Glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania sit just kilometers from the tropical jungles below. Even though Kilimanjaro is not far from the Equator, snow covers its summit all year long. The rift valley actually starts in southwestern Asia.
The Great Rift Valley is a site of major tectonic activity, where the continent of Africa is splitting into two. Geologists have already named the two parts of the African Plate. The area of central-eastern Africa is important to scientists who study evolution and the earliest origins of humanity. This area is thought to be the place where hominids began to evolve. The entire continent of Africa sits on the African Plate. Asia Asia, the largest continent, stretches from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the western Pacific Ocean.
There are more than 40 countries in Asia. Some are among the most-populated countries in the world, including China, India, and Indonesia. The continent of Asia includes many islands, some of them countries. The plateaus in Central Asia are largely unsuitable for farming and are thinly populated. The continent has a wide range of climate regions, from polar in the Siberian Arctic to tropical in equatorial Indonesia. Southeast Asia, on the other hand, depends on the annual monsoons, which bring rain and make agriculture possible.
Asia is the most mountainous of all the continents. More than 50 of the highest peaks in the world are in Asia. Mount Everest, which reaches more than 8, meters 29, feet high in the Himalaya range, is the highest point on Earth. These mountains have become major destination spots for adventurous travelers. Plate tectonics continuously push the mountains higher.
As the landmass of India pushes northward into the landmass of Eurasia, parts of the Himalayas rise at a rate of about 2. The land there lies more than meters 1, feet below sea level. Although the Eurasian Plate carries most of Asia, it is not the only one supporting major parts of the large continent.
The Indian Plate supports the Indian peninsula, sometimes called the Indian subcontinent. The Australian Plate carries some islands in Indonesia. Australia In addition to being the smallest continent, Australia is the flattest and the second-driest, after Antarctica.
The continent is sometimes called Oceania , to include the thousands of tiny islands of the Central Pacific and South Pacific, most notably Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia including the U. However, the continent of Australia itself includes only the nation of Australia, the eastern portion of the island of New Guinea the nation of Papua New Guinea and the island nation of New Zealand.
Australia covers just less than 8. Its population is about 31 million. It is the most sparsely populated continent, after Antarctica. Rainfall is light on the plateau, and not many people have settled there.
The Great Dividing Range, a long mountain range, rises near the east coast and extends from the northern part of the territory of Queensland through the territories of New South Wales and Victoria. Mainland Australia is known for the Outback , a desert area in the interior.
This area is so dry, hot, and barren that few people live there. In addition to the hot plateaus and deserts in mainland Australia, the continent also features lush equatorial rainforests on the island of New Guinea, tropical beaches, and high mountain peaks and glaciers in New Zealand. Biologists who study animals consider Australia a living laboratory.
When the continent began to break away from Antarctica more than 60 million years ago, it carried a cargo of animals with it. Isolated from life on other continents, the animals developed into creatures unique to Australia, such as the koala, the platypus, and the Tasmanian devil.
The reef itself is 1, kilometers 1, miles of living coral communities. Most of Australia sits on the Australian Plate. Antarctica Antarctica is the windiest, driest, and iciest place on Earth. Antarctica is larger than Europe or Australia, but unlike those continents, it has no permanent human population.
People who work there are scientific researchers and support staff, such as pilots and cooks. The climate of Antarctica makes it impossible to support agriculture or a permanent civilization. Temperatures in Antarctica, much lower than Arctic temperatures, plunge lower than degrees Celsius degrees Fahrenheit. Scientific bases and laboratories have been established in Antarctica for studies in fields that include geology , oceanography , and meteorology.
Antarctica is also an ideal place for discovering meteorites, or stony objects that have impacted Earth from space. The dark meteorites, often made of metals like iron , stand out from the white landscape of most of the continent.
Antarctica is almost completely covered with ice, sometimes as thick as 3. Like all other continents, Antarctica has volcanic activity.
The most active volcano is Mount Erebus, which is less than 1, kilometers miles from the South Pole. Antarctica does not have any countries. However, scientific groups from different countries inhabit the research stations. A multinational treaty negotiated in and reviewed in states that research in Antarctica can only be used for peaceful purposes. Vostok Station, where the coldest temperature on Earth was recorded, is operated by Russia.
All of Antarctica sits on the Antarctic Plate. Microcontinents In addition to the seven major continents, Earth is home to microcontinents, or pieces of land that are not geologically identified with a continent.
