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Desert Zhizhou Car Rental, Jumin Road, Alxa Right Banner, Alxa League, Inner Mongolia, China

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Desert Zhizhou Car Rental, Jumin Road, Alxa Right Banner, Alxa League, Inner Mongolia, China

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Desert Zhizhou Car Rental, Jumin Road, Alxa Right Banner, Alxa League, Inner Mongolia, China

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known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent. The nuclear dates of the civilization appear to be about 2500–1700 BCE, though the southern sites may have lasted later into the 2nd millennium BCE
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Indus civilization, the earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent. The nuclear dates of the civilization appear to be about 2500-1700 bce, though the southern sites may have lasted later into the 2nd millennium bce. Among the world's three earliest civilizations-the other two are those of Mesopotamia and Egypt -the Indus civilization was the most extensive.

The recovery and study of the Indus civilization

The civilization was first identified in 1921 at Harappa in the Punjab region and then in 1922 at Mohenjo-daro (Mohenjodaro), near the Indus River in the Sindh (Sind) region. Both sites are in present-day Pakistan, in Punjab and Sindh provinces, respectively. The ruins of Mohenjo-daro were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1980.

Subsequently, vestiges of the civilization were found as far apart as Sutkagen Dor in southwestern Balochistan province, Pakistan, near the shore of the Arabian Sea, about 300 miles (480 km) west of Karachi; and at Ropar (or Rupar), in eastern Punjab state, northwestern India, at the foot of the Shimla Hills some 1,000 miles (1,600 km) northeast of Sutkagen Dor. Later exploration established its existence southward down the west coast of India as far as the Gulf of Khambhat (Cambay), 500 miles (800 km) southeast of Karachi, and as far east as the Yamuna (Jumna) River basin, 30 miles (50 km) north of Delhi. It is thus decidedly the most extensive of the world's three earliest civilizations, even though Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations both began somewhat before it.

The Indus civilization is known to have consisted of two large cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, and more than 100 towns and villages, often of relatively small size. The two cities were each perhaps originally about 1 mile (1.6 km) square in overall dimensions, and their outstanding magnitude suggests political centralization, either in two large states or in a single great empire with alternative capitals, a practice having analogies in Indian history. It is also possible that Harappa succeeded Mohenjo-daro, which is known to have been devastated more than once by exceptional floods. The population was estimated to be 23,500-35,000 in Harappa and 35,000-41,250 in Mohenjo-daro. The southern region of the civilization, on the Kathiawar Peninsula and beyond, appears to be of later origin than the major Indus sites.

The Indus civilization apparently evolved from the villages of neighbours or predecessors, using the Mesopotamian model of irrigated agriculture with sufficient skill to reap the advantages of the spacious and fertile Indus River valley while controlling the formidable annual flood that simultaneously fertilizes and destroys. Having obtained a secure foothold on the plain and mastered its more immediate problems, the new civilization, doubtless with a well-nourished and increasing population, would find expansion along the flanks of the great waterways an inevitable sequel. The civilization subsisted primarily by farming, supplemented by an appreciable but often elusive commerce. Wheat and six-row barley were grown; field peas, mustard, sesame, and a few date stones have also been found, as well as some of the earliest known traces of cotton. Domesticated animals included dogs and cats, humped and shorthorn cattle, domestic fowl, and possibly pigs, camels, and buffalo. The Asian elephant probably was also domesticated, and its ivory tusks were freely used.

Society and political system

Despite a growing body of archaeological evidence, the social and political structures of the Indus "state" remain objects of conjecture. The apparent craft specialization and localized craft groupings at Mohenjo-daro, along with the great divergence in house types and size, point toward some degree of social stratification. Trade was extensive and apparently well-regulated, providing imported raw materials for use at internal production centres, distributing finished goods throughout the region, and arguably culminating in the establishment of Harappan "colonies" in both Mesopotamia and Badakhshan. The remarkable uniformity of weights and measures throughout the Indus lands, as well as the development of such presumably civic works as the great granaries, implies a strong degree of political and administrative control over a wide area. Further, the widespread occurrence of inscriptions in the Harappan script almost certainly indicates the use of a single lingua franca. Nevertheless, in the absence of inscriptions that can be read and interpreted, it is inevitable that far less is known of these aspects of the Indus civilization than those of contemporaneous Mesopotamia.

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Indus civilization | History, Location, Map, Artifacts, Language, & Facts

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Indus civilization, the earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent. The nuclear dates of the civilization appear to be about 2500-1700 BCE, though the southern sites may have lasted later into the 2nd millennium BCE. Learn more about the Indus civilization in this article.

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Plateau of Tibet, Golmud, Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China

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Plateau of Tibet, Golmud, Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China

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Plateau of Tibet, Golmud, Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China

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Plateau of Tibet, Chinese (Pinyin) Qingzang Gaoyuan or (Wade-Giles romanization) Ch’ing-tsang Kao-yuan, also called Tibetan Highlands or Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, vast high plateau of southwestern China. It encompasses all of the Tibet Autonomous Region and much of Qinghai province and extends into western Sichuan province and southern Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang

(i like this once since im studying chinese)

https://www.britannica.com/place/Plateau-of-Tibet

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Plateau of Tibet | Himalayas, Plateau Region, Plateau Lakes

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Plateau of Tibet, vast high plateau of southwestern China. It encompasses all of the Tibet Autonomous Region and much of Qinghai province and extends into western Sichuan province and southern Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang. The region lies between the Kunlun Mountains and its associated

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Caspian Sea, Russian Kaspiyskoye More, Persian Darya-ye Khezer, world’s largest inland body of water. It lies to the east of the Caucasus Mountains and to the west of the vast steppe of Central Asia. The sea’s name derives from the ancient Kaspi peoples, who once lived in Transcaucasia to the west.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Caspian-Sea

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Caspian Sea, Russian Kaspiyskoye More, Persian Darya-ye Khezer, world's largest inland body of water. It lies to the east of the Caucasus Mountains and to the west of the vast steppe of Central Asia. The sea's name derives from the ancient Kaspi peoples, who once lived in Transcaucasia to the west. Among its other historical names, Khazarsk and Khvalynsk derive from former peoples of the region, while Girkansk stems from Girkanos, "Country of the Wolves."

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The elongated sea sprawls for nearly 750 miles (1,200 km) from north to south, although its average width is only 200 miles (320 km). It covers an area of about 149,200 square miles (386,400 square km)-larger than the area of Japan-and its surface lies some 90 feet (27 metres) below sea level. The maximum depth, toward the south, is 3,360 feet (1,025 metres) below the sea's surface. The drainage basin of the sea covers some 1,400,000 square miles (3,625,000 square km). The sea contains some 63,400,000,000 acre-feet or 18,800 cubic miles (78,200 cubic km) of water-about one-third of Earth's inland surface water. The sea is bordered in the northeast by Kazakhstan, in the southeast by Turkmenistan, in the south by Iran, in the southwest by Azerbaijan, and in the northwest by Russia.

Baku: mosque© Ian_Redding/iStock.com

The Caspian is the largest salt lake in the world, but that has not always been true. Scientific studies have shown that until relatively recent geologic times, approximately 11 million years ago, it was linked, via the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea, to the world ocean. The Caspian is of exceptional scientific interest, because its history-particularly former fluctuations in both area and depth-offers clues to the complex geologic and climatic evolution of the region. Human-made changes, notably those resulting from the construction of dams, reservoirs, and canals on the immense Volga River system (which drains into the Caspian from the north), have affected the contemporary hydrologic balance. Caspian shipping and fisheries play an important role in the region's economy, as does the production of petroleum and natural gas in the Caspian basin. The sea's splendid sandy beaches also serve as health and recreation resorts.

Physical features

The Caspian basin, as a whole, is usually divided into the northern, middle, and southern Caspian, based partly on underwater relief and partly on hydrologic characteristics. The sea contains as many as 50 islands, most of them small. The largest are Chechen, Tyuleny, Morskoy, Kulaly, Zhiloy, and Ogurchin.

Shoreline features

The shores of the northern Caspian are low and reflect the great accumulation of alluvial material washed down by the Ural, Terek, and, above all, Volga rivers, whose deltas are extensive. The western shore of the middle Caspian is hilly. The foothills of the Greater Caucasus Mountains loom close but are separated from the coast by a narrow marine plain. The Abşeron Peninsula, on which the city of Baku is sited, thrusts out into the sea there, while just to its south the floodplain of the Kura and Aras rivers forms the Kura-Aras Lowland along the western shore of the southern Caspian. The southwestern and southern Caspian shores are formed of the sediments of the Länkäran and Gīlān-Māzanderān lowlands, with the high peaks of the Talish and Elburz ranges rearing up close inland. The eastern shore of the southern Caspian is low, formed partly by sediments derived from the erosion of the cliffs along the sea. The shoreline there is broken sharply by the low, hilly Cheleken and Türkmenbashi peninsulas. Just to the north, behind the east shore of the middle Caspian, is the Kara-Bogaz-Gol (Garabogazköl), formerly a shallow gulf of the Caspian but now a large lagoonlike embayment that is separated from the sea by a man-made embankment. For the most part, the eastern shore of the middle Caspian is precipitous, with the sea destroying the margin of the limestone plateaus of Tüpqaraghan and Kendyrli-Kayasansk.

The major rivers-the Volga, Ural, and Terek-empty into the northern Caspian, with their combined annual flow accounting for about 88 percent of all river water entering the sea. The Sulak, Samur, Kura, and a number of smaller rivers flow in on the western shore of the middle and southern Caspian, contributing about 7 percent of the total flow into the sea. The remainder comes in from the rivers of the southern, Iranian shore. Apart from the Atrak (Atrek) River of southern Turkmenistan, the sea's arid eastern shore is notable for a complete lack of permanent streams.

Submarine features

The northern Caspian, with an area of 38,380 square miles (99,404 square km), is the shallowest portion of the sea, with an average depth of 13 to 26 feet (4 to 8 metres), reaching a maximum of 66 feet (20 metres) along the boundary with the middle Caspian. The bottom is formed of a monotonously rippling sedimentary plain, broken only by a line of southern bars and shoals-some of which constitute the foundations for Tyuleny and Kulaly islands and the Zhemchuzhny shoals-reflecting underlying structural rises. Beyond that belt, known as the Mangyshlak Bank, the middle Caspian, 53,250 square miles (137,917 square km) in area, forms an irregular depression with an abrupt western slope and a gentler eastern gradient. The shallowest portion-a shelf with depths reaching 330 to 460 feet (100 to 140 metres)-extends along both shores, with the western slope furrowed by submerged landslides and canyons. The remains of ancient river valleys have been discovered on the gentler eastern slope; the bottom of the depression comprises a plain that deepens to the west. The Abşeron Bank, a belt of shoals and islands rising from submerged elevations of older rocks, marks the transition to the southern Caspian, a depression covering about 57,570 square miles (149,106 square km). That depression is fringed by a shelf that is narrow to the west and south but widens to the east. A series of submerged ridges breaks up the relief to the north, but otherwise the bottom of the depression is a flat plain and contains the Caspian's greatest depths.

