The riches of Crimea are in its people, nature, unique climate and magical seas. The bowels of the peninsula are no less rich. Numerous scientists repeatedly and carefully studied the underground world of Taurida and discovered more and more of its secrets.
Mineralogically, the peninsula is quite rich; more than 200 minerals have been discovered here. In particular, some minerals were found on the territory for the first time in the world, and they received a local name: alushtite, mithridatite.

Kerchenit

To help geologists, there are many scientific works of many recognized scientists about the Crimean minerals. A person has been living on the territory of the peninsula since ancient times, he found practical use for local gems in the Neolithic era. Archaeologists have found amulets made of chalcedony and carnelian in the burials of that period. Over time, the technique of processing gems improved, the craft of jewelers improved. They process local raw materials: jasper, agate, carnelian, petrified wood, opal.

Produced items are quickly bought up not only by the Crimeans, but also by the guests of the peninsula. With the development of the tourism sector of the Crimea, the demand for products with local semi-precious stones is increasing.

In 1823-1825, one of the first explorations of the fossil wealth of Taurida was carried out. The attention of mine surveyor Kozin was attracted by the abundance of chalcedony on Mount Karadag. Stones from the ancient Karadag volcano were widely used by the Peterhof cutting factory. They made mosaics and jewelry. Its own Crimean factory for the processing of ornamental stones appeared only at the end of the 19th century in Simferopol.

Today, Crimean raw materials are used in jewelry and souvenir products: chalcedony, agate, opal, jet, carnelian, heliotrope, amethyst, jasper, petrified wood, marble-like limestone, a number of rocks.

1. Brief description of the natural resources of Crimea

The economic development of any territory is largely based on its resources. Resources are understood as the sources of obtaining the material and spiritual benefits necessary for people, which can be realized with existing technologies and socio-economic relations.

Types of resources, their qualitative and quantitative characteristics, as well as methods of production and development of productive forces affect the type of management.

Usually, resources are material, labor, intellectual, financial, natural, informational, etc.

Natural resources include mineral and raw materials, fuel and energy, land, climatic, water, biological (faunistic and floristic), etc. The presence of such resources not only determines the type of management in a particular region, but also affects the choice of architectural and planning solutions, sometimes even on the way of life of the population living there.

It was the limited nature of traditional mineral resources (along with other socio-economic and political aspects) that kept Crimea from over-industrialization for a long time. Now more and more comes the realization that the true wealth of the peninsula is its land, climatic, recreational resources.

In terms of natural resource potential, in terms of its size per unit area and per capita, Crimea is approximately fourth among the regions of Ukraine. Share (%) of certain types of resources in the total natural resource potential:

land - 39;

recreational - 30;

water - 19;

minerals -- 10 .

Land resources are used mainly for food production. In Crimea, agricultural land covers an area of ​​about 1800 thousand hectares, or almost 70% of the total land area (including arable land, perennial plantations, pastures). The remaining lands are occupied by forests, shrubs, water bodies, ravines, sands, or are disturbed.

The productivity of agricultural land depends primarily on the natural fertility of soils, which is determined by the reserves in them. nutrients, heat and moisture. Among the variety of soil types of the peninsula, southern chernozems, meadow-chernozem and brown soils are considered the best in this indicator, which are suitable for all cultivated crops.

It is these lands that are almost all plowed up and give high yields. In some central and western regions of the Crimean plains, the share of plowed lands is very high - 80 - 85% of the area of ​​all lands. High land development leads to the development of many negative processes: water and wind erosion, waterlogging and salinization of soils in irrigation areas.

Despite the fact that annually inconvenient lands are involved in agricultural production (stony places, salt licks, solonchaks, with thin shrubby soils, etc.), on the whole, the area of ​​agricultural lands is decreasing due to their withdrawal for industrial facilities, the expansion of settlements, the construction of dachas, roads, canals, etc.

To preserve the high quality of the land resources of the peninsula, it is necessary to carry out such reclamation work that would not allow a decrease in the humus content in soils and prevent the development of harmful processes.

The climatic resources of the peninsula are generally conducive to development Agriculture, are successfully used for climatotherapy at resorts.

The yield of agricultural crops largely depends on such climatic characteristics as heat and moisture supply during the growing season.

The need for heat, which the plant receives during the growing season, is usually characterized by the sum of average daily air temperatures above + I0 `С. This indicator (`С) in the steppe part of the peninsula is 3300--3600, in the mountains - 1500--2700, on south coast-- 3700--4100. There are almost no spring and autumn frosts dangerous for plants on the South Coast. This allows cultivating many heat-loving crops in the Crimea: fruit, essential oil, vegetables, rice, grapes, tobacco, corn, sunflower.

Unfortunately, the amount of precipitation falling during the growing season is not large, but even these small amounts are very variable from year to year. Receiving a lot of heat, the peninsula has suffered from droughts for centuries.

The aridity of the climate makes it very economical and efficient to use water resources and irrigate the land.

The water resources of the peninsula are limited and in many ways hinder the development of the Crimea, and that is why they require especially careful and competent treatment.

A significant part of the water - 2400 million m? - comes through the North Crimean Canal and 500 million m3? give local rivers and underground reserves.

Currently, fresh water consumption in Crimea is approximately 3,000 million m3/year, including:

* in communal services and household needs - 190;

* in agriculture - 2500;

* in industry - 250.

In the 60s of the twentieth century. a 7-kilometer tunnel was built through the Main mountain range, through which up to 100 thousand m? water per day.

