Key Definitions: Soil and Natural Resources
Farming (Sustainable Agriculture)
Agricultural production prioritizing soil and water conservation and minimizing negative environmental impacts. This is achieved by using organic fertilizers, avoiding chemical pesticides and aggressive plowing techniques, using genetically diverse and non-transgenic varieties, and rotating crops.
Desertification
While some authors use ‘desertification’ to describe the natural process of soil degradation and erosion leading to desert conditions, others apply the term
Read MoreEarth’s Surface Processes: Weathering, Soil, Erosion, Transport
Geological Processes
Weathering
Transformation of rock by the action of weather and living organisms.
Physical Weathering
Transformations that alter the physical structure of rock (e.g., temperature contrasts) without changing its chemical composition.
- Cryoclasty (Frost Wedging): Breaking by ice.
- Haloclasty (Salt Wedging): Breaking by salts.
- Thermoclasty: Breaking by temperature changes.
- Bioclasty: Breaking by living organisms.
Chemical Weathering
Chemical reactions within the rock that transform minerals
Read MoreSedimentary Rocks and External Geodynamics Hazards
Sedimentary Rock Characteristics
- Stratification is characteristic of sedimentary rocks, which are often found in overlapping horizontal layers called strata, limited by a roof and wall. The distance between the ceiling and the wall is the power.
- The structure is the geometric arrangement of the components of a sediment or sedimentary rock.
- Texture is the internal order of the rocks as to disposition, shape, and relative size of its components. It may be clastic, consisting of bits of minerals or rocks,
Industrial Production: Elements, Energy, Regions
Goods Production
Elaborated products are not consumed directly; they are intermediate products that serve as feedstock for other industries. Heavy industry is characterized by handling huge amounts of product. Heavy industry requires large facilities, large amounts of manpower, and significant capital investment.
Light Industry
These industries produce goods for the market and consumers, such as footwear. Often called light industries because facilities are usually smaller and require less labor and
Read MoreAlcover, Costa i Llobera: Figures de la Poesia Mallorquina
Joan Alcover: Palma, 1854 – Palma, 1926
Poeta i dramaturg en llengua catalana. Participà als Jocs Florals de Barcelona (1909), i en les conferències d’intel·lectuals mallorquins a l’Ateneu Barcelonès (1904); també en el Primer Congrés Internacional de la Llengua Catalana (1906). En pocs anys esdevingué una de les figures cabdals de la poesia catalana, fet que l’aparició de Cap al tard (1909) confirmà. Fou corresponent de la Reial Acadèmia Espanyola (1904), de l’Acadèmia de Bones Lletres
Geological Hazards and Associated Risks
Erosion Risks and Impacts
Drivers of Erosion Risk Factors
- Slopes
- Unconsolidated geological materials
- Climate, aridity, sporadic and torrential rainfall
Erosion Loss and Desertification
- Loss of soil biological-geological system
- Plant and animal life
- Arable land (agricultural resources)
- Desertification
- Silting of reservoirs (Loss of reservoir capacity, hydro damage)
- Sedimentation in river channels (Floods)
Risks from Eroded Material Storage
- The possibility of impact from moving materials, razing or burying people,