Lesson video

Hi, geographers, my name's Ms. Hoggett, and I'm really excited you're here to learn some geography with me today.

I'm sure if you try your best, you're going to be absolutely fantastic.

Don't worry too much if you haven't studied this topic before.

I'm here to help you every step of the way.

The title for today's lesson is Geology and the Economy, and this sits within the unit Rocks, weathering, and soil: why is geology important? Our learning outcome for today's lesson is that I can explain why geological resources are important to the economy, and where they come from.

To help us through today's lesson, we have a number of keywords that are going to be really, really useful for us.

Mining, fossil fuels, quarrying, economy, and development.

So mining is the process of digging into the ground to remove natural resources.

Fossil fuels are natural substances that were formed over millions of years from the buried remains of ancient organisms, and they include coal, oil, and gas.

Quarrying is the process of removing natural resources from near the surface.

Economy is the way money in a particular area is made and spent, and development is the improvement in people's quality of life within a country or region.

So mining, fossil fuels, quarrying, economy, and development are going to be really useful in helping us to understand today's lesson.

So today's lesson is split into three learning cycles.

The first one, why are rocks, geology, and soil important, followed by the second, how do we extract geological resources from Earth, and then the third, how does geology benefit the economy? We're gonna start with our first learning cycle now, why are rocks, geology, and soil important? Now, geology isn't just about rocks and dirt, it's about the materials that power the modern world, and therefore, it's really useful for our day-to-day lives.

Inside the Earth, there are metals and minerals that are essential for everyday technology.

These include lithium, which is used to power phone batteries, neodymium, which is used in headphones, copper that can be used for wires, and tin, which we can use to make cans, which store things like baked beans in them.

So the average smartphone is one example of a piece of technology that contains over 30 different elements, including rare Earth metals.

So for example, we have elements like gold and silver, which are used in circuit boards, lithium, which is used in the batteries, aluminium used in the phone casing, cobalt used in the battery, copper used in circuit boards, lead, which is used to join different parts of the phone together, nickel, again used in phone batteries, and zinc, which is used in circuit boards.

So believe it or not, the technology we use every day is hugely reliant on our Earth's geology.

So true or false: metals don't come from Earth? Pause the video now and have a go at answering this question.

Well done if you said false.

We know that metals such as copper, tin, and aluminium all come from rocks in the Earth's crust.

Brilliant start, geographers.

So Earth's resources also provide us with the energy that we need to power electric cars, heat our homes, and support our industries, so they're not just useful for giving us different metals for technology.

In the past, we've had a greater reliance on fossil fuels from Earth.

We do still use these today.

Now, fossil fuels are natural substances that were formed over millions of years ago from the buried remains of ancient organisms, and they include coal, oil, and natural gas.

So we can see coal, oil, and natural gas in the image there, and they're our fossil fuels.

However, coal, oil, and natural gas are finite resources, which means one day, they will run out.

Now, it's predicted that we have 139 years worth of coal left on Earth, 56 years left of oil, and 49 years of natural gas left on Earth.

So we know that they're not going to last forever, and we've had to seek out alternatives.

So to move away from these fossil fuels, we've also developed green technologies, such as wind farms and solar panels, but these technologies rely on materials that come from rocks and minerals as well to work efficiently.

It is predicted that this shift towards green energy could increase demand for rare Earth elements by 700% by 2040.

So the Earth is vital in providing energy, whether that be fossil fuels or more greener energy, but it's not just our rare Earth metals, minerals, and elements that are really important.

Soil is also crucially important.

Having healthy soils mean we can grow food, manage water flow, and build safely.

Good soil is also full of minerals, and its health can affect how well trees and plants can absorb carbon dioxide.

So Sofia says, "This is really important to help fight climate change," and we know that's a global issue, so it's really, really useful to help sustain our climate in the right way.

So let's check your understanding.

Which of these following energy sources is not a fossil fuel? Is it A, oil, B, gas, C, wind, or D, coal? Pause the video and have a go at answering that question.

Well done if you said C, wind.

We know that's an example of a more sustainable version of energy, whereas oil, gas, and coal are examples of fossil fuels.

Well done, geographers.

So we're gonna practise what we've learned so far about why rocks, geology, and soil are so important.

So Sofia says, "Geology is just rocks and soil.

It's useless really." But I would like you to write a response to Sofia's statement explaining why she's incorrect and why geology is super important.

You can do this as a paragraph.

Pause the video and have a go at completing this practise task.

Well done for giving that a really good go, geographers.

Now, I'm sure all of our answers are going to look slightly different, but your answer may have included some statements similar to mine.

"Geology is more than just rocks and soil.