The shortage of water now, after the commissioning of the North Crimean Canal, is largely artificial, as it is caused by its uneconomical and inefficient use, especially when irrigating lands. The experience of countries with a shortage of water resources (Cyprus, Malta, Israel, Greece) shows that with a reasonable use of them, you can do without obtaining additional water.

The recreational resources on which the organization of tourism, recreation and treatment is based are very diverse, as are the recreational activities themselves.

The healing muds of Saki Lake have been known since ancient times. At the beginning of the nineteenth century. The first mud baths in Russia were built in Saki. Resources therapeutic mud in the Crimea are huge, since most of the lakes are sea estuaries, cut off from the sea by sandy embankments. In shallow, well-heated reservoirs with very salty water (brine), conditions are created for the formation of sulfide silt mud. So far, mud from the Saki and Chokrak lakes is mainly used, and mud from mud volcanoes (mud volcanoes on the Kerch Peninsula) is used. In the future, the development of therapeutic mud can be significantly expanded (their reserves are 22.4 million m3).

Mineral water resources, or balneological resources (lat. balneum - bath), are also significant, as they are represented by more than 200 sources and wells with carbon dioxide, sulfide, iodine-bromine and other types of water (with total reserves of up to 14 thousand m? / day .). They are in Feodosia, on the Kerch Peninsula, in the Saki-Evpatoria resort area, in the mountainous Crimea near the village of Kuibyshevo (the famous Black Waters, or Ajisu).

Recreational climatic resources are, first of all, comfortable weather conditions for almost a whole year, long duration sunshine (2180-2470 h / year) and an abundance of ultraviolet radiation, clean mountain (or steppe) air, saturated with phytoncides and sea salts. Thanks to this, helio- and aerotherapy (treatment with the sun and air) is successfully carried out at the resorts.

Recreational tourist resources include interesting natural objects (rocks, waterfalls, caves), various historical, archaeological and other monuments, which are countless in Crimea.

Mineral resources of the peninsula are diverse, but practically they have never formed the basis of the Crimean economy. True, there was a time when the Chumaks exported salt from here (back in the 80s of the 19th century, Crimea provided 40% of all salt produced in Russia). In the post-war years, building Inkerman stone was transported far throughout the country. Kerch iron ore and flux limestones of Balaklava and Stary Krym were used at the metallurgical plants of the Azov region.

The salt mines of the peninsula lost their significance and practically ceased to exist. The simplest devices for evaporating salt, scattered in the shallow waters of the Sivash and in a number of other lakes, are already surprising people entering the peninsula. Salt mining was preserved only near Evpatoria, on Lake Sasyk.

The iron ores of the Kerch Peninsula were mined open way(at the Kamtsh-Burunsky quarry, closed in 1992). Fluxed limestone (used as an additive for blast-furnace smelting of cast iron) is obtained by an open method in the quarries of Balaklava, on Mount Agarmish (near Stary Krym).

In addition to these mining developments, in recent decades, many quarries have emerged for the extraction of building stone, wall blocks, crushed stone, and facing material. They are scattered throughout the peninsula: in the vicinity of Sevastopol (Inkerman), in the Bakhchisarai region (Rocky), in the flat Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula, in the mountainous Crimea (Marble and Sharkha), in the foothills (Lozovoe, Petropavlovka, Trudolyubovka). In the vicinity of Bakhchisarai, marls are being developed to produce cement.

Fuel and energy resources. At the end of the twentieth century. the main vital problem of many countries has become their energy supply. It also touched the Crimean peninsula, where there were no fuel and energy resources (the only small Beshui coal deposit was developed for some time in the mountainous Crimea).

The lack of fuel and energy resources on the peninsula was felt even when it was provided with energy through a single energy system from the mainland. That's why we started building nuclear power plant. On the steppe plain of the Kerch Peninsula, not far from Cape Kazantip, the city of the builders of the Crimean nuclear power plant - Shchelkino (named after the famous physicist K.I. Shchelkin) arose.

The Chernobyl disaster, the fear of a possible accident and its environmental consequences, new geophysicists' data on fault tectonics in the area of ​​the nuclear power plant under construction decided its fate - it was closed.

Successfully carried out in the 60-70s of the twentieth century. oil and gas exploration. The development of gas fields began on the Tarkhankut Peninsula, the Arabat Spit, in the Dzhankoy region, as well as on the shelf of the Black and Azov Seas (Fig. 39). The largest Golitsynskoye natural gas field is located in the Karkinitsky Bay. Most of the explored areas on the Black Sea shelf lie under a water layer of 70 m or more. The peninsula's own resources provide about half of all gas needs.

Increasingly, the question of the use of non-traditional energy resources is being raised - solar, wind, hydrothermal energy. In 1986, an experimental solar power plant (SES-5) was built near the village of Shchelkino. Its power is small - only 5 thousand kW (for comparison: the power of the Simferopol CHPP is 250 thousand kW). Several wind farms are already operating in the flat part of the peninsula. Promising in this regard are the Ai-Petri plateau, Karabi, the Arabat arrow, and the region of Lake Donuzlav. Obviously, the time has come for Crimea to follow the saying “Less raw materials - more intelligence”.

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Introduction

Crimea is a peninsula, which, due to its geographical location and orography, the predominance of unique recreational and balneological resources, its climatic conditions, natural environment, a number of reserves, wildlife sanctuaries, parks, forests and other areas occupied by green spaces, the coastal strip is a unique place for development of tourism, resort and sanatorium treatment and recreation.

