What are natural structures? (with examples)

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Egbert Haynes
What are natural structures? (with examples)

The natural structures They are diverse creations and formations that do not have the intervention of the human being in any sense. It is presumed that most natural structures have been present since before the appearance of man, therefore, they do not need their presence to exist.

Natural structures are the complete opposite of artificial structures, which were built thanks to human ingenuity and labor. Generally, artificial structures respond to various needs acquired by man, making their construction necessary for survival in today's world. An example of artificial structures are bridges, buildings, technology, among other things.

Most of the natural structures have an impressive beauty and a majesty that can only be attributed to the action of nature and its creation system..

For the formation of these structures, multiple factors play an important role, such as climate, relief, temperature and others. Each of them has the power to catalyze the appearance of natural structures.

Examples of natural structures

Whether on land or in the sea, the presence of natural structures surrounds us without our being fully aware of it.

Moutains

An example of the most common natural structures is mountains. Its formation is due to different internal and external forces, which wear down the ground and create a natural lift..

The formation of mountains and their appearance in nature began around 400 million years ago and their constitution is divided into three different periods..

The first was called Caledonian and had greater prominence in Scotland and its surroundings, having as its highest reference the peak of the mountain Ben Nevis, which has a total elevation of 1,345 m.

The second period is known as Hercynian and more or less the whole process began more than 200 years ago..

In the Hercynian, different mountains were created located on the European, Asian and American continents, especially in the north, the best known mountains and peaks at this time are the Urals and the Appalachians.

The last period is called Alpine, they are the youngest mountains, with an appearance more than 30 million years ago, they are still considered to be in formation and development.

Its name is due to the fact that the mountains formed here are located in the Alps, part of Europe and Asia, the best known are Everest, Mont Blanc and The Himalayas..

caves

As another natural structure, we have as an example the caves. Like mountains, the formation of caves is originated thanks to the erosion and natural wear of the soil, in addition, it is usually influenced by a stream of water, hail or lava..

It has been proven that most of the time, caves are formed by the presence of acid rain, generating a natural subsidence of the ground.

Inside the caves, there is always the possibility of finding great wonders and structures that can protect different animals, and even human beings..

There are many caves that can be used as tourist destinations, due to their completely natural composition. The caves have been better known in the world, thanks to their extension and depth.

Coral reefs

On the other hand, in the sea we have the natural structure of coral reefs. Being one of the largest habitats for all types of marine animals, coral reefs are formed by sodium carbonate released by corals located in the depths of the sea..

They are considered one of the most varied ecosystems on the entire planet, and can even be visualized with the help of an expert team.

It is believed that the reefs were formed a little less than 10,000 years ago, set at the same time when the ice of the "last glacial period" melted..

It should be noted that this natural structure has one of the greatest weaknesses in this area. Coral reefs are extremely sensitive to changes in sea temperatures, water pollution and, above all, the chemicals frequently used when fishing..

This is why around the world a campaign has been created in favor of the protection and care of coral reefs, trying to preserve one of the wonders that nature has given us..

Stone materials

Also, we have stone materials, considered as a natural structure because their formation comes from rocks. However, stone materials can also be manipulated by humans, automatically turning into artificial structures.

It is known that stone material is natural because its location is found in different deposits and the extracted materials can be manipulated quickly, a simple selection process is enough..

These stone materials can have and acquire different shapes and sizes. The most common are marble, glass, granite, and cement..

References

  1. Díaz, M. M., & Linares García, V. H. (2012). Natural and artificial shelters of Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in the low jungle in the Northwest of Peru.Gayana (Concepción), 76 (2), 117-130. Recovered from scielo.cl
  2. Hunter, M. (1996). Benchmarks for managing ecosystems: are human activities natural? Conservation Biology, 10 (3), 695-697. Recovered from onlinelibrary.wiley.com
  3. Knott, N. A., Underwood, A. J., Chapman, M. G., & Glasby, T. M. (2004). Epibiota on vertical and on horizontal surfaces on natural reefs and on artificial structures.Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, 84 (06), 1117-1130. Recovered from journals.cambridge.org
  4. Leroueil, S., & Vaughan, P. R. (2009). The general and congruent effects of structure in natural soils and weak rocks. InSelected papers on geotechnical engineering by PR Vaughan (pp. 235-256). Thomas Telford Publishing. Recovered from icevirtuallibrary.com
  5. Trudinger, N. S. (1983). Fully nonlinear, uniformly elliptic equations under natural structure conditions.Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, 278 (2), 751-769. Recovered from ams.org
  6. Vila, I., Montecino, V., & Muhlhauser, H. (1986). Diagnosis and evaluation of the biological potential of natural and artificial lakes of Central Chile. Environment and development, 2 (1), 127-137. Recovered from agrosuper.com
  7. Williams, R. (1979). The geometrical foundation of natural structure (pp. 230-236). New York: Dover. Recovered from cognitive-geometrics.com

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