Antarctica is the last frontier before the conquest of the moon and Mars. Will there be mining in Antarctica
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Geography and relief of Antarctica
Remark 1
Antarctica is a continent with extremely low temperatures, lying at the south pole of the globe. The entire territory of the continent is covered with ice (with the exception of small areas in the western part). The total area of the mainland is more than a million square meters. km.
The territory of Antarctica is located in two belts - subantarctic and antarctic, lies on the Antarctic plate. As a result of tectonic faults, a significant part of the territory has been uplifted. Due to the dense ice cover, the surface of the continent is highly dissected.
The continent is washed by the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, the Ross, Amudsen, Bellingshausen and Weddell seas.
The major islands of the continent are Alexander I Land, Clarence and Deception. To the north of the southern border lies the Arctic Peninsula. The major peninsulas of Antarctica include: Hut Point Peninsula, Edward VII Peninsula, Mawson Peninsula.
The Transarctic Mountains divide the territory into West and East Antarctica:
- The western territories are distinguished by a more complex relief; numerous ridges break through the ice crust. The area adjacent to the Pacific Ocean is characterized by the presence of small plains and nunataks - mountain peaks towering above the ice cover.
- In the eastern part, the mountains alternate with deep depressions. The ice sheet hides the Gamburtsev Mountains, which are comparable in size to the Alps.
Remark 2
The cleanest water on the planet is in the Weddell Sea. It allows you to see various representatives of flora and fauna from the surface at a depth of 70 m.
The length of the coastline is 30 thousand km, it is weakly indented. Shores in the form of ice shelves or high ice cliffs. Antarctica has active and dormant volcanoes.
Natural resources
Antarctica has many different natural resources, the most important of which are:
- Mineral resources. Almost all minerals are found in Antarctica. Signs and manifestations of mineral deposits were found in more than 170 places of the territory. There are rich deposits of titanium, iron, manganese, chromium, copper, nickel, platinum and gold, precious stones and gems, coal, mica. The continent has significant oil reserves.
- Water resources. The Antarctic ice contains about 80% of all fresh water in the world, which is a huge reserve. Ice shelves block the way inland. There are mountain and cover glaciers. There are about 140 subglacial lakes under the ice sheet. The largest lake is about. The east has a depth of 1200 m.
- Biological resources. The flora and fauna are poor.
- Recreational resources. As these resources are used geomorphological (Ulvetanna Peak, Vinson Massif, Sidley and Erebus volcanoes), biological (cognitive recreation), water (kayaking, yachting, swimming in lakes, ice diving) and landscape (natural-aquatic and natural-continental) resources , sports recreation (track and field cycling tours and marathons).
Climatic conditions
It is very cold on the mainland, both winter and summer. The average annual temperature is -60 ºС. The absolute minimum was recorded in 1983 and amounted to -89.2 ºС. In winter, the temperature ranges from -60 to -75 ºС, and in summer it rises to -50 ºС. On the coast, the climate is milder, the average temperature ranges from 0 to -20 ºС.
The continent is located inside the Antarctic Circle, so there is a round-the-clock polar night in winter and a polar day in summer.
The mainland is very far from the equator, therefore it receives much less heat than the rest of the Earth's continents.
Antarctica is an icy desert, its surface reflects about 80% of the light into space.
Strong winds blow from high mountain ranges (in some areas up to 320 km / h). The amount of snowfall per year, as a rule, does not exceed 10 cm.
Flora and fauna
There is no vegetation in the Antarctic desert. It is found on the outskirts of the continent, in the Antarctic oases. On an ice-free area, mushrooms, lichens, mosses, and undersized shrubs grow. Most of the algae - about 700 species. Of the flowering plants, only the Antarctic meadow and the whale colobantus. Meadow is a light-loving cereal plant. Small bushes can reach 20 cm. It tolerates frost well, therefore it is used for breeding new frost-resistant varieties of rye and wheat. Colobantus belongs to the carnation family. The height of an adult plant does not exceed five cm, it has a pillow-like shape with small white and pale yellow flowers.