However, in recent years, the natural and ecological potential of Crimea has sharply decreased. Poorly managed development of the region, which has a unique climate and landscapes with a rich history, opportunities for organizing year-round recreation and growing original agricultural crops, has led to environmental pollution, a reduction in resource potential, and a gradual loss of the main values ​​of Crimea. All existing anti-crisis programs for Crimea consider social, economic, energy, transport and other problems in isolation from environmental factors. At the same time, in the world practice today, the development of strategies and programs for sustainable development has been widely developed. These are the most advanced programs in which all policies in the social, economic, environmental and other spheres are combined into a single whole.

The emerging loss of the historical significance of Crimea as a recreational-agricultural-reserved region and its transformation into an ordinary agricultural-industrial region with a host of environmental problems require a reasonable and rational approach in the system of optimizing nature management with the aim of further optimal development from both socio-economic and environmental points of view.

Brief description of the natural resources of Crimea

The economic development of any territory is largely based on its resources. Resources are understood as the sources of obtaining the material and spiritual benefits necessary for people, which can be realized with existing technologies and socio-economic relations.

Types of resources, their qualitative and quantitative characteristics, as well as methods of production and development of productive forces affect the type of management.

Usually, resources are material, labor, intellectual, financial, natural, informational, etc.

Natural resources include mineral and raw materials, fuel and energy, land, climatic, water, biological (faunistic and floristic), etc. The presence of such resources not only determines the type of management in a particular region, but also affects the choice of architectural and planning solutions, sometimes even on the way of life of the population living there.

It was the limited nature of traditional mineral resources (along with other socio-economic and political aspects) that kept Crimea from over-industrialization for a long time. Now more and more comes the realization that the true wealth of the peninsula is its land, climatic, recreational resources.

In terms of natural resource potential, in terms of its size per unit area and per capita, Crimea is approximately fourth among the regions of Ukraine. Share (%) of certain types of resources in the total natural resource potential:

land - 39;

recreational - 30;

water - 19;

minerals -- 10 .

Land resources are used mainly for food production. In Crimea, agricultural land covers an area of ​​about 1800 thousand hectares, or almost 70% of the total land area (including arable land, perennial plantations, pastures). The remaining lands are occupied by forests, shrubs, water bodies, ravines, sands, or are disturbed.

The productivity of agricultural lands depends primarily on the natural fertility of soils, which is determined by the reserves of nutrients, heat and moisture in them. Among the variety of soil types of the peninsula, southern chernozems, meadow-chernozem and brown soils are considered the best in this indicator, which are suitable for all cultivated crops.

It is these lands that are almost all plowed up and give high yields. In some central and western regions of the Crimean plains, the share of plowed lands is very high - 80 - 85% of the area of ​​all lands. High land development leads to the development of many negative processes: water and wind erosion, waterlogging and salinization of soils in irrigation areas.

Despite the fact that annually inconvenient lands are involved in agricultural production (stony places, salt licks, solonchaks, with thin shrubby soils, etc.), on the whole, the area of ​​agricultural lands is decreasing due to their withdrawal for industrial facilities, the expansion of settlements, the construction of dachas, roads, canals, etc.

To preserve the high quality of the land resources of the peninsula, it is necessary to carry out such reclamation work that would not allow a decrease in the humus content in soils and prevent the development of harmful processes.

Climate resources The peninsulas as a whole favor the development of agriculture and are successfully used for climate treatment in resorts.

The yield of agricultural crops largely depends on such climatic characteristics as heat and moisture supply during the growing season.

The need for heat that a plant receives during the growing season is usually characterized by the sum of average daily air temperatures above +I0 `С. This indicator (`С) in the steppe part of the peninsula is 3300-3600, in the mountains - 1500-2700, on the southern coast - 3700-4100. There are almost no spring and autumn frosts dangerous for plants on the South Coast. This allows cultivating many heat-loving crops in the Crimea: fruit, essential oil, vegetables, rice, grapes, tobacco, corn, sunflower.

Unfortunately, the amount of precipitation falling during the growing season is not large, but even these small amounts are very variable from year to year. Receiving a lot of heat, the peninsula has suffered from droughts for centuries.

The aridity of the climate makes it very economical and efficient to use water resources and irrigate the land.

Water resources The peninsulas are limited and in many ways hinder the development of the Crimea, and that is why they require especially careful and competent attitude towards themselves.

A significant part of the water - 2400 million m? - comes through the North Crimean Canal and 500 million m3? give local rivers and underground reserves.

Currently, fresh water consumption in the Crimea is approximately 3,000 million m "/year, including:

* in communal services and household needs - 190;

* in agriculture - 2500;

* in industry - 250.

In the 60s of the twentieth century. a 7-kilometer tunnel was built through the Main mountain range, through which up to 100 thousand m? water per day.

The shortage of water now, after the commissioning of the North Crimean Canal, is largely artificial, as it is caused by its uneconomical and inefficient use, especially when irrigating lands. The experience of countries with a shortage of water resources (Cyprus, Malta, Israel, Greece) shows that with a reasonable use of them, you can do without obtaining additional water.

Recreational resources, on which the organization of tourism, recreation and treatment is based, are very diverse, as are the recreational activities themselves.

The healing muds of Saki Lake have been known since ancient times. At the beginning of the nineteenth century. The first mud baths in Russia were built in Saki. The resources of therapeutic mud in the Crimea are enormous, since most of the lakes are sea estuaries, cut off from the sea by sandy embankments. In shallow, well-heated reservoirs with very salty water (brine), conditions are created for the formation of sulfide silt mud. So far, mud from the Saki and Chokrak lakes is mainly used, and mud from mud volcanoes (mud volcanoes on the Kerch Peninsula) is used. In the future, the development of therapeutic mud can be significantly expanded (their reserves are 22.4 million m3).