Geology

The relief of the Caspian Sea reflects its complex geologic structure. The northern Caspian Sea bottom is extremely old, dating to Precambrian times, or at least about 541 million years ago. The bottom of the northern and middle Caspian has a continental-type crustal structure. The northern portion is a section of the northern Caspian tectonic depression, a vast downwarp in the great ancient structural block known as the Russian Platform. The Mangyshlak Bank links the mountainous Tüpqaraghan Peninsula to the east with underlying western shore structures; those are the remnants of an outlying structural uplift of the Hercynian mountain-building movement, which occurred some 300 million years ago. It has been suggested that the middle Caspian depression resulted from a sagging at the edge of those ancient structures that occurred in late Paleozoic times, before about 252 million years ago. The bottom of the middle Caspian is highly complex. To the west the submarine shelf is part of the sagging edge of the Greater Caucasus Geosyncline (a downwarp of Earth's crust), while the submerged Turan Platform in the east swells up in the feature known as the Kara-Bogaz (Garabogaz) Swell. The features of the Abşeron Peninsula region, along with the folded structures on the western side of the southern Caspian depression, derive from the Alpine mountain-building and folding processes (dating from some 26 to 10 million years ago) that created the Caucasus ranges. The border between the middle and southern Caspian is, in fact, still experiencing folding activity. The entire southern Caspian rests on a very ancient suboceanic-type basalt crustal structure, although that rock is covered in the south by huge accumulations of sedimentary layers many miles thick.

Until the beginning of the late Miocene Epoch (about 13.8 million years ago), the sea basin of the Caspian was connected to the Black Sea through the structural depression known as the Manych Trench (or Kuma-Manych Depression). After a late Miocene uplift, the Caspian became an enclosed body, with oceanic submarine characteristics preserved today only in the southern Caspian. The ocean connection was temporarily reestablished in the early Pleistocene Epoch (about 2.6 million years ago), and it is possible that there also was a link north across the Russian Plain to the Barents Sea of the Arctic Ocean.

Since about 2 million years ago, glaciers have advanced and retreated across the Russian Plain, and the Caspian Sea itself-in successive phases known as Baku, Khazar, and Khvalyn-alternately shrank and expanded. That process left a legacy in the form of peripheral terraces that mark old shorelines and can also be traced in the geologically recent underlying sedimentary layers.

The Caspian Sea bottom is now coated with recent sediments, finely grained in the shallow north but with shell deposits and oolitic sand-reflecting the high lime content of the Caspian waters-widespread in other coastal areas. Calcium carbonate also affects the composition of the much deeper bottom layers.

Climate

The northern Caspian lies in a moderately continental climate zone, while the middle (and most of the southern) Caspian lies in the warm continental belt. The southwest is touched by subtropical influences, and that remarkable variety is completed by the desert climate prevailing on the eastern shore. Atmospheric circulation is dominated in winter by the cold, clear air of the Asiatic anticyclone, while in summer spurs of the Azores high-pressure and the South Asian low-pressure centres are influential. Complicating factors are the cyclonic disturbances rippling in from the west and the tendency of the Caucasus Mountains to block them. As a result of those factors, northerlies and northwesterlies (nearly one-third of occurrences) and southeasterlies (more than one-third) dominate circulation patterns. Savage storms are associated with northerly and southeasterly winds.

Summer air temperatures are fairly evenly distributed-average July to August figures range between 75 and 79 °F (24 and 26 °C), with a maximum of 111 °F (44 °C) on the sunbaked eastern shore-but winter monthly average temperatures range from 14 °F (−10 °C) in the north to 50 °F (10 °C) in the south. Average annual precipitation, falling mainly in winter and spring, varies from 8 to 67 inches (200 to 1,700 mm) over the sea, with the least falling in the east and the most in the southwestern region. Evaporation from the sea surface is high, reaching 40 inches (1,015 mm) per year. Ice formation affects the northern Caspian, which usually freezes completely by January, and in exceptionally cold years ice that floats along the western shore comes as far south as the Abşeron Peninsula.

Hydrology

Short-term wind-induced fluctuations in the sea level can measure up to 7 feet (2 metres), though their average is about 2 feet (60 cm). Seiches (free or standing-wave oscillation of the sea surface mainly caused by winds and local changes in atmospheric pressure) are typically less pronounced. Tidal changes are but a few inches (or centimetres), and seasonal rises induced by high spring water in the rivers are not much greater.

Caspian Sea: drilling rig Rogulin Dmitry-Itar-Tass/Landov

One of the more-fascinating aspects of study of the Caspian has been the reconstruction of long-term fluctuations over the centuries from archaeological, geological, and historical evidence. It seems that since the 1st century bce the Caspian's water level has fluctuated by at least 23 feet (7 metres). The main reasons for the long-term fluctuations are climatic changes that determine a balance between water gains (river influx and precipitation) and losses (evaporation). During the first three decades of the 20th century, the level of the Caspian was close to 86 feet (26 metres) below sea level, but in 1977 it dropped to 96 feet (29 metres), the lowest level noted during the past 400 to 500 years. A rapid rise in water level began in 1978-in the mid-1990s the sea was at 87 feet (26.5 metres) below sea level-but after 1995 the sea's water level fell slightly, only to rebound again in the early 21st century. The lowering that took place between 1929 and 1977 was attributed to climatic changes that increased evaporation and reduced river influx-amplified by reservoir construction on the Volga to supply river water for irrigation and industry. The rise in water level after 1978 also resulted from climate change causing an increase in the inflow from the Volga, which during some years was considerably greater than average. An increase in precipitation over the sea itself and decrease of evaporation also contributed to the phenomenon. In 1980 Soviet hydrologists stemmed the outflow into the Kara-Bogaz-Gol by constructing sand barricades between the Caspian and the lagoon. Planners have given serious attention to the feasibility of other measures for stabilizing the Caspian's water level.

In summer the average surface temperature of the Caspian ranges from 75 to 79 °F (24 to 26 °C), with the south a little warmer. There are, however, significant winter contrasts, from 32 to 45 °F (0 to 7 °C) in the north to 46 to 50 °F (8 to 10 °C) in the south. Upwellings of deep water at the eastern shore-a result of prevailing-wind activity-can also bring a marked drop in summer temperature.

Salinity in the Caspian is about 12.8 parts per thousand on average, but that figure conceals a variation from a mere 1 part per thousand near the Volga outlet to a high of 200 parts per thousand in the Kara-Bogaz-Gol, where intense evaporation occurs. In the open sea, distribution of salinity is markedly uniform; from the surface to the bottom it increases by only 0.1 to 0.2 part per thousand. Caspian waters differ from those of the ocean in their high sulfate, calcium, and magnesium carbonate content and-as a result of river inflow-lower chloride content.

Circulation of water masses occurs, basically, in a counterclockwise movement (north-to-south along the western shore), with a complex pattern developing farther south, where there are several subsidiary movements. Currents can be speeded up where they coincide with strong winds, and the sea surface is often ruffled by wave action. The maximum storm waves, occurring near the Abşeron Peninsula, have been measured at more than 30 feet (9 metres).

Marine life

About 850 animal and more than 500 plant species live in the Caspian. Although the number of species is relatively low for a body of water of that size, many of them are endemic (i.e., found only there). Blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) and diatoms constitute the greatest biomass concentrations, and there are several species of red and brown algae. Animal life-which has been affected greatly by changes in salinity-includes fish species such as sturgeon, herring, pike, perch, and sprat; several species of mollusks; and a variety of other organisms including sponges. Some 15 species of Arctic (e.g., the Caspian seal) and Mediterranean types complement the basic fauna. Some organisms have migrated to the Caspian relatively recently: barnacles, crabs, and clams, for example, have been transported by sea vessels, while gray mullets have been deliberately introduced by humans.

Economy

Resources

The Caspian long has been famous for its sturgeon, a fish prized for its caviar, and the sea accounts for the great bulk of the world catch. During the long period (1929-77) of water-level decline and consequent drying of the most favourable spawning grounds, the sturgeon population fell considerably. A number of measures, including prohibition of sturgeon fishing in the open sea and the introduction of aquaculture, have been undertaken to improve the situation. The seal industry also has been developed in northern regions mainly for furs.

Dieter Blum/Peter Arnold, Inc.

Petroleum and natural gas have become the region's most important resources. Exploitation began in the 1920s and expanded considerably after World War II and continued to do so into the 21st century. Seabed oil is extracted using drilling platforms and artificial islands. The most-promising reserves lie under the northeastern Caspian and its adjacent shores. Minerals such as sodium sulfate, extracted from the Kara-Bogaz-Gol, also have considerable economic importance.

Transportation

The Caspian plays an important role in the region's transportation: petroleum, wood, grain, cotton, rice, and sulfate are the basic goods carried, while Astrakhan and Makhachkala in Russia, Baku in Azerbaijan, Bandar-e Anzalī in Iran, Türkmenbashi in Turkmenistan, and Aqtaū in Kazakhstan are the most important ports. They are also connected by regular passenger runs, while railway stock is directly ferried, without unloading, between Baku and Türkmenbashi. During the late 1990s the several Caspian countries concluded agreements with petroleum companies to build new pipelines to bring the region's oil and natural gas to market. One of those, an oil pipeline from Baku to Ceyhan, Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast, opened in 2005. Another project, a trans-Caspian pipeline, would transport Turkmeni natural gas beneath the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan.

Caspian-Mediterranean pipeline Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The scientific exploration of the Caspian Sea began in the 18th century on the initiative of Peter I the Great. The first report on the sea was published by the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1720. A description of the sea by Fedor I. Soimonov, which contained the first navigational instructions, and an atlas of the sea were both published in 1731. Hydrographic exploration of the Caspian basin was continued by the Russian navy and was completed mainly in the second half of the 19th century. The important measurements of the sea's surface level were initiated at Baku in 1830 and are now conducted at more than 20 locations.

The first multidisciplinary investigations of the Caspian Sea (hydrologic, chemical, and biological) were conducted during the expeditions (1904, 1912-13, and 1914-15) led by the Russian zoologist Nikolai M. Knipovich. Regular hydrometeorological observations were started in the 1920s. Investigations of the sea are now coordinated by the Scientific Council of the Caspian Sea. The most important programs are those studying long-term fluctuations in the regime and water level of the sea, the protection of the marine environment, and the preservation of the sea's biological productivity and unique natural features. With the breakup of the Soviet Union and the development of political conflicts in the region, little major research was undertaken during the 1990s. However, by the early 21st century, scientific research had begun to address environmental problems in the region.
Aleksey Nilovich Kosarev Oleg Konstantinovich Leontiev Lewis Owen

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Caspian Sea, Russian Kaspiyskoye More, Persian Darya-ye Khezer, world's largest inland body of water. It lies to the east of the Caucasus Mountains and to the west of the vast steppe of Central Asia. The sea's name derives from the ancient Kaspi peoples, who once lived in Transcaucasia to the west.

