Is our country country rich or poor in natural resources?
The answer is not definite. We are abound in soils and water
resources. However, we have just little energy resources and unfortunately
several minerals of which we cannot extract anything.
Coal resources. Lignite (the most), brown coal and black
coal. Low quality, difficult to excavate and a cruel burden for nature.
Lignite: At the southern slopes of the Northern Mountain
Range. Poor quality BUT can be excavated by open mining.
Brown coal: Transdanubian and Northern Mountain Ranges. Poor
quality.
Black Coal: In the Mecsek Block Mountains.
Hydrocarbons: Oil and gas were first found in the Zalai
Hills. However, on the Southern part of the Hungarian Plain a huge socket was
found and this is significant even today.
Ores:
In the Matra, copper ore. Very significant even on a world
scale. But its excavation is very costly.
In the Transdanubian Mountain Range, the bauxite socket is
significant. However, as a result of the excavation of this material, the level
of the karstic water has fallen down so much that the water of the spas was
also endangered, such as that of the Hévízi-tó. Consequently, several mines had
to be closed in order to protect the interests of tourism.
Manganese ore: in the Bakony. Insignificant.
The quantity of other minerals is significant. In the
Northern Mountain Range: Guhr (kovaföld), kaolin, bentonite. Building
materials: andesite, basalt, limestone, dolomite. Sand and marbles are
excavated from the alluvial cones.
Renewable energy resources: rivers. Despite of the fact that
two hydroelectric power plants were installed on River Tisza (Kisköre &
Tiszalök), they don’t generate so much electric current. Their installation
mainly took place because of the predictably better navigational conditions.
The river is navigable up to Vásárosnamény but due to the fluctuating water
level it has real significance just within the borders. The water of the River
Danube is used mainly for industrial purposes. The Hungarian segment of the
river is navigable and since the Danube-Maine-Rhine canal was created, our
ships can reach the North Sea.
The underground confined waters are also important.
The thermal waters are very significant, we have the fourth
greatest socket in the world. The quantity of the water is unfortunately
gradually lessening.
Greenhouses (and for example, in Szeged, even houses) are
heated by geothermal energy.
The spas are very important from the medical point of view.
Hévíz, Harkány, Hajdúszoboszló, Zalakaros and Bükfürdő are important.
Soils are also important. Their formation is a long process
so their destruction should be avoided at any price, the soils on the slopes
are the most endangered ones.
Our climatic conditions may also mean renewable energy
resources. The number of sunny hours is favourable for the agriculture. The
annual mean precipitation is also convenient but its distribution is not that
good. Collectors and wind power plants have not really come into use but their
usage would be good. Climatic health resorts are important and the air of some
of our caves is of medical importance, such as that of the Baradla and
Abaligeti caves.
From the point of view of the protection of the nature, the
key word is recycling.
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