Mineral water resources, or balneological resources (lat. balneum - bath), are also significant, as they are represented by more than 200 sources and wells with carbon dioxide, sulfide, iodine-bromine and other types of water (with total reserves of up to 14 thousand m? / day .). They are in Feodosia, on the Kerch Peninsula, in the Saki-Evpatoria resort area, in the mountainous Crimea near the village of Kuibyshevo (the famous Black Waters, or Ajisu).

Recreational climatic resources are, first of all, comfortable weather conditions for almost a whole year, a long duration of sunshine (2180-2470 hours / year) and an abundance of ultraviolet radiation, clean mountain (or steppe) air, saturated with phytoncides and sea salts . Thanks to this, helio- and aerotherapy (treatment with the sun and air) is successfully carried out at the resorts.

Recreational tourist resources include interesting natural objects (rocks, waterfalls, caves), various historical, archaeological and other monuments, which are countless in Crimea.

Mineral resources The peninsulas are diverse, but practically they have never formed the basis of the Crimean economy. True, there was a time when the Chumaks exported salt from here (back in the 80s of the 19th century, Crimea provided 40% of all salt produced in Russia). In the post-war years, building Inkerman stone was transported far throughout the country. Kerch iron ore and flux limestones of Balaklava and Stary Krym were used at the metallurgical plants of the Azov region.

The salt mines of the peninsula lost their significance and practically ceased to exist. The simplest devices for evaporating salt, scattered in the shallow waters of the Sivash and in a number of other lakes, are already surprising people entering the peninsula. Salt mining was preserved only near Evpatoria, on Lake Sasyk.

The iron ores of the Kerch Peninsula were mined in an open pit (at the Kamtsh-Burun quarry, which was closed in 1992). Fluxed limestone (used as an additive for blast-furnace smelting of cast iron) is obtained by an open method in the quarries of Balaklava, on Mount Agarmish (near Stary Krym).

In addition to these mining developments, in recent decades, many quarries have emerged for the extraction of building stone, wall blocks, crushed stone, and facing material. They are scattered throughout the peninsula: in the vicinity of Sevastopol (Inkerman), in the Bakhchisarai region (Rocky), in the flat Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula, in the mountainous Crimea (Marble and Sharkha), in the foothills (Lozovoe, Petropavlovka, Trudolyubovka). In the vicinity of Bakhchisarai, marls are being developed to produce cement.

Fuel and energy resources. At the end of the twentieth century. the main vital problem of many countries has become their energy supply. It also touched the Crimean peninsula, where there were no fuel and energy resources (the only small Beshui coal deposit was developed for some time in the mountainous Crimea).

The lack of fuel and energy resources on the peninsula was felt even when it was provided with energy through a single energy system from the mainland. That is why they started building a nuclear power plant. On the steppe plain of the Kerch Peninsula, not far from Cape Kazantip, the city of the builders of the Crimean nuclear power plant - Shchelkino (named after the famous physicist K.I. Shchelkin) arose.

The Chernobyl disaster, the fear of a possible accident and its environmental consequences, new geophysicists' data on fault tectonics in the area of ​​the nuclear power plant under construction decided its fate - it was closed.

Successfully carried out in the 60-70s of the twentieth century. oil and gas exploration. The development of gas fields began on the Tarkhankut Peninsula, the Arabat Spit, in the Dzhankoy region, as well as on the shelf of the Black and Azov Seas (Fig. 39). The largest Golitsynskoye natural gas field is located in the Karkinitsky Bay. Most of the explored areas on the Black Sea shelf lie under a water layer of 70 m or more. The peninsula's own resources provide about half of all gas needs.

Increasingly, the question of the use of non-traditional energy resources is being raised - solar, wind, hydrothermal energy. In 1986, an experimental solar power plant (SES-5) was built near the village of Shchelkino. Its power is small - only 5 thousand kW (for comparison: the power of the Simferopol CHPP is 250 thousand kW). Several wind farms are already operating in the flat part of the peninsula. Promising in this regard are the Ai-Petri plateau, Karabi, the Arabat arrow, and the region of Lake Donuzlav. Obviously, the time has come for Crimea to follow the saying “Less raw materials - more intelligence”.

Mineral resources of the Crimea are closely connected with the history of its geological development, and distribution - with its structure.

At present, minerals available in the Crimea are usually divided into three main groups: metal (ore), which is used for smelting metals; non-metallic (non-metallic), often used in raw form (building stones, clays, sands, salts, etc.); combustible (oil, natural gases, coal).

The bowels of the Crimean peninsula contain industrial deposits of many minerals, but the most great importance have iron ores, deposits of building and fluxing limestones, salt resources of the Sivash and lakes, as well as gas deposits in the flat Crimea and in the Karkinit Bay.

Fossil ores of Crimea

The iron ores of the Kerch iron ore basin, which is part of the vast Azov-Black Sea iron ore province, were formed in the second half of the Neogene period, in the so-called Cimmerian age, which began about 5 million years ago and lasted at least 1.5-2 million years. On the modern territory of ore deposits, there was then a shallow Cimmerian sea, or rather, the delta region of the paleo-Kuban, paleo-Don, paleo-Milk and other rivers. The rivers brought here a large amount of dissolved iron, which they extracted (leached) from the rocks of the catchment area. At the same time, the rivers brought a mass of sand and clay particles into the basin in a suspended state. Due to the change in the reaction of the medium, iron formed here compounds that enveloped the grains of sand in suspension. Thus, concentric-shellish glandular formations of a round or ellipsoidal shape, called oolites, were formed. The diameter of oolites (beans) ranges from fractions of a millimeter to 4-5 mm or more. They, fastened with sandy-clay cement, form ore deposits.

