Northern and South-Western Asia

Map   Questions.

1. Study the scale of altitudes on the physical map of Asia and
   find the places above 5,000 metres.
2. Show on the map the lowlands, mountains and tablelands
   known to you from the fifth-form course.

Relief Peculiarities of Asia. Asia reaches higher altitudes than any other part of the world. Three-fourths of its territory consists of vast tablelands, uplands and lofty mountains. Particularly high is the central part of Asia. Lowlands and plains occupy smaller areas and are situated in the outlying regions of the continent. There are depressions lying below sea level in places.

Fig. 71. Asia: Relief and minerals
Across the entire breadth of Asia, from west to east, extends a series of young mountain ranges, part of the young mountain belt of Europe. They run from Asia Minor to Indo-China and are conti­nued on the Sunda Islands (Fig. 71).
North of this belt of young mountains stand ancient mountains, much-denuded and worn down. Some of the peaks, however, were again lifted to great heights later on.
Comparatively low ranges of young mountains extend across the eastern, outlying regions of the mainland and the islands.
