54. Describe the mineral wealth of the usa.

MINERALS

Mitsui USA specializes in the mining, distribution and recycling of iron ore, aluminum, copper, nickel, cobalt, titanium, manganese, petroleum coke, direct reduced iron, etc., as well as recycling of e-waste and municipal recyclables.

With major producing fields in Alaska, California, the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, the United States is one of the world’s leading producers of refined petroleum and has important reserves of natural gas. It is also among the world’s coal exporters. Recoverable coal deposits are concentrated largely in the Appalachian Mountains and in Wyoming. Nearly half the bituminous coal is mined in West Virginia and Kentucky, while Pennsylvania produces the country’s only anthracite. Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio also produce coal.

Iron ore is mined predominantly in Minnesota and Michigan. The United States also has important reserves of copper, magnesium, lead, and zinc. Copper production is concentrated in the mountainous western states of Arizona, Utah, Montana, Nevada, and New Mexico. Zinc is mined in Tennessee, Missouri, Idaho, and New York. Lead mining is concentrated in Missouri. Other metals mined in the United States are gold, silver, molybdenum, manganese, tungsten, bauxite, uranium, vanadium, and nickel. Important nonmetallic minerals produced are phosphates, potash, sulfur, stone, and clays.

55. Describe the coasts and relief of the usa.

Highlands and lowlands of the USA

There are two highland and two lowland regions in the continental part of the USA.

The Appalachian Mountains, the Rocky Mountains (which are called the "backbone" of the continent), Sierra Nevada in the west and the Cordilleras in the east form the highland region of the country. The Rocky Mountains house a lot of national parks.

The highest peak in the USA is in Alaska. It is called Mount McKinley and it is 6,000 metres high.

Western mountains are much higher than eastern ones. The two central lowlands that are between two highland regions are called the prairie and the Mississippi Valley.

The prairie is an area covered with grass. It lies to the west of the Mississippi.

56. Give short information about the nature: vegetation and wildlife. National parks of the usa.

Vegetation

At the time European settlement began, about 50 per cent of the United States was covered by forests; today, the figure is about 30 per cent. Similarly, grasslands and other natural vegetative cover decreased in extent as the continent was settled.

Northern Alaska, the northernmost part of the United States, is characterized by a windswept tundra, a region of lichens, mosses, hardy low shrubs, and flowering plants. Inland and to the south, the growing season lengthens and certain trees can survive. A few species of conifers, notably spruces and firs, dominate a vast evergreen forest, interspersed with lichen-covered rocky areas, grassy swamps, and aspen-choked fire scars. This forest, known as the taiga, stretches south-east from interior Alaska and reaches into northern New England and the Great Lakes region. South of the taiga the growing season is longer and more tree species can survive; the forest contains both conifer and deciduous trees, including pines, maples, elms, birches, oaks, hickory, beech, and sycamore. This type of mixed forest covered the region around the Great Lakes and most of the New England and Middle Atlantic states when European settlers arrived.

Wildlife

In the Arctic areas and regions of mountain tundra are found burrowing marmots, ground squirrels, cold-water fish such as grayling and trout, and an occasional bear. Alaskan coastal waters are the habitat of a number of large mammals, including walrus and fur seals. Caribou and wapiti spend summers on the tundra but migrate into the conifer forest for winter. The hardwood forests of the eastern United States contain elk, black bears, deer, foxes, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, and a diversity of small birds. Along the Gulf of Mexico coast live larger and more colourful birds such as pelicans, flamingos, and green kingfishers; as well as alligators and warm-water fish such as catfish. Several varieties of venomous snakes are also found there.

National parks

The United States has 59 protected areas,known as national parks, which are operated by the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior. National parks must be established by an act of the United States Congress. The first national park, Yellowstone, was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, followed by Mackinac National Park in 1875 (decommissioned in 1895), and then Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890. The Organic Act of 1916 created the National Park Service "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."[1] Many current National Parks had been previously protected as National Monuments by the President under the Antiquities Act before being upgraded by Congress. Seven national parks (six in Alaska) are paired with a National Preserve. While administered together, they are considered as separate units and their areas are not included in the figures below. The newest national park is Pinnacles National Park, upgraded in 2013.

Criteria for the selection of National Parks include natural beauty, unique geological features, unusual ecosystems, and recreational opportunities (though these criteria are not always considered together). National Monuments, on the other hand, are frequently chosen for their historical or archaeological significance.

Twenty-seven states have national parks, as do the territories of American Samoa and the United States Virgin Islands. California has the most (nine), followed by Alaska (eight), Utah (five), and Colorado (four). The largest national park is Wrangell–St. Elias in Alaska: at over 8 million acres (32,000 km2), it is larger than each of the nine smallest states. The next three largest parks are also in Alaska. The smallest park is Hot Springs, Arkansas, at less than 6 thousand acres (24 km2). The total area protected by national parks is approximately 51.9 million acres (210,000 km2), for an average of 895 thousand acres (3,620 km2) but a median of only 317 thousand acres (1,280 km2).The most-visited national park is Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee, with over nine million visitors in 2011, followed by Arizona's Grand Canyon, with over four million. In contrast, only 5,227 people visited the remote Lake Clark in Alaska in the same year.Fourteen national parks are designated World Heritage Sites.