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Zagros Mountains, mountain range in southwestern Iran, extending northwest-southeast from the border areas of eastern Turkey and northern Iraq to the Strait of Hormuz.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Zagros-Mountains

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Zagros Mountains , mountain range in southwestern , extending northwest-southeast from the border areas of eastern and northern to the Strait of Hormuz . The Zagros range is about 990 miles (1,600 km) long and more than 150 miles (240 km) wide. Situated mostly in what is now , it forms the extreme western boundary of the Iranian plateau, though its foothills to the north and west extend into adjacent countries.

The oldest rocks in the Zagros range date to Precambrian time (that is, before 541 million years ago), and the Paleozoic Era rocks that date to between 541 million and 252 million years ago are found at or near the highest peaks. Most of the rocks in the mountain range, however, are and from the Mesozoic Era (252 million to 66 million years ago) and the Paleogene Period (66 million to 23 million years ago). The range was primarily formed by orogenies (mountain-building episodes) driven by the movement of the Arabian Plate underneath the Eurasian Plate during the and epochs (23 million to 2.6 million years ago).

The highest point in the range is Mount Dena, elevation 14,465 feet (4,409 metres), located in the middle Zagros. Passes through the mountains are used for reaching the fertile intermontane plains, which lie at elevations above 5,000 feet (1,500 metres). The rivers draining the range's western face are strong and perennial, flowing through enclosed plains or ravines. Rainfall in the region is about 40 inches (1,000 mm) annually.

The mountains are an imposing natural barrier and have traditionally provided the boundary between cultural and political entities, including the early Mesopotamian and Median cultures, the Parthian and Roman empires, and, more recently, the and Ottoman empires. The mountains and foothills that approach the range are home to a significant portion of Iran's population, including, in addition to ethnic Persians, significant numbers of Assyrian Christians, Kurds, and Turks as well as Lurs, Bakhtyārī, and Qashqāʾī tribal groups. The traditional economy is based largely on animal husbandry , and the production of high-quality rugs and carpets has long been a mainstay of the region. Large reserves of are located in or near the southwestern foothills.

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Zagros Mountains , mountain range in southwestern , extending northwest-southeast from the border areas of eastern and northern to the Strait of Hormuz . The Zagros range is about 990 miles (1,600 km) long and more than 150 miles (240 km) wide.

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Great Barrier Reef, complex of coral reefs, shoals, and islets in the Pacific Ocean off the northeastern coast of Australia that is the longest and largest reef complex in the world. The Great Barrier Reef extends in roughly a northwest-southeast direction for more than 1,250 miles (2,000 km), at an offshore distance ranging from 10 to 100 miles (16 to 160 km), and its width ranges from 37 to 155 miles (60 to 250 km). The Great Barrier Reef has an area of some 135,000 square miles (350,000 square km), and it has been characterized, somewhat inaccurately, as the largest structure ever built by living creatures.

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Great Barrier Reef | Map, Animals, Bleaching, & Facts

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Great Barrier Reef, world’s largest coral reef complex, located in the Pacific Ocean off northeastern Australia. It extends for more than 1,250 miles (2,000 km) in a northwest-southeast direction, and its width ranges from 37 to 155 miles (60 to 250 km). It has an area of some 135,000 square miles (…

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Euphrates River, Turkish Fırat Nehri, Arabic Nahr Al-Furāt, river, Middle East. The longest river in southwest Asia, it is 1,740 miles (2,800 km) long, and it is one of the two main constituents of the Tigris-Euphrates river system. The river rises in Turkey and flows southeast across Syria and through Iraq.

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Euphrates River, Turkish Fırat Nehri, Arabic Nahr Al-Furāt, river, Middle East. The longest river in southwest Asia, it is 1,740 miles (2,800 km) long, and it is one of the two main constituents of the Tigris-Euphrates river system. The river rises in Turkey and flows southeast across Syria and through Iraq.

Formed by the confluence of the Karasu and Murat rivers in the Armenian Highland, the Euphrates descends between major ranges of the Taurus Mountains to the Syrian plateau. It then flows through western and central Iraq to unite with the Tigris River and continues, as Shatt Al-Arab, to the Persian Gulf. Its valley was heavily irrigated in ancient times, and many great cities, some of whose ruins remain, lined its banks. With the Tigris, it defines an area known historically as Mesopotamia. (For greater detail on the Euphrates River, see Tigris-Euphrates river system.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Adam Augustyn.

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Euphrates River | Definition, Location, Length, Map, & Facts

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Euphrates River, longest river in southwest Asia. It is 1,740 miles (2,800 km) long and is one of the two main constituents of the Tigris-Euphrates river system. It rises in Turkey and flows southeast across Syria and through Iraq. Learn more about the Euphrates River in this article.

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The Tigris (Sumerian: Idigna; Akkadian: Idiklat; biblical: Hiddekel; Arabic: Dijlah; Turkish: Dicle) is about 1,180 miles (1,900 km) in length.
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Learn about this topic in these articles:

major reference

...of the Persian Gulf. The total length of the Euphrates (Sumerian: Buranun; Akkadian: Purattu; biblical: Perath; Arabic: Al-Furāt; Turkish: Fırat) is about 1,740 miles (2,800 km). The Tigris (Sumerian: Idigna; Akkadian: Idiklat; biblical: Hiddekel; Arabic: Dijlah; Turkish: Dicle) is about 1,180 miles (1,900 km) in length.

Asian water resources

...as shown by the tensions among Syria, Israel, and Jordan over the use of the Jordan River. Another dispute, between Iraq and Syria on the one hand and upstream Turkey on the other, concerns the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, whose headwaters lie in Turkey. Turkey had already built several dams, including the Atatürk Dam, on the two rivers, and construction has been underway on two more...

history of Mesopotamia

In the narrow sense, Mesopotamia is the area between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, north or northwest of the bottleneck at Baghdad, in modern Iraq; it is Al-Jazīrah ("The Island") of the Arabs. South of this lies Babylonia, named after the city of Babylon. However, in the broader sense, the name Mesopotamia has come to be used for the area bounded on the northeast by the...

physiography of Baghdad

Baghdad is situated on the Tigris River at its closest point to the Euphrates, 25 miles (40 km) to the west. The Diyālā River joins the Tigris just southeast of the city and borders its eastern suburbs. The terrain surrounding Baghdad is a flat alluvial plain 112 feet (34 metres) above sea level. Historically, the...

relief and drainage of

Iraq

...four physiographic regions: the alluvial plains of the central and southeastern parts of the country; Al-Jazīrah (Arabic: "the Island"), an upland region in the north between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; deserts in the west and south; and the highlands in the northeast. Each of these regions extends into neighbouring countries, although the alluvial plains lie largely...

Turkey

...and flows east for some 250 miles (400 km) to the frontier with Azerbaijan, eventually reaching the Caspian Sea. The bulk of eastern Turkey, however, is drained by the Euphrates (Fırat) and Tigris rivers, which flow south for some 780 miles (1,250 km) and 330 (530 km) miles, respectively, before entering Syria and then Iraq, where they converge to enter the Persian Gulf

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of the Persian Gulf. The total length of the Euphrates (Sumerian: Buranun; Akkadian: Purattu; biblical: Perath; Arabic: Al-Furāt; Turkish: Fırat) is about 1,740 miles (2,800 km). The Tigris (Sumerian: Idigna; Akkadian: Idiklat; biblical: Hiddekel; Arabic: Dijlah; Turkish: Dicle) is about 1,180 miles (1,900 km) in length.

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Pyrenees, Spanish Pirineos, French Pyrénées, Catalan Pireneus, mountain chain of southwestern Europe that consists of flat-topped massifs and folded linear ranges. It stretches from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Bay of Biscay on the Atlantic Ocean on the west.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Pyrenees

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Pyrenees, Spanish Pirineos, French Pyrénées, Catalan Pireneus, mountain chain of southwestern Europe that consists of flat-topped massifs and folded linear ranges. It stretches from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Bay of Biscay on the Atlantic Ocean on the west. The Pyrenees form a high wall between France and Spain that has played a significant role in the history of both countries and of Europe as a whole. The range is some 270 miles (430 kilometres) long; it is barely six miles wide at its eastern end, but at its centre it reaches some 80 miles in width. At its western end it blends imperceptibly into the Cantabrian Mountains along the northern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Except in a few places, where Spanish territory juts northward or French southward, the crest of the chain marks the boundary between the two countries, though the tiny autonomous principality of Andorra lies among its peaks. The highest point is Aneto Peak, at 11,169 feet (3,404 metres), in the Maladeta (Spanish: "Accursed") massif of the Central Pyrenees.

Aneto Peak, Pyrenees Avh

The Pyrenees long have been a formidable land barrier between Spain and Portugal on the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe; as a consequence, these two countries traditionally have developed stronger associations with Africa than with the rest of Europe, and they have become tied to the sea. From Carlit Peak (9,584 feet) near the eastern limit of the Pyrenees to the peaks of Orhy and Anie, a succession of mountains rise nearly 9,800 feet; at only a few places, all well to the west, can the chain be crossed through passes lower than 6,500 feet. In both the lower eastern and northwestern sectors, rivers dissect the landscape into numerous small basins. The range is flanked on both sides by broad depressions-the Aquitaine and Languedoc to the north and the Ebro to the south-both receiving waters from the major rivers flowing out of the mountains, the Garonne of France and the major tributaries of the Ebro of Spain.

Physical features

Geology

The Pyrenees represent the geologic renewal of an old mountain chain rather than the more recent and vigorous mountain-building process that characterizes the Alps. The Variscan (or Hercynian) orogeny, a mountain-building event that lasted from the late Devonian Period to the early Permian Period (a span of time extending from 370 million to 290 million years ago), generated the folded region that is now occupied by the present-day Pyrenees ( see Hercynian orogenic belt). The remnants of the Variscan orogeny include the Massif Central in France and the Meseta Central in Spain. Although these other massifs have had a comparatively quiet history of internal deformation, or tectonism, since their emergence, the Pyrenean block was submerged in a relatively unstable area of Earth's crust that became active about 225 million years ago.

The earliest formations, which were sediments severely folded over a granitic base, were submerged and covered by secondary sediments. They later were lifted once again into two parallel chains running to the north and south of the original Hercynian massif. These became the two zones of pre-Pyrenean ridges-of which the Spanish is the more fully developed-that are now great spurs of the main chain of the Pyrenees. This most-recent period of uplift was caused by the collision of the Iberian and European tectonic plates that began during the second half of the Cretaceous Period (100.5 million to 66 million years ago); however, the majority of the mountain building associated with this collision occurred during the Eocene and Oligocene epochs (56 million to 23 million years ago).

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Under the forces of folding, the more recent and comparatively more plastic layers folded without breaking, but the original rigid base fractured and became dislocated. In the vicinity of the breaks, hot springs appeared and some metal-containing deposits formed. This upheaval affected chiefly the central and eastern regions. During this era, erosion continued incessantly, and, in the most exposed of the raised areas, weathering wore away the softer terrain and uncovered the old Hercynian sedimentary formations, occasionally reaching the deeper granitic bedrock.