The fauna of Antarctica is represented by mammals, insects, birds, crustaceans and other animals. Animals live only in places where there is vegetation. The waters surrounding the continent are rich in zooplankton. Icefish live in extremely cold water.
Remark 3
One of the largest animals living in Antarctica is the blue whale, attracted there by a large number of shrimp.
The coast is home to leopard seals, seals, elephant seals, minke whales and humpbacks. On the north coast, you can find emperor penguins, Adélie penguins, Sklater penguins. Sometimes black-and-white or sand-colored dolphins, also called sea cows, swim to the shores of the continent. The diet of large animals is based on fish, squid, and krill.
Leopard seals can reach lengths of 3.8 m or more. In autumn, they come close to the shore, where they hunt penguins and young fur seals.
Colonies of penguins and fur seals often drift on ice floes along the coast, and by the beginning of winter they congregate near South Georgia.
Daphnia, crustaceans, roundworms and blue-green algae live in the freshwater lakes of the mainland.
Seagulls, petrels, cormorants nest on the rocks. The mainland is home to skuas and Arctic terns.
The nature of Antarctica is well suited for invertebrate arthropods. It is home to about 70 species of ticks and 4 species of lice. Of the insects, butterflies, beetles and spiders live on the islands. There are fleas, chewing lice, mosquitoes. Only on the mainland do the black-and-charcoal ringing mosquitoes live. Most of the insects and invertebrates were introduced to the continent by birds.
What significance Antarctica has, many do not even imagine. The significance of Antarctica in the life of our planet is very great. Why is it forbidden to extract minerals in Antarctica?
What is the significance of Antarctica?
Antarctica is the absolute potential resource reserve of mankind. And its significance is great enough both for science and in economic terms.
Why is it forbidden to extract minerals in Antarctica? Economic activities can cause snow melting, leading to natural disaster.
Scientific significance of Antarctica
The bowels of the mainland are rich in minerals - iron ore, coal and ore. Scientists also noticed traces of nickel, copper, zinc, lead, rock crystal, molybdenum, graphite and mica. In addition, it is a tremendous repository of fresh water supplies on Earth.
Researchers observe meteorological and climatic processes and have come to the conclusion that the colossal continent on the planet is a colossal climate-forming factor for our planet. Thanks to permafrost, you can find out what our planet was like thousands of years ago, it is enough to study the ice sheet of Antarctica. It literally frozen data on the Earth's climate and the constituent part of the atmosphere. Scientists have proven that on the mainland you can find water that was frozen during the life of Jesus Christ.
Economic significance of Antarctica
Antarctica is widely used in the tourism and fishing industries. Despite the fact that the mainland is rich in coal, it is forbidden to cost mines to extract a natural resource on it. The main sphere of economic activity on the territory of Antarctica is the active use of its biological resources. Here they are engaged in whaling, small-scale seal fishing, fishing, and krill fishing.
... Antarctica- the southernmost continent. It has a unique geographic location: the entire territory, except. The Antarctic Peninsula lies within. Arctic Circle from the nearest mainland -. South. America -. Antarctica is separated by a wide (more than 1000 km) strait. Drake. The shores of the mainland are washed by waters. Quiet ,. Atlantic and. Indian oceans. Off the coast. In Antarctica, they form a series of seas (Weddell, Bellingshausen, Amundsen, Ross) and protrude shallowly into the land. The coastline is almost entirely glacial cliffs.
The peculiar geographical position in the cold high latitudes determines the main features of the nature of the continent. The main feature is the presence of a continuous ice sheet
Research and development
For a long time mankind did not know about existence. Antarctica. In the 17th century, scientists and travelers suggested the existence. The southern land, but it was not possible to find it. Famous navigator. J. Kuuk crossed three times during his round-the-world travel of 1772-1775. It reached the Arctic Circle in 1774, reaching 71 ° 10 "S, but bumping into solid ice, turned. The results of this expedition for some time distracted the attention of researchers from the sixth continent.
