Magbook ~ Economic Geography 85

— Distribution North-Eastern USA, West Central and Metallic Minerals

South Europe, East Central Asia (China, — Metals are hard substances that conduct heat and electricity and
Manchuria, Japan), isolated patches of Patagonia, have a characteristic luster or shine. Iron ore, bauxite, manganese
Tasmania, Chile and New Zealand.
ore are some examples.
Coniferous Forest Metallic minerals may be of the following
— Climatic Conditions Temperature–14°C —Ferrous Minerals Like iron ore, manganese and chromites contain iron.
Precipitation– 53.3 cm. —Non-Ferrous Mineral That does not contain iron, but may contain some
— Evergreen coniferous forests, conical shaped, slim other metals such as gold, silver, copper or lead.
straight trunks, needle-shaped leaves, little Non-Metallic Minerals
undergrowth. — These minerals do not contain metals. Limestone, mica, salt,
— The trees usually occur in pure stands consisting potash, nitrates, sulphur, asbestos and gypsum are examples of
of one particular species. Pine, fir, spruce and such minerals. The mineral fuels like coal and petroleum are also
larch. non-metallic minerals.
— Distribution Poleward side of 60°N in Eurasia
and North America, at high altitudes in more Important Minerals
temperate latitudes and in Southern Chile. Iron Ore
The iron makes up 5% of the Earth’s crust. All ores are not of
Deforestation —
equal value as their content of metal is varied.
— It is the reckless and large scale felling or cutting The major ores of iron are as follow:
of trees for commercial purpose and other —Magnetite It is the finest iron ore with a very high iron content of upto
purposes. FAO defines deforestation is the change 70%. Some magnetite deposits are called lodestones are actually
of forest with depletion of tree crown cover more natural magnets.
than 90%. —Haematite It is the most important industrial iron ore in terms of
— Desertification, soil erosion, natural disasters, quantity used. It has 50% to 65% iron content.
changes in climatic conditions are consequences —Limonite It is a brown ore with less than 50% iron content. It is also
known as bog iron when occurs in swamps.
of deforestation.
—Siderite This is a carbonate of iron and is found inter-bedded with
— Prevention of human settlement encroaching
sedimetary rocks, especially with carbonaceous rocks where it is
forests, checking expansion of agricultural area, known as black band ironstone. It is a residual ore like limonite. Iron
regulation of damming and mining activities, content is usually between 20% to 30%.
controlling overgrazing, stopping slash and burn
agricultural practices, promoting social forestry, Iron Ore Distribution
agro forestry, better forest management and — In Africa, Liberia, South Africa and Algeria are important iron ore
conservation policies would help in checking producers. In China, there are large iron ore reserves in the
deforestation. Shenyang (Mukden) region of Manchuria. Wuhan and Tai-ye in
the Chang-Jiang valley, Hainan island, Shandong Peninsula etc
Minerals Resources are some other important centres for iron ore.
— Australia is an important producer and exporter of iron ore. Its
— A naturally occurring substance that has a definite
reserves are found in Western Australia. Pilbara region is the
chemical composition is a mineral. Minerals are
largest producer of iron ore in Australia. Other important iron ore
not evenly distributed over Earth’s surface. They
areas are Mount Goldsworthy, Mount Tom Price, Mount Newman,
are concentrated in a particular area or rock
Koolanooka and Koolyanob.
formations. Minerals are formed in different types
of geological environments, under varying
— In South America, Brazil has the largest reserves of it. Carajas in
conditions. They are created by natural processes Para district is the main centre. In North America, USA and
without any human interference. They can be Canada are important iron ore producing countries where lake
identified on the basis of their physical properties superior region (USA) and Canada is the most important
such as colour, density, hardness and chemical region.
property such as solubility. — In Canada, Schefferville, Sept Isles and Wabush city are main
centres of iron ore production.