In the post-Cimmerian time, ore deposits were subjected to strong erosion. They were preserved only in deep synclinal folds (troughs), as they were covered by later sandy-argillaceous rocks. Nine such large iron ore troughs are known on the Kerch Peninsula. Due to the different speeds of neotectonic movements, ore deposits are now at unequal depths: in some places they come to the surface, in some places they occur at a depth of 30-70 m, and in the area of ​​Lake Aktash they are found at a depth of 250 m.

The average thickness of the ore layers is 9-12 m, the maximum is 27.4 m, and the iron content in ores ranges from 33 to 40%. In general, the iron content of the ores is poor, but their shallow occurrence, which allows open-cast mining (quarries), high (1-2%) manganese content to a large extent compensates for this disadvantage.

The chemical composition of the Kerch ores is quite varied. In addition to iron and manganese, they contain vanadium, phosphorus, sulfur, calcium, arsenic and a number of other elements. In the process of metallurgical processing, vanadium, which is rare in nature, can be extracted from ores. Its addition gives the steel high strength and toughness, which is so necessary for the manufacture of especially critical machine parts. Phosphorus, the content of which in the ore is up to 1%, makes the metal brittle, therefore, when melting steel, they achieve its complete transfer to slag. Phosphorous slags are used for the manufacture of fertilizers, which successfully replace superphosphate. Sulfur (0.15%) and arsenic (0.11%) are among the harmful impurities in the Kerch ores, but their small amount does not significantly affect the quality of the metal. Due to a number of differences, three main types are distinguished among the Kerch iron ores: tobacco, brown and caviar ores.

Tobacco ores, so named because of their dark green color, are durable and lie quite deep. They account for 70% of explored reserves. Brown ores lie on tobacco and formed from them as a result of their weathering. In appearance, they resemble brownish-brown clay. Caviar ores, resembling granular caviar in structure, contain quite a lot (sometimes up to 4-6%) of manganese oxides, which give the ore a black and brownish-black color. These ores are classified as manganese-ferrous.

Ores (brown and caviar) are mined at the Kamysh-Burun and Eltigen-Ortel deposits. At the Kamysh-Burun plant, ore is enriched by washing (up to 48.5%). At the sinter plant, the concentrate is mixed with coke and ground flux limestone and sintered into sinter in special furnaces. Due to the burnout of a number of impurities, the iron content in the sinter increases to 51-52%. In terms of explored ore reserves, the Kerch deposits occupy a significant place in the iron ore industry.

Limestones in Crimea

Of the non-metallic minerals, various types of limestone are of great economic importance in the Crimea, which are used as natural building materials, fluxes, and chemical raw materials. About 24% of Ukraine's construction limestone reserves are concentrated in the Crimea. They are developed in over a hundred quarries, the total area of ​​which is 13 thousand hectares (0.5% of the peninsula area). Among building limestones, according to physical and technical properties, the following varieties are primarily distinguished.

Marble limestones are used in road construction as a concrete aggregate. Polished slabs of them are used for interior decoration of buildings, and multi-colored crumbs are used for mosaic products. Limestones often have a delicate reddish or cream color with a beautiful pattern along the fissures of white calcite. The original contours of shells of mollusks and corals give them a special flavor. Of all the varieties of Crimean limestones, they are chemically the most pure.

Marble-like Upper Jurassic limestones stretch in a discontinuous strip from Balaklava to Feodosia, forming the upper horizons of the Main Range of the Crimean Mountains. They are mined at Balaklava, pos. Gaspry, p. Marble, as well as on Mount Agarmysh (near Stary Krym). Their extraction in resort areas violates the soil and water protection, sanitary and hygienic and aesthetic properties of local landscapes.

Bryozoan limestones consist of skeletons of the smallest colonial marine organisms - bryozoans that lived here at the very end of the Cretaceous period. These limestones are known in Crimea under the name of Inkerman or Bodrak stone. They are easily sawn, and in terms of strength they are close to red brick. They are used for the manufacture of wall blocks, facing slabs, architectural details. Most of the houses in Sevastopol, many buildings in Simferopol and in other settlements of the Crimea and beyond were built from them.

Deposits of bryozoan limestones are concentrated in the Inner ridge of the foothills in the area from the city of Belokamensk to the river. Alma.

Nummulitic limestones consist of the shells of the simplest organisms (in Greek "nummulus" - a coin) that lived in the sea in the Eocene epoch of the Paleogene period. Limestones are used as wall and rubble stone, as well as for burning lime. They form the crest of the Inner Ridge of the Crimean Mountains almost along its entire length. They are mined mainly in the area of ​​Simferopol and Belogorsk.

Shell limestones consist of cemented whole and crushed shells of mollusks. They were formed in the coastal zones of the Sarmatian, Meotian and Pontic seas that existed on the site of the foothill and plain Crimea in the Neogene period. These are light, spongy (porosity up to 50%) rocks, suitable for obtaining small wall blocks. Yellow pontic shells are mined in the area of ​​Evpatoria, pos. Oktyabrsky and in many other places of the flat Crimea. At the same time, the used land resources, unfortunately, are not always rationally spent and optimally recultivated.

When limestone is mined, a lot of chips (sawdust) are formed, which are now often successfully used as fillers in high-strength reinforced concrete structures.

