Minerals of Ukraine. Maps of mineral resources of Ukraine Features of the relief of Ukraine

Ukraine is a state in Eastern Europe, with a territory of more than 600 thousand km². It is the largest in area among the countries located entirely in Europe. Due to its large territory, Ukraine has different relief in different parts countries, different types soils, and even the climate may have certain differences depending on the part of the country.

Ukraine also has a huge amount of mineral resources - it is included in the list of leading mineral resource countries in the world. It is believed that the country's depths may contain several percent of the world's mineral reserves. Some of the minerals mined on the territory of the state are used for the needs of the country itself, and some are sold to foreign countries.

At the same time, the country lacks some resources, mainly fuel, and they have to be purchased from other states. For example, the main oil reserves in Ukraine were depleted back in the days of its production under the USSR, and the gas produced in the country is only enough to supply its own population - gas for industrial enterprises I already have to buy it.

Features of the relief of Ukraine

Ukraine is a flat country; plains occupy more than 90% of the territory. The main part of Ukrainian lands belongs to the East European Plain. 70% of the Ukrainian territory is lowland, 25% is highland, and only 5% is mountainous.
The highest mountains in the country are the Ukrainian Carpathians, where the highest mountain of the state is located - Hoverla, whose height is just over 2 thousand meters above sea level.

The average height of the plains in the country is 175 meters, and the highest point of the East European Plain is located on the territory of Ukraine - Mount Berda in the Chernivtsi region. Its height is 515 meters above sea level.

Most of Ukraine is made up of lowlands, there are 5 of them in total: Polesie and Dnieper in the north, the Black Sea in the south, Transcarpathian in the west of the country, and Priazov in the east. Almost all lowlands were formed due to the action of icing and flivial (alluvial) processes. In many ways, this explains the wealth and diversity of minerals in the depths of the country.
Also on the territory of the state, in the south, in the Kherson region, there is one of the largest deserts in Europe - Oleshkovsky Sands.

Types of minerals

Mineral resources in Ukraine are represented by the following main types:

• Fuel- oil, natural gas, coal, oil shale, peat.
• Ore- iron, manganese, copper, nickel, aluminum, cobalt.
• Rare metals- titanium, zirconium, germanium, molybdenum, strontium, tin, tungsten, uranium.
• Non-metallic minerals - graphite and mining chemical raw materials.
• Precious and decorative stones.
• Construction and industrial minerals.

Resources and deposits

Many minerals are mined on the territory of Ukraine, so it makes sense to indicate only the main ones:

• Coal. Coal in Ukraine is the most produced fuel resource. It is estimated that its reserves in the ground are about 40 billion tons. Its main quantity is concentrated in the Donetsk and Lviv-Volyn basins.
• Natural gas. The state balance accounts for 289 natural gas fields in the country. It is enough to meet the population's own needs.
• Manganese ore. In terms of manganese ore reserves, Ukraine ranks 1st in Europe and 2nd in the world. The main reserves are concentrated and mined in the Nikopol manganese ore basin and the Veliko-Tokmatskoye deposit.
• Iron ore. Ukraine is one of the world leaders in proven iron ore reserves - more than 20 billion tons. Iron ore is mined in the country open method, mainly in the Krivoy Rog basin and the Kremenchug basin.
• Copper ore. Ukraine has large reserves of native copper - about 20 million tons, they are located within the Volyn-Podolsk plate.
• Mercury. The state territory contains almost 2% of the world's mercury reserves; they are located in Transcarpathia (in hydrothermal volcanogenic deposits) and in the Donetsk region (in epithermal deposits).
• Salt. The country has large reserves of rock salt - in the Donetsk basin, the Dnieper lowland, the Carpathian region and Transcarpathia. Ukrainian salt is used domestically and exported, and it is considered one of the highest quality in the world.
• Graphite. Ukraine ranks 2nd in the world in terms of graphite reserves - more than 1 billion tons. There are approximately 300 deposits in the country, all of them belong to the metamorphogenic type. About 5 of them are being developed, almost all of them are located in the south of the country.
• Peat. Almost 2,500 peat deposits have been found in the state, all of them are located in the north and west of the country. Most peat is mined in Ukrainian Polesie.
• Gold. There are three main gold-bearing provinces in Ukraine: the Carpathian, the Ukrainian Shield and the Donetsk. There are 6 gold mining areas on their territory.

Ukraine is one of the richest states in Europe and the world in terms of the total amount of natural resources.

Ukraine's mineral resources number one hundred and seventeen types and eight thousand deposits. A huge number of workers work in this industry. The map of mineral resources of Ukraine includes almost three thousand deposits with industrial development. More than two thousand mining and processing enterprises successfully operate economic activity on the territory of the state.

Minerals of Ukraine: oil, gas, coal, uranium, iron, aluminum, chromium, nickel, zinc, gold, silver, tin and many others.

The state takes an honorable first place in manganese ore deposits among the CIS countries. Ukraine's mineral resources, such as coal, allow the state to occupy second place in the same list.

The total amount of world mineral resources is about five percent.

Species

• Fuel - oil, gas, coal, shale, peat.
• Ore - iron, manganese, nickel, aluminum.
• Non-metals - graphite, precious stones.
• Rare metals - zirconium, titanium, tin, strontium, molybdenum, tungsten, uranium.

Oil and gas

Oil and gas are the most important mineral resources of Ukraine. It is important for schoolchildren to know the amount of fuel in the country, its quality and the possibility of real use. Deposits are available in all regions of the country. The largest oil and gas regions are:

• Dnieper-Donetsk depression. Currently, the oil and gas region includes Sumy, Poltava, Chernigov and Kharkov regions. Large quantities of associated natural gas. This feature makes it possible to reduce production costs and provide blue fuel to nearby settlements.

