A naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Usually low levels of trace gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and helium are also present.
Published in Chapter:
World Natural Resources and Their Impact on the Environmental Conditions of Our Planet
Nika Chitadze (International Black Sea University, Georgia)
Copyright: © 2023
|Pages: 37
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-6727-5.ch003
Abstract
Natural resources are components of the natural environment used in the production process to meet the material and cultural needs of society. Natural resources are inherently physical in origin, but in the process of their use, they become economic resources. Natural resources are divided into inexhaustible (agro-climatic, geothermal, hydropower) and exhaustible. In turn, exhaustible resources are divided into non-renewable (mineral) and renewable (land, water, biological, recreational). Based on this classification and development, this textbook distinguishes the following types of natural resources: mineral (minerals), energy, water, biological, land, agro-climatic, and recreational. When considering natural resources, it is important to assess the availability of resources (i.e., the ratio between explored reserves of resources and the volume of their use, also their impact on environmental conditions of the world).