Flux limestones are used in ferrous metallurgy. They must be of high quality, contain at least 50% calcium oxide, and insoluble (in hydrochloric acid) residue - no more than 4%. The content of at least a small (3-4%) amount of magnesium oxide is important. These requirements on the peninsula are best met by marble-like limestones from deposits in the vicinity of Balaklava and Mount Agarmysh.

The complex chemical use of the salt resources of the Sivash and lakes required a sharp increase in the production of lime. For these purposes, the most suitable open in the area of ​​​​the village. Pervomaisky deposit of dolomitic limestones and dolomites - a mineral consisting of calcium and magnesium carbonates.

The demand for the extraction of limestone is great, and therefore, measures are needed to rationalize their use and recultivate the places of their extraction.

Marls are sedimentary rocks of white, gray and greenish color, consisting of a mixture of approximately equal parts of carbonate and clay particles. They were formed in the seas of the Late Cretaceous and in the Eocene epoch of the Paleogene periods. Most widely distributed in the foothills.

Marls are a valuable raw material for the production of Portland cement. The best varieties of Eocene marls are located in the Bakhchisarai region. They are being developed by a building materials plant that has grown up on the basis of an intercollective farm cement plant. The stocks of marls in the Crimea are large.

Mineral salts of Crimea

The mineral salts of the Sivash and salt lakes of the Crimea are an important raw material base for the chemical industry in Ukraine and neighboring countries. Due to favorable natural conditions in the lagoon of the Sea of ​​Azov, in Sivash and salt lakes, a concentrated brine is formed - brine. The salt content in it reaches 12-15, and in some places even 25%. The average salinity of ocean waters (for comparison) is about 3.5%. Scientists have found that 44 chemical elements available for production are dissolved in the waters of the seas and oceans. In the rape most contains salts of sodium, magnesium, bromine, potassium, calcium, etc.

The salt resources of the Crimea have been used since time immemorial. However, almost until the October Revolution, only table salt was mined here. It was transported around Russia, first by the Chumaks on oxen, and since 1876 by rail. At the end of the XIX century. about 40% of the salt produced in Russia was mined in the Crimea. Currently, it is produced in small quantities here, due to production at other fields.

Now we are talking about the integrated use of the salt resources of the Crimea. The production of brine magnesium hydroxide, a refractory raw material for the metallurgical industry, is very promising. As a by-product of this production, gypsum is obtained, which in the burnt state (alabaster) is widely used in construction.

Along with this, at present, due to the processes of desalination of the Sivash brine with water coming from rice paddies and drainage systems, the formation of mineral salts in it is difficult.

combustible minerals

Combustible minerals are divided into liquid (oil), gaseous (natural combustible gases) and solid (coal, etc.).

Oil outlets in the Crimea have long been known on the Kerch Peninsula. The first wells were drilled here in the 60s of the XIX century. Limited volumes of oil were obtained mainly from the Chokrak and Karagan deposits of the Neogene period. Systematic exploration for oil began here after the October Revolution. Of all the wells drilled for oil, associated natural gas usually also came. After the Great Patriotic War, prospecting work on the Kerch Peninsula was resumed. Small reserves of oil were found here and in the deposits of Maikop clays.

In 1954, exploration work was extended to the flat Crimea. From a number of wells that uncovered Paleocene calcareous sandstones at depths of 400 to 1000 m, near the villages of Olenevka, Krasnaya Polyana, Glebovka, Zadorny Chernomorsky region, gas fountains hit, with a flow rate of 37 to 200 m3 or more per day. In 1961, an exploratory well that uncovered rocks of the Early Cretaceous period in the Oktyabrskaya area (Tarkhankut) gave a fountain of gas and oil from a depth of about 2700 m. The flow rate of the fountain was: oil 45 m3 and gas 50 thousand m3 per day. The gas consisted of 61% methane, 22% ethane and propane and belonged to the dry group.

In 1962 and 1964, the Dzhankoyskoye and Strelkovskoye (Arabatskaya Strelka) industrial gas fields were discovered. Gas-bearing layers turned out to be sandy interlayers in Maikop clays occurring at depths from 300 to 1000 m.

1966 is an important date in the history of the industrial use of local gas: the construction of the first gas pipeline from the Glebovsky field to Simferopol, with branches to Evpatoria and Saki, was completed. In subsequent years, gas pipelines to Sevastopol, Yalta and other cities were put into operation. With the construction of the Krasnoperekopsk-Dzhankoy gas pipeline in 1976, our region was connected to the Unified Gas Supply System of the country.

As the explored onshore gas fields were depleted, offshore ones were developed - Strelkovskoye in the Sea of ​​Azov and Golitsynskoye in the Karkinitsky Bay of the Black Sea. In 1983, the construction of a gas pipeline from the Golitsynskoye field to the Glebovskoye gas field was completed. The blue fuel goes through the 73-kilometer underwater pipeline built for the first time in Crimea, and then another 43 km on land.

The fact that in the Crimea, in particular, in the Balaklava region, there is coal, was first reported by an outstanding scientist of the late XVIII - early XIX in. Academician P.S. Pallas. Industrial deposits of coal were discovered in 1881 by P. Davydov in the Beshui region, in the upper reaches of the river. Kachi.

Coal from the Beshuisky deposit forms three layers in the Middle Jurassic shale clays with a total thickness of up to 3-3.5 m. It belongs to gas coals. There are three varieties of it: resinous coal, the same resinous coal, but contaminated with layers of clay, and jet - black, with a resinous sheen, suitable for handicrafts. It was formed from the wood of evergreen coniferous araucaria trees, once widespread on the globe, and now growing wild in South America and Australia.

