Earthquakes and Volcanoes. Minerals

Earthquake Regions of Asia. Earthquakes are most frequent and violent along the Pacific coast of Asia: on the Kuril, Japanese, Philippine and Sunda Islands. In these regions an earth-lie

quake of some kind takes place almost every day, some being most destructive. In Japan in 1923 occurred an earthquake which laid in ruins several towns and killed many people.
Another belt of frequent though slighter earthquakes runs from west to east, following the young mountain ranges across Asia Minor, the Caucasus and the Plateau of Iran. There is still another in Central Asia.

Volcanic Regions of Asia. Where the earth's crust is weak and cracked there occur volcanic eruptions. More than half of the world's active or extinct volcanoes are in Asia.
Volcanoes are situated along the Pacific coast and on the islands bordering Asia to the east and south-east. There are active vol­canoes on Kamchatka and the Kuril, Japanese, Philippine and Sunda Islands. Eruptions of great force have occured in these places.
On Kamchatka is situated one of the world's highest volcanoes, Mount Klyuchevskaya (4,750 metres). During erup­tions the molten lava melts the snow on the slopes, and streams of water rush madly toward the foot of the mountain.
Another form of volcanic activity are geysers. At the foot of the Kamchatka volcanoes lies a valley containing a great number of geysers and hot springs. The largest among them erupts appro­ximately every two hours, throwing a fountain of boiling water from 40 to 50 metres into the air.
Minerals of Asia. The mineral wealth of Asia is not as yet suf­ficiently explored. Rich deposits, however, have been discovered in many regions.
There are large deposits of oil in the Caucasus near Baku and elsewhere, on the northern and eastern coasts of the Caspian Sea and on the coast of the Persian Gulf (the south-eastern part of the Plateau of Iran and the Arabian Peninsula). Oil is found, besides, in Central Asia (in China).
Rich deposits of coal are found in the Kuznetsk Basin north of the Altai Mountains, on the Central Siberian Tableland, in China and on the peninsula of Hindustan. Iron ore and other metals are found in many regions of Asia. Coal and iron are often deposited close to each other.
Gold is mined on the Central Siberian Tableland and elsewhere in Northern Asia. There are rich deposits of tin ore in the southern part of Indo-China and on the adjacent islands. Diamonds have been discovered in Siberia in recent years.

Questions and Assignments.

1. Mark the regions of frequent earthquakes and active volcanoes in Asia on your outline map, using shading to signify the first and red dots the second.