Page 133 - SST Class 08

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Natural Resources —

Land Resources

Land is a natural resource of utmost importance. for agriculture or construction of houses as
We live on land, it supports natural vegetation such. Further on steep slopes soil erosion
and wild life. We perform our economic activities occurs rapidly.
on land and use it in different ways to fulfill our
needs. Land is limited in size. It covers about
30% of the total area of the earth’s surface. Out
of this 30%, 90% of the world population occu-
pies only 30% of the land area. The rest of the
land is either sparsely populated or not inhab-
ited.

The more a country is able to locate and use the raw
materials, the more the industrialisation of that
country, area, etc. develops. Steep Slopes
4. Human Factors : Human factors such as
Before describing these various uses of land, let
construction of roads, railways, laying lines
us first study the factors that influence land use.
of communication, cultivating land for
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LAND USE
agricultural purposes, overcoming climate
1. Physical Features : Physical features of
barriers, economic well-being and technol-
the land greatly influence land use. Relief
ogy that humans possess and other similar
like presence of mountains, plateaus, river,
human innovations have become the most
slope of the land influence forest cover,
dominating factor in land use. People have
human habitation and hence put a limit on
now started living in great numbers in the
land use.
snow bound and cold areas of Siberia or
2. Nature of Rocks : Nature of rocks like deep inside deserts like Kuwait. Prairie
sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic regions of America and Canada were also
rocks determine availability of minerals, developed as a result of human efforts.
soils, etc. in the area. Soils are also derived
LAND-USE
from weathering or breakdown of rocks.
The surface of the land is not uniform in height
Therefore, rocks influence the type and
or appearance over large areas of mountains,
degree of land use.
plateaus and plains. Landforms differ in size and
3. Slope : Humans have generally preferred shape from place to place. They even change
gentle slopes for habitation as well as with the passage of time. Sudden changes are
agriculture. Steep slopes are not favourable
brought about by earthquakes or volcanic

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