Types of Minerals — Former USSR has been the largest producer of it. Krivoy Rog,
— There are over 3000 different minerals. On the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly and Kerch Peninsula are centres of high
basis of composition, minerals are classified quality iron ore. Ural region has also large iron ore deposits.
mainly as metallic and non-metallic minerals.
86 Magbook ~ Geography–India and World

Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Tagil and Magnitogorsk are Distribution of Copper

major centres of Ural region. — Chile, Peru, USA, Canada, Zaire and Zambia.
— Europe, Sweden and France are the major iron ore — Exporting countries are Chile, Peru, Zambia and Canada.
producing countries. Kiruna, Gallivare, Dannemora — Importing countries Japan, USA, Germany, UK and Italy.
and Grangesberg of Sweden and Lorraine,
Normandy and the Pyrenees of France are famous Tin
for iron ore. — The principle ore of tin is cassiterite or tins tone (SnO2 ), which
— Scunthorpe, Frodingham in UK, Siegerland in contains as much as 75% of tin. Tin plating consumes about
Germany and Bilbao, Santander and Oviedo in 40% of the world’s tin output. Tin plating is done in South Wales
Spain are other iron ore producing countries. and other industrial regions in the USA, Japan, the USSR and
Australia.
Bauxite
— As much as 80% of the world’s supplies come from alluvial
— The world’s greatest bauxite producers and deposits.
exporters are in the tropical and sub-tropical lands,
— In tin reserves, China has the largest deposits. It is followed by
but aluminium is manufactured in developed
Brazil, Malaysia and Peru. China is the largest producer of tin in
countries where cheap electric energy is abundantly
the world. It is followed by Indonesia, Peru and Bolivia.
available.
Thailand’s tin is mined in the South, in the Kra Peninsula and
— Bauxite occurs quite near the surface and is off-shore islands such as Phuket.
generally mined by highly mechanised open cast
— Malaysia is the major tin producer and exporter. All tin fields are
methods.
in Peninsular Malaysia and the Kinta valley alone accounts for
— Bauxite is the ore of aluminium, which makes up half the annual output. Outside Eastern Asia, Bolivia and Peru
8% of the Earth’s crust. are the major tin producer. Peru is the third largest tin producer
Distribution of Bauxite in the world.
— Australia, Guinea, Jamaica and Brazil have major — In Africa, Nigeria and Zaire are important tin producers. The
reserves of bauxite. Bauchi plateau, Jos and Zaria are tin producing regions of
— In Australia, bauxite is abundantly found in Nigeria. Manono and Maniema are mining centres of Zaire.
Northern-Western Australia and in the Cape York Mica
Peninsula. — This mineral occurs in Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic
— Some bauxite of Australia is used within Australia rocks formed under different geological conditions. Natural
and surplus is exported to Japan. mica forms hexagonal crystals of varying size.
— The USA has bauxite reserves in Arkansas, Alabama — Owing to its excellent dielectric strength, low loss power factor
and Georgia. and insulating properties. Mica is one of the indispensable
— France has large bauxite deposits at Brignoles, minerals used in electrical and electronics industry.
North-East of Toulon. Distribution of Mica
— The Russian bauxite deposits are located in the — USA (North Carolina, New-hemisphere, Ukraine, Russia
Urals.
(Northern Siberia, Murmansk, Muscovite), Brazil (Santa-Lusia,
Copper Juatero and Penkha mines in North-East), Republic of South
— In its original form, it is found in veins of Igneous Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Norway, Canada, Malagasi.
rocks with little (4%) copper content. It is found in — India, Malagasi, Brazil, Tanzania are the exporting countries
sulphide and oxide form (Cuprite, Malachite, while USA, Great Britain, Germany, Poland, France, Belgium,
Chalcocite and Bornite). Russia, China, Japan, Australia are the importing countries.
— Copper is a non-ferrous, soft brown metal. Due to Tungsten
low resistance, high conductivity, ductility and — It is a heavy metal and is used in making steel alloys. Filament
non-corrosive nature, it is now indispensable in
of electric bulbs are made of tungsten.
electrical industry.
