Minerals of the Moscow region. Extraction of minerals (Moscow region)

Geology, relief and minerals of the Moscow region are based on the fact that the main forms of this area were formed at the neotectonic stage. Moscow suburbs in its relief components is heterogeneous. In the north-west and north, there is a significant disaggregation, approximately as in the Southern Urals, while in the south-west this figure is less, the rivers are less "embedded" in the flattened lowland.

In the Moscow region, from the southwest to the northeast, stretches the eastern edge of the Oka-Moscow Upland, which further passes to the Moscow-Oka watershed (with the adjacent Teplostan Upland) and the Klin-Dmitrovsky Range. The relief here is represented mainly by a hilly terrain, passing into lowlands. The highest point of the Moscow region is located near the Mozhaisk reservoir, and its height is 310 meters.

The terrain repeats the underground structure

The Moscow suburbs are closely connected with the tectonic structure. There is a decrease in the terrain from the southeast to the north-west, repeating the dynamics of the geological layers, which lie almost horizontally and do not belong to the category of tectonic structures. Therefore, the Moscow region as a whole refers to the plains, which have a low probability of earthquakes.

The rocks of the region are mostly composed of sands and clays

What under such conditions could the minerals be formed? The relief of the territory of the Moscow region indicates that the region was almost completely under the glacier during the last glaciation. At the same time, with the greater part of this area, the ice left about 70-100 thousand years ago, and from the north-west of the region - only 10 thousand years ago. The region "stands" in part on the site of the ancient earth's crust (Archaean-Proterozoic period), and the platform itself has a two-layer structure. The lower layer, the "foundation", consists of gneisses, granites, migmatites.

Over it millions of years have formed a "cover" that reaches a value of 1 to 3 km, and consists of the lower structural layer of fossilized, dense clays, siltstones, on the average - from limestones, clays, dolomites, in the upper - from detrital sediments, Represented by sands and clays.

Extraction of minerals: Moscow region is not the richest place

Moscow is also known for the fact that there are no deposits of a number of geological systems. For example, from the Paleozoic era only Cambrian, Devonian and Carboniferous deposits have been found, evidence of the Jurassic and Cretaceous period is present from the Mesozoic era, while there are no traces of the Triassic, and no remains of the Paleogene (Neogene and Quaternary period ) are found in the Kayonozoic. Therefore, the minerals of the Moscow region can not be rich and diverse from the geological point of view. Nevertheless, they are and are successfully mined.

Peat is the leader in reserves

In total about eight hundred places are known in the region, where "accumulations of past epochs" are extracted to the surface and processed. Primarily (for use and reserves) is peat, whose deposits totaling about 1,700 have been identified mainly in the Dmitrov and Mytishchi districts, as well as near Mytishchi. Peat is a combustible material, which is formed from the remains of moss in wetland conditions (here it is "useful" lowland suburbs). Vegetation under marsh conditions is not fully decomposed, which allows one to obtain a substance that is half composed of carbon, which gives the heat of combustion of 24 MJ per kilogram, can be used as fertilizer, heat insulation, etc.

Such a mineral of the Moscow region, like peat, is extracted mainly by a milling method (the corrugations are cut parallel to the surface of the earth and subjected to drying). Another way - excavating - is used less often. Russia ranks second in peat reserves (150 million tons), which, moreover, can be renewed (about 260 million tons per year), so the industry has certain prospects.

Sand for construction

Another mineral of the Moscow region is sand (gravel-sand materials) without which no construction process can do. Fossil materials in the suburbs are mined in natural and artificial quarries, receiving washed or river sand of high quality and quarry sand in its pure form. The latter contains a lot of impurities in the form of organic, clay, dust, grains of quartz, that's why it is used for road construction, etc. Waste and river sand with fewer extraneous elements are used in the manufacture of concrete, brick, for mixtures used in finishing works, etc.

Raw materials for high-end optics

The minerals of the Moscow Region also include the so-called "glass sand" (in the north of the Lyubertsy district). In it, there is an increased amount of silicon oxide (silica), which makes it possible to produce glasses of high purity, including optical ones. Glass sands are a fairly rare natural phenomenon, therefore, raw materials for industry are more often obtained by enriching simpler materials (washing, rubbing, electromagnetic separation).

Some iron, brown coal and titanium

Minerals of the Moscow region, the list of which is not large, includes small deposits of iron ores and titanium (Serebryanoprudsky and Serpukhov districts). The ore is mainly represented here as "marsh iron", which was formed on the outskirts of ancient marshes or in floodplains of rivers. Here, in the thickness of the clays, the iron-saturated waters were stagnant and under the influence of the iron bacteria they turned into interlayers of a thickness of several centimeters to a meter that can now be extracted and processed.

In addition, ancient marshes, in which trees and peat-forming plants have decomposed, have also formed certain stocks of brown coal, but they are small, have no industrial value and are not currently being developed. Although brown coal is also a combustible material, it contains up to 70 percent of carbon, it can be a raw material for the chemical industry.

Clays in the suburbs are many, and it is different

Another common mineral of the Moscow region is clay. It is brick (it is found almost everywhere in the Moscow region) and refractory (it is found mainly in the east). The first variant of clay is an earthy rock, heterogeneous in chemical composition and granulometry, having high connectivity, stickiness, swelling in water, the ability to take any form and retain it after temperature treatment. Of such substances make a brick, tiles, wall blocks, expanded clay, etc., they are added to concrete, used as a waterproofing material in dams. Variegated samples of glandular clays can be used to extract mineral pigments for the subsequent preparation of paints. Large deposits of this raw material are available in Voznesensky, Zaraisk, Domodedovo districts, etc.

Fossils, which can be priceless

The minerals of the Moscow region and their processing make it possible to produce objects that are the visiting card of Russia. First of all, this is the pottery clay of the Gzhel deposit, of which porcelain is executed with cobalt painted on a white background. Gzhel's quarries, in addition to multi-colored porcelain clays, are known for finding shells of belemnites, ammonites, and limestones, in which brachiopods, parts of ancient sea lilies, small corals occur.

Here there are ancient flints with blue fringing and middle of a variety of brown-chocolate tints, approaching in quality to chalcedony, beautiful zeodes of small-crystalline quartz, chalcedony. These elements are not produced on a large scale, although they represent in some ways the minerals of the Moscow region. But for such samples, the cost of even small pieces in some cases can be significant, and sometimes priceless from an archaeological point of view.

Skeletons of ancient mollusks - in modern construction!

What else is rich in the Moscow region? Deposits of minerals from the class "carbonate raw materials" are presented here quite widely. They are primarily limestones, which were formed due to the processes that took place in the ancient seas, which were once present on the territory of the Moscow region. Then, as expected, the marine environment had a certain temperature (about +25 degrees) and salinity (35 ppm), and many corals developed in it. But changes in the state of the sea basin have led to the death of these living organisms, from which there remained an external calcareous skeleton. It is the basis for powerful multi-meter deposits of limestones, which are mined in Shchelkov, Gorodnaya, Gory, on the Pirochinskoye deposit, Popova Gora, etc. The material is used mainly in construction, production of concrete, for lime - an astringent component, and a fine-grained version can be used in sculpture.

The minerals of the Moscow region are not very diverse, but can be used for fishing, and for construction, and even for making jewelry. In large part, they are non-renewable, so they should be used sparingly and mined with minimal harmful consequences for the environment.