Russia and Central Asia

Physical Geography

The Land

Russia is a large country that is located in Europe and Asia. Russia is so long that it spans 11 time zones.

The dividing line between Europe and Asia is the Ural Mountains.

The Land

The Land

The five countries in Central Asia are:

A. Kazakhstan

B. Uzbekistan

C. Turkmenistan

D. Tajikistan

E. Krygyzstan

The Land

The Land

The part of Russia located in Asia is called Siberia. This area is isolated, sparsely populated, and extremely cold in the winter time.

The Land

The Northern European Plain extends into Western Russia. This area has a type of fertile soil called chernozem. Chernozem means black earth and the soil is dark in color.

The Land

Comparison of arable land

The United States 173,450

India 160,519

China 142,615

Russia 122,559* unit in thousands of hectares

Arable land is land that can be used for farming.

The Land

The Land

The Kamchatka Peninsula in Eastern Siberia is located on the Ring of Fire. This area has a high concentration of volcanoes, however, due to the low population density it doesn’t present a serious problem to people at the moment.

The Ring of Fire

The Mountains

The Urals are the longest mountain range in Russia.

The Caucasus Mountains run from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea and they generally divide Russia from Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Bodies of Water

Russia has many long rivers such as the Volga, Ob, and Amur.

The Amur River forms part of the border between Russia and China.

Some rivers flow northward to the Arctic Ocean.

Bodies of Water

Lake Baikal is located in Siberia and it is the deepest fresh water lake in the world.

The Caspian Sea is divided between Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan. It is the world’s largest body of enclosed water. Large reserves of oil have been found on the bottom of the lake.

Caspian Sea

Caspian Sea

Bodies of Water

The Aral Sea is located in Central Asia between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Since the 1960s it has been shrinking due to over irrigation. It is now 20% of its original size. The Soviets used the diverted water to irrigate cotton fields.

Bodies of Water

Bodies of Water

The shrinking of the Aral Sea has caused:

A. The collapse of the local fishing industry

B. Increase in pollution due to fertilizer run off, pesticides, and industrial waste

C. Increase in respiratory illnesses in the region

Bodies of Water

Climate and Vegetation

Russia is in the middle and high latitudes but it is not warmed by ocean currents and wind currents like Europe so it is much colder. Western Russia has a humid continental climate zone but most of Siberia has a subarctic climate zone. The northern part of Russia is tundra.

Climate and Vegetation

Climate and Vegetation

Tundra has short grasses, lichens, mosses, small shrubs, and flowers in the summer time but underneath the tundra there is permafrost (permanently frozen subsoil).

The subarctic region of Siberia has a large coniferous forest called Taiga.

Central Asia is covered in temperate grassland called steppe.

Taiga

Tundra

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org

Steppe