Major microcontinents include:. Also called cosmic dust or space dust. Gas molecules are in constant, random motion. Also called the Somali Peninsula. The last ice age peaked about 20, years ago. Also called glacial age. Monsoon usually refers to the winds of the Indian Ocean and South Asia, which often bring heavy rains.
Regions are the basic units of geography. Sea level is determined by measurements taken over a year cycle. Also called lithospheric plate. While Europe does not have a definite boundary in the east, the Ural Mountains from the north to the south, the Ural River, the Black Sea, the Bosphorus, and the Dardanelles and the Aegean Sea are the borders on other aspects.
Europe is similar to a triangle framed by 10 to 60 eastern meridians, with approximately 35 to 70 north parallel circles on the map. There are time zones on the continent. This continent, which has been the cradle of the great kingdom and empires, has maintained its development and completed its industrialization in a short time according to all other continents.
The importance of Europe is not based on its location, surface area, natural resources, population, and physical characteristics, but also its human resources and its qualities. The population of well-educated people has been developed economically and has reached a high standard of living thanks to its progress in science and technology. Europe, which has little natural resources, owes its development to the high qualities of human resources and the blessings of the colonial system.
Today, the people of the United States , which is the biggest power focus of the world, are mostly of European origin. Many of the important inventions, which are the milestones of scientific and technological developments, were also discovered by the Europeans. The European Union , which aims at the unification of European countries in every way and carries out important steps in this way, further increases the power and importance of Europe in the world.
Africa, which is one of the oldest world lands, has a surface area of 30,, square kilometers. The African name was inspired by the name of the Romans called Afri or Africani. However, at the end of the 2nd century AD, this name began to be used for the whole continent. Africa has borders with the Mediterranean from the north.
Also, the Suez Channel separates the continent from Asia in the northeast. The continent is adjacent to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean in the east. Bab-el Mendep Strait approaches 18 km to the Arabian Peninsula. Moreover, Indian Ocean surrounds the continent in the south and the Atlantic Ocean in the west. In some countries of the continent, oil production associated with poverty, violence, and pollution can double in West Africa over a decade.
Antarctica, the southernmost part of the Southern Hemisphere and the continent containing the South Pole. It is the only continent in the south of Africa and Oceania.
The discovery of the legendary continent in the South, after a search of years, was only successful in Charles Wilkes, with his sailboat roughly 2, km along the coast, proved to be a truly large continent, unlike the Arctic north, where the South Pole was. At the time, they were still joined together.
The small piece of land that became India broke away too. It became an island. For millions of years it moved north. Finally, it ran into Asia. It then became part of Asia. Slowly, the different continents moved to where they are now. The continents are still moving.
North America and Europe are moving away from each other. They travel about 2. The continents are also continuing to break apart. In time, part of California will likely separate from North America.
It will become an island. Our Changing World The surface of the continents has changed many times. Great mountains have risen. Then, they have been worn away. Ocean waters have flooded across plains. Then, they have slowly dried up. Huge ice sheets have come and gone. Along the way, they shaped the land. Mountains are still forming. They often form when two tectonic plates crash together.
Such crashes push bits of land up. North America North America is the third-largest continent. It stretches from the Aleutian Islands to the Isthmus of Panama. The western part of the continent is full of young mountains. The Rockies are one example.
They are North America's largest mountain chain. The East Coast has older mountain chains. North America has many kinds of weather. It has a bigger range of climates than any other continent. Its Arctic regions are very cold. Other parts are very warm.
This is wrong. Mexico is in North America. Greenland is also geographically part of North America, even though Denmark partly controls it. South America South America is the fourth-largest continent.
It stretches from the Caribbean Sea to the Antarctic Circle. The Andes is the world's longest mountain range. It runs the whole length of South America. The Amazon River flows through northern South America.
It is the largest river in the world. The Amazon runs through the world's largest tropical rainforest. This rainforest is home to thousands of kinds of plants and animals.
Many are found nowhere else. There are 12 countries in South America. Europe Europe is the sixth-largest continent. It is only slightly larger than Canada. Yet, it has more than twice as many people as South America. The Ural Mountains separate Europe from Asia. Two nations are in both continents.
These are Russia and Kazakhstan. Europe's most famous mountain chain is the Alps. It stretches across eight countries. Some people argue for even fewer continents. They say that since Europe and Asia are actually part of one great land mass and that Asia and Africa are actually joined by an isthmus Isthmus of Suez , as are the two Americas being joined by the Isthmus of Panama , then there should be an Afro-Eurasian continent in addition to one American continent, Antarctica, and Australia.
One projection by physicists shows North and South America drifting apart, and Africa sideways, smooshed into Europe.
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