1. © T. M. Whitmore Today South Asia - Huge & Complex region  India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan  Bangladesh, Pakistan Environment

2. © T. M. Whitmore Last time – Questions? East Asia continued  Hong Kong (a special case of China)  Japan  Korea  Taiwan (Formosa)

3. © T. M. Whitmore S AsiaS Asia: Regions Barriers Regions  Himalayas & foothills Himalayas  Tectonic landscapes Tectonic  Deserts Deserts  The Great River valleysGreat River valleys  The Deccan PlateauDeccan  Coastal & southern lowlandslowlands

5. Indus Ganges Brahmaputra E. Ghats Deccan Plateau W. Ghats Indus Ganges Indus Ganges Indus Ganges IndusBrahmaputra Ganges Indus Natural mountain barriers Thar Desert

6. The Himalayas

10. Himalayan Foothills

14. © T. M. Whitmore Tectonic Landscapes Indian plate collision with Eurasian plate Indian plate collision with Eurasian plate  Himalaya (and other( Mountain barriers to the N and W  => severe earthquake hazard  Oct. 2005 Pakistan Earthquake

16. Oct.. 2005 7.6 quake

17. N

23. W. Ghats E. Ghats Deccan Plateau

24. The Deccan Plateau

25. W Ghats

29. The Southern Lowlands

33. © T. M. Whitmore Deserts West of Indus R. valley Thar or Great Indian

36. The Thar Desert

37. Copyright 2005 All Enthusiast, Inc.

39. © T. M. Whitmore Great River Valleys Great River valleys  Indus  Ganges, Gangetic plain Ganges  Brahmaputra & the delta (Bangladesh) Brahmaputra Valley population concentration

40. Indus Ganges Brahmaputra

41. © T. M. Whitmore The Gangetic Plain

42. © T. M. Whitmore

45. Indus Ganges Brahmaputra

46. Bangladesh

49. © T. M. Whitmore Climatic regions Dry and semi-arid in W Rainfall variable with elevation, aspect, location, and season Hot tropical and semi-tropical Seasonal progression of temperatures

50. © T. M. Whitmore Monsoon The “monsoon” is the summer rainfall regime in most of S Asia and SE Asia The “monsoon”  A system of alternating-direction winds  Gives rise to “seasons” wet & dry

51. Calicut in the W Ghats

52. Dominant Wind Patterns in the Winter (October to April) – Dry Season H (Cold) L (Warm) Monsoon Region

53. Dominant Wind Patterns in the Summer (April to October) – Wet Season H (Cold) L (Warm) Monsoon Region

56. Average Annual Precipitations (in millimeters) Monsoon east Dry continental Gobi Desert Ganges Delta Borneo Raining every day with no dry season Mawsynram, India (467” of rain per year; 11860 mm). Most precipitation on earth

57. Monthly precipitation (mm)

59. © Pearson Education – Prentice Hall

60. © T. M. Whitmore Environmental hazards Tectonic (mentioned already) Climatic  Variable monsoons (too little & too much rain) monsoon  Tropical cyclones (like our hurricanes) Tropical cyclones  Huge populations live in low lying areas (subject to flooding) Huge populations live in low lying areas Human induced  Deforestation & Desertification Deforestation  Salinization Salinization Global climate change

61. Variation in the monsoon Increased variability

63. > 13 m

64. 1999 floods in Bangledesh: Dieter Ludwig/Sipa

65. Bangladesh

68. In 1991 over 100,000 were killed in a single storm; 300,000 killed by a single storm in 1970. Tropical Cyclones (hurricanes)

71. Cyclone Sidr Category 4

72. Cyclone Sidr Category 4 11/15/07

73. > 13 m

74. (Mumbai (Bombay)) >21m > 7m > 15 m

75. > 13 m

77. Chipko movement activists

79. Salinization, caused by salty irrigation water Salinization, caused by high water table

81. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/science/earth/03clim.html?ex=1176436800&en=0fbed4c342b8f550&ei=5070