What are known as natural resources?

Answer 1

1. Renewable resources:

The resources that can be replenished through rapidnatural cycles are known as renewable resource. These resources are able toincrease their abundance through reproduction and utilization of simplesubstances. Examples of renewable resources are plants, (crops and forests),and animals who are being replaced from time to time because they have thepower of reproducing and maintain life cycles. Some examples of renewableresources though they do not have life cycle but can be recycled are wood andwood-products, pulp products, natural rubber, fibers (e.g. cotton, jute, animalwool, silk and synthetic fibers) and leather. In addition to these resources, water and soil are also classified as renewable resources.Solar energy although having a finite life, as a special case, is considered as arenewable resource in as much as solar stocks are inexhaustible on the humanscale.

2. Non-Renewable Resources:

The resources that cannot be replenishedthrough natural processes are known as non-renewable resources. These areavailable in limited amounts, which cannot be increased. These resourcesinclude fossil fuels (petrol, coal etc.), metals (iron, copper, gold, silver, lead, zincetc.), minerals and salts (carbonates, phosphates, nitrates etc.). Once a non-renewable resource is consumed, it is gone forever. Then we have to find asubstitute for it or do without it.Non-renewable resources can further be divided into two categories, viz. a) re-cycle able and b) non-recyclablea) Recycleale: These are non-renewable resources, which can be collected after they are used and can be recycled. These are mainly the non-energy mineralresources, which occur in the earth's crust (e.g. ores of aluminium, copper,Mercury etc.) and deposits of fertilizer nutrients (e.g. phosphate sock andpotassium and minerals used in their natural state (asbestos, clay, mica etc.)b) Non-recyclable: These are non-renewable resources, which cannot berecycled in any way. Examples of these are fossil fuels and uranium, whichprovide 90 per cent of our energy requirements.Some authors prefer to classify resources into biotic and abiotic resources:a)

Biotic resources

: These are living resources (e.g. forest, agriculture, fish andwild life) that are able to reproduce or replace them and to increase.b)

Abiotic resources

: These are non-living resources (e.g. petrol, land, mineralsetc.) that are not able to replace themselves or do so at such a slow rate thatthey are not useful to consider them in terms of the human life times.

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Answer 2

Natural Resources are resources that can come from earth.