Geography Quiz: Natural Resources and Mineral Resources | 5 July, 2021

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy 

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy 

Haryali is a watershed development project sponsored by the Central Government which aims at enabling the rural population to conserve water for drinking, irrigation, fisheries and afforestation.

The Project is being executed by Gram Panchayats with people’s participation.

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy

About 95 per cent of total reserves of iron ore are located in the States of Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Goa, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

• In Odisha, iron ore occurs in a series of hill ranges in Sundergarh, Mayurbhanj and Jhar.
• The important mines are Gurumahisani, Sulaipet, Badampahar (Mayurbhaj), Kiruburu (Kendujhar) and Bonai (Sundergarh).

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy

Bauxite is the ore, which is used in manufacturing of aluminium.

Bauxite is found mainly in tertiary deposits and is associated with laterite rocks occurring extensively either on the plateau or hill ranges of peninsular India and also in the coastal tracts of the country.

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy

Anthracite is the best quality of coal which carries 80 to 95 per cent carbon content. It ignites slowly with a blue flame. It has the highest calorific value. It is found in small quantity in Jammu and Kashmir.

• Lignite is often brown in colour. It carries 40 to 55 per cent carbon content. It is an intermediate stage which happens during the alteration of woody matter into coal.

• It has high moisture content so it gives smoke when burnt. It is found in Rajasthan, Lakhimpur (Assam), and Tamil Nadu.
• Odisha has the second largest coal reserves in the country and it carries more than 24 per cent of the total coal reserves. It produces about 15 per cent of the total coal production of India.
• Most of the coal deposits of the state are found in Sambalpur, Dhenkanal, and Sundargarh districts.
• Talchar coalfield of Odisha stretch over Dhenkanal and Sambalpur districts covers an area of about 500 sq km.

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy and Indian Express

About 71 per cent of the planetary water is found in the oceans. The remaining is held as freshwater in glaciers and icecaps, groundwater sources, lakes, soil moisture, atmosphere, streams and within life. 

Source: NCERT – XI Fundamentals of Physical Geography 

Hindustan Copper is focusing on re-opening its closed mines and expand existing ones in its quest to increase ore production five times from the current level of 4.1 million tonne (MT) by 2025.

• The Miniratna Company will be reopening the Rakha mine in Jharkhand during this financial year which was closed in 2002 owing to operational reasons. It will also start operations at the Chapri-Sidheswar mines in the same state.
• For the Malanjkhand project in Madhya Pradesh, which holds proven reserves of 245.66 MT and estimated resources of 331.59 MT, the company is expanding the production capacity from the present 2 MT to 8 MT by developing an underground mine below the existing open cast mine at an investment of Rs 2,900crore. It is the copper producer’s largest project.

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy and The Hindu

Sugarcane is a tropical plant and grown as cash crop in the world. Sugarcane is the main source of sugar (80%) globally and holds a prominent position as a cash crop.

• It is one of the main crops of earning foreign exchange. The sugar juice is used for making white sugar, brown sugar (khandsari) and jaggery (gur).

• There are two distinct agro-climatic regions of sugarcane cultivation in India, viz., tropical and subtropical.
• Tropical region has about 45% area and contributes 55% of the total sugarcane production in the country.
• Thus, sub-tropical region accounts for 55% area and shares 45% of total production of sugarcane. The average sugarcane yield in the country is about 69.4 t/ha.
• In world, sugarcane is grown, between the latitude 36.7° N and 31.0° S of the equator extending from tropical to subtropical zones.
• There is no country where sugar is not being used and produced by sugarcane or sugar beet crops only.

• About 80% of sugar is obtained from sugarcane and the remaining 20% is produced through sugar beet. An average person consumes about 24 kg of sugar every year.

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy

The main ore of lead is galena. It is found in the sedimentary rocks of limestone and sandstone. 

• Rajasthan is the richest state in terms of availability and variety of minerals in the country and produces about 57 different minerals.  
• Rajasthan is the sole producer of lead & zinc ores, selenite and wollastonite. 
• The Zawar area (Udaipur) of Rajasthan is famous for the production of Lead. 

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy