[opportunity (OP)]

Always thought about this one.

Can one find a resource anywhere, why not, and why are certain regions more abundant......of course not based on historical efforts, but pure science of Earth geology, or...maybe both considerations...any ideas?

[The Spoon]

Always thought about this one.

Can one find a resource anywhere, why not, and why are certain regions more abundant......of course not based on historical efforts, but pure science of Earth geology, or...maybe both considerations...any ideas?

Mineral resources and their location are very much dependent on localised geology. For example, coal is present where swamps were formerly located  which formed peat and  then became compressed by the weight of the overlying rocks ultimately forming coal. Other minerals are associated with different geological features, for example zeolites are associated with subduction zones, whilst metallic ores may be formed by hydrothermal processes concentrating them locally. Whilst small amounts of a specific metal may be fairly widespread, the key is whether it is present in a concentration that makes it economic to recover.

[opportunity (OP)]

That's fine, but swamps would have been everywhere, right?

[The Spoon]

That's fine, but swamps would have been everywhere, right?

No more than they are today. For example, Carboniferous strata in south Wales and parts of Bristol as well as elsewhere yield coal (clue is in the name) indicating tropical swamps dominated in these areas. However, if you go a little to the south of Bristol to the Mendips, you have strata from the Carboniferous era but here it is limestone indicating that shallow, tropical seas were present. Also in this limestone, lead minerals are present which have been mined since Roman times. Another key aspect where swamps were present is what happened after they were laid down - for example erosional processes or glacial activity may have removed them which is why you may get rocks outcropping that are older than those of the Carboniferous era.

[Bored chemist]

A good part of the reason why South Africa is one of the continent's richest countries is the gold reserves there.
Their diamond mines also help.

There are some minerals whose  geographical distribution is so uneven as to provoke conflict.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantalum#Status_as_a_conflict_resource

[opportunity (OP)]

Agreed about the conflict, and the distribution that promotes such.

Societies as cultures generally adapt to their exclusive environments though, over time. That's another long discussion. Yet in brief, if one region of nature and society has a certain natural commodity, and another has another, there exists the concept of trade. Clearly when one society uses all its resources up then the focus is on trade, getting out of their bubble, and producing for other societies what those other societies don't have, leading to a global trading community. Am I right with that?

[The Spoon]

Agreed about the conflict, and the distribution that promotes such.

Societies as cultures generally adapt to their exclusive environments though, over time. That's another long discussion. Yet in brief, if one region of nature and society has a certain natural commodity, and another has another, there exists the concept of trade. Clearly when one society uses all its resources up then the focus is on trade, getting out of their bubble, and producing for other societies what those other societies don't have, leading to a global trading community. Am I right with that?

I think you are broadly. For example, coal is no longer considered economical to extract on a large scale in the UK so we import it from other countries. The Romans also used to buy tin from Cornwall as they had no readily accessible supplies that were readily available at the time. Economics then plays a big part and trade is part of this. One country may have a resource which is plentiful but lacking elsewhere so they trade it and buy in commodities that may be scarce in their part of the world.

[Bored chemist]

For example, coal is no longer considered economical to extract on a large scale in the UK so we import it from other countries.

That was a Right-wing political decision, not an economic one.
Ironically, it may have accidentally been a good one on the basis of environmental concerns.