Types of minerals. What are minerals

In different regions of the world, miners work hard in coal mines deep underground

So iron ore and oil, marble and natural gas, which are not alike, are actually united under the common name "minerals". Fossils - because they are extracted from the bowels of the Earth, and useful - because they serve a person, that is, by their will they turn into various necessary objects that create coziness, provide security, heat, feed ... All of them are necessary to ensure a comfortable life for people.

What are the minerals

The bowels of our planet are fraught with huge mineral reserves. Some of them lie near the surface of the Earth, while others - at great depths, under the thickness of the "empty" rock.

According to the physical state, minerals are divided into:

• solid - various ores, coal, rock salt, etc .;
• liquid - oil, mineral water;
• gaseous - flammable gas.

According to the features of use, three groups are distinguished:

• combustible - coal, peat, oil shale, oil, natural gas;
• metal - ores of ferrous, non-ferrous, rare, noble and radioactive metals;
• non-metallic minerals - various salts, limestone, clay, sand, stones, etc.

Metallic minerals are used to extract metals from them. Non-metallic minerals include building materials, ore-mineral non-metallic raw materials - mica, graphite, diamonds and chemical mineral raw materials - potassium salts, phosphates, sulfur.

A field is an accumulation of minerals. Groups of closely spaced deposits of the same mineral are called “basins”.

Fossil fuels

A special group of minerals is formed by various types of fuel. These are peat, coal, oil shale, oil and combustible gases. They contain carbon and, when combined with oxygen during combustion, produce heat.

Combustible minerals are used not only as fuel. They serve as indispensable raw materials for the production of various products. Coals, oil shale, oil and gas are used in the production of plastics, synthetic fabrics, explosives, medicines, paints, industrial oils, soaps and other products.

Oil extracted from underground is piped for thousands of kilometers to plants for fractionation and processing

Clot of energy

Oil - flammable oily liquid of a dark color. It is produced mainly by drilling wells on land, as well as at the bottom of the seas and oceans. Oil is a "bunch of energy." Using just 1 ml of this substance, you can heat a bucket of water at 1 ° C.

In the morning, people wash themselves with soap, which contains fatty acids derived from oil.

Environmentally friendly fuel

Natural gas, like oil and coal, was formed in the earth's interior from organic substances of plant and animal origin under the influence of high pressures and temperatures.

For transportation of liquefied natural gas, special vessels are used - gas carriers

Natural gas is an excellent fuel and has many positive properties - high calorific value, good transportability, greater environmental friendliness compared to oil and coal. Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel. During combustion, it forms much less harmful substances than coal and oil, and therefore it is used very widely. Through gas pipelines, fuel is pumped over many thousands of kilometers. Moreover, proven gas reserves are greater than proven oil reserves.

Heat source

Coal is one of the most important minerals. It is used as solid fuel, emitting a lot of heat during combustion. In addition, paints, plastics and other valuable materials are obtained from it.

Coal was formed from dead plants. Having lived their age, trees and other plants died, fell, were brought in by silt and sand, compressed, and then their carbonization occurred. This process began in the presence of oxygen, and continued in an oxygen-free environment. In this case, the remains of plants lost oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon was preserved. So peat and coal were formed.

Coal consists of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and other minor components. According to the hydrocarbon content, coals are divided into brown (65-70% carbon), stone (about 80% carbon), anthracites (up to 96% carbon).

Coal lies in the earth with layers up to 100 m thick. Its extraction is conducted by open or closed methods. An open mining method is used in those coal deposits where it lies close to the surface of the earth. Coal seams are blown up, and then lumps of coal are shipped by excavators into huge trucks or railway cars. With the closed method, mines are constructed, which are deep vertical wells with horizontal tunnels. They employ miners who, using powerful special combines, crush large layers of coal and feed it upstairs.

Question 1. What does the earth's crust consist of?

It consists of several layers. The top is a layer of sedimentary rocks. The thickness of this layer is up to 10-15 km. Underneath lies a granite layer. The rocks that compose it are similar in their physical properties to granite. The thickness of this layer is from 5 to 15 km. Under the granite layer is a basalt layer consisting of basalt and rocks, the physical properties of which resemble basalt. The thickness of this layer is from 10 to 35 km.

Question 2. What are rocks and minerals?

Rocks are bodies made up of several minerals. By origin, igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks are distinguished. Minerals are bodies that have a uniform composition.

Question 3. What types of rocks and minerals exist?

By origin, rocks are divided into three groups: igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic.

Question 4. Does the quantity and diversity of minerals change in the process of development of human society?

Yes, the quantity and variety of minerals in the process of development of human society is changing. This is due to the fact that people extract minerals and they are becoming less and less.