Even today the old rocks, slates, schists, limestones transformed into marble (all of which come from old sediments transformed by great pressures and enormous heat), and granites of various kinds make up the spine, or axial zone, of the chain. The geologic phases of this zone, which rises and widens from west to east and ends by sinking, with a steep drop of nearly 9,800 feet, into the depths of the Mediterranean, have determined the evolution of the massif as a whole.

Physiography

The structure of the Pyrenees is characterized by patterns of relief and of underlying structure running in a north-south sequence (like the base rock); these alternate with depressions, some of which are the result of internal deformations, others of erosion of less resistant overlying deposits. In a cross section directly through the central area, where the tectonic activity reached its fullest width and development, it is possible to distinguish, from north to south, two strips of the comparatively recent pre-Pyrenean fold, one Spanish and one French, in juxtaposition with the axial massifs. An outer strip to the north consists of folds constituting the Petites Pyrénées. Cut into channels, they permit the passage of rivers. Nearer the middle of the range rise the Inner Ridges, represented by the mighty cliffs of the Ariège, which contain the primary, or granitic, axial zones. On the Spanish side the series is repeated in the opposite direction, but it is more highly developed and thicker. Thus the Interior Ridges-e.g., Mount Perdido and the massif of Collarada-are sometimes higher than the neighbouring primary axial peaks. They are followed, to the south, by a broad, pre-Pyrenean, middle depression, with a succession of marine and continental deposits of varying hardness that constitute the valleys of such tributaries of the Ebro as the Aragón. This depression continues across the rest of the pre-Pyrenean ridges, among which are new secondary outcrops that form the fringe of Exterior Ridges and the northern rim of the depression of the Ebro; they are not, however, as thick or as important as the Interior Ridges.

From the structure of their relief and from the climatic conditions (especially on the south) that derive from the geographic situation of the chain, the Pyrenees have been divided into three natural regions: the Eastern (or Mediterranean), Pyrenees, the Central Pyrenees, and the Western Pyrenees. The different vegetation, the linguistic divisions of the people, and-to a point-certain ethnic and cultural distinctions appear to confirm this classification.

Pyrenees Nathan Hamblen

Drainage

The hydrographic system consists basically of series of parallel valleys that descend from the high peaks and from the passes. They are bordered by high, dividing ridges in a north-south direction, perpendicular to the axis of the chain. This type of valley produces short, torrential rivers that drop precipitously over short stretches; only seldom do these rivers flow, like the Aragón, through valleys that, as in the Alps, have both gentle slope and greater length. Their flow, extremely variable, especially on the southern side, is heavily influenced by the climate, as well as by the relief. Different maximum low waters occur in summer and winter; the spring, with maximum rain and melting snow, usually sees the greatest flows. In the Western Pyrenees and the northern zone, the rainfall pattern helps produce greater regularity; hence, flow is only slightly lower in summer. On the south a few torrential rivers are fed principally by melting snows, a few largely by rain, but most from a combination of sources. Heavy rains occasionally cause severe flooding in the region.

The river patterns and flow have been important since antiquity in human use of both the land and the rivers-from the floating of timber rafts downstream, which can be done only in the spring, to harnessing waterpower for industry and irrigation on the southern side by means of dams. The torrential flow of many of the rivers is the cause both of the purity of the Pyrenean waters and of their excellence and richness as fishing streams.

The present Pyrenean glaciers, perhaps more frequent on the northern than on the southern slopes, have been reduced to high basins- cirques or hanging valleys-at elevations over 9,800 feet. During and after the great Ice Ages (i.e., within the past 2.5 million years), however, especially in the Central and much of the Eastern Pyrenees, glaciers left widespread erosion and various important sediments. The present-day lower lakes and idyllic meadows with their winding rivulets are among their marks. Glacier tongues were also the main causes of the deep valleys containing the river system.

The fractured areas have many hot springs, both sulfurous and saline. The former are found throughout the axial massif, while the latter occur at the edges. These springs were popular in Roman times and reorganized and modernized toward the end of the 19th century. There are more than 20 famous spas on the French side; those in Spain are as numerous but are less fully exploited.

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Pyrenees | Definition, Location, & Facts

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Pyrenees, Spanish Pirineos, French Pyrénées, Catalan Pireneus, mountain chain of southwestern Europe that consists of flat-topped massifs and folded linear ranges. It stretches from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Bay of Biscay on the Atlantic Ocean on the west.

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Atacama Desert, Spanish Desierto de Atacama, cool, arid region in northern Chile, 600 to 700 miles (1,000 to 1,100 km) long from north to south. Its limits are not exactly determined, but it lies mainly between the south bend of the Loa River and the mountains separating the Salado-Copiapó drainage basins.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Atacama-Desert

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Explore one of the world's driest regions and learn why parts of Chile's Atacama Desert never see rainfall

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Atacama Desert, Spanish Desierto de Atacama, cool, arid region in northern Chile, 600 to 700 miles (1,000 to 1,100 km) long from north to south. Its limits are not exactly determined, but it lies mainly between the south bend of the Loa River and the mountains separating the Salado-Copiapó drainage basins. To the north the desert continues to the border of Peru.

Ken G. Preston-Mafham/Animals Animals

A line of low coastal mountains, the Cordillera de la Costa, lies to the west of the desert, and to its east rises the Cordillera Domeyko, foothills of the Andes. The desert consists mainly of salt pans at the foot of the coastal mountains on the west and of alluvial fans sloping from the Andean foothills to the east; some of the fans are covered with dunes, but extensive pebble accumulations are more common.

The coastal chain hovers around 5,000 feet (1,500 metres) or so in elevation with individual peaks reaching to 6,560 feet (2,000 metres). There is no coastal plain. Through much of their extent the mountains terminate abruptly at the sea in cliffs, some of them higher than 1,600 feet (500 metres), making communication difficult between the coastal ports and the interior. In the interior a raised depression extends north and south and forms the high Tamarugal Plain at an elevation of more than 3,000 feet (900 metres). Farther to the east in the western outliers of the Andes, preceded by the Cordillera Domeyko, there are numerous volcanic cones, some exceeding 16,000 feet (4,900 metres) in elevation. Along Chile's northeastern frontier with Argentina and Bolivia extends the Atacama Plateau, which reaches elevations of 13,000 feet (4,000 metres).

The Atacama Desert forms part of the arid Pacific fringe of South America. Dry subsidence created by the South Pacific high-pressure cell makes the desert one of the driest regions in the world. Along the coast the aridity is also a consequence of the Peru (Humboldt) Current, which is characterized by upwelling (the upward movement of cold water from the depths of the ocean); the resulting cold water at the surface causes a thermal inversion-cold air at sea level and stable warmer air higher up. This condition produces fog and stratus clouds but no rain. Rains fall in Iquique or Antofagasta only when powerful southern fronts break into the subsidence area. Temperatures in the desert are relatively low compared with those in similar latitudes elsewhere. The average summer temperature at Iquique is only 66 °F (19 °C) and at Antofagasta 65 °F (18 °C).

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The original inhabitants of the region were Atacameño, an extinct Indian culture, different from the Aymara to the north and the Diaguita to the south. For much of the 19th century, the desert was the object of conflicts among Chile, Bolivia, and Peru because of its mineral resources, particularly sodium nitrate deposits located northeast of Antofagasta and inland from Iquique. Much of the area originally belonged to Bolivia and Peru, but the mining industry was controlled by Chilean and British interests, which were strongly supported by the Chilean government. From the War of the Pacific (1879-83), Chile emerged victorious. The Treaty of Ancón (1883) gave Chile permanent ownership of sectors previously controlled by Peru and Bolivia, the latter losing its whole Pacific coastline.

The area proved to be one of the chief sources of Chile's wealth until World War I. Nitrate deposits in the central depression and in several basins of the coastal range were systematically mined after the mid-19th century. Ports were built at Iquique, Caldera, Antofagasta, Taltal, Tocopilla, Mejillones, and, farther north, Pisagua, and railroads penetrated the mountain barriers to the interior. Prior to World War I, Chile had a world monopoly on nitrate; in some years 3,000,000 tons were extracted, and the taxes on its export amounted to half the government's revenues. The development of synthetic methods of fixing nitrogen have since reduced the market to a regional one. Some sulfur is still mined in the high Cordillera. The region's chief source of revenue, however, is copper mining at Chuquicamata in the Calama basin.

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Some farming is done in the desert's river oases, but this supports only a few thousand traditional cultivators. Lemons are grown at Pica, and a variety of products are cultivated on the shores of the salt marshes at San Pedro de Atacama. At Calama, near Chuquicamata, water from the Loa River irrigates potato and alfalfa fields.

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Atacama Desert | Location, Weather, & Facts

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Atacama Desert, Spanish Desierto de Atacama, cool, arid region in northern Chile, 600 to 700 miles (1,000 to 1,100 km) long from north to south. Its limits are not exactly determined, but it lies mainly between the south bend of the Loa River and the mountains separating the Salado-Copiapó drainage basins.

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Great Himalayas, also called Higher Himalayas or Great Himalaya Range, highest and northernmost section of the Himalayan mountain ranges. It extends southeastward across northern Pakistan, northern India, and Nepal before trending eastward across Sikkim state (India) and Bhutan and finally turning northeastward across northern Arunachal Pradesh state (India); throughout nearly all of its length it adjoins to the north the southern Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

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This article was most recently revised and updated by Lorraine Murray, Associate Editor.

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This article was most recently revised and updated by Lorraine Murray, Associate Editor. India: The Great Himalayas The northernmost Great, or Higher, Himalayas (in ancient times, the Himadri), with crests generally above 16,000 feet (4,900 metres) in elevation, are composed of ancient crystalline rocks and old marine sedimentary formations.

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Great Victoria Desert, South Australia, Australia

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Great Victoria Desert, South Australia, Australia

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Great Victoria Desert, South Australia, Australia

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Great Victoria Desert, arid wasteland in southern Australia that is Australia’s largest desert. A vast expanse of sand hills, partly fixed by Triodia (Spinifex) grass and salt marshes, it lies in Western Australia and South Australia, extending from the Gibson Desert on the north to the Nullarbor Plain on the south and eastward from Kalgoorlie-Boulder almost to the Stuart Range. Much of its eastern end is occupied by the Central and North West Aboriginal reserves

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This article was most recently revised and updated by

Great Victoria Desert, arid wasteland in southern Australia that is Australia's largest desert. A vast expanse of sand hills, partly fixed by Triodia ( Spinifex) grass and salt marshes, it lies in Western Australia and South Australia, extending from the Gibson Desert on the north to the Nullarbor Plain on the south and eastward from Kalgoorlie-Boulder almost to the Stuart Range. Much of its eastern end is occupied by the Central and North West Aboriginal reserves. It was penetrated (from east to west) in 1875 by a party led by the explorer Ernest Giles, who named it the Great Victoria Desert. It is crossed by the Laverton-Warburton Mission Track, which links the mission station in the Warburton Range, in Western Australia, with Laverton, 350 miles (560 km) southwest. It is also tracked for the recovery of missiles whose trajectories are guided from the weapons-testing range at Woomera, South Australia. There are several national parks and reserves in the area, including the Great Victoria Desert Nature Reserve, Nullarbor National Park, and the Flora and Fauna Conservation Park.

