3. Topography of Asia
We can distinguish two parts:
- In the North, there is the Siberia Plain, which is below the European Plain and the Mongolia Plateau.
- In the South, from west to east, there are the Ponto Mountains, the Zagros Mountains, Hindu Kush Mountains, the Pamir Plateau, the K2 peak of 8,611 meters, near Kabul, the Plateau of Tibet and the Himalayas Everest of 8,848 meters, the highest peak in the world
4. Answer if these natural landscapes are in the North or South:
5. The Coasts (See the map above)
They are divided into four areas:
- The Arctic Coasts are covered with ice most of the year. There are the Taimyr Peninsula, the New Siberian Islands and the Bering Strait to the east, which separates Alaska (America) from Asia.
- On the Pacific coasts there are the Kamchatka Peninsula in the North; the Ojostsk sea; the Sea of Japan and the islands of Japan; the Korean peninsula by the Yellow Sea; and the South China Sea between Indochina, the Philippines and the island of Borneo.
- On the Indian coasts three peninsulas can be distinguished: the Malacca to the east, the Hindustan Peninsula in the center and the Arabian Peninsula to the west.
- On the Mediterranean coasts there are the Anatolian peninsula (or Asia Minor) and the Black Sea, to the south of Europe.
As for the gulfs we can distinguish the Bengal to the east, the Arabian Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea to the west.
6. Indicate to which coast it refers to: the Arctic, the Pacific, the Indian or the Mediterranean.
7. Rivers and Lakes (See the map above)
Depending on where they flow, the rivers can be classified into four groups:
- The Obi, the Yenisei and the Lena rivers flow into the Arctic Ocean.
- The Amur, the Yellow (Huang Ho), the Blue (Yangtze River) and the Mekong rivers (in Indochina) flow into the Pacific Ocean.
- The Ganges, the Indus (in India) and the Tigris rivers flow into the Indian Ocean, while the Euphrates River flows into the Persian Gulf.
- The Ural River, which separates Asia from Europe, flow into the Caspian Sea.
The lakes include the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, the Balkhash and Baikal Lake.
8. Indicate where the rivers below flow into: the Arctic, the Pacific, the Indian and the Caspian.
9. Climate and vegetation
Two climate zones can be distinguished. A line that goes from the mouth of the Indus River to the mouth of the Amur River separates them. North of that line is the dry or arid Asia, while in the south there is the wet or monsoon Asia. The hot and humid winds cause heavy rains during summers.
The dry Asia of the north typically has steppe vegetation, although near Siberia there is glacial climate with mosses and lichens.
The humid Asia of the south has great forests appear, due to the monsoon, and typically has a tropical climate.
®Arturo Ramo García.-Record of intellectual property of Teruel (Spain)
No 141, of 29-IX-1999