The quality indicators of coal are low. It has a high ash content (from 14 to 55%), a relatively low specific heat of combustion (from 14.7 to 21.84 MJ/kg) and burns with a smoky flame.

Proven reserves of the Beshuisky coal deposit amount to 150,000 tons, and possible reserves are up to 2 million tons. Since 1949, its extraction has been discontinued due to unprofitability.

In addition, minor deposits of coal are found in many places in the mountainous Crimea.

Mineral and thermal waters are important minerals, but they will be discussed in the section on resort and recreational resources.

Other minerals

Industrial stocks of tripoli are available on the Kerch Peninsula near the villages of Glazovka and Korenkovo. Due to the high porosity, tripoli, consisting of round grains of hydrous silica (opal), have high adsorbing (absorbing) properties. They are used for thermal and sound insulation, for the production of liquid glass, as an additive to Portland cement and as a filter material.

Brick and high-grade bentonite clays are widespread in the Crimea. Deposits of the best quality clays of the Early Cretaceous period are located in the foothills. For the manufacture of ceramic products, they are mined in the regions of Balaklava, Simferopol, Belogorsk, Stary Krym, Feodosia.

More valuable for the national economy are bentonite clays, or keel. It forms a well degreasing and easily washed off emulsion in sea water, and the population of the Crimea has long used it for degreasing wool and washing fabrics in sea water. Currently, keel is used in the metallurgical industry, for the preparation of solutions used in well drilling, as an absorber in the chemical industry. It is used to decolorize fuels and lubricants, vegetable oils, wine, fruit juices, in the pharmaceutical industry, in soap making, in the production of artificial fibers, plastics, etc. The deposits of the highest quality clays (quila) of the Late Cretaceous period are located near the village. Ukrainians (near Simferopol) and near the city of Sevastopol. On the Kerch Peninsula, keel-like clays are common, which overlap the layers of iron ores.

Southern shores and inviting mountain peaks are characteristic features many Crimean regions. Created by nature, they have a rather complex relief and a diverse landscape. Minerals should also be noted separately - Crimea is full of subsoil wealth, so it is simply impossible not to consider the peninsula in more detail in this aspect.

Mountain ranges in Crimea and relief features

Everything can be divided into 3 ridges, while approximately 9% will be allocated to the mountainous area. The first is the Main Ridge. Her possessions are located in the southern part of the peninsula and go along the sea coast. It originates in the southwest, at the foot of Mount Kush-kaya (this is not far from Cape Aya), and reaches what is located in the northeast.

In the west, she has to move away from the sea by about 4 km. It is formed by arrays that resemble boards (the so-called yayls), which are inseparable lines. Such, for example, as Ai-Petrinskaya yaila, Yalta yaila, Nikitskaya yaila, Babugan-yaila. It is important to note that such features of the geological structure largely determine the relief and minerals of the Crimea.

On the Bagugan-yayla massif there is the highest point of the Crimean ridge. It is called Roman-Kosh and has a height of more than one and a half thousand meters above sea level.

Remarkable relief places in Crimea

In the south-west of the peninsula, above the old resort town of Alupka, one cannot fail to notice one of the natural Crimean mountain peaks - Ai-Petri. More than 1200 meters in height is not the main advantage of the mountain. Special attention it attracts to itself with its original peak, on which there is a unique formation resembling a real giant trident. Ai-Petri is also considered the rightful mistress of the South Coast in the western part of the coastal lands. Here, by the way, natural resources are concentrated (what minerals are mined in the Crimea, it will become known later).

Most of the territory of these massifs is distinguished by slopes that have a steep character. A rather spectacular and memorable view can be observed in this place: hanging cliffs, the edges of which are at too small a distance from the sea. Among such places, the most famous and popular for tourists are the Ayu-Dag (Bear Mountain) mountain range in Gurzuf, an amazing rock with the romantic name Diva in Simeiz, Cape Fiolent on the outskirts of Sevastopol and others. Well, who does not know Cape Ai-Todor? Of the millions of postcards and traditional souvenirs, even a child knows about it, because there, on one of the rocks, going down a steep cliff into the sea, there is the legendary "Swallow's Nest".

From here you can also enjoy the picturesque horizon affecting Karabi-yayla. Separated by deep depressions, these ranges have an impressive distance from the sea of ​​six to eight kilometers. In sunny clear weather from the south-eastern part of Simferopol, you can easily see the Chatyr-Dag massif (Tent Mountains), which stands out for its majesty.

Earthquakes on the peninsula

Thanks to soil research, it turned out that the subsidence of the continental ledge at the bottom of the Black Sea continues to this day. Earthquakes are one of the components of the development of the Crimea at the present level. Often they are accompanied by landslides, which affects the continental ledge of the southern part of the coast.

Strong earthquakes are a rare occurrence in the Crimea. One of these is the 1927 earthquake. As a result of his action, the Monk rock, located near Simeiz, collapsed, and Cape Ai-Todor, which is located near the Swallow's Nest, also suffered partial destruction. There is also information about the cracks that covered the earth's crust in Balaklava.

Resources of the Crimean territory

Not far from Sudak, the mountains again approach the sea surface, which significantly affects which minerals are mined in the Crimea. The main components of these mountain ranges are sedimentary rocks such as limestone, clay, sandstone and many others. Since the salt level changed very often, the marine fauna also changed. This was widely reflected in the remains of the soil and affected minerals. Crimea has ample opportunities for independent internal provision of natural raw materials precisely because of the numerous resources, which will be discussed below.