John P. Rafferty, Editor.

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Australia, the smallest continent and one of the largest countries on Earth, lying between the Pacific and Indian oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. Australia's capital is Canberra, located in the southeast between the larger and more important economic and cultural centres of Sydney and Melbourne....

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South Australia, state of south-central Australia. It occupies one of the driest, most barren parts of the continent, but its southern fringe consists of well-watered and fertile lands and is where most of the population is located. It is bounded by Western Australia to the west, the Northern Territory to...

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Great Victoria Desert | Plants, Animals, & Facts

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This article was most recently revised and updated by Great Victoria Desert, arid wasteland in southern Australia that is Australia's largest desert. A vast expanse of sand hills, partly fixed by Triodia ( Spinifex) grass and salt marshes, it lies in Western Australia and South Australia, extending from the Gibson Desert on the north to the Nullarbor Plain on the south and eastward from Kalgoorlie-Boulder almost to the Stuart Range.

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Yangtze River, Chinese (Pinyin) Chang Jiang or (Wade-Giles romanization) Ch’ang Chiang, longest river in both China and Asia and third longest river in the world, with a length of 3,915 miles (6,300 km). Its basin, extending for some 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from west to east and for more than 600 miles (1,000 km) from north to south, drains an area of 698,265 square miles (1,808,500 square km)

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How long is the Yangtze River?

What is the source of the Yangtze River?

What are the principal tributaries of the Yangtze River?

What huge dam project was completed on the Yangtze River in 2006?

Yangtze River, Chinese (Pinyin) Chang Jiang or (Wade-Giles romanization) Ch'ang Chiang, longest river in both China and Asia and third longest river in the world, with a length of 3,915 miles (6,300 km). Its basin, extending for some 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from west to east and for more than 600 miles (1,000 km) from north to south, drains an area of 698,265 square miles (1,808,500 square km). From its source on the Plateau of Tibet to its mouth on the East China Sea, the river traverses or serves as the border between 10 provinces or regions. More than three-fourths of the river's course runs through mountains. The Yangtze has eight principal tributaries. On its left bank, from source to mouth, these are the Yalung, Min, Jialing, and Han rivers; those on the right bank include the Wu, Yuan, Xiang, and Gan rivers.

The name Yangtze-derived from the name of the ancient fiefdom of Yang-has been applied to the river mainly by those in the West. Chang Jiang ("Long River") is the name used in China, although it also is called Da Jiang ("Great River") or, simply, Jiang ("[The] River"). The Yangtze is the most important river of China. It is the country's principal waterway, and its basin is China's great granary and contains nearly one-third of the national population.

Physical features

The upper course

The upper course of the Yangtze flows across the Plateau of Tibet and descends through deep valleys in the mountains east of the plateau, emerging onto the Yunnan-Guizhou (Yungui) Plateau. Summers there are warm, and the winters are cold. The source of the Yangtze is the Ulan Moron (Wulanmulun) River, which originates in glacial meltwaters on the slopes of the Tanggula Mountains in southern Qinghai province on the border with the Tibet Autonomous Region. From the confluence of this stream with several others, the river flows generally easterly through a shallow, spacious valley, the bottom of which is studded with lakes and small reservoirs. This part of its course lies in the higher regions of the Tibetan highlands.

The river's character changes sharply upon reaching the eastern limits of the highlands. There the river-which in this stretch is called the Jinsha-descends from a high elevation, winding its way south of the high Bayan Har Mountains and forming a narrow valley up to 2 miles (3 km) in depth. Individual mountain peaks exceed elevations of 16,000 feet (4,900 metres) above sea level and are crowned with glaciers and perpetual snow. The steep, rocky slopes are cut with gorges and deep valleys. For several hundred miles the Yangtze flows in a southeasterly direction, before turning south to flow downward in rushing rapids. For a considerable distance the river flows through passes that are so steep that no room is left even for a narrow path. Villages, which are rarely found, are located high above the river. In this region the Yangtze runs close and parallel to both the Mekong and Salween rivers; all three rivers are within 15 to 30 miles (25 to 50 km) of one another and continue to flow in mutual proximity for a distance of more than 250 miles (400 km).

North of latitude 26° N these great rivers diverge, and the Yangtze turns east to pass through a winding valley with steep slopes. The river receives the waters of many tributaries, among which the Yalong River is the largest and contributes the most water. The Yangtze then widens to between 1,000 and 1,300 feet (300 and 400 metres), reaching depths often exceeding 30 feet (9 metres). In narrower gorges the water width decreases by almost half, but the depth increases sharply.

Near the end of the upstream part of its course, the Yangtze descends to an elevation of 1,000 feet above sea level. Thus, over the first 1,600 miles (2,600 km) of its length, the river has fallen more than 17,000 feet (5,200 metres), or an average of more than 10 feet per mile (2 metres per km) of its course. In the mountains, however, there is a substantial stretch where the fall of the river is considerably greater.

The middle course

The middle course of the Yangtze stretches for about 630 miles (1,010 km) between the cities of Yibin in Sichuan province and Yichang in Hubei province. The climate is characterized by hot summers and relatively mild winters, as the high mountains to the west protect the region from the cold north and west winds. Annual precipitation measures between 40 and 60 inches (1,000 to 1,500 mm), a large part of it occurring in summer; the growing season lasts for more than six months. In most of this segment, the river crosses hilly Sichuan province, where the lower mountains and plateaus connect the highlands of southwestern China with the Qin (Tsinling) Mountains lying between the Yangtze and Huang He (Yellow River) basins. Located in this area is Chongqing, a major industrial centre and river port. The river's width there is from about 1,000 to 1,600 feet (300 to 500 metres), and the depth in places exceeds 30 feet. The current is swift; the banks often are high and steep. The river falls some 820 feet (250 metres) in Sichuan, more than a foot per mile (0.2 metre per km) of flow.

As the Yangtze flows through eastern Sichuan and into western Hubei, it traverses for a distance of 125 miles (200 km) the famous Three Gorges region before debouching onto the plains to the east. The gorges have steep, sheer slopes composed mainly of thick limestone rocks. Prior to the completion of the Three Gorges Dam in 2006, they rose some 1,300 to 2,000 feet (400 to 600 metres) above the river, although with the creation of the reservoir behind the dam their height has been diminished fairly significantly. Nonetheless, they still present the appearance of fantastic towers, pillars, or spears. Qutang, the first gorge-about 5 miles (8 km) long-is the shortest; prior to its inundation, the river there was considered the most dangerous for navigation, being extremely narrow with many rapids and eddies. Wu, the second gorge, stretches for about 30 miles (50 km); it is a narrow, steep corridor with almost vertical walls of heights up to 1,600 or even 2,000 feet above the river. The last gorge, Xiling, is located upstream of Yichang and extends for a distance of 21 miles; in places limestone cliffs rise directly out of the water, although with the rise of the reservoir to much lower heights than before. The gorges are rocky, and the walls are speckled with cracks, niches, and indentations. Even before the river was inundated, its depth in the gorges was considerable, increasing to between 500 and 600 feet (150 and 180 metres) and giving the Yangtze the greatest depths of any river in the world.

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Yangtze River | Location, Map, Flood, & Facts

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Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), longest river in both China and Asia and third longest river in the world, with a length of 3,915 miles (6,300 km). From its source on the Plateau of Tibet to its mouth on the East China Sea, the river traverses or serves as the border between 10 provinces or regions.

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Kalahari Desert, large basinlike plain of the interior plateau of Southern Africa. It occupies almost all of Botswana, the eastern third of Namibia, and the northernmost part of Northern Cape province in South Africa. In the southwest it merges with the Namib, the coastal desert of Namibia. The Kalahari’s longest north–south extent is roughly 1,000 miles

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Kalahari Desert , large basinlike plain of the interior plateau of Southern Africa . It occupies almost all of Botswana , the eastern third of Namibia , and the northernmost part of Northern Cape province in South Africa . In the southwest it merges with the Namib , the coastal desert of Namibia. The Kalahari's longest north-south extent is roughly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres), and its greatest east-west distance is about 600 miles; its area has been estimated at some 360,000 square miles (930,000 square kilometres).

Physical features

Physiography and geology

The Kalahari Desert is a featureless, gently undulating, sand-covered plain, which everywhere is 3,000 feet (900 metres) or more above sea level. Bedrock is exposed only in the low but vertical-walled hills, called kopjes, that rarely but conspicuously rise above the general surface. Aside from the kopjes, three surfaces characterize virtually all of the Kalahari: sand sheets , longitudinal dunes, and vleis (pans).

The sand sheets appear to have been formed during the Pleistocene Epoch (about 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago), and they have been fixed in place since then. In some areas they appear to have been of fluvial origin, the result of sheet flooding in times of much greater precipitation, but by far the greater part of them were wind-formed . The sheets occupy the eastern part of the Kalahari. Their surface elevation varies only slightly, with relief measured in tens of feet per mile. The depth of the sand there generally exceeds 200 feet. In many areas the sand is red, the result of a thin layer of iron oxide that coats the grains of sand.

The entire western Kalahari Desert is characterized by long chains of dunes, oriented roughly to the north or northwest. The dunes measure at least 1 mile in length, several hundred feet in width, and 20 to 200 feet in height. Each dune is separated from its neighbour by a broad parallel depression locally called a straat ("street," or "lane"), because each constitutes the easy way to travel.

Vleis, or pans , are the terminal features of desert drainage systems, the "dry lakes" at the end of ephemeral streams. Many are remnant features from an earlier period of greater precipitation. Very little water ever flowed to the sea from the Kalahari. Rather, each stream ended its course in a slightly lower depression from which there was no outlet. There, as the stream dried up, the fine silt particles carried in suspension by the sluggish stream were deposited along with soluble calcium minerals and salts precipitated out of the evaporating water. The results are pans-flat surfaces devoid of vegetation that are gleaming white when dry, hardened by the cementing action of the soluble minerals, and, on occasion, covered by a shallow layer of standing water. Where the salt content is low, pans may become covered with grasses after a rain.

Drainage

In the southern and central parts of the Kalahari Desert, surface water is found only in small, widely scattered waterholes, and surface drainage is nonexistent. Nearly all of the rain that falls disappears immediately into the deep sand. Some is absorbed by the underlying rock strata; some is drawn to the surface by capillary action and evaporated into the air; and some, lifted from the depths by tree roots, is transpired from leaf surfaces. A small amount, landing on nonsandy surfaces, may flow short distances into pans, but this occurs only immediately after the infrequent rains. In some parts of the central and southern Kalahari, extensive ancient drainage systems have been detected-some on the ground and others by way of aerial photographs. None of these operate today, even in the wettest of years.