It's about understanding the materials that make up Earth, and we use those materials all the time.

For example, rare Earth minerals like lithium and neodymium come from Earth and are using things like phone batteries, electric cars, and even wind turbines.

Without these materials, a lot of our technology wouldn't work.

Likewise, geology also helps with our energy needs.

Fossil fuels like oil, coal, and gas come from deep underground and were formed millions of years ago.

We burned them to make electricity and power transport.

However, they are running out, so we're now using minerals and metals to produce green energy, such as wind and solar.

So geology isn't just about studying rocks, it's also about how we get the things we need to live, work, and power the modern world.

Well done, geographers.

You're doing an excellent job so far, and we're now ready to move on to learning cycle number two, how do we extract geological resources from Earth? So we get geological resources by mining or quarrying the Earth's surface.

These geological resources can include fossil fuels, such as coal, minerals, such as china clay, and metals, such as gold.

Mining is the process of digging into the ground to remove natural resources.

This can include metal ores, coal, and gemstones.

In the UK, we have been mining different resources since the Bronze Age, and up until the late 1960s, coal mining was one of Britain's biggest industries.

In the image, we can see an example of a coal mine, Maiden's Hall Coal Mine in Northumberland.

Now, oil and gas are found in large reservoirs found beneath land and the sea.

The UK extracts a lot of fossil fuels from the rocks beneath the North Sea.

You can see the North Sea located on the map on your screen.

Now, despite the government continuing to approve any new drilling licences in the UK, the coal mining industry here has declined.

One reason for this is because people know that fossil fuels are contributing to global warming, so scientists are really trying to focus on renewable and green energy technologies.

In the image, we can see coal mining in Britain in 1942.

Now, the deepest underground mine in the world is in South Africa, and it reaches four kilometres below the Earth's surface.

Izzy says, "It goes so deep that the rocks here get so hot and the miners have to use 6,000 tonnes of ice a day to keep it cool." So that's a big effort in order to keep gold mine cool.

So let's check your understanding.

Which of the following is not a geological resource extracted through mining? Is it A, fossil fuels, B, metals, C, plastic, or D, gemstones? Pause the video and have a go at answering this question.

Well done if you said C, plastic.

We know that fossil fuels, metals, and gemstones are geological resources.

Therefore, plastic is not something that we can extract through mining.

Now, it's not just mining as the only way to extract geological resources from Earth.

Actually, we can also do this through quarrying.

This is the extraction of natural resources from closer to the surface.

The UK quarries industrial and construction material from the Earth's surface, including sand, limestone, clay, slate, and granite.

Now, the UK is one of the largest producers of china clay, which is extracted from two quarries in Devon and Cornwall.

Did you know, paper isn't just made from wood? It contains china clay, which makes it so white.

So true or false: mining is the process of removing natural resources from nearer the surface? Pause the video and have a go at answering this question.

Well done if you said false.

We know that mining is the process of digging into the ground to remove natural resources, whereas quarrying is the process of removing natural resources from nearer the surface.

Good work, geographers, you're doing brilliantly.

So let's practise your understanding then of how we extract geological resources from Earth.

And on the screen you can see two images, one of a coal mine and one of a slate quarry.

I would like you to explain the difference between mining and quarrying.

Pause the video and have a go at completing this practise task.

Well done for giving that a really good go, geographers.

I'm sure you've done fantastically, Your answer might have included something similar to this.

"Mining and quarrying are both ways we get geological resources from Earth, but they are used for very different things.

Mining usually takes place deeper underground, and this is used to extract materials like metals, coal, and gemstones.

Quarrying, on the other hand, happens at or near the surface and is mainly used to get rocks like stone, such as limestone and granite, which are used in building.

Whilst mining gets us materials such as copper and gold, quarrying gives us materials for construction and road building.

So we can see that they are similar processes, but they achieve the extraction in slightly different ways.

Well done, geographers.

We're now ready to move on to our last learning cycle, How does geology benefit the economy? Now, the economy is the way money in a particular area is made and spent.

Extracting resources can help develop a country's economy, as it creates jobs and can increase income.

This can improve a country's level of development, which is the improvement in people's quality of life within a country or region.

Now, most geological resources are really high in value.

Countries can make money by selling products such as oil, gas, and minerals.

For example, Chile earned over $50 billion from exporting copper in 2023.

And on the screen, we can see a map showing Chile's copper export destinations in 2023.

So the arrows show the countries that Chile sent their copper to, and they include places like China, Japan, South Korea, India, Germany, Spain, the Philippines, Bulgaria, and Mexico.

So you can see that Chile is sending copper all around the world and that's had a huge positive impact on their economy.

