Russia and Central Asia

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Russia and Central Asia

• Physical Geography

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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.

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The Land
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The Land

• The five countries in Central Asia are
• A. Kazakhstan
• B. Uzbekistan
• C. Turkmenistan
• D. Tajikistan
• E. Krygyzstan

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The Land
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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.

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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.

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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.
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The Land
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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 doesnt present a
  serious problem to people at the moment.

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The Ring of Fire
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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.

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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.

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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 worlds largest body of enclosed water.
  Large reserves of oil have been found on the
  bottom of the lake.

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Caspian Sea
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Caspian Sea
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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.

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Bodies of Water
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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

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Bodies of Water
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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.

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Climate and Vegetation
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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.

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Taiga
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Tundra
http//www.blueplanetbiomes.org
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Steppe