— Tungsten is highly resistant to electric shock and has very high
— Copper and tin ore mixed to make bronze and
melting point that enables it to convert electricity into light most
copper and zinc make brass. Copper often occurs
efficiently.
together with other minerals e.g. gold silicon, lead
or zinc. Most copper mines are operated by the
— Wolframite is the chief source of tungsten, mainly occurs in
Open Caste Method. veins in association with tin cassiterites. Scheelite and hubnerite
are the other chief sources of tungsten.
Magbook ~ Economic Geography 87

Producing Areas —Peat (< 38%) It has a high percentage of moisture and volatile matter
and carbon only constitutes about 1/3 rd of its bulk.
— USA, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Rocky mountain
region, Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi, Australia (King Major Mining Centres
Islands), Spain, Portugal, France, Sweden. — USA Appalachian coal region.
— In China, Nanking mountains of South China, — CIS Donetz basin (Ukraine), Kuznetsk basin, Karaganda.
Hunan, Kiangsi Provinces — produce 22% to — China Shansi, Shensi, S Zechwan.
25% of the global output of tungsten. Other — Australia New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria state.
regions are Eastern Siberia, Central Asia, — Germany Ruhr basin and Westphalia.
Kazakhstan and North-Caucasus region. — South Africa Transvaal and Natal states.
Zinc Petroleum
— This comes from two main sources: Zinc blende — It is a natural resource of energy. It is limited and confined to only
(or zinc sulphide) and Calamine. few generations. So, it should be used sustainability.
— It is often found together with lead, silver and — Petroleum is an inflammable mixture of oily hydrocarbons with
some other minerals. Mining is usually done by very complex properties.
Open Cast Methods, the ores being found close to Three grades of crude oil (according to gasoline yields) are as follow:
the surface.
(i) Paraffin Base oil (highest yields)
Distribution of Zinc (ii) Naphthenic Base oil (intermediate yield)
— Besides China, Canada, Russia, Peru, Australia (iiii) Asphalt Base oil (lowest yield)
and USA have been major producing countries. Major Mining Centres
— The most productive zinc mines are the Sullivan — USA Appalachian region, Gulf coast region, California region.
mines of British Columbia in Canada.
— Saudi Arabia Dammam, Ghawar and Dhahran (oil refinery
— The Russian zinc comes mainly from the Central centre at Rasantura).
and Southern Urals. — Kuwait Burghan hill (world’s largest reserve).
— Australia’s main zinc deposits are at Broken hills, — Erstwhile USSR Volga-Ural region, Baku region (Caucasus
Mount Isa and in Tasmania. region).
— In the USA, the leading states for zinc are — Iraq Kirkuk, Mosul, Basra, Tikrit.
Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas. — Iran Lali, Karamshah, Naff Safid, Haft Khel, Gach Saaran (The oil
from these regions are refined at the refinery at Abadan, which is
Energy Resources one of the largest oil refineries in the world).
— Venezuela Lake Maracaibo region, Orinoco basin and A pure
— The pace of industrialisation of contemporary third
basin.
world countries is absolutely reflected in their
pattern of production and consumption of energy. Natural Gas
This is acquired from the same places where mineral oil is found.
Types of Energy Resources —
Apart from this, it is found in independent form as well.
Coal — The largest natural gas reserve in the world is under the
— It is a solid, black mineral made up of carbon, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen in varying — Major Producer Countries Russia, USA, Canada, Norway,
proportions. Turkmenistan, Algeria, Iran, Qatar and Netherlands.
In terms of fixed carbon, coals are classified into
Hydroelectricity
—Anthracite (> 95%) As gas coal, it is used for the
manufacture of city gas with coke as a by-product. Major Producer Regions
—Bituminous (42%-83%) 80% world’s coal output. As — USA Niagara falls, St Anthony falls, the fall-line from
cooking coal, it is used in coke ovens for the Pennsylvania to Alabama in Appalachian mountains, Tennessee
manufacture of metallurgical coke, with gas as a Valley Project, Grand Coolie dam and Bonville dam (on river
by-product. Columbia), Hoover dam (river Colorado) and San Joaquin dam
—Lignite or Brown Coal (38%) About 15% world’s coal (California).
output from lignite. Having low heating capacity, it is — Canada Niagara falls.
sometimes used in steel plant’s.