At the beginning of the XIX century, the British discovered small islands south of 50 ° S 1819, the first Russian Antarctic expedition was organized with the aim of searching. It was headed by the southern mainland. F. Bellingsgau. Uzen and. MLazarev on the Vostok and MirnyMirniy ships.
Among researchers. Antarctica, first conquered. South Pole, were Norwegian. R. Amundsen (December 14, 1911) and Englishman. R. Scott(January 18, 1912)
For the first half of the XX century. Antarctica has been visited by more than 100 expeditions from different countries. A comprehensive study of the continent began in the second half of the XX in 1955-1958 during the preparation and implementation. International Geophysical Year, large expeditions were organized by a number of countries using modern technology. 1959 was signed by a number of countries. Agreement on. Antarctica. Behind it, it is prohibited to use the continent for military purposes, it is supposed freedom of scientific research and the exchange of scientific information.
Today. Antarctica is a continent of science and international cooperation. There are more than 40 scientific stations and bases belonging to 17 countries that carry out research in. Antarctica, 1994, at the former British and scientific station "Faraday", a group of scientists from Ukraine began to work (today it is the Ukrainian station "Akademik. Vernadsky" y ").
Relief and minerals
... Relief. Antarctica double decker: above - glacial, below - indigenous (earth's crust). The mainland ice sheet was formed over 20 million years ago. Average height of the subglacial surface. Antarctica is 410 m. On the mainland there are mountains and mountains with a maximum height of more than 5000 m and huge (up to 30% of the mainland's area) troughs, lying here and there at 2500 m below sea level. All these relief elements, with a few exceptions, are covered with ice carapace, the average thickness of which is 2200 m, and the maximum thickness is 4000-5000 m. If the ice sheet is taken as the surface of the continent, then. Antarctica is the highest continent. Land (average height - 2040 m). Glacial shell. Antarctica has a domed surface, slightly raised in the center and lowered to the edge of the edges.
At the heart of most. Antarctica lies. Antarctic Precambrian Platform. The Trans-Antarctic Mountains divide the mainland into western and eastern parts. The banks of the western part. Antarctica is very cut, and the ice sheet is less powerful and broken by numerous ridges. In the Pacific part of the continent during the period of alpine mountain building, mountain systems arose - continuation. Andes. South. America -. Antarctic. Andes. They contain the highest part of the mainland - the massif. Vinson (5140 m0 m).
V. East. Antarctica's subglacial relief is predominantly flat. In some places, sections of the bedrock surface lie well below the ocean level. Here the ice sheet reaches its maximum thickness. It drops off to the sea with a steep ledge, forming ice shelves. The largest ice shelf in the world is the glacier. Ross-sa, which is 800 km wide and 1100 km long.
In the depths. Antarctica discovered various minerals: ores of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, coal, diamonds and others. But mining them in the harsh conditions of the mainland is associated with great difficulties.
Climate
... Antarctica is the coldest continent on. Earth... One of the reasons for the severity of the continent's climate is its height. But the primary cause of glaciation is not altitude, but geographical position, which determines a very small angle of incidence of sunlight. In the conditions of the polar night, the continent is strongly cooled. This is especially evident in the interior regions, where, even in summer, the average daily temperatures do not rise above -30 °. C, and in winter they reach -60 ° -70 °. C at Vostok station, the lowest temperature on Earth was recorded (-89.2 ° C). On the mainland coast, temperatures are much higher: in summer - up to 0 ° C, in winter - up to -10-25 ° to -10 .. . -25 ° C.
As a result of strong cooling in the inner part of the continent, a high-pressure area (baric maximum) is formed, from which constant winds blow towards the ocean, especially strong on the coast in a strip 600-800 k wide.
On average, about 200 mm of precipitation falls on the mainland per year, in the central parts, their amount does not exceed several tens of millimeters.
