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. 

Photo (calcite) : http://www.rock-site.co.uk/cms.php?id_cms=15

Photo (copper) : http://www.rocksforkids.com/R&M/copper.htm

Hazards, Disasters, Catastrophes, oh my!

Located in the North Atlantic ocean just west of the European continent lies the island of Great Britain. Although the country's history of disasters isn't quite as dramatic as some, Great Britain has still had its share of naturally occurring mishaps over the years, including massive storms, floods and earthquakes.

The natural processes which occur in Britain can be categorized into three groups: Hazards, disasters, and catastrophes. 

A natural hazard can be defined as that which threatens the lives and property of people on a small scale. Natural hazards, such as floods, cyclones and volcanic eruptions only have the potential to become dangerous. When a natural hazard actually causes physical damage to human lives or the environment for a limited amount of time, we call is a natural disaster. When a disaster requires large portions of money and greater amounts of time to heal, we call it a catastrophe.