wealth of humanity is the soil. Their formation lasted for millennia, while the destruction of soils due to the negligent attitude of man to them occurs in just a few years. Most often it is irreversible or difficult to fix. Reducing and expanding the area of cultivated land. One of the most worrying indicators of soil resource loss is the growth of deserts. The sands of the Sahara are advancing, the deserts of Southwest Asia, North and South America are growing. At the same time, deserts advance on steppes, steppes - on savannas, savannas - on forests. The main reasons for the growth of deserts are the "overload" of fields with agricultural crops and their improper cultivation, deforestation and overgrazing of livestock (Fig. 7).
Of course, the degradation of cultivated lands, their withdrawal from agricultural circulation occur not only as a result of desertification. They are also "threatened" by human settlements and industry (Fig. 8). Cities and villages, industrial plants, power lines and pipelines imperceptibly crowd arable land, which, in turn, encroach on forests and pasture lands. Every year, in many countries of the world, the number of territories destroyed by quarries, covered with dumps formed in the process of mining is increasing. Many arable lands are flooded by the created reservoirs. The lands withdrawn from agricultural circulation make up about 6% of the land, and by 2000, according to experts, their area had reached 15%.
At the same time, there are still many territories on Earth that are not used in agricultural production. We are not talking about virgin and fallow lands “forgotten” by man, but mainly about areas with an inconvenient terrain for agriculture (beams, ravines, mountain slopes) or unfavorable conditions (wetlands, etc.). The development of such territories requires great caution, as it is associated with an invasion of easily vulnerable natural systems.
One of the ways to slow down the process of reduction of cultivated land (especially in small countries) is to increase the number of storeys of residential and industrial buildings and expand underground structures. As the experience of the reconstruction of Vienna, Paris, Tokyo and some other cities shows, it is advisable to place shopping centers, museums, lecture and exhibition halls, railway stations, refrigerators, and transport routes underground. Scientific laboratories, power plants, and institutes can also be located on the underground floors. The departure of urban buildings underground can already now reduce the need for land areas for construction by 10-12%.
Let us especially note the expansion of cultivated lands by man at the expense of the sea. In the Netherlands, with the help of canal systems and dams, about 40% of their modern territory was reclaimed from the North Sea. Similar processes of “sliding” of settlements into the sea also take place in Belgium, France, Portugal, Japan, Canada, Singapore, etc.
Of course, the possibilities of expanding the sown areas due to the “advance” of land on the sea are not so great. Nevertheless, for some states this is an important reserve for increasing the size of the land fund. The future will show whether the existing grandiose projects to increase the area of cultivated land at the expense of the sea will be viable.
A more reliable path to food abundance is to increase soil fertility and increase agricultural productivity in general. It requires both
mechanization of production processes, land reclamation and reasonable use of mineral fertilizers, as well as the widespread introduction of the achievements of selection and breeding work. Much will also depend on success in the field of chemical synthesis of food products (primarily proteins), as well as the industrial cultivation of lower forms - microorganisms created by both selection and genetic engineering.
The struggle for the preservation of the planet's land fund is one of the most important tasks of mankind. It is necessary to stop the non-renewable loss of soil resources, carefully select the forms of agricultural production, and improve the culture of agriculture. Of particular importance in the modern world is the reclamation of land, i.e., the restoration of the soil cover after the completion of mining and construction work.
Questions and tasks. one. Explain the difference between the terms "land resources", "soil resources", "agricultural land". 2. The share of arable land varies by country. Thus, in Brazil it is about 4% of the country's area, Australia and Canada - 5%, Argentina, China - 12%, USA - 18%, India - 51%, Hungary - 56%, Denmark - more than 70%. Explain the reasons for the differences. What cards should be used to substantiate the answer? 3. What environmental consequences arise from the irrational use of land resources? Where, in your opinion, is the “front line” of the struggle for the soils of the planet? 4. Group the countries named below according to the following criteria: a) countries, in the structure of agricultural lands of which arable land occupies a leading place; b) countries, in the structure of agricultural lands of which meadows and pastures occupy a leading place. Explain your choice: Commonwealth of Australia, Algeria, Hungary, Netherlands, Denmark, Libya, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia.