Question 5. What rocks are called minerals?

The species that a person uses in everyday life and economic activity are called minerals.

Question 6. What groups are minerals divided into?

Depending on the nature of use, fuel, ore and non-metallic minerals are distinguished.

Question 7. What is geological exploration?

When searching for minerals, knowledge of the features of the relief, the geological history of the territory gives rise to assumptions about whether minerals can be in this place or not. This process is called geological exploration.

Question 8. Which metals are called ferrous, which are non-ferrous, and which are precious?

Ferrous metals - iron and its alloys (steel, ferroalloys, cast irons). According to their physical properties and purpose, non-ferrous metals are conventionally divided into heavy (copper, lead, zinc, tin, nickel) and light (aluminum, titanium). Precious metals - gold, silver, platinum and platinum group metals.

Question 9. What are the main laws governing the placement of minerals?

Minerals of sedimentary origin are most often mined on the plains, and of igneous and metamorphic origin - in low mountains.

Question 10. Give examples of the use of minerals in everyday life, in human activities.

The smelting of various products, the remelting of various ores, the manufacture of various jewelry, the production of gasoline, the use of natural gas for domestic needs, the use of coal as fuel for boiler houses, etc.

“Black gold”, “liquid gold” ... how many people extract from the bowels of the earth! Extraction has reached such proportions that it is already a question of the depletion of natural resources in the coming centuries - but we can’t stop: stop mining, and civilization will be paralyzed, nothing else has been invented yet ... how did these natural “treasures” arise, which does humanity tire of digging up?

Let's start with the most important mineral, on which the economy of many countries (including ours) rests, because of which wars are launched, destroying civilians, whose depletion of reserves is most worried. Of course, we are talking about oil. The process of its formation began about 600 million years ago, when most of the surface of our planet was under water. Small living organisms lived in the water. Dying, they sank to the bottom, covered with silt, and so layer by layer. Superimposed on each other, the layers were compacted, lowered, the temperature and pressure in them became higher. And then anaerobic bacteria got down to business and decomposed organic matter into hydrocarbons. Gas was also formed. Liquid hydrocarbons and gas bubbles under high pressure gradually seeped into the voids, but sooner or later reached a layer of such a rock, which was impossible to seep through, where oil or gas accumulated. Meanwhile, the Earth was changing, where there once was an ocean, now dry - and many of the accumulations of oil and gas that arose in this way were on land.

Coal is also of organic origin. The organisms, or rather, the plants that gave rise to it, lived on Earth in a certain historical period, which they call it: the Carboniferous period (or carbon). At that time, the entire surface of the Earth "gathered" into two continents - Laurasia and Gondwana. The coastal lowland plains of both continents continually flooded with water, swamps formed, occupying vast territories. The climate throughout the continents was tropical, and in such a climate the plants felt very good and they developed rapidly, multiplied rapidly. It was a time of giant tree-like ferns, reaching a height of 45 meters. The animals simply did not have time to eat all this “splendor” while it was growing, when the plants died naturally, they also turned out to be so numerous that they did not have time to process putrefactive bacteria, and all this plant mass accumulated in the swamps. True, there were bacteria in the swamps, they processed the plant mass, but at a certain stage of this process acids began to be released, and the activity of the bacteria became impossible. So peat was formed. It turned out to be buried under new layers, the pressure literally “squeezed” gases and water out of it, and it gradually turned into coal. Some coal deposits were destroyed by the movements of the earth's crust, but where it gradually sank, buried under new sediments, we have coal deposits.

As for the deposits of metals, magma is involved in their origin, penetrating from the mantle of the Earth into the earth's crust. Only a small part of it pours onto the earth's surface in the form of volcanic eruptions. Basically, it freezes in the form of huge tanks. When such a reservoir cools down, light elements float, and heavy ones sink to the bottom, so deposits of iron, nickel, copper, platinum, tungsten arise.

But this happens only with the so-called. the main magma, which contains silicon oxide in an amount of not less than 50% silicon oxide. If we are talking about acidic magma (more than 50% silicon oxide), then the process looks different. In such magma there are many gases that destroy metal compounds, and they cannot precipitate immediately and are concentrated in the residues that they did not have time to cool. These residues, saturated with gases and elements dissolved in them, penetrate through cracks in the earth's crust, cool down, and veins consisting of feldspar and quartz are formed, including precious stones, tin, uranium, and mica.

Minerals also arise under the influence of processes at the surface of the Earth. Water and air destroy rocks, their particles enter into chemical reactions with oxygen, water, carbon dioxide, the products of these reactions are carried away by water, and they settle on the bottom. So deposits of clay, gravel are formed. Those metals that do not enter into chemical reactions (for example, gold) remain on the river bottom in the form of placers.