Inland waters
... Antarctica is the region of the greatest glaciation. Of the earth 99% of the mainland is covered with a thick ice sheet (ice volume - 26 million km3). The average thickness of the cover is 1830 m, the maximum is 4776 m. In the Antarctic ice cover 87% of the ice volume is concentrated in the land.
From the inner powerful parts of the dome, the ice spreads to the outskirts, where its thickness
much less. In summer, on the outskirts at temperatures above 0 °. With ice melting occurs, but the land is not freed from the ice cover, since there is a constant influx of ice from the center
There are small ice-free land areas near the coast - Antarctic oases. These are rocky deserts, sometimes with lakes, their origin is not fully understood.
Organic world
Features of the organic world. Antarctica is associated with a harsh climate. This is the Antarctic Desert Zone. The species composition of plants and animals is not rich, but medium. Life is predominantly concentrated in the oases. Antar rktidy. Mosses and lichens grow in these areas of rocky surface and rocks, and microscopic algae and bacteria sometimes live on the surface of snow and ice. Higher plants include some types of low grasses that are found only on the southern end. Antarctic Peninsula and Islands. Antarcticctic.
There are a lot of animals on the coast, whose life is connected with the ocean. Coastal waters are rich in plankton, especially small crustaceans (krill). They feed on fish, cetaceans, pinnipeds, birds. Whales, sperm whales, killer whales live in the anta arctic waters. Seals, leopard seals, and elephant seals are common animals on icebergs, icy shores of the mainland. Antarctica is the penguins - birds that do not drink in summer, but swim well. In summer seagulls, petrels, cormorants, albatrosses, skuas nest on the coastal rocks - the main enemies. Penguins
Insofar as. Antarctica has a special status, but today only huge reserves of fresh water are of economic importance. Antarctic waters are a fishing area for cetaceans, pinnipeds, marine lifeless animals, and fish. However, sea riches. Antarctica is depleted and many species of animals are now protected. Hunting and fishing of sea animals ogen.
In Antarctica there is no permanent indigenous population. International status. Antarctica is such that it does not belong to any state
Antarctica is a continent with extremely low temperatures located in. Almost all of its territory is covered with ice, with the exception of the area in the west. The harsh living conditions attract researchers and tourists every year.
Basic geographic information
The area of the mainland exceeds 14 million km². The territory is located in the subantarctic and antarctic belts. Antarctica covers all longitudes, and cannot have western and eastern extreme points. There is only the northernmost point, Cape Sifre.
The continent is washed by the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Amudsen, Ross, Weddell and Bellingshausen Seas. The Weddell Sea is the cleanest on the planet. Representatives can be seen through it at a depth of up to 70 m.
The coastline is weakly indented, its length exceeds 30 thousand km. The shores are most often high ice cliffs, ice shelves. The Arctic Peninsula is the largest on the mainland. It extends north of the southern border. Other major peninsulas include Hut Point, Mawson Peninsula, and Edward VII Peninsula. Alexander I Land, Deception and Clarence are the large islands of Antarctica.
There is no permanent population on the continent due to the harsh climate. The number of scientists and tourists fluctuates depending on the season. 16 countries of the world are conducting research on the territory of Antarctica. The region is being studied exclusively for peaceful purposes. States are prohibited from declaring part of the land as their territory. The mainland is not divided into time zones and time zones. Scientists are guided by the time of their country.
Relief
Antarctica is located on the plate of the same name. As a result of tectonic faults, most of it has risen. The surface is dismembered due to the dense ice cover. Scientists find it difficult to study the true relief: in some places, the ice thickness reaches several kilometers.
The average height of the continent reaches 2000 m above sea level. The highest section is the Vinson Massif, the highest point of which reaches 4892 m above sea level. Bentley Depression is the lowest point at 2,540 m below sea level. The Transarctic Mountains divided the area into West and East Antarctica. In the western part, it is more difficult, the ridges break through the ice crust. In the east, mountain rises alternate with deep depressions. The Gamburtsev Mountains rest under the ice. The length of the massif is 1300 km, and the highest point is 3390 m. They are comparable in size to the Alps.
