Vocabulary

Natural Resource - any biological or geological material that can be used for some form of benefit

Renewable Resource - a resource that can be replenished or recycled easily (replaced faster than used)

Non-Renewable Resource - natural resource that cannot be readily replaced by natural means at a pace quick enough to keep up with consumption (used faster than replaced)

Fossil Fuel -  resource used for energy that is created by the fossilized remains of plants and/or animals (coal, natural gas, oil, etc.)

Groundwater - the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations

Aquifer - a body of permeable rock which can contain groundwater

​Resource Distribution

​Resources are distributed unevenly around the world because of how they are formed or where they come from. Then they are slowly moved around with the plates as they move.

- Gold is a heavy metal typically found deep in the earth. It's usually found in areas where volcanic activity was able to bring it up closer to the surface

- Fossil fuels were formed when organisms from the past (over 200 million years ago) had died and their remains left inside of rock. They formed in places that were heavy in plant and animal life (tropical areas in the past). The biomass (remains of the organisms) became buried deep in the ground where heat and pressure caused them to form fossil fuels.

Rainwater has the ability to go through the small pores and cracks within the soil and can be stored inside aquifers underground. This is where we get most of our drinking water. When water fills all the space of an area it is "saturated" while spaces that have gaps without water would be "unsaturated." The "water table" is where the saturated zone and unsaturated zone meet. If you dig all the way down to the saturated zone, you will find a supply of water. As water is pumped out, the water table lowers.