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. The Moscow region is heterogeneous in its relief components. Significant dissection prevails in the northwest and north, approximately like in the Southern Urals, while in the southwest this figure is less, the rivers are less "cut" into the flattened lowland.
In the Moscow region, from the southwest to the northeast, the eastern edge of the Oka-Moscow Upland stretches, which then passes into the Moscow-Oksky watershed (with the adjoining Teplostanskaya Upland) and the Klinsko-Dmitrovskaya ridge. The relief here is represented mainly by hilly terrain, turning into lowlands. The highest point in the Moscow region is located near the Mozhaisk reservoir, and its height is 310 meters.
Locationrepeats the underground structure
Moscow region with its relief is closely connected with the tectonic structure. Here there is a decrease in terrain from the southeast to the northwest, 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 belongs to the plains, which have a low probability of earthquakes.
The rocks of the region are composed mainly of sands and clays
What kind of minerals could form under such conditions? 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, ice left most of this area about 70-100 thousand years ago, and from the north-west of the region - only 10 thousand years ago. The region "stands" partly on the site of the ancient earth's crust (Archaean-Proterozoic period), and the platform itself has a two-layer structure. The bottom layer, the "foundation", consists of gneisses, granites, migmatites.
Over millions of years, a "cover" was formed over it, which reaches a size of 1 to 3 km, and consists in the lower structural layer of petrified, dense clays, siltstones, on average - of limestones, clays, dolomites, in the upper – from clastic deposits represented by sands and clays.
Mining: Moscow region is not the richest place
Moscow region is also known for the fact that there are no deposits of a number of geological systems. Tofor example, only Cambrian, Devonian and Carboniferous deposits have been found from the Paleozoic era, evidence from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods is present from the Mesozoic era, while there are no traces of the Triassic, and no remains from the Paleogene have been found in the Cyonozoic (the Neogene and Quaternary period are present). Therefore, the minerals of the Moscow region cannot be rich and diverse from a geological point of view. Nevertheless, they exist and are successfully mined.
Peat leads in reserves
In total, about eight hundred places are known in the region where "accumulations of past eras" are brought to the surface and processed. First of all (in terms of use and reserves) it is peat, whose deposits with a total number of about 1700 have been identified mainly in the Dmitrovsky and Mytishchi districts, as well as near Mytishchi. Peat is a combustible material that is formed from the remains of mosses in swamp conditions (this is where the lowlands of the Moscow Region came in handy). Vegetation in swampy conditions does not decompose completely, which makes it possible to obtain a substance half composed of carbon, which gives a calorific value of 24 MJ per kilogram, can be used as fertilizer, thermal insulation, etc.
Such a mineral of the Moscow region as peat is mined mainly by milling (corrugations are cut parallel to the ground and dried). Another method - excavator - is used less frequently. Russia ranks second in terms of peatland reserves (150 million tons).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 Moscow region are mined in natural and artificial quarries, obtaining washed or river sand of high quality and quarry sand in its pure form. The latter contains many impurities in the form of organics, clay, dust, quartz grains, therefore it is used for road construction, etc. Washed and river sand with fewer foreign elements is used in the manufacture of concrete, brick, for mixtures used in finishing work, etc.
Raw material for high-end optics
Minerals of the Moscow region also include the so-called "glass sand" (in the north of the Lyubertsy region). It contains an increased amount of silicon oxide (silica), which makes it possible to produce high-purity glasses, including optical ones. Glass sands are quite a rare natural phenomenon, so raw materials for industry are more often obtained by enriching simpler materials (washing, scrubbing, electromagnetic separation).
Some iron, lignite and titanium
Minerals of the Moscow region, the list of which is small, include small deposits of iron ore and titanium (Serebryanoprudsky and Serpukhovdistricts). The ore is represented here mainly by "bog iron", which was formed on the outskirts of ancient swamps or in floodplains of rivers. Here, in the thickness of the clay, water saturated with iron stagnated and, under the influence of iron bacteria, turned into interlayers with a thickness of several centimeters to a meter, which today can be extracted and processed.
Besides, the ancient swamps, in which trees and peat-forming plants decomposed, also formed certain reserves of brown coal, but they are small, have no industrial value and are not currently being developed. Although lignite is also a combustible material, containing up to 70 percent carbon, it can be a raw material for the chemical industry.
There is a lot of clay in the Moscow region, and it is different
Another common mineral of the Moscow region is clay. It is brick (available in the Moscow region almost everywhere) and refractory (found mainly in the east). The first variant of clay is an earthy rock, heterogeneous in chemical composition and granulometry, with high cohesion, stickiness, swelling in water, the ability to take any shape and retain it after heat treatment. Such substances are used to make bricks, tiles, wall blocks, expanded clay, etc., they are added to concrete, used as a waterproofing material in dams. Variegated samples of ferruginous clays can be used to extract mineral pigments for the subsequent preparation of paints. Large depositsthis raw material is available in Voznesensky, Zaraisky, Domodedovo districts and others.
Fossils that could be priceless
Mineral resources of the Moscow region and their processing make it possible to produce items that are the hallmark of Russia. First of all, these are pottery clays from the Gzhel deposit, from which porcelain is made with cob alt painting on a white background. Gzhel quarries, in addition to multi-colored porcelain clays, are known for the presence of belemnite and ammonite shells, as well as limestone, in which brachiopods, parts of ancient sea lilies, and small corals are found.
Here there are ancient flints with a blue edging and a middle of many brown-chocolate shades, approaching the quality of chalcedony, beautiful geodes of fine-crystalline quartz, chalcedony. These elements are not mined on a large scale, although they are in some way the minerals of the Moscow region. But for such specimens, the cost of even small pieces can in some cases be significant, and sometimes priceless from an archaeological point of view.
Ancient shellfish skeletons into modern construction
What else is rich in the Moscow region? Deposits of minerals from the class of "carbonate raw materials" are represented quite widely here. These primarily include limestone, which was formed due to the processes that took place in the ancient seas, which were once present on the territory of the Moscow region. Whereasit is assumed that 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 led to the death of these living organisms, from which the outer calcareous skeleton remained. It is he who is the basis for powerful multi-meter limestone deposits, which are mined in Shchelkovo, under the village. Gorodna, the village of Gory, at the Pirochinsk deposit, Popova Gora, etc. The material is used mainly in construction, concrete production, to obtain lime - an astringent component, and a fine-grained version can be used in sculpture.
Mineral resources of the Moscow region are not very diverse, but can be used for fishing, for construction, and even for making jewelry. For the most part, they are non-renewable, so they should be spent economically and mined with minimal harmful effects on the environment.