88 Magbook ~ Geography–India and World

— Africa Akosombo dam on river Volta (Ghana), Sennar — Prices for gas rose significantly, longer lines appeared at the
dam (Sudan), Aswan dam on Nile (Egypt), Kariba dam filling stations and fear of OPEC’s control over the economy
(Zambezi) and Owen falls (Uganda). grew quickly.

Atomic Energy — Gas stations shut down because of shortages. Gas ‘eating’
cars became undesirable. Carpooling and mass transit
— Main sources are uranium and thorium. Canada, USA,
became popular topics.
Zaire and South Africa are the major producers.
— Cheap imported oil was recognised as vulnerable and oil in
Major Mining Centres general, was acknowledged as unrenewable.
— Canada Uranium city near lake Athabaska and port — Market forces as well as government intervention resolved the
Radium near lake Great Bear. crisis.
— USA Colorado plateau. — People began to consider the causes of environmental
— South Africa Wit waters and hills. degradation and not just the effects. Long-term scarcity
— Zaire Katanga plateau. instilled questioning of resource exploitation.
More Awareness and Exploration of
Energy Crisis Alternatives
— US oil consumption was high in the early 1970’s, while — Solar energy (commercial, solar thermal conversion,
US oil production declined. In 1973, 36% of energy photovoltaic cells)
consumption was in foreign oil, while in 1970, it had — Wind power
been 22%. — Tidal power
— Arab-Israeli conflicts had already produced a growing — Ocean thermal conversion
tension between US and Arab countries. Year 1973 — Biomass
brought widespread panic to the nation, with the onset — Geothermal energy
of an international oil embargo. — Conversion of coal into gas
— Middle Eastern countries, brought with long standing — Extraction of oil from tar sands
religious and political conflict, cut off exports of — Efforts at tertiary recovery from oil deposits
petroleum to many Western nations, including the
United States and the Netherlands, in anger over their
involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflicts. The
Industries
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) — All economic activities namely primary, secondary, tertiary
cartel led to rising gas prices in early 1970’s. and quaternary, revolve around obtaining and utilising
resources necessary for survival.
— The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries was
organised in 1960 to enable its member nations to — Among all, these secondary activities add value to natural
formulate a common policy, to set certain trade rules resources by transforming raw materials into valuable
and to establish prices for their tremendous fuel products. These products get their optimum utilisation
supplies. Its members produce more than half the through tertiary and quaternary sector contribution. All these
world’s oil and supply about 80% of the oil imported by activities involves human resource and natural resources in a
non-member nations. processing unit generally called industry.
— OPEC has become one of the most influential groups Classification of Industries
in world politics because of its great supply of oil. Its
— Industries can be classified in many ways: size, nature of
member nations are Algeria, Ecuador, Gabon,
products, raw materials and ownership.
Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, United Arab
Emirates and Venezuela. More than half of its — According to size or capital investment, it may be categorised
members are middle Eastern countries. as cottage or household industry, small scale industry and
large scale industry.
— US policy flaws were recognised as a major cause of
the crisis. The Arab oil embargo alone was not the — According to the size of operation and the nature of products,
cause. industries may be classified as heavy industries such as Iron
and steel and light industries such as electronics.
Effects — On the basis of outputs, industries are classified as basic
— World’s attitude toward the sources of energy changed industries which uses raw natural resources and produce
drastically. Similarly, an incredible anxiety towards the base for other industrial set-up and consumer goods
supply of non-renewable natural resources grew. industries which produce for direct consumption.