In the northern Kalahari an extraordinary drainage system prevails. During the summer heavy rains fall on the uplands of central Angola, far to the northwest of the Kalahari. Large amounts of runoff water feed a number of south-flowing streams, which merge to form the Okavango and Cuando ( Kwando ) rivers. The Okavango flows to the southeast and into the northernmost portion of the Kalahari, eventually breaking up into a number of distributary channels and feeding the vast area of swamps in northern Botswana . After an abnormally wet rainy season in Angola , excess water fills the swamps and overflows, filling Lake Ngami farther to the south, and flows eastward through the Boteti River into Lake Xau and the Makgadikgadi Pans . Similarly, the Cuando River flows south from Angola and partly into a northeastern extension of the same swamps. Thus is created the paradoxical situation of an area with an extensive excess of water in a region chronically short of water.

Soils

Soils in the Kalahari Desert are largely based on sand, are reddish in color, and are low in organic material. Chemically, they are relatively alkaline, and they are extremely dry. In and near the pans, the soils tend to be highly calcareous or saline, and frequently they are toxic to most vegetation.

Climate

Traditionally, an area was classed as desert if it received less than 10 inches (250 millimetres) of rain annually. A more accurate definition of a desert is a region in which the potential evaporation rate is twice as great as the precipitation. Both of these criteria are applicable to the southwestern half of the Kalahari. The northeastern portion, however, receives much more rainfall and, climatically, cannot qualify as a desert; and yet, it is totally lacking in surface water. Rain drains instantly through the deep sands of the area, which creates a situation of edaphic drought (i.e., soil completely devoid of moisture).

Moisture-bearing air is derived from the Indian Ocean , and precipitation is greatest in the northeast (with a mean annual precipitation of more than 20 inches) and declines toward the southwest (less than 5 inches on the southern fringe of the Kalahari). Precipitation, however, is highly variable. Most of the rain comes as summer thunderstorms, with great variation from place to place and from year to year. Winters are extremely dry: humidity is very low, and no rain falls for six to eight months.

Great ranges in both diurnal and seasonal temperatures are the rule, the result of the Kalahari's relatively high altitude and predominantly clear, dry air (allowing strong insolational heating in daytime and great radiational heat loss at night). As a result, shade temperatures often reach 110-115 °F (43-46 °C) on summer days but drop to 70-80 °F (21-27 °C) on the same nights; temperatures on winter nights commonly drop to freezing and may go as low as 10 °F (−12 °C).

Plant life

The presence of a deep sand cover over most of the area greatly affects the vegetation that grows there. Shallow-rooted plants cannot survive on a perennial basis, although annuals that grow very rapidly after a good rain may be able to sow seeds that will endure until the next good rainy season. Trees with roots deep enough to reach permanently moist sand levels do well.

The southwestern Kalahari Desert, with its very low precipitation, has few trees or large bushes-only scattered xerophytic (drought-tolerant) shrubs and short grasses. The central Kalahari, with more rain, has scattered trees (several species of Acacia ) and some shrubs and grasses. The northern Kalahari does not have the appearance of a desert at all. It has open woodlands, palm trees growing among thorn brush, and forests of both evergreen and deciduous trees that grow to heights of 50 feet and yield some species suitable for timber; one of the largest and most unusual of these trees is the baobab. The Okavango Swamp supports a dense growth of reeds, papyrus, pond lilies, and other water-loving plants.

Animal life

The animal life of the Kalahari Desert is also richer and more varied in the north than in the south. Yet even in the arid south, many individuals of several species stay for long periods of the year despite the absence of surface water. The principal species found in the south are springbok, gnu (wildebeest), and hartebeest-all of which occasionally are present in great herds-gemsbok (oryx), eland , and many smaller nongregarious species, such as kudu (in areas of denser brush), steenbok, and duiker .

The northern Kalahari supports a considerable population of giraffes, zebras, elephants, buffalo, and antelopes (roan, sable, tsessebe, and impala); predators such as lions, cheetahs, leopards, wild hunting dogs, and foxes; other large and medium-sized mammals, such as jackals, hyenas, warthogs, baboons, badgers, anteaters, ant bears, hare, and porcupines; and numerous small rodents, several types of snakes and lizards, and a wealth of birdlife.
Richard F. Logan

People and economy

The Kalahari Desert is inhabited primarily by Bantu speakers and Khoisan-speaking San , with a small number of Europeans.

Bantu-speaking peoples

The Bantu-speaking peoples-the Tswana , the Kgalagadi, and the Herero -are relative newcomers to the Kalahari. In the late 18th century the Tswana spread west from the Limpopo basin into the northern and eastern Kalahari; the Kgalagadi moved north and west into the southern and western Kalahari; and the Herero refugees from the German-Herero conflict of 1904-07 in German South West Africa (now Namibia ) fled east into the western and northern Kalahari at the beginning of the 20th century.

Those in the remoter parts of the Kalahari who are unaffected by mining or other industry live in villages of between 200 and 5,000 people. Housing is mostly of the traditional type: single-roomed huts with mud walls and thatched roofs. Water is the limiting factor, confining settlement to places situated near wells or boreholes with potable water.

Cattle , the basis of the economy, are kept on the outskirts of villages, or at distances of up to 50 miles away. Wells and boreholes are owned by local government councils, syndicates of cattle owners, or private individuals; year-round cattle grazing is limited to their vicinity. In summers of above-average rains, however, pastoralists may trek with their stock to remote pastures, where for a short time water may occur in pools. Cattle and goats feed upon a small range of the available vegetation. Since effective pasture management is little practiced, the grazing of these animals is highly destructive. Pasture loss and subsequent desertification are serious threats to the ecology of the Kalahari Desert. Cattle are prized beyond their economic value, as their ownership is a measure of social status and personal worth. Thus, the desire to possess more cattle puts an increasing load on diminishing pasture, leaving it no chance for recovery. The traditional dangers to livestock-drought, disease, internal parasites, and wild predators-have diminished markedly as more boreholes have been sunk, veterinary care improved, and indigenous fauna have grown scarcer. In addition, wealthier cattle owners have improved their herds by introducing better stock and practicing scientific breeding.

Goats furnish most of the meat and milk for home consumption, and nearly all households cultivate crops of corn (maize), sorghum, and pumpkins. Because of the threat of drought, more crops fail than are successful. Wild food plants and the meat of game animals are important components of diet in the smaller and more remote villages. All villages have trading stores or are visited by hawkers who sell foodstuffs and other commodities.

All but the smallest villages have state-run primary schools, which are attended by the great majority of children, although few proceed to secondary education. State-run health clinics and hospitals in the larger villages supplement the services of herbalists and diviners.

Riding horses and donkeys are the usual means of local travel. Trucks belonging to traders or to the mine labour recruiting agency are used for longer journeys.

Large diamond deposits were discovered in Botswana soon after the country's independence, and the opening of the diamond mine at Orapa in 1971 marked the beginning of the development of mining activities in scattered locations of the Kalahari. In addition, tourism and the sale of handicrafts have become economically important.

San

The San-or Basarwa, as they are called in much of the region-are now either clients of Bantu-speaking pastoralists and work at cattle posts in return for support or they are employees of cattle ranches or are dependents of such employees. Few San still follow their traditional pattern of hunting and gathering . Many have been resettled-often, against their will-by the government of Botswana from their traditional homes in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve to new villages built outside the reserve.

Although all San traditionally were hunter-gatherers, there were significant cultural and social differences between groups. For example, a number of groups had long-standing clientships with Bantu-speaking stockowners, while other groups lived-until the 1970s-solely as autonomous foragers. Of these latter peoples, the Kung (!Kung), !xong , and G/wi tribes (the "! " and "/" representing click sounds) were intensively studied. While each group was distinct, the G/wi of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve can be considered an example of the traditional San hunter-gatherer way of life.

The G/wi lived together in bands, each consisting of 5 to 16 households linked by bonds of kinship and friendship. Each band had a recognized territory of 300 to 400 square miles, selected for its resources of food plants (the main part of the diet), wet-season water holes (used during the six to eight weeks when sufficient rainwater gathered in pools), trees (for shade, shelter, firewood, and wood for making artifacts), and areas of grazing to attract and sustain herds of game animals. Subsistence was based on a number of species of edible plants, of which eight were staples in their various seasons. This diet was supplemented by the meat of antelopes and other herbivorous mammals, by tortoises and other reptiles, and by the flesh and eggs of all but raptorial and scavenging birds. Plant-gathering was mostly done by women ranging within five miles of the camp, while men hunted over a much larger area. The main hunting weapon was a light bow shooting flimsy, unfletched, poisoned arrows. The range of these bows was only about 75 feet, and great skill was needed to stalk the quarry within this distance. Antelope leather provided material for clothing, which included cloaks that also served as blankets and carrying bags.

From November to some time between late June and early August-a period when there is sufficient food-the band lived as one community, moving from camp to camp every three or four weeks as the local supply of food plants became exhausted. Blighting frosts depleted the available food plants in winter (May to September), and the band would then split into its constituent households, each retreating to a separate part of the territory. Early-fruiting plants increased the food supply just before the approach of the wet season, allowing the band to reunite at a joint campsite. During dry seasons, shelters were little more than open windbreaks made of branches and grass. In rainy periods, domed structures of branches were thatched and made rainproof.

Europeans

Europeans first entered the Kalahari early in the 19th century as travelers, missionaries, ivory hunters, and traders. The only European settlement was in the Ghanzi District, where a number of families were allowed ranching blocks in the 1890s. Until the 1960s they led a life of isolation and poverty, but since then they have been able to gain ownership of the land and improve their living conditions. Most other whites in the Kalahari are government employees or are engaged in private enterprise.
George Bertrand Silberbauer

Transportation

Because of its sparsely populated expanse, the Kalahari is served by infrequent roads and tracks, the majority of which are passable only by trucks or four-wheel drive vehicles. Maintained roads connect administrative centres, major habitations, and marginal farming areas in the south, southwest, and northwest. Constructed roads now link eastern Botswana with the Okavango Swamp and with mining developments south of the Makgadikgadi Pans.

Study and exploration

The Kalahari Desert's lack of surface water and deep sands constituted a major obstacle to early travelers. The Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone , with assistance from local peoples, traversed the Kalahari in 1849 with great effort by utilizing local waterholes. In 1878-79 a party of Boers in the Dorsland ("Thirstland") Trek crossed the Kalahari from the Transvaal to central Angola by a circuitous route, losing along the way about 250 people and 9,000 cattle, largely from thirst. The introduction of motor vehicles in the 20th century greatly improved transport into the Kalahari, but even as late as the 1950s large areas were virtually inaccessible and were never visited by outsiders. By the mid-1970s, however, vehicle mobility had improved to such a degree that the whole of the Kalahari had been opened to study, hunting, and tourist expeditions, and interest in the desert continued into the 21st century.

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Kalahari Desert , large basinlike plain of the interior plateau of Southern Africa . It occupies almost all of Botswana , the eastern third of Namibia , and the northernmost part of Northern Cape province in South Africa . In the southwest it merges with the Namib , the coastal desert of Namibia.