In short, the mechanisms of mineral formation are different. Some of them have been stopped, for example, since mushrooms appeared, the formation of coal has become impossible: they destroy lingin in the process of their life - a substance contained in wood, without which coal cannot form. Other processes are ongoing now. But even these processes take millions of years! So it’s really good for humanity to think about the fact that natural resources can end!

One of the most valuable sources of energy for world industry today is solid. Humanity is unlikely to be able to do without them. Among other things, the still brilliant Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev said: “You can also heat bank notes.” The scientist implied that it would be more useful to use these resources for the synthesis of substances required by man.

Modern science constantly confirms its correctness. Oddly enough, but in many respects those wealths that lie deep underground, we owe the ancient flora. It was the ancient ferns and trees that formed over time many useful resources. By the way, what minerals were formed from ancient plants? Well, let's find out!

General characteristics of fuels

All of these fuels contain a huge amount of carbon. All of them were formed from plant debris, which for millions of years has been affected by high blood pressure and high temperature. The age of some types of ancient vegetable fuels significantly exceeds the mark of 650 million years. About 80% of these minerals formed during the Tertiary period. It is to these times that we owe the fact that mineral resources still provide us with everything necessary.

The main feature of their formation should be considered the fact that at that time there was still little oxygen on the planet, which currently oxidizes organics very quickly, but a lot of carbon and compounds based on it. Sedimentary rocks quickly preserved huge masses of substances in the earth.

So that you better navigate this issue, we have prepared a table. Minerals are far from unsystematically located in the bowels of the earth.

However, among some scientists, the theory of the abiogenic origin of many fossil fuels is popular, which explains their occurrence by a combination of various factors that led to the appearance of complex carbon compounds from simple inorganic substances.

This point of view also has its right to life, but most scientists are still confident that the vast majority of deposits have precisely the biological nature of their origin. Well, what minerals were formed from ancient plants? We will talk about this now.

Importance for industry and human

As we have already said, many of these substances are a real storehouse for the modern chemical industry. The same coal contains many compounds, which in other cases can be obtained only as a result of complex and expensive synthesis. For example, humic acids, which are not so common in nature and quite difficult for artificial synthesis, are massively obtained from cheap and widespread brown coal.

In principle, economic geography will tell you all about this. Minerals play a crucial role in shaping the normal production economy of any country.

It should be remembered that the full use of many resources of plant origin is possible only if a person is well aware of the nuances of their formation. First, we will consider the coals we have mentioned more than once, since the process of their formation is very interesting. Coals, like other main minerals of plant origin, were formed by various plants during their death.

Characterization of the formation of humus coals

A very long time ago, when giant dinosaurs still roamed on Earth, beautiful lush forests grew on vast expanses. The conditions were ideal for their growth and development: there is a lot of organic matter in the soil, and carbon dioxide prevails in the atmosphere. However, these same conditions contributed to the fact that the plants are very rapidly dying. Their parts fell to the ground, where they quickly decomposed, since they were not protected from the oxidative effect of air.

The combination of all these factors led to a very rapid decomposition of cellulose. Giant masses of vegetation turned into a real “cocktail” of humic substances, diluted with insignificant amounts of impurities of resins, waxes and paraffins. However, all this mass was decomposed rather quickly by microorganisms, and therefore there was no particularly rapid accumulation of organic matter at that time. The main mineral reserves appeared somewhat later.

So how was coal formed directly?

By the method described above, the formation of dry peat took place, which even now is enough on the surface of our planet. As a rule, no further metamorphoses occurred with him, since most often he was covered with a layer of sand and earth, reliably preserving the organics from the effects of oxygen and microorganisms. Such a mass was extremely plastic, and therefore no sorting or mixing occurred in the future.

Since there was very little undecomposed organic matter in the thickness of peat, there were no further rotting processes. Thus, the temperature in the thickness of the strata has always remained at the same level.

Pressure and time ...

However, over time, the layers gradually compacted due to caking. Humic acids gradually turned into humites, resins underwent decarboxylation, and only waxes remained unchanged for millennia. This is how the formation of brown humus coals took place. Especially a lot of them in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. These are the most common mineral resources of the region (and an important source of income, of course).

Under the influence of a whole range of environmental factors, their gradual metamorphosis occurred, resulting in stone humus coals. The main role in this process belongs to high pressure and no less high temperature. Under these conditions, humic acids began to decompose rapidly, resins and waxes underwent natural polymerization.

All this led to the synthesis of non-melting, completely insoluble compounds. Thanks to them, this grade of coal has survived to this day. It lies at relatively shallow depths, and therefore, subject to several other physical and chemical properties, it would inevitably be washed out. And what minerals were formed from ancient plants, in addition to the humus coal described above?