Magbook ~ Economic Geography 89

— On the basis of raw materials used for the industry they — The large integrated steel industry is traditionally located
may be classified as agro based, forest, based, mineral close to the sources of raw materials or at places, where
based industries and chemical industries. these could be easily brought e.g. near ports.
— On the basis of ownership, pattern and management Distribution
practices, industries can be classified into government or
— USA Pittsburgh, Great lake region (Chicago-Gary, Erie,
public, private and joint sector.
Cleveland Buffalo and Duluth), Atlantic coast (Sparrows
On the basis of activities, industries generally classified as
Point and Morrisville), Alabama.
follows:
— UK Scunthorpe, Port Talbot, Birmingham and Sheffield.
Primary Industries — Germany Duisburg, Dortmund, Dusseldorf and Essen.
— It is the simplest form of industry which consists of the — France Le Creusot and St Etienne.
first processing of raw materials, e.g. the production of — Russia Moscow, St Petersburg, Lipetsk and Tula.
metal from mineral ores and the processing of agricultural — Ukraine Krivoy Rog, Donetsk.
commodities to form food-stuffs or industrial raw materials. — Japan Nagasaki and Tokyo-Yokohama.
Secondary Industries — China Shanghai, Tienstin, Wuhan.
— Basically, they include all re-processing of partially Cotton Textile Industry
manufactured goods to make more complex products, e.g. — This is most widely spread industry throughout the world.
the use of cloth in clothing, the use of iron parts in the
It is a labour intensive and agro based industry. Cotton
manufacture of machinery.
textile industry has three sub-sectors i.e. handloom,
Tertiary Industries powerloom and mill sectors.
— It consists of service industries such as trade, — Handloom sector is labour intensive, powerloom sector
transportation, commerce, entertainment, personal service, introduces machines and becomes less labour intensive.
tourism, administration and so on. Cotton textile mill sector is highly capital intensive. It
requires good quality cotton as raw material.
Quaternary Industries
Distribution
— These activities involve the collection, production and
dissemination of information or even the production of — UK Scottish lowland, Nottingham, Ireland, Lancashire.
informations. — Germany Great Rhur industrial region, Frankfurt, Munich,
— Quaternary activities centre around research, development Bremen, Chemnitz, Hamburg.
and may be seen as an advanced form of services — France Bedford, Kolman, Nansi.
involving specialised knowledge and technical skills. — Italy Naples, Milan.
— Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Sao-Paulo, Rio-Grande.
Factors Influencing the Location — Japan South Kyushu, Kwanto plain, Nagowa, Kinki plain,
of Industries Northern coast.
— China Shanghai, Manchuria, Tienshan, Beijing Chuang,
—Raw materials —Fuel and power
Nanchang, Lanchow.
—Human resources —Transport
—Markets —Capital — USA New England and adjacent areas, Georgia, Florida,
—Government policies —Industrial inertia Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky.
—Other factors (land, climate, water supply) — CIS Moscow-Tula Ivanova and Oblast alongwith Ukraine,
Caucasus, Kazakh uplands, Crimea, Tashkent, Stalingrad,
Important Industries of the World Kirovagrad and Georgia.
Some of the important industries are mentioned below Woollen Textile Industry
Iron and Steel Industry — It is developed at local and cottage industry level. The
— It is called basic industry because it provides raw material bulk of the wool is produced by a handful of developed
for other industries such as machine tools used for further countries. Raw wool is prepared in temperate and
production. Iron is extracted from iron ore by smelting in a sub-tropical areas.
blast furnace with carbon (coke) and limestone. Distribution
— The molten iron is cooled and moulded to form pig iron, — USA New-England region, Massachusetts and Rhode
which is used for converting into steel by adding
island are the reputed centres, the other centres are
strengthening materials like manganese.
Pennsylvania.