• Carpathian region. The first deposits were formed about one hundred and thirty-five million years ago. Industrial mining began at the end of the eighteenth century. Advanced German and Austrian technologies made it possible by the beginning of the twentieth century to extract more than two million tons of oil of the highest quality from the depths. According to some estimates, about five percent of the world's raw materials were mined in the region. Extraction is carried out using drilling rigs.

In the 1950s, scientists discovered new deposits. Mining was very active.

For now most deposits have been depleted. Active production continues mainly in the Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. Research by geologists gives positive results regarding the discovery of new deposits.

The total explored and discovered oil reserves in the fields of Ukraine amounted to almost two hundred million tons. This amount of raw materials can cover the significant needs of the country's population. However, there is not enough of it, and both oil and petroleum products have to be imported from abroad. The main suppliers are Russian Federation, Belarus, Lithuania, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Bulgaria, Turkmenistan.

The total explored and discovered reserves of natural gas in the fields of Ukraine amounted to more than a trillion cubic meters, propane and butane - almost fifty billion.

The main gas fields are concentrated in the Carpathian region - the territory of the Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, as well as in the Poltava and Kharkov regions.

The most famous gas fields: Dashavskoye, Shebelinskoye.

Coal

Ukraine's mineral resources are represented by two types of this fuel: black (stone) and brown. There are more than fifty-four billion tons of coal of the first type in the country. According to this indicator, the state ranks seventh in the world.

The main reserves are concentrated in the Donetsk coal basin. Development has been going on since the end of the eighteenth century. At the moment, the depth of the layers begins at a depth of 1200 meters. This feature makes open pit mining impossible. There are a large number of mines on the territory. Large inclination angles raise the cost of the fossil. At the moment it is on the verge of profitability. Anthracite and

The mineral resources of Ukraine (you will see photos of the main types in the article) are, one might say, inexhaustible.

The Lviv-Volyn coal basin is the second largest mining site in the country. The depth of occurrence of raw materials is up to seven hundred meters. It was discovered relatively recently - industrial development began only in the second half of the last century.

Unfortunately, coal is quite wet and has a high ash content.

Due to the unprofitability of transportation, it is mainly used in the region as household fuel.

Not the only fuel minerals of Ukraine: the table of the country's solid fuel raw materials is also represented by its brown “brother”. Deposits in four regions form the Dnieper lignite region.

Extraction takes place by quarrying. Due to the unprofitability of transportation and increased flowability, it is also used mainly in the region.

Mining in the Carpathian and Transcarpathian regions has currently been stopped.

Manganese, iron and copper ore

Ukraine occupies a leading world position in terms of reserves. The main deposits are Nikopolskoye and Veliko-Tokmatskoye.

Iron ore reserves reach twenty million tons. The occurrence of the layers allows for open-pit mining. The iron content exceeds seventy percent. The main deposits are Krivoy Rog and Kremenchutsk.

Also in the depths of Ukraine there are more than twenty million tons of copper ores. The main deposits are within the Volyn-Podolsk plate.

Mercury

Ukraine has more than two percent of the world's reserves of this natural resource. The main deposits are in Transcarpathia and in the east of the country.

Salt

Huge reserves of white matter are concentrated in the Donetsk basin. Products of the highest quality enjoy constant success abroad.

Export and import

Main exported minerals: salt, potassium (fertilizers), graphite, mercury, building stone(granite, basalt), iron ore (high-quality steel products), salt.

The main import items are oil and natural gas.

Ukraine has a huge amount of rocks and minerals, which have different distributions throughout the territory. Minerals are the most important raw material resource for the industrial industry and other sectors of the economy, and a significant part is also exported. About 800 deposits have been discovered here, where 94 types of minerals are mined.

Fossil fuels

Ukraine has large deposits of oil and natural gas, hard and brown coal, peat and oil shale. Oil and gas production is carried out in the Black Sea-Crimean province, in the Pre-Carpathian region and in the Dnieper-Donetsk region. Despite the significant volumes of data natural resources, the country still does not have enough of them to meet the needs of industry and the population. To increase the amount of oil and gas production, innovative equipment and technologies are required. As for coal, it is currently mined in the Lviv-Volyn basin, in the Dnieper and Donetsk basins.

Ore minerals

Ore minerals are represented by various metals:

• manganese ore (Nikopol basin and Velikotokmak deposit);
• iron (Krivoy Rog and Crimean basins, Belozerskoye and Mariupol deposits);
• nickel ore;
• titanium (Malyshevskoye, Stremigorodskoye, Irshanskoye deposits);
• chromium;
• mercury (Nikitovskoye deposit);
• uranium (Zheltorechenskoe deposit and Kirovograd district);
• gold (Sergeevskoye, Mayskoye, Muzhievskoye, Klintsovskole deposits).

Non-metallic minerals

Non-metallic minerals include deposits of rock salt and kaolin, limestone and refractory clay, as well as sulfur. Deposits of ozokerite and sulfur are located in the Ciscarpathian region. Rock salt is mined in the Solotvinskoye, Artemovskoye and Slavyanskoye deposits, as well as in Lake Sivash. Labradorite and granites are mined mainly in the Zhytomyr region.

Ukraine has a huge amount of valuable resources. The main resources are coal, oil, gas, titanium and manganese ores. Among the precious metals, gold is mined here. In addition, the country has deposits of semi-precious and precious stones, such as rock crystal and amethyst, amber and beryl, jasper, which are mined in Transcarpathia, Crimea, Krivoy Rog and the Azov region. All minerals provide the energy industry, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, the chemical and construction industries with materials and raw materials.