Paragraph on “Below The Earth’s Crust” complete paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 11 and Class 12

Below The Earth’s Crust

Hidden below the Earth’s crust is a wealth of minerals and resources, some of the most important ones include Iron, Coal, Crude petroleum, gold, Silver etc. These have become essentials for us and day to day life would not be possible without them. As an example we have been using coal for ages as a fuel and many other minerals for various purposes, accordingly it would be interesting to find out how these are extracted from below the Earth and made available to us. In the olden days men dug into the ground and created tunnels which eventually led them to the layers of the Earth where the minerals were located. These layers were then cut with pick axes and the coal transported back in hand carts and finally lifted out in baskets or containers. The process of extracting minerals like coal and iron from the Earth has changed substantially today. Samples of soil are today extracted and tested in laboratories and the mineral content checked. Tunnels are dug or open pit mining is initiated depending upon the depth at which the mineral is located. Tunnels are dug into the ground to reach the desired depth and these are ventilated with the help of pumps located above which pump fresh air into the mine shafts and suck out stale air. Miners are better equipped with tools which include electric cutting drills. The extracted minerals are transported through the network of tunnels on conveyer belts or electrically powered trains and are finally lifted to the surface with the help of lifts and shuttle cars. From here the minerals are automatically loaded into freight trains or trucks for transportation. Unlike solids, Oil is extracted in a different manner, as a first step oil is located with the help of soil surveys. Once located huge drills bore into the ground till they reach the oil strata, it is then pumped out and transported to processing plants where the various petroleum products are extracted from it.