Russia and Central Asia
Physical Geography
The Land
Russia is the largest country on earth. 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 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 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
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