The Main Ideas of Geography of Continents and Oceans. What must you know?

The greater part of the Earth’s surface is occupied by oceans, the smaller – by land. The total surface area of the Earth is 510 million sq km. The area of the land is 149 million sq km, which is only 29% of the surface of the globe. There are 6 Parts of the World There are 6 Continents Africa Australia Antarctica America Europe Asia Africa Australia Antarctica North America South America Eurasia

The oceans are linked and are really but one great ocean called the world ocean. There are five oceans on the globe: the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Arctic Ocean and the Southern Ocean. Large landmasses, surrounded by oceans and seas are called main lands or continents. The largest continent is Eurasia. The largest ocean is the Pacific Ocean. The warmest ocean is the Indian Ocean. The smallest and the coldest ocean is the Arctic Ocean.

Maps are divided By scope of the territory Maps of the world and hemispheres Maps of the separate continents Maps of the parts of the continents Topographical maps By contains All geographical maps Special maps Complex maps By scale Large scale maps Medium scale maps Small scale maps

The History of Maps. The first primitive drawings looking like maps appeared long before people learned to write. Archeologists still find them on the walls of the caves, mammoth tusks and wooden tables. The most ancient pictures of areas were made thousand years ago.

Cartography as a science appeared in ancient Greece. In the III century BC a famous mathematician and geographer Eratosthenes counted the length of the circumference of the Globe at the meridian. He made up the map of dry land known in those times and showed meridians and parallels on it. Another mathematician, astronomer and cartographer Claudius Ptolemy, who lived in Alexandria in the II century AD, made a book called “The Guide in Geography”. The book determined the development of cartography until the XV century.

Lithosphere. Lithosphere is an outer layer of the earth crust 10 or 100 km deep, ¼ of which forms land and ¾ - form oceanic bottom. It consists of 13 blocks, seven of which are very large. These blocks include the earth crust of the continents and oceans. Deep rifts separate the blocks from one another. In the places, where continental blocks come together, there are mountains. The blocks can move 1-6 sm a year. The movement of the blocks is connected with the movement of the mantle of the earth. Between the blocks of lithosphere there are active volcanoes and the earthquakes are frequent. These regions are called seismic belts.

Relief of the Earth. Large territories of the dry land and oceanic cavities, vast plains and mountain ranges form an unusual surface of the Earth, different in size. Roughness of the Earth’s surface, which differs, origin, and age, is called the relief. The largest forms of the relief on the Earth are continents and oceanic bottom. We distinguish two forms of relief on the continents: plains and mountains, and on the oceanic bottom – plains, mountains and oceanic cavities. The disposition of them depends on peculiarities of the earth crust. The earth crust consists of three layers (sedimentary, granitic and basaltic) on the continent and two layers (sedimentary and basaltic) on the oceanic bottom.

Climate. One of the main components of nature is climate. Climate is the total sum of weather during the period of years. The elements of climate are: temperature, rainfalls, atmospheric pressure and winds. There are four reasons, which influence climate: geographical position; relief; oceanic currents; circulation of atmosphere. All the elements of climate are different in different parts of the globe. It depends on the belts of atmospheric pressure. There are three belts of low pressure and four belts of high pressure. The belts of atmospheric pressure form as the result of the distribution of sun warmth on the surface of the Earth and the influence of the rotation of the sun round its axis.

Air Masses. Air masses are large scopes of air of troposphere with the same qualities. There are four types of air masses on the Earth: equatorial; tropical; temperate; arctic and antarctic. While moving the air masses conserve their qualities and determine the weather of the places they come to. The predominant winds depend on the disposition of the belts of the atmospheric pressure. There are trade winds and west wind. They are constant. Monsoons are the winds of season character. The belts of pressure and air masses can move. The system of large air currents we call circulation of atmosphere.

There are 13 climatic belts. They have different temperature conditions and air masses. MainTransitional Equatorial 2 Tropical 2 Temperate Arctic Antarctic Subequatorial 2 Subtropical Subarctic Subantarctic

Natural complex. Natural complex is a plot of the surface of the Earth, which differs with peculiarities of natural components. All the natural components are connected with each other. If we change one of them, the other changes too. The difference of natural complexes depends on mountain systems, relief and climate. Natural complex can be large or small. Continents are the largest natural complexes on the dry land. Natural complexes form in the oceans too. They consist of the following components: water with soluble gases, plants, animals, rocks and the relief of the bottom. The world ocean is a huge natural complex. We can also find other natural complexes: oceans, seas, bays, straits, rivers, lakes and so on. There are many natural complexes both in the oceans and on the dry land. Natural complexes on the dry land and in the oceans change in different directions: from the north to the south, from the coastlines far into the land, from the foot of the mountain to its top. It depends on climate, the structure of the earth crust, peculiarities of water masses and other reasons, which influence on the formation of natural complexes.

Natural zone is a large natural complex, which has common temperature conditions, moisture, soils, vegetation and animal world. Natural zones are on the dry land and in the oceans too. Natural zones on the continent Arctic deserts Tundra and forest–tundra Taiga Mixed and deciduous forests Steppes and forest-steppes Deserts and semi-deserts Savannahs and rare forests Tough evergreen forests and shrubs Monsoon forests Wet evergreen forests High altitude zone Natural belts of the World Ocean North pole North sub pole North temperate North subtropical North tropical Equatorial South tropical South subtropical South temperate South sub pole South pole High Altitude Zone. We can see the changing of natural zones not only on the continents and oceans, but in the mountains as well. Temperature, pressure and rainfalls change on the height over the sea level. We can find different natural belts in the mountains.

Are you sure you know it? the continents of the globe the parts of the world. the total area of the dry land the total area of the Earth the geographical maps by scope of the territory. the geographical maps by contains lithosphere the relief climate the elements of climate air masses all the kinds of air masses all the main climatic belts all the transitional climatic belts natural complex the components of natural complex of the dry land natural belts of the world ocean natural zones of the dry land