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the southern section of the Mexican Plateau extending south from the Zacatecas Mountains to the Bajío, a fertile region at the northern base of the Cordillera Neo-Volcánica. Lying at elevations of 6,000 to 7,500 feet (1,800 to 2,300 metres), the Mesa Central is considerably higher and wetter than the Mesa…

https://www.britannica.com/place/Mexican-Plateau

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Other articles where Mexican Plateau is discussed: Mesa Central: ...the southern section of the Mexican Plateau extending south from the Zacatecas Mountains to the Bajío, a fertile region at the northern base of the Cordillera Neo-Volcánica. Lying at elevations of 6,000 to 7,500 feet (1,800 to 2,300 metres), the Mesa Central is considerably higher and wetter than the Mesa...

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Europe, second smallest of the world’s continents, composed of the westward-projecting peninsulas of Eurasia (the great landmass that it shares with Asia) and occupying nearly one-fifteenth of the world’s total land area.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Europe

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Europe, second smallest of the world's continents, composed of the westward-projecting peninsulas of Eurasia (the great landmass that it shares with Asia) and occupying nearly one-fifteenth of the world's total land area. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south (west to east) by the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Kuma-Manych Depression, and the Caspian Sea. The continent's eastern boundary (north to south) runs along the Ural Mountains and then roughly southwest along the Emba (Zhem) River, terminating at the northern Caspian coast.

Europe's largest islands and archipelagoes include Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, Svalbard, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the British Isles, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Crete, and Cyprus. Its major peninsulas include Jutland and the Scandinavian, Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas. Indented by numerous bays, fjords, and seas, continental Europe's highly irregular coastline is about 24,000 miles (38,000 km) long.

Among the continents, Europe is an anomaly. Larger only than Australia, it is a small appendage of Eurasia. Yet the peninsular and insular western extremity of the continent, thrusting toward the North Atlantic Ocean, provides-thanks to its latitude and its physical geography-a relatively genial human habitat, and the long processes of human history came to mark off the region as the home of a distinctive civilization. In spite of its internal diversity, Europe has thus functioned, from the time it first emerged in the human consciousness, as a world apart, concentrating-to borrow a phrase from Christopher Marlowe -"infinite riches in a little room."

As a conceptual construct, Europa, as the more learned of the ancient Greeks first conceived it, stood in sharp contrast to both Asia and Libya, the name then applied to the known northern part of Africa. Literally, Europa is now thought to have meant "Mainland," rather than the earlier interpretation, "Sunset." It appears to have suggested itself to the Greeks, in their maritime world, as an appropriate designation for the extensive northerly lands that lay beyond, lands with characteristics vaguely known yet clearly different from those inherent in the concepts of Asia and Libya-both of which, relatively prosperous and civilized, were associated closely with the culture of the Greeks and their predecessors. From the Greek perspective then, Europa was culturally backward and scantily settled. It was a barbarian world-that is, a non-Greek one, with its inhabitants making "bar-bar" noises in unintelligible tongues. Traders and travelers also reported that the Europe beyond Greece possessed distinctive physical units, with mountain systems and lowland river basins much larger than those familiar to inhabitants of the Mediterranean region. It was clear as well that a succession of climates, markedly different from those of the Mediterranean borderlands, were to be experienced as Europe was penetrated from the south. The spacious eastern steppes and, to the west and north, primeval forests as yet only marginally touched by human occupancy further underlined environmental contrasts.

The empire of ancient Rome, at its greatest extent in the 2nd century ce, revealed, and imprinted its culture on, much of the face of the continent. Trade relations beyond its frontiers also drew the remoter regions into its sphere. Yet it was not until the 19th and 20th centuries that modern science was able to draw with some precision the geologic and geographic lineaments of the European continent, the peoples of which had meanwhile achieved domination over-and set in motion vast countervailing movements among-the inhabitants of much of the rest of the globe ( see Western colonialism).

As to the territorial limits of Europe, they may seem relatively clear on its seaward flanks, but many island groups far to the north and west-Svalbard, the Faroes, Iceland, and the Madeira and Canary islands-are considered European, while Greenland (though tied politically to Denmark) is conventionally allocated to North America. Furthermore, the Mediterranean coastlands of North Africa and southwestern Asia also exhibit some European physical and cultural affinities. Turkey and Cyprus in particular, while geologically Asian, possess elements of European culture and may be regarded as parts of Europe. Indeed, Turkey has sought membership in the European Union (EU), and the Republic of Cyprus joined the organization in 2004.

Europe's boundaries have been especially uncertain, and hence much debated, on the east, where the continent merges, without sundering physical boundaries, with parts of western Asia. The eastward limits now adopted by most geographers exclude the Caucasus region and encompass a small portion of Kazakhstan, where the European boundary formed by the northern Caspian coast is connected to that of the Urals by Kazakhstan's Emba River and Mughalzhar (Mugodzhar) Hills, themselves a southern extension of the Urals. Among the alternative boundaries proposed by geographers that have gained wide acceptance is a scheme that sees the crest of the Greater Caucasus range as the dividing line between Europe and Asia, placing Ciscaucasia, the northern part of the Caucasus region, in Europe and Transcaucasia, the southern part, in Asia. Another widely endorsed scheme puts the western portion of the Caucasus region in Europe and the eastern part-that is, the bulk of Azerbaijan and small portions of Armenia, Georgia, and Russia's Caspian Sea coast-in Asia. Still another scheme with many adherents locates the continental boundary along the Aras River and the Turkish border, thereby putting Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia in Europe.

Europe's eastern boundary, however, is not a cultural, political, or economic discontinuity on the land comparable, for example, to the insulating significance of the Himalayas, which clearly mark a northern limit to South Asian civilization. Inhabited plains, with only the minor interruption of the worn-down Urals, extend from central Europe to the Yenisey River in central Siberia. Slavic-based civilization dominates much of the territory occupied by the former Soviet Union from the Baltic and Black seas to the Pacific Ocean. That civilization is distinguished from the rest of Europe by legacies of a medieval Mongol- Tatar domination that precluded the sharing of many of the innovations and developments of European "Western civilization"; it became further distinctive during the relative isolation of the Soviet period. In partitioning the globe into meaningful large geographic units, therefore, most modern geographers treated the former Soviet Union as a distinct territorial entity, comparable to a continent, that was somewhat separate from Europe to the west and from Asia to the south and east; that distinction has been maintained for Russia, which constituted three-fourths of the Soviet Union.

Europe occupies some 4 million square miles (10 million square km) within the conventional borders assigned to it. That broad territory reveals no simple unity of geologic structure, landform, relief, or climate. Rocks of all geologic periods are exposed, and the operation of geologic forces during an immense succession of eras has contributed to the molding of the landscapes of mountain, plateau, and lowland and has bequeathed a variety of mineral reserves. Glaciation too has left its mark over wide areas, and the processes of erosion and deposition have created a highly variegated and compartmentalized countryside. Climatically, Europe benefits by having only a small proportion of its surface either too cold or too hot and dry for effective settlement and use. Regional climatic contrasts nevertheless exist: oceanic, Mediterranean, and continental types occur widely, as do gradations from one to the other. Associated vegetation and soil forms also show continual variety, but only portions of the dominant woodland that clothed most of the continent when humans first appeared now remain.

All in all, Europe enjoys a considerable and long-exploited resource base of soil, forest, sea, and minerals (notably coal), but its people are increasingly its principal resource. The continent, excluding Russia, contains less than one-tenth of the total population of the world, but in general its people are well educated and highly skilled. Europe also supports high densities of population, concentrated in urban-industrial regions. A growing percentage of people in urban areas are employed in a wide range of service activities, which have come to dominate the economies of most countries. Nonetheless, in manufacturing and agriculture Europe still occupies an eminent, if no longer necessarily predominant, position. The creation of the European Economic Community in 1957 and the EU in 1993 greatly enhanced economic cooperation between many of the continent's countries. Europe's continuing economic achievements are evidenced by its high standard of living and its successes in science, technology, and the arts.

This article treats the physical and human geography of Europe. For discussion of individual countries of the continent, see specific articles by name-e.g., Italy, Poland, and United Kingdom. For discussion of major cities of the continent, see specific articles by name-e.g., Rome, Warsaw, and London. The principal articles discussing the historical and cultural development of the continent include history of Europe; European exploration; Western colonialism; Aegean civilizations; ancient Greek civilization; ancient Rome; Byzantine Empire; and Holy Roman Empire. Related topics are discussed in such articles as those on religion (e.g., Judaism and Roman Catholicism) and literature (e.g., Greek literature; Dutch literature; and Spanish literature).

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Europe | History, Countries, Map, & Facts

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Europe, second smallest of the world's continents, composed of the westward-projecting peninsulas of Eurasia (the great landmass that it shares with Asia). It occupies nearly one-fifteenth of the world's total land area. The long processes of history marked it off as the home of a distinctive civilization.

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The largely volcanic Sierra Madre Occidental, which forms the western border of the Mexican Plateau, has an average elevation of 8,000–9,000 feet (2,400–2,700 metres) and extends roughly 700 miles (1,100 km) from north to south. It has been highly incised by westward-flowing streams that have formed a series

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Sierra Madre Occidental | mountain range, North America

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Other articles where Sierra Madre Occidental is discussed: Mexico: Physiographic regions: The largely volcanic Sierra Madre Occidental, which forms the western border of the Mexican Plateau, has an average elevation of 8,000-9,000 feet (2,400-2,700 metres) and extends roughly 700 miles (1,100 km) from north to south.

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Canadian Shield, Kenora, Unorganized, ON, Canada

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Canadian Shield, Kenora, Unorganized, ON, Canada

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Canadian Shield, Kenora, Unorganized, ON, Canada

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Canadian Shield, one of the world’s largest geologic continental shields, centred on Hudson Bay and extending for 8 million square km (3 million square miles) over eastern, central, and northwestern Canada from the Great Lakes to the Canadian Arctic and into Greenland, with small extensions into northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and New York, U.S.

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Canadian Shield: Canadian Shield, geologic shield extending for 8 million square km (3 million square miles) from the Great Lakes to the Canadian Arctic and into Greenland.

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Rocky Mountains, byname the Rockies, mountain range forming the cordilleran backbone of the great upland system that dominates the western North American continent. Generally, the ranges included in the Rockies stretch from northern Alberta and British Columbia southward to New Mexico, a distance of some 3,000 miles (4,800 km). In places the system is 300 or more miles wide

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Richard A. Marston Professor of Geography, Kansas State University, Manhattan. Co-Editor-in-Chief of Geomorphology.

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Rocky Mountains | Location, Map, History, & Facts

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Rocky Mountains, mountain range forming the cordilleran backbone of the great upland system that dominates the western North American continent.

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Black Sea, Russian and Bulgarian Chernoye More, Ukrainian Chorne More, Turkish Karadenız, Romanian Marea Neagră, large inland sea situated at the southeastern extremity of Europe. It is bordered by Ukraine to the north, Russia to the northeast, Georgia to the east, Turkey to the south, and Bulgaria and Romania to the west.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Black-Sea

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Physiography

The coastline of the Black Sea is only mildly indented, except for the northwestern and northern shores, which are low and furrowed by numerous ravines, valleys, and rivers, the mouths of which are often impeded by sandy spits. The mountains of southern Crimea form the only precipitous cliff areas. In the east and south, the coasts are steep and mountainous. Spurs of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus ranges, separated by the Kolkhida lowland, confine the Black Sea in the east, while the Pontic Mountains run along the southern coast. Near the Bosporus outlet, the shoreline relief is moderate though still steep. Farther north, in the Burgaski Bay area, low mountains emerge where the Balkan Mountains of Bulgaria extend eastward. Continuing northward along the western shore, a flatter plateau region gives way to the great Danube River delta, which thrusts its mass out into the sea.