Fresh water resources
How much water is on earth? Is there a lot of fresh water? Is it possible to overcome water hunger on our planet?
The ratio of salt and fresh water. Water is the basis of life. She plays an important role in the geological history of the Earth and the emergence of life, in shaping the climate on the planet. Living organisms cannot exist without water. It is an essential component of almost all technological processes. We can say that the main function of water is life-supporting.
The vast majority of water on Earth is concentrated in the oceans. It should not be forgotten that this is highly mineralized water, which is unsuitable not only for drinking, but also for technological needs. The population, industry and agriculture are in need of fresh water, the resources of which are not so great and make up less than 3% of the total volume of the hydrosphere. However, if we exclude from this amount the ice of polar and mountain glaciers, which are still practically inaccessible for use, then the share of fresh water will become much less.
The reserves of easily accessible fresh water are distributed over the planet
not uneven. Thus, in Africa, only about 10% of the population is provided with regular water supply, while in Europe this figure exceeds 95%. This does not take into account the huge regional contrasts in water availability at the level of individual states, the differences between arid and humid territories. These contrasts are explained primarily by the climatic peculiarities of the various regions of the continents, the nature of their surface, and other factors.
World water consumption. At the beginning of the XXI century. more than 4 million m 3 of water is used annually for various economic needs. Let us pay attention to the sharp, almost unrestrained growth in water consumption: only in the 20th century. industrial use of water has increased by about 20 times, agricultural by 6 times, municipal by 7 times and general by 10 times. An acute shortage of fresh water in some regions was also formed due to the increasing pollution of the hydrosphere.
The largest water consumer in the world is agriculture (almost 2/3 of the total volume). The vast majority of water here is used for irrigation of irrigated lands, and only a small proportion of it is absorbed by plants, the rest of the water evaporates from the surface of irrigated lands, is transpired by vegetation, and drains into underground horizons.
Water consumption and its structure develop differently on individual continents. The largest
The situation with water in the big cities of the world, such as Paris, Tokyo, New York, Mexico City and some others, is becoming increasingly tense due to the growth of their population and the construction of new
Ways to overcome the shortage of fresh water. AT There is a growing shortage of fresh water in the world. At the same time, water hunger now threatens not only arid, but also countries and regions sufficiently provided with water resources. This is due not only to an increase in the consumption of fresh water reserves, but also to the ever-increasing pollution of the hydrosphere. Unfortunately, in some countries (primarily developing countries), water pollution
volumes of water (almost 50%) are absorbed by the economy of Asian countries, but more than 4/5 of it is spent on agriculture. A similar picture (with much lower volumes of water consumption) is observed in South America and Africa. And only in Europe and North America industrial and agricultural water consumption are approximately equal.
industrial enterprises. In many large cities of the world, city water supply works periodically, for several hours a day (and in Singapore, for example, even cards were introduced for water).
still regarded as a cost of economic growth. Wastewater treatment in the vast majority of countries in the world is characterized by extreme imperfection. Especially a lot of "skips" through the treatment facilities of inorganic compounds: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, mineral salts, including salts of highly toxic heavy metals.
One of the ways to overcome the growing shortage of fresh water
In ancient times, a person consumed 12–18 liters of water per day, in the 19th century. - 40-60 liters, currently in developed countries - 200-300 liters, in large cities - 400-500 liters or more. A resident of New York consumes 1045 liters of water per day, Paris - 500 liters, Moscow and St. Petersburg - 600 liters, including the costs of industry and municipal services.
However, for physical survival, a person needs only 2 liters of water per day is to save it for industrial and domestic needs, as well as to stop the discharge of industrial, agricultural and domestic wastewater into inland waters and seas.