Not all indigenous people are aware of what minerals are in the Crimea. And, indeed, there is something to be proud of. Among the many natural resources, the main minerals of the Crimea can be briefly distinguished:

• fossils of sedimentary origin;
• fossils of volcanic origin;
• minerals of marine origin.

For industrial purposes, inside the peninsula and beyond, the needs of the population were almost completely covered by their own reserves.

Iron ore reserves

The ore minerals of the Crimea not so long ago occupied a leading place in the USSR in terms of production volumes. One of the first places in the Union was occupied by the Kerch iron ore deposit. As for the global scale, it was the largest in terms of industrial reserves.

This iron ore deposit has about 38% iron. As for phosphorus and arsenic, their percentage of content noticeably exceeds the number in other deposits. Also, geologists have long noticed small reserves of vanadium here. The cost of ores mined in the Kerch iron ore deposit is not high. This fact is explained by the fact that the costs of their extraction are minimal, since ore minerals are practically on the surface. Although the Crimea is famous for the wealth of iron, this, as already known, is far from all that can be found in the bowels of the earth.

Non-metallic salt deposits

The variety of salt lakes (including Sivash) is characterized by a high content of table salt, Glauber's, as well as magnesium chloride, potassium salts and therapeutic silt. Non-metallic minerals of the Crimea are mostly concentrated in Lake Sivash. Its salt reserves were previously measured by scientists in millions of tons. This is due to the fact that sea water flows there constantly and continuously, so they can be considered inexhaustible. At the same time, Lake Sivash and other salty reservoirs do not have an impressive depth. The exception is which is located on the Tarkhankut Peninsula.

Mining in Crimea is an important industry for the economy of the region and the state as a whole. Potassium and magnesium salts are widely used in the agricultural sector. Potassium salts are of particular demand due to the fact that several decades ago they successfully found their application as a fertilizer. Therefore, at the moment, approximately 94% of the total number of resources extracted from the salt deposit of minerals Crimea sends to the needs of agriculture throughout the country.

Healing Crimean lakes

Saki, Chokrakskoe and the group of Prisivash lakes, as well as many other reservoirs, are far from the last place in the economic activity of the peninsula. For example, lakes such as Saki and Moinakskoe are considered resort and treatment areas, where many come to undergo mud therapeutic courses. If we take as a basis all the chemicals that make up most salt lakes of the Crimea, then it is possible to establish a permanent production of magnesium oxide. The main part of this production process is limestone.

The production of magnesium oxide is due to the need to obtain such an indispensable material in the economy as gypsum. In addition, gypsuming on saline soils increases yields by up to 70%.

Natural resources for the construction industry

Materials intended for construction have not bypassed the peninsula. The leading place is rightfully occupied by bryozoan limestone, also known as the Inkerman stone. In appearance, this stone contains pores, differs in cream color. Its weight is insignificant, but in terms of strength it is not inferior to a simple brick. There are no problems in working with him, he is easy to handle. well established in the field of construction. Its main direction is the facing sphere.

But, in addition to bryozoan, Crimea is also rich in such types of limestone as nummulite, shell rock, marble-like and many others. Limestone, regardless of its type, has found its wide application in the construction industry. Many other minerals are used just as often. With the help of natural reserves, Crimea fully meets the needs of the local population in building materials.

Thras and diorite

On the South Shore, such a natural rock as diorite, which was obtained as a result of a volcanic eruption, is very popular. Its largest locations can be called the territories between Alushta and Gurzuf. Also, a considerable amount of diorite was found near Lozovoye and Ukrainka, which are located on the south side of Simferopol. Crimean diorite can be fully compared with granite. Significant differences in their external similarity, as well as building qualities, are not easy to identify. Diorite is a gray stone with a slight green tint. It has great durability. Most often it is used in facing works, as well as for decorating steps and streets.

Thras, like diorite, was formed as a result of a volcanic eruption. Ash rock, as it is often called, is widely used in the economy. Its largest deposit is considered Karadag. It is located 20 kilometers from Feodosia, in the village of Planerskoye. This volcanic rock boasts of its greatest reserves.

Of particular value are such building materials as quartz sand and gravel mined in the mountains. Their main prey sites can be found near Sevastopol and Simferopol, as well as on the Black Sea coast, near the Saki region.

Fuel resources

Fuel minerals of the Crimea represent a separate group of valuable resources. For example, the Kerch Peninsula is characterized by an abundance of oil. Thanks to the oil fields, there is a constant eruption of natural gases that are amenable to combustion. Also, this peninsula is rich in sulfur formations.

Boasts coal. But its deposits are insignificant, so it is used only for local use. But in the foothills you can find pretty decent deposits of bleaching clay.

Mineral waters in Crimea

Recent years have been spent in careful exploration of the entire peninsula. Based on them, we can conclude that the Crimea is the owner of a variety of mineral springs. For example, near Feodosia there is a source with salt-alkaline water.

In some, springs were found that produce mineral water, in its composition practically no different from the legendary Essentuki. For example, springs of warm nitrogen-alkaline water were found near and near Chatyr-Dag. Also, hydrogen sulfide water was found near Feodosia, and carbonic water was found in Bakhchisarai.

Conclusion

Useful Crimeas are rich and varied, and their places of accumulation can be found in the most different parts the entire peninsula. All natural resources can be combined into several groups according to their economic affiliation and geographical feature:

1. The steppe Crimea is rich in limestone for construction and large reserves of salt.
2. Mineral water sources and many raw materials for building materials were found in the mountainous area and on the South Coast.
3. The Kerch Peninsula is an iron ore region and also has promising fuel and energy reserves.