"And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Smite flat the thick rotundity o' the world!
Crack nature's moulds, an germens spill at once,
That make ingrateful man!"

-King Lear,
Act 2, Scene 3, King Lear
William Shakespeare

Friday, February 13, 2015

Yours, Mines, and Ours

From the jewelry we wear to the salt on our table, we use rocks and minerals in our everyday lives. But where are these resources from? Great Britain happens to be a major contributor to the world's rock and mineral supplies, and has been since around 2,300 BC. In fact, according to George Ryback, author of Eighth Supplementary list of British Isles Minerals (1988) claims that 580 species of minerals have been found in England, and 850 found in the entire British Isles.

 According to the University of Manchester, Great Britain's rocks and minerals are mainly mined within three districts: Cumbria, Caldbeck Falls, and the Pennine Orefield.

In Cumbria, mines calcite and barite, while in Caldbeck Falls, lead, copper and zinc are commonly mined. The Pennine Orefield brings in the fluorite, barium, barytocalcite and alstonite. 



11 comments:

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  4. Kayley, I wanted to add on to my previous post that Great Britain seems to have a large source of minerals. But I think Argentina has more of what is referred to as "precious metals" such as gold and silver.They also have energy minerals such as natural gas, crude petroleum, and uranium.They also have industrial minerals such as cadmium and lithium. In 2010, Argentina was the World's leading producer and third-ranked exporter of biofuels(Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade, and Culture, 2010,p. 42).

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  5. I'd just add that the British Geological Survey is one reference we normally use in geology. It is that good! (http://www.bgs.ac.uk/home.html?src=topNav)

    And of course, after reading Henry's entry, I thought about the Falklands and how the UK and Argentina are engaged in diplomatic war over its oil reserves (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-18425572)..

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    1. Wow! I hadn't thought to add anything about the British Geological survey! I'll definitely check that out and add a link. Thanks!

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  6. Wow, Great Britain certainly beats my country, Costa Rica, in resources! As I had mentioned in my post, I would have thought that Costa Rica would be rich in resources but boy was I wrong. Amazing to think that Earth holds so much for us to use, and how it is all dispersed throughout the world with some places have more than others. I wonder why that is...

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  7. Hi Nick, hopefully once you learn about plate tectonics you'll know why rocks are located in certain places!

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  8. Kayley, great entry, and beautiful blog in general. I will keep coming back to read more about great britain :)

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  9. Thank you for the encouraging comments! This blog is one of the best class projects I've ever done, and I really do enjoy posting!

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