90 Magbook ~ Geography–India and World

— Japan In Japan, major woollen goods producing centres Distribution

are located within Tokyo-Yokohama, Nagoya, Kobe, — USA Petro-chemical Industries in USA mainly located near
Hemaji, Osaka and Nagasaki. the coast as oil is mostly imported from Latin American
— UK In United Kingdom, Yorkshire was the leading centre countries and West Asia. Insider locations are supplied with
of woollen goods production, subsequently new centres pipelines and tankers.
were developed in Midland and Lancashire, later on in — Major Locations Chicago, Toledo, Philadelphia, Delaware
Scottish lowland, South Wales land Ireland. and Los Angeles.
— CIS In CIS, early centres of woollen industries were
— Europe The European petro-chemical complexes are
developed around Volga basin and Moscow.
located mainly near the market.
— Germany Saxony, Westphalia and Great Ruhr.
— Major Locations Coasts of Southern-North sea and English
— Italy Naples and Po river valley.
channel region (Antwerp, Rotter dam and Southampton
— China Shanghai and Canton.
Ruler region in German and Le Havre-Rouen-Marseilles
Paper Industry region in France).
— The round wood and processed wood is converted into — Central Asia Central Asian Republics and Russia.
wood pulp, a principal raw material of paper industry, — West Asia Abadan, Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia and
waste paper and fibres board are also used. These raw Mina-el-Ahmadi in Kuwait.
materials after washing, soaking and processing give rise
— East Asia Beijing in China, Seoul in South Korea. Tokyo,
to paper.
Minato-kee and Chiyoda-Ku in Japan and Taipein in
— The paper mills are confined in United States within the Taiwan.
Northern half of the country. The paper mills are more or
— South-East Asia Bangkok in Thailand, Kuala Lumpur in
less distributed over four principal regions as follow
Malaysia and Indonesian Islands.
(i) The North-Eastern forest regions
(ii) The Great lakes regions Major Industrial Belts
(iii) The Western coastal regions
(iv) The Southern districts — The world’s, major manufacturing regions are found in
— Japan It is a major producer of paper in the world. North America. Europe and East Asia. Other manufacturing
Kwanto plain which includes Tokyo, Kawasaki, centres are also found elsewhere.
Yokohama, Ise bay Nagoya and Kitakyushu region are North America
the leading centres of paper industry. — Manufacturing in North America is concentrated in the
— Canada Due to immense soft wood coniferous forests, North-Eastern quadrant of the United States and in
cheap and available power resources, large and South-Eastern Canada (called the North American
extensive market and water transportation, the paper manufacturing or rust belt).
mills were developed at Quebec, Ontario, British,
— Early settlement gave Eastern cities an advantage to
Columbia.
become the country’s dominant industrial centre. First
— Germany Most of the paper mills are located at Great settled in the 17th and I8th century, it is lined by a
Ruhr-Westphalia region and middle Rhine region. transportation system that includes the St Lawrence river
Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Ludwigshafen etc are and the Great lakes,connected to the East coast and the
the important centres while in Eastern part Leipzig, Atlantic ocean by the Mohawk and Hudson rivers.
Dresden are the minor centres.
— The North-East also had essential raw materials and good
— China In China, small cottage industries also contribute
transportation. The Great lakes and major rivers were
substantial amount of paper. Here, the paper mills are
supplemented in the 1800s by canals, railways and
raw material oriented. Important among these are
highways.
Yangtze lowland, Chekiang-Kiangsu and Tientsin.
— Russia Leningrad, Ivanova, Oblast, Ural, Moscow have
— In modern times, the New England district is developed for
large concentration of paper plants. availability of highly skilled labour from nearby
universities in Boston. Computer manufacturing is now
Petro-Chemicals Industries having greatest concentration in California.
— Alongwith refining of mineral oil, a large number of
Europe
industries based on petroleum have developed around
mineral-oil refineries, these are normally located near the
— Location of manufacturing is in a North-South linear pattern
markets or the ports. Fertilizers, plastic and artificial from Scotland through England, through the mouth of the
fibres such as rayons are some example of such Rhine River valley, through Germany and France, to
industries. Northern Italy.