Water power
Europe has great potential of waterpower in its many mountain torrents and great rivers. Much of it has already been harnessed. The rivers of the Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians, Apennines, Scandinavian mountains, Spanish plateau, Central France and many others in the Balkan region and Greece have power generating plants on them. Russia and Ukraine have built great dams on their rivers to generate hydroelectricity in vast amounts.
Europe has thus developed its power resources to meet the needs of its industry-the secret of its property.
Minerals and power
Europe is rich in minerals, especially coal iron. Europe has very little gold but is rich in lead and zinc of which Belgium, France, Poland, Spain and Germany Produce considerable quantities. Aluminum is produced in large quantizes in Germany, France, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, the United Kingdom, Russia and Italy. Europe also produces Sulphar and potash.
Iron –ore
Ukraine, Russia, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain, Germany, France and Belgium are great iron –ore producing countries. These countries are also the great producers of iron and steel.
Coal
The coalfields of Europe are fortunately very near its iron mines. Coalfields are mainly situated in the central plains and in the United Kingdom, where a series of coalfields are found on both sides of the Pennine Mountains. On the main land, a chain of coalfields extends from. North –eastern France into Belgium and on to Germany. Further southwards and eastwards are the coalfields of Saar and Saxony in Germany. In Poland, there are the large coalfields of Silesia. Ukraine has very large coalfields in the Donetsk basin. Russian has the Tula field near Moscow. There are many smaller coalfields elsewhere such as in Spain, central France and Hungary. Europe also leads in the production of lignite, a brown inferior variety of coal.
Petroleum and natural Gas
Oil is found in Europe in the North Sea oilfields of UK and Romanian and Russia. Oil occurs on the flanks of the Carpathian Mountains where it is obtained from the Polesti fields of Romania.
Some smaller quantities of oil are also found in farmer Yugoslavia, Germany, Austria, France and Netherlands. Natural gas is obtained from the gas field of Germany and Netherlands in large quantities.
Huge fields of oil occur in Baku, Groznyy, Maikop and Cuban regions in Russia. These are the oldest European fields and yield considerable quantities of oil and natural gas. To day, Volga –Urals is by far the most important oilfield of Russia. This field is centered on perm and Kuybyshev. Russia is still a great producing country in the world.