The Black Sea contains only a few small islands, the largest being Zmiyinyy (Fidonisi) of Ukraine, east of the Danube delta, and Berezan at the mouth of the Dniester River estuary. The submarine relief may be visualized as a series of concentric and occasionally asymmetrical rings. Beyond the shoreline a shallow shelf zone occupies about one-fourth of the entire area. It is broadest in the west and at the head of Kerch Strait but elsewhere forms a rim about 6 to 7 miles (10 to 11 km) wide, and the depth of the edge is usually less than 360 feet (110 metres). The shelf gives way at its edge to a slope, which is broken by submarine valleys and is steep in its upper parts. Between the port cities of Sinop and Samsun (Turkey), the coastline is paralleled by a rugged range of underwater mountains extending for nearly 100 miles (160 km). The hollow forming the basin's core covers about a third of the total area and is a completely featureless flat plain, with depths increasing evenly toward the centre to a little more than 7,200 feet (2,200 metres), with the axis of maximum depth displaced toward the Turkish coast.

Geology

Underlying rocks reflect a regional diversity of both type and age. The ancient Precambrian rocks of the southern tip of the structural block known as the Russian (or East European) Platform, dating from at least 540 million years ago, appear in the northwest. A second, related platform has a deep cover of sedimentary rocks that were laid later. The deepwater depression, generally considered to be a vast structural downwarp, is an unusual and significant feature of the Earth's crust. The centre of the depression consists of a sedimentary and a basaltic crustal layer, with a granite layer thrust between them at the periphery. Seafloor deposits generally change from coarse pebbles and gravel at the periphery to fine silts at the centre of the basin.

The geologic history of the Black Sea is not fully known, but it seems to be a residual basin of the ancient Tethys Sea, dating roughly from 250 to 50 million years ago. The present form of the sea probably emerged at the end of the Paleocene Epoch (about 55 million years ago), when structural upheavals in Anatolia split off the Caspian basin from the Mediterranean. The newly created Black Sea basin became gradually isolated from the ocean, and its salinity was reduced; at that time the Crimean Peninsula and the Caucasus probably were islands.

Early in the Miocene Epoch (about 20 million years ago), the Black Sea flowed into a chain of sea lakes but gradually became separated from the Caspian region. As mountains-the Pontic, Caucasus, Crimean, and Carpathians-rose around it, outwashed sediments filled the basin. Further earth movements and changes in sea level associated with Pleistocene glaciers then occurred and led to intermittent connections with the Mediterranean. During the last of the great glaciations, the Black Sea became a large freshwater lake. The present connection to the Mediterranean Sea-and to salt water-is believed to have emerged some 6,500 to 7,500 years ago. Strong earthquakes-such as the Crimean earthquake of 1927-remain associated with the area.

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Black Sea | Location, Region, Map, Countries, & Facts

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Black Sea, large inland sea situated at the southeastern extremity of Europe. The roughly oval-shaped sea is connected to the distant waters of the Atlantic Ocean by the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, the Dardanelles, the Aegean Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. Learn more about the Black Sea in this article.

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Africa is the second-largest continent in the world both in size and population.

https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/interesting-facts-about-africa-divd-1592141-2019-08-27

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Africa is distinctively unique continent among all 7 continents of the world. Africa has a very diverse culture. It is rich in cultural heritage and diversity, a wealth of natural resources, offers breathtaking tourist attractions.

These interesting facts about Africa are must to be known.

Interesting facts about Africa

1. Africa is the second-largest continent in the world both in size and population.

2. Islam is the dominant religion in Africa. Christianity is the second. Arabic is also the most widely-spoken language in Africa.

3. Africa has the shortest coastline despite being the second largest continent in the world.

4. Africa is the most centrally located continent in the world. Both the prime meridian (0 degrees longitude), and the equator (0 degrees latitude) cut across it.

5. Nigeria has the highest population (154.7 million people) in Africa. This represents 18% of Africa's total population.

6. Both the world's tallest and largest land animals both come from Africa. They are the giraffe and African elephant, respectively.

7. Around 2,000 different languages are spoken in Africa and each of them have different dialects while Arabic is the language that is most widely spoken in the African continent.

8. The world's longest river -- the Nile -- and the world's largest desert -- the Sahara -- both are home in Africa.

9. Algeria is the biggest country in Africa by land area.

10. The world's hottest place -- Ethiopia -- is in Africa.

11. The continents terrain was inhabitable and remained unknown for thousands of years, earning it the name of 'Dark Continent'.

12. The equator passes through the middle of the Dark Continent and it receives direct sunlight throughout the year.

13. The major animals in Africa include -- cheetah, African elephant, lion, zebra, Egyptian mongoose, giraffe, addax.

14. The largest waterfall in Africa is the Victoria Falls and it is located on the Zimbabwe and Zambia border. It has a height of 355 feet and the width of the water fall runs into almost a mile.

15. More than 50% of the world's French-speaking population lives here on the continent.

16. Angola has more Portuguese speakers than Portugal.

17. Africa has a pink lake in Senegal.

18. Africa is the hottest continent on earth.

General facts about Africa

Size: 30,221,532 sq km

No. of countries: 54

Population: 1,216,130,000

Read: Here are some facts about Asia which you never heard before Read: Interesting facts about Europe as a continent

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Interesting facts about Africa which you should know

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These facts about Africa will help you crack all the competitive exams.

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South China Sea, Chinese Nan Hai, arm of the western Pacific Ocean that borders the Southeast Asian mainland. It is bounded on the northeast by the Taiwan Strait

https://www.britannica.com/place/South-China-Sea

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South China Sea, Chinese Nan Hai, arm of the western Pacific Ocean that borders the Southeast Asian mainland. It is bounded on the northeast by the Taiwan Strait (by which it is connected to the East China Sea); on the east by Taiwan and the Philippines; on the southeast and south by Borneo, the southern limit of the Gulf of Thailand, and the east coast of the Malay Peninsula; and on the west and north by the Asian mainland. The South China Sea and the East China Sea together form the China Sea. The southern boundary of the South China Sea is a rise in the seabed between Sumatra and Borneo, and the northern boundary stretches from the northernmost point of Taiwan to the coast of Fujian province, China, in the Taiwan Strait. It embraces an area of about 1,423,000 square miles (3,685,000 square km), with a mean depth of 3,976 feet (1,212 metres).

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Physical features

Physiography

The sea's major feature is a deep rhombus-shaped basin in the eastern part, with reef-studded shoals rising up steeply within the basin to the south (Reed and Tizard banks and the Nanshan Island area) and northwest ( Paracel Islands and Macclesfield banks). The deep portion, called the China Sea Basin, has a maximum depth of 16,457 feet (5,016 metres) and an abyssal plain with a mean depth of some 14,100 feet (4,300 metres).

© tbradford-iStock/Getty Images Plus

Along the eastern side of the basin, the continental shelf falls off sharply near the Philippine islands of Luzon and Palawan and forms the Palawan Trough near the latter island. Along the northwest side of the basin toward the mainland is a broad, shallow shelf as wide as 150 miles (240 km). This shelf includes the Gulf of Tonkin and the Taiwan Strait and the large islands of Hainan and Taiwan.

To the south, off Vietnam, the shelf narrows and connects with the Sunda Shelf, one of the largest in the world, which covers the area between Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula and includes the southern part of the South China Sea, the Gulf of Thailand, and the Java Sea. This broad trough is about 130 feet (40 metres) deep at its periphery and up to 330 feet (100 metres) in its central part. On the bottom of the shelf is a network of submerged river valleys that converge into the Sunda Depression and then into the China Sea Basin.

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The Sunda Shelf is covered with littoral sediments contributed by submerged valleys. The inner zone of mud is characteristic of the continental shelf near the Mekong and Red river deltas, while the sediment of the deeper parts of the South China Sea is mainly composed of clay. A characteristic part of the sediments in both deep and shallow water is volcanic ash. This is found in layers, derived from large volcanic eruptions in the East Indies, notably the enormous eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, during which ash was transported through the entire area by both wind and currents.

The South China Sea has connecting channels. The Taiwan Strait on the north is about 100 miles (160 km) wide, with a depth of about 230 feet (70 metres). The Luzon Strait, the main deep channel connecting the South China Sea with the Pacific Ocean, lies between Taiwan and the Philippines and has a depth of about 8,500 feet (2,600 metres). Shallow channels are found on the east along the Philippine island chain and on the south between Borneo and Sumatra. The western connection to the Indian Ocean is the long Strait of Malacca. At its narrowest it is 19 miles (31 km) wide and about 100 feet (30 metres) deep.

The South China Sea is the largest marginal sea of the western Pacific. Some 1 million to 60 million years ago, it rifted and then collapsed as a result of seafloor spreading. The China Sea Basin is believed to have dropped 2.5 miles (4 km), leaving residual plateaus studded with numerous coral reefs, islets, and banks, some of which are drowned atolls.

Climate

Weather in the sea is tropical and largely controlled by monsoons. In summer, monsoonal winds blow predominantly from the southwest; in winter, winds blow from the northeast. Annual rainfall varies from about 80 inches (2,000 mm) to more than 120 inches (3,000 mm) around the southern basin. Summer typhoons are frequent.

Hydrology

Monsoons control the sea-surface currents as well as the exchange of water between the South China Sea and adjacent bodies of water. In August the surface flow into the South China Sea is from the south from the Java Sea through the Karimata and Gelasa (Gasper) straits. Near the mainland the general flow is northeasterly, passing out through the Taiwan and Luzon straits. There is a weak countercurrent on the eastern side of the sea. In February the flow is generally to the southwest; the strongest flow occurs in summer along the bulging part of Vietnam, with speeds of up to 3.5 miles (5.6 km) per hour generated by the strong southwestern monsoon.

The near-surface waters are relatively warm (about 84 °F [29 °C] in the summer) because of the low latitude and a tendency for the equatorial current to feed warm water into the area. In early summer, wind from the southwest not only moves the surface water to the northeast but causes it to be displaced off the coast. As a result, upwelling areas having colder surface temperatures and higher nutrient content are found off central Vietnam. In winter the general surface temperature is cooler, ranging from about 70 °F (21 °C) in the north to 81 °F (27 °C) in the south.

The major rivers draining into the South China Sea are the tributaries of the Pearl (Zhu) River Delta south of Guangzhou (Canton), China, including the Xi River; the Red River at Haiphong, Viet.; and the Mekong River, near Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Viet. The wet summer season causes the Mekong to triple its annual average flow, and it causes an even greater relative change in the flow of the Red River.

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South China Sea, arm of the western Pacific Ocean that borders the Southeast Asian mainland.