Antarctica has both dormant and active volcanoes. Over the past 200 years, two of them have erupted. The active volcano Erebus is located farthest to the south. A lava ejection was recorded in 2011.
Inland waters
Ice shelves block the way inland. Cover and mountain glaciers can be found in Antarctica. Their food is carried out thanks to precipitation. About 2200 km³ are accumulated per year. Ice is consumed due to the breakaway of the banks. 140 lakes have been discovered under the ice. The largest body of water is Lake Vostok, named after the Soviet scientific station. Its depth is 1200 m. Subglacial reservoirs were formed a long time ago: melt water flowed into depressions and was covered with a crust of ice.
There are no constantly flowing rivers. The Onyx River, located in the Wright Oasis, stretches for 30 km. It flows for two months a year, and with the onset of frost it is covered with ice and snow.
Climate
The continent has very cold winters and just as cold summers. The average annual temperature is -60 ° C. Most of the land is located in the Antarctic belt, the Antarctic Peninsula lies in the subantarctic belt. Due to the location inside the Arctic Circle, there is a 24-hour polar night here in winter, and a 24-hour polar day in summer.
The continent is distant from. It receives less heat due to the large tilt of the earth's axis. The ice surface reflects 80% of the light into space. The territory of Antarctica is an icy desert. The amount of snowfall does not exceed ten centimeters per year. Strong winds blow from the high mountain ranges. In some areas, their speed is 320 km / h.
Flora and fauna:
Vegetable world
There is no vegetation in the Antarctic desert; it covers the outskirts of the mainland. On the ice-free land, mosses, lichens and mushrooms grow. Unpretentious undersized bushes are found on the Antarctic Peninsula. There are several dozen species of them. The flowers are poorly colored, because the wind, not insects, is pollinating.
Animal world
The islands are inhabited by beetles, butterflies and spiders. Plovers, skates and several species of ducks nest in South Georgia. Life depends on the seas, the waters of which are rich. Animals are represented by pinnipeds and whales: seals, sea leopards, humpback, blue minke. The northern coast is home to Adélie penguins, emperor penguins and Sklater penguins. Flying birds, cormorants, petrels and seagulls, nest on the rocks.
Minerals
The continent has deposits of coal, copper and iron. According to scientists, the volume of oil exceeds the amount of oil in the Arabian Peninsula. The installation of special equipment and the extraction of minerals will cause irreparable damage. In 1991, a protocol was drawn up prohibiting mining until 2048.
Ecological situation
The main problem in Antarctica is ozone holes. Thinning of the protective layer threatens with an overabundance of ultraviolet radiation. The sun is melting polar ice. Due to global warming, the air is slowly warming up. Animals have to adapt to new conditions of existence.
Antarctica is a huge ice continent, almost twice the size of Australia. This is the only place on Earth, almost untouched by man.
The bulk of the land in Antarctica is covered with ice, which retreat in coastal areas in summer. There is never snow on some mountain peaks. Living organisms have adapted to extremely low temperatures.
Geologists believe that Antarctica has large reserves of coal, iron and copper. However, the Antarctic Treaty prohibits the development of any minerals, but some countries would like to amend it to allow them to mine them.
According to an international agreement, there is no mining on the mainland. This is due to the fact that during the extraction of minerals, huge waste rock heaps or quarries remain in the places of production.
And in Antarctica, such ejections of rock to the surface will cause melting of continental ice, which will inevitably lead to a catastrophe in Antarctica and the entire globe.
If in Antarctica you throw any, even small, object on ice or snow, for example a piece of wood, the ice under it will simply melt before our eyes, and the object will sink deeper. This is due to significant solar radiation, which concentrates heat on the object.
Thus, the extraction of minerals in Antarctica is possible only with the use of new technologies being developed now by some developed countries of the world (Japan, USA).