Another way is connected with the replenishment of the missing water resources through the use of other sources. Such sources can be desalinated sea water, redistributed river flows, icebergs towed to areas of fresh water deficiency. A significant amount of water can be obtained by collecting rain and melt water in underground storage facilities.
Groundwater is still poorly used in the world. Meanwhile, in many regions of the planet they are located quite close to the surface, as a rule, of good quality. Even in the Sahara desert, huge reserves of groundwater have been discovered that can make life easier for local residents.
Fresh water resources can be increased by using a recirculating water supply. At the same time, it is possible not only to save a huge amount of water, but also to utilize the heat that can be used to heat residential premises, industrial buildings.
All water resources of the planet are interconnected by a grandiose natural process - the water cycle, covering the atmosphere, hydrosphere and earth's crust. Therefore, ill-conceived human intervention in this complex process can lead to unpredictable results.
So, fresh water resources are extremely important for sustaining life on Earth. Their limitedness, extremely uneven distribution over the earth's surface and growing pollution are one of the most pressing problems of our time.
Questions and tasks. one. On the globe there are many areas experiencing excess moisture. These are the most humid and richest areas in water resources. Use the physical-geographical map to indicate where they are located. What role do they play in the life of the planet? 2. The volume of fresh waters of the world (with mineralization less than 1 g/l) is more than 28 million km 3 , while mankind consumes only about 5 thousand km 3 per year. What are the reasons for his deep concern for fresh water? 3. In the process of use, part of the withdrawn water is irretrievably lost to evaporation, seepage, technological binding, etc. In which sector of the world economy, in which countries and regions are such losses the most significant? Why? 4. Which sector of the world economy is the leader in terms of the scale of circulating water supply and in which sector is it practically not carried out? Why? 5. Until recently, the following amount of fresh water was spent on the production of 1 ton of products, paper - 900-1000 tons, steel - 15-20 tons, nitric acid - 80-180 tons, cellulose - 400-500 tons, synthetic fiber - 500 tons , cotton fabric - 300–1100 tons, etc. What do you know about water consumption rates in other sectors of the economy? 6. Indicate possible ways to overcome the global water crisis.
forest resources
What is the unique role of the planet's forests? How are they placed? What threatens mankind with the ongoing destruction of the Earth's forests?
Stocks and placement. How are you
You already know that forest resources play a huge role in sustaining life on Earth. They restore oxygen, conserve groundwater, prevent soil destruction. The deforestation is accompanied by an immediate decrease in groundwater, which causes shallowing of rivers and drying up of soils. In addition, forest resources provide a variety of building materials, and wood is still used as fuel in many parts of the world.
Forests cover less than 30% of the land. At the same time, the largest area of forests has been preserved in Asia, the smallest - in Australia. However, since the sizes of the continents are not the same, it is important to take into account their forest cover, i.e. the ratio of the forested area to the total area. According to this indicator, South America ranks first in the world (Table 2). In the economic assessment of forest resources, such an indicator as timber reserves is of paramount importance. It is followed by Asia, South and North America. Of the individual states, four countries occupy the leading positions in the world in terms of timber reserves: Russia, Canada, Brazil and the United States.
At the same time, a large group of countries does not have forests, but woodlands. There are countries that are practically treeless, characterized by extremely arid conditions (Bahrain, Qatar, Libya, etc.).
The map of the world's forest resources (Fig. 9) clearly shows two vast and approximately equal forest areas and timber reserves: the northern forest belt and the southern forest belt. A feature of the species composition of trees in the northern zone is the sharp predominance here (especially in Russia) of conifers, while in the southern zone they are practically absent.
| table 2 | ||||
| Forest Resources of the World (2002) | ) | |||
| Regions | forest area | In % of the area | Forest cover (%) | Timber reserves |
| (mln ha) | forests of the world | (%) | ||
| Europe | ||||
| Asia |