But it's not just Chile that impacts from this.

40% of Saudi Arabia's gross domestic products, GDP, comes from oil.

GDP is the total value of all the goods and services within a country.

Likewise, the UK's fossil fuel industry contributed around 30 billion pounds to the UK economy in 2022.

And as a reminder, fossil fuels include natural gas, oil, and coal.

So let's check your understanding.

I would like you to write the correct key term for the definitions below: the total value of all the goods and services within a country, and the improvement of people's quality of life within a country or region.

Pause the video and have a go at thinking about what the correct key term is for those two definitions.

Well done for giving that a really good go.

We know that the total value of all the goods and services within a country is called the economy, and the improvement in people's quality of life within a country or region is development.

Good work, geographers.

Now, geological resources can increase income, and this can benefit a country's level of development.

When a country has valuable geological resources like oil, gold, copper, or limestone, it can extract them and sell them to other countries that need them for fuel, building materials, or manufacturing.

This brings in a lot of income, money, to the country, and that's called their export revenue.

This income is important because the government can then reinvest it in ways that improve the country's level of development.

For example, it could be used to build schools so more children can get an education and have better job opportunities in the future, it can help improve healthcare so people can live longer and healthier lives, or it could be spent on infrastructure, like roads, bridges, and clean water systems, which make it easier for people to travel to work and stay healthy.

All of these improvements help to raise a country's human development index, a measure that includes life expectancy, education, and income.

So geology doesn't just bring in money.

It helps to improve living conditions for everyone when managed properly, which can improve the level of development within a country.

Another major benefit of geological resources is that they create major employment opportunities.

To extract resources from the ground, countries need people to work in mines, quarries, drilling sites, and transporting and processing these also provides employment.

When people are employed in these jobs, they earn a regular income, which helps to improve their standard of living.

With more money, the families can buy better food and enjoy a more balanced diet.

They can also move into better quality housing with electricity and clean water.

They can pay for healthcare when they're sick and send their children to school instead of them having to work.

This doesn't just help individual families.

When more people in the country are employed and spending money, it helps the whole economy grow.

More jobs and better pay mean that more people are paying taxes, which gives the government even more money to invest in services and development.

So by creating jobs and raising people's income, geology helps to reduce poverty and improve people's quality of life, therefore supporting long-term development.

Different types of jobs that could be created from mining and quarrying could include being an engineer an environmental compliance officer, a surveyor, a miner, a transport operative, and many more.

So we're going to practise what you've learned then from how geology can benefit the economy, and I would like you to complete the table using the information below.

So in our three boxes, we can see that Chile earns billions from copper mining and uses the money to invest in schools, hospitals, and public transport.

Saudi Arabia is one of the world's largest oil producers.

The wealth from oil has helped build modern cities and created thousands of jobs.

India has many limestone quarries.

The stone is used for building homes, roads, and factories, supporting construction.

So in the table, you need to outline what resource is benefiting that country and what the benefits of those resources to that country are.

For the second part of this practise task, I would like you to explain why a country might want to invest the money it makes from mining and quarrying into education and healthcare.

You could include the terms mining, quarrying, economy, and development.

Pause the video and have a go at completing this practise task.

Well done for giving that a go, geographers.

I'm sure you've done excellently, but let's check your completed answers.

So Chile relies on copper, and the benefit of that is that the money is invested into schools, hospitals, and public transport.

For Saudi Arabia, it's oil, and the money earned here has helped build modern cities and created thousands of jobs.

And in India, they use limestone, which is for building homes, roads, and factories, supporting their construction.

And for part two, we needed to explain why a country might want to invest the money it makes from mining and quarrying into education and healthcare.

So you might have said, "A country might want to invest the money it makes from mining and quarrying into education and healthcare because these are key parts of the development to help improve people's lives.

For example, if a country uses the money it earns from mining to build more schools, more children can get an education, which means they can get better jobs in the future.

Investing in healthcare means that people are healthier, can live longer, and can work more.

This helps the country grow its economy.

For instance, Chile uses money from copper mining to improve services like education, which helps the country become more developed over time.

Well done for giving that a really good go.

We're now at the end of this lesson today on geology and the economy, and I think you've done brilliantly, geographers.

Well done.

So to summarise, geological resources are vital for modern technology like phones and green energy.

Geological resources can be extracted through mining and quarrying.

Oil and gas are found in underground reservoirs, often beneath land or sea, and are finite resources that can take millions of years to form.

And fossil fuels and minerals support the economy through jobs and exports, and are vital to development.

Geographers, you've worked so hard today and I'm really impressed with everything that you've produced.

I hope you have a brilliant rest of your day, and I will see you soon for our next lesson.