Chapter 14 Physical Geography Russia and the Republics

Chapter 15 Section 1 I. Northern Landforms- –a. Nearly 1/6 of the Earth’s land surface. Over 8 ½ million square miles. –A. Northern European Plains-stretches for over 1,000 miles from Western Russia to the Urals. 1. Chernozem-one of the Earth’s most fertile soils (black earth) is abundant on this plain. 2. Most of region’s agriculture takes place here.

Nearly 75% of the region’s 290 million people live on this plain- St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kiev.

Others call region one continent- Eurasia. 3. Because the plain tilts northward, rivers flow toward the Arctic Ocean. 4. Plain lies between the Urals and the Yenisey River and between the Arctic and the Altay Mountains.

Plains Ural Mountains- dividing line between Europe and Asia It separate the Northern European and West Siberian plains

15-1 C. Central Siberian Plateau and Russian Far East- Extensive plains east of the Yenisey River. 1. Uplands and mountains are dominant landforms. 2. High Plateaus with an average of 1,000 to 2,000 feet. 3. East of the Lena River is the Far East of Russia. a. Kamchatka Peninsula-contains 120 volcanoes, 20 of which are active.

15-1 b. Sakhalin and Kuril Islands south of Kamchatka-Russia seized these Islands after WWII from Japan. II.Southern Landforms A. Caucasus Mountains and other mountains-stretch across land that separates the Black and Caspian Seas. 1. Forms the border between Russia and Transcaucasia-a region that consists of ; Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Some of these mountains are located along boundary of Central Asia-Kyrgyzstan, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. a. Ranges are so high that they prevent moist air from entering the region from the south, contributing to the arid climate of Central Asia.

15-1 B. The Turan Plain -extensive lowland, lies between the Caspian Sea and Central Asia. –1. Has two large rivers-Syr Darya and Amu Darya- –2. Much of this lowland is very dry-Kara Kum(black desert) and Kryzyl Kum (red sand desert).

15-1 III. Rivers and Lakes-Has some of the world’s longest rivers. –A. Arctic Basin is the region’s largest drainage basin –Ob, Yenisey and Lena Rivers flow into this basin and cover more than 3 million sq. miles. –B. Volga River-Europe’s longest river, drains the Caspian Sea Basin. Starts near Moscow and flows south for 2,300 miles.

15-1 C. Lakes- –1. Caspian Sea-saltwater lake- =750 miles from north to south- world’s largest inland sea. –2. Aral Sea-saltwater lake-Has lost 80 percent of its water since the 60s due to irrigation of rivers that feed the lake. Could disappear in years.

Lake Baikal-Deepest lake in the world-Crown Jewel of Russia’s lakes. Stretches for 400 miles, holds 20 percent of the world’s fresh water.

15-1 IV. Regional Resources- –A. Abundant Resources-huge reserves or coal, iron ore. 1. Oil and natural gas 2. Petroleum-near Caspian 3. Vast forests supply 1/5 th of the world’s timber 4. Rivers make Russia one of the world’s largest producers of hydroelectric power.

15-1 B. Resource Management-Harsh climate and rugged terrain make the distribution of resources difficult. –1. Siberia-part of Russia that lies in Asia. Businesses find it difficult to attract workers to this region.

Question What is thermal Pollution? Explain this process in 4-5 sentences

15-2 Climate and Vegetation I. Climate of Extremes-Russia and the Republics has some very cold climates as well as subtropical and semiarid climates. A. Major Climate Regions –1. Humid Continental-much of Russia- from Baltic states, Ukraine and Belarus to Siberia. –2. Subarctic-Biggest climate zone of Russia-stretches from Finland to West coast of Russia(Siberia) –Continentality-effect of vast distance on climate caused by the fact that much of this region is located hundreds of miles away from the moderating influence of the sea

Semiarid-southwestern Russia and the Caucasus region. 4. Desert-Area east of the Caspian Sea and around the Aral Sea. 5. Tundra-Northern extremes of Russia.

15-2 II. Vegetation Regions –A. Tundra-fall mostly in the arctic-mosses, lichens, small herbs and shrubs. –B. Forest-largest forest on earth south of the tundra.-Taiga-mostly coniferous trees. Many fur bearing animals such as sable, fox and ermines.

15-2 C. Steppe-Extends from Ukraine east through Kazakhstan to the Altay Mountains. Chernozem soil found in this region. Major source of grain for Russia and the Republics. D. Desert-Kara Kum-most of Turkmenistan and Kyzyl Kum- western Uzbekistan.

15-3 Human-Environment Interaction I. The Shrinking Aral Sea-lost 80 percent of water since 60s. A. Receives most of its waters from two rivers-Amu Darya and Syr Darya. In the 1950s officials began to take large amounts of water from these rivers to irrigate the cotton fields of Central Asia. –1. Kara Kum Canal project as well as others slowed water flowing into the sea to a trickle.

15-3 B. Effects of Agriculture –1. Runoff-rainfall not absorbed by the soil flowing into the Aral Sea killed 24 species of fish in the two rivers when it contained pesticides. A. Retreating waters of the Aral exposed pesticides, fertilizers as well as salt. Windstorms deposited these elements on the nearby population causing pollution-leading to disease and an increase in throat cancer, dysentery, typhoid and hepatitis. Child mortality rate is the highest in the world.

15-3 III. The Russian Winter A. Coping in Siberia-32 million people make their home here. In Verkhonaysk, temperatures range from –90F in the winter to 94F in the summer. Ground is frozen hard in parts of Siberia due to permafrost. B.War and “General Winter” Napoleon reached Moscow only to be forced to retreat with the onset of winter and the burning of Moscow. 90,000 of Napoleon’s 100,000 troops died on the retreat though the Russian winter back to France.

Operation Barbarossa-Hitler’s invasion of Russia faltered less than 40 miles from Moscow with the onset of winter. German invasion of Russia failed as a result when several hundred thousand Russian reserve troops were brought up to Moscow from Siberia.

15-3 B. Crossing the Wild East –1. Tran-Siberian Railroad-linked Moscow to the Siberian port of Vladivostok. A miles, ,000 workers moved 77 million cubic feet of earth, cleared 100,000 acres of forest and built bridges over major rivers.