On the process of formation of a mixed type of coal

It should be noted that in nature the process of formation of pure humic compounds proceeded extremely rarely. Where more often the mixed process took place. Scientists suggest that he was walking in several directions at once. As a rule, all this happened at the bottom of ancient reservoirs, on the site of which mineral deposits are now located.

Humic substances were gradually brought there with rainwater and slowly, over the centuries, settled at the bottom. Plankton, which actively developed with such an abundance of organic substances, gradually mixed with all this mass. But it could have been completely different.

After powerful hurricanes and torrential rains hit the land, a huge amount of humic substances and various mineral compounds fell into the water bodies. At first, it was heavy minerals that settled on the bottom, and even humic acids acted on them as powerful oxidizing agents. Gradually, all this mass was polymerized. Since there was very little oxygen at the bottom of the reservoirs, the substances eventually came under the influence of the dehydration process. This is how coal of mixed composition was formed.

These minerals of Russia are extremely common in the eastern part of our country.

On the chemical composition of coal

In general, their composition is not very diverse: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur. The difference is only in the mass fraction of all these substances, since it is precisely by their percentage that it is possible to determine with confidence not only the type of fossil vegetable fuel, but even the region of its origin and production. So that you have at least an approximate idea of \u200b\u200bthis issue, we will analyze the composition of the average brown humus coal.

Coal classification

The most typical substances that make up any of its varieties are called coal-forming agents. Here is a complete list of them:

• Oddly enough, squirrels. When coal hydrolysis, scientists noticed that the resulting mixture has a certain amount of amino acids. The presence of these substances in the thickness of the strata of fossil fuels is explained quite simply: these are the simplest preserved in ancient times, as well as the remains of more highly developed organisms. In any case, many mineral deposits often boast a collection worthy of a paleontological museum.
• Of course, cellulose. This complex carbohydrate, which is the main building material of any plant life form, makes up a considerable weight part of both coal and oil shale (we will talk about them below).
• Waxes, which we have repeatedly mentioned. They are esters of some carboxylic acids and aliphatic alcohols.
• Resins This is a very complex mixture of the same carboxylic acids, as well as saponifiable and unsaponifiable substances. Under certain specific conditions, they are readily decarboxylated and rapidly polymerized. They are a kind of “connecting link” for coal, as it fastens its components on the primary compression process.

It is the almost identical composition of all fossil fuels that speaks of their plant and partially animal origin. Advocates of the abiotic appearance of the same oil are not able to find sufficiently convincing arguments with which to refute these evidence. In any case, any map of minerals (organic) will show that their deposits are mainly located on the sites of ancient seas rich in organic matter.

Coal Mining Basics

The characteristics and methods of this process are fully dependent on the depth of the beds. If this does not exceed one hundred meters, then an open, career-oriented way of development is possible. It often happens that as the depth of the cut increases, the mine method becomes economically more appropriate.

In our country, the level of the deepest mine is approximately 1200 meters. Any map of minerals in Russia will show that most of them are in Siberia. This land is deservedly considered a real pantry, the granary of nature.

Other important substances

It should be noted that accumulations of substances of enormous industrial value are often found in coal seams. These include some valuable geological rocks (marble, for example), a huge amount of methane, as well as rare, dispersed chemical elements. For example, some varieties of brown coal contain a lot of germanium, without which the modern electronic industry is unthinkable, since it is on its basis that many types of semiconductors are created.

in modern industry

Long gone are the days when this type of mineral was used exclusively as fuel. As we have already noted, some rare chemical elements are extracted from it, coal serves as a raw material for the production of many types of plastics. Ever since the Second World War, it is known that artificial gasoline can be made from it.

It is these minerals of Russia that in many respects ensured the intensive growth of industry after the revolution. They also allow you to maintain the economy at a stable high level.

Oil shale

It is a solid plant origin from the group of solid caustobiolites. The main feature of the shale, which has provided them with such a high popularity in recent years, is the resin included in their composition. It is obtained by distillation. Its value is that in its physicochemical properties it is very close to oil, but the cost of its production is much lower than the oil field.

Differential composition

The main difference between shale and all the same coal is that it contains more minerals. Its organic part is kerogen. Only in shales of the highest quality does its share reach 70%, while in all other cases the organic content does not exceed 30%. Kerogen is a fossil of the oldest unicellular algae.

The part of them that over the centuries has not lost traces of the cellular structure is thallomoalginite. Accordingly, completely degraded were called colloalginitis. In addition, in shales it is quite often possible to find even parts of higher plants that were on our planet in time immemorial.

Here are some minerals formed from ancient plants. We hope that from this article you have received all the information that interests you.