Page 155 - SST Class 08

Revolution in Europe. This is the most abundant Indonesia, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, India and
source of power. It occurs in layers of varying Myanmar. Recently, mineral oil deposits have
thickness in sedimentary rocks. The four varieties been discovered in the North Sea, which is
of coal are peat, lignite, bituminous and anthra- shared by United Kingdom (UK), Norway,
cite. Coal is widely used to generate thermal Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.
electricity. In India, till independence, mineral oil was drilled

The distribution of the known coal reserves is only in Assam. Now, many new areas in Gujarat,
highly uneven in the world. It occurs mostly in off the Mumbai coast and in the deltas of the
China, USA, Russia, Ukraine, South Africa, Krishna and Godavari rivers have been discov-
India, Australia, Germany, UK and Canada. ered and developed. However, India’s total
China is the largest coal producer in the world. petroleum production is far less than its needs.
The total coal reserves of India are about 16,000 Natural Gas : Natural gas is found with petro-
crore metric tonnes. Out of this total reserve, leum deposits and is released when crude oil is
about 80 per cent is found in the Damodar river brought to the surface. It can be used as a
valley. The main coal mining areas are Jhaia, domestic and industrial fuel. Russia, Norway, UK
Dhanbad, Giridih, Bokaro and Raniganj. New and the Netherlands are the major producers of
coalfields are being developed at Neyveli in natural gas. In India, Jaisalmer, Krishna Godavari
Tamil Nadu, Singareni in Andhra Pradesh, Korba delta, Tripura and some areas off shore in
in Chhattisgarh and Talcher in Orissa. The Mumbai have natural gas resources. Very few
railways and steel industries consume about half countries in the world have sufficient natural gas
of the total production. reserves of their own. The sharp increase in our
Petroleum : Petroleum or mineral oil is derived consumption of fossil fuels has led to their
from materials trapped in the layers of sedimen- depletion at an alarming rate. The toxic pollut-
tary rocks. Important oilfields of the world are ants released from burning these fuels are also a
located along the margins of young fold moun- cause for concern. Unchecked burning of fossil
tains in the coastal areas and in the offshore fuel is like an unchecked dripping tap which will
regions. The distribution of mineral oil is highly eventually run dry. This has led to the tapping of
uneven in the world. various nonconventional sources of energy that
Mineral oil has great importance in the economy. are cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels.
A variety of products, like petrol, diesel, kero- Hydel Power : Hydel power has many advan-
sene, wax, plastics and lubricants are obtained by tages over fossil fuels. Hydroelectricity is pro-
refining crude mineral oil. Other by-products duced by using the force of falling water. The
include raw materials for chemical fertilizers, water can fall naturally or can be made to fall by
synthetic fibers and drugs. Thus, it is called ‘black building dams across river channels. The falling
gold’. water is channelised to enter a turbine and the
About 65 percent of the total reserve of mineral moving blades turn the generator to produce
oil is found around the Persian Gulf. The main electricity. The water coming out of the turbine is
petroleum producing countries are Saudi Arabia, used for irrigation.
Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Many developed countries like USA, Canada,
Qatar and Bahrain. Other petroleum producing Russia, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand and
countries are USA, Russia, Venezuela, China, China have developed hydel power projects.

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