China: minerals and relief

One of the most famous states in the world is China. It is located in Asia, namely in its central and eastern parts. The population is more than 1,000 million people. The capital is Beijing, the official language is Chinese.

China, whose minerals have been extracted for several millennia and are of great importance all over the world, a sufficiently developed state with a well-organized economic sphere. In the people, the Celestial Empire is called a "peace factory", because most of the products that are supplied to many countries come from China.

The power in the country has been in the hands of the Communist Party since 1949. It began to reign immediately after the proclamation of the People's Republic of China. The state is in some world organizations, for example, the UN, WTO, etc.

Nature

Features of the relief of China and minerals, which are extracted here, are due to a rather complex orography. The state is conditionally divided into three parts: the Tibetan Plateau, the Central Asian plains, lowlands in the east of China.

In Tibet are high raised upland plains, various plateaus (mainly in the central region) and several ridges. Here there are mountain systems, namely the Himalayas, Karakorum, Kunlun, Nanshan and Sino-Tibetan mountains.

The relief and mineral resources of China are not developed in the same way. Often there are slopes, rounded peaks, karst forms, and watersheds. Plateaus and ridges are located on the Central Asian plains. Low-lying plains stretch from north to south, seizing the coast of the Yellow Sea.

There are desert areas, semi-desert and steppes. Here, a form of relief such as yardangas is common.

Rich soils are on the plains, which rise at an altitude of 1500 m above the sea. Vegetation here is very rich. Due to the change in the zones in which China is located, beautiful meadows are suddenly replaced by snow deserts, and they, in turn, are replaced by a subtropical forest.

Climate

China, whose minerals are largely dependent on climatic conditions, has a moderate continental climate. In some areas, cold cyclones prevail. The temperature can drop to 25 degrees below zero. In the zone of plains and plateaus, snow does not fall out, the total amount of precipitation a year does not exceed 260 mm.

The East of the Republic of China boasts very pleasant weather conditions. The climate is monsoonal, in some parts of the country with a predominance of temperate and subtropical, in others - a tropical cyclone.

In winter, the maximum temperature is -25 degrees (north) and +10 degrees (south). A large amount of rainfall in some areas is due to the presence of a sufficient number of rivers and waterfalls.

Typhoons, tsunamis, floods - all this is well familiar to the inhabitants of eastern China. These weather phenomena are not uncommon here, and they have not scared local citizens for a long time. In the spring in the country, namely in its deserts, due to certain climatic conditions, huge sandstorms rise, which as a result are transferred to the territory of Japan, South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Geological structure

China itself is on the Chinese platform. Minerals in many ways depend on it. Sedation cover, which was formed due to marine and continental deposits, formed several centuries. Here there are rich deposits of chromium, lead, gold, molybdenum and other minerals. Most of them are located in the mountains and plains.

The geosynclinal complex has already been crushed and broken by thrusts. Here, granites are mined, which were formed quite recently. China (minerals are valued all over the world) is rich in oil, coal, chrome, lead, gold, zinc and nickel. In some depressions there are sources of gas, tin and mercury. Until now, fossils are formed due to the constant seismic activity and volcanism.

Mineral Resources of China

The state has a sufficient number of mineral (namely, fuel and raw materials) substances. The country is the leader in coal mining all over the world. There is also a stone form, but less often. It can be found in the north and north-east.

Since 2007, PRC - the leader in gold production. Two years ago, this volume rose a few times. Because of this , gold mining is flourishing not only on the territory of China itself, but also beyond its borders.

The sphere of shale gas also develops . Now there is a plan for the extraction of more than 6 billion cubic meters of oil shale.

Of all the known types of minerals in China there are more than 150. At the same time, 20 of them attract a lot of attention in the world, since they are quite rare. The main minerals of China, which can not be briefly mentioned, are oil, coal, gas, slate, radioactive elements, uranium and thorium.

Almost one-third of the world's coal reserves are concentrated there. Most of it is in the north of the country, although it is found in other areas. The "house of coal" in China is Shanxi. Here, almost 30 percent of the total amount is extracted. Six more major gas deposits have been discovered recently in the territory of the state. The most important in this respect is the region of the East China Sea.

Since the 1950s, more than 350 zones have been discovered in China, in which gas and oil deposits are located.

Black metals

The main minerals of China are titanium, vanadium, chromium, manganese and iron. Titanium, iron and manganese ore are of great value. In terms of weight, their reserves are estimated at almost 50 billion tons, while manganese stocks are only 400 million tons. Most of the iron is in Liaoning, manganese in Hubei.

Jewelery and rare metals

The group "precious and rare minerals" includes various minerals of the country. China is rich:

• Copper;
• Aluminum;
• Lead;
• Zinc;
• Nickel;
• Cobalt;
• Tungsten;
• Tin;
• Molybdenum;
• Mercury;
• Antimony;
• Bismuth;
• Gold;
• Silver.

In addition to these, several other substances belonging to the platinum group are also found.

China ranks first in the world in the number of deposits of many fossils, including such as tungsten, zinc, tin, antimony, molybdenum, lead, mercury. Copper in large quantities occurs along the shores of the Yangtze, as well as in some provinces (Sichuan, Yunnan).

Rare metals

The People's Republic of China has deposits of eight kinds of fairly rare metals, ten rare earth minerals and eleven simple ones that have dispersed elements. It is interesting that rare mineral resources of China lie in insignificant quantities, while deposits of impure rare-earth metals are the largest in the whole world.

Non-metallic ores

Of the 73 nonmetallic minerals encountered here, nine types of those that are used in metallurgy as raw materials are distinguished. Also 23 types of those that have the same purpose, only in the chemical industry. The most important among them are sulfur, asbestos, phosphorus, gypsum and others. In addition to them, the value is represented by jade, as well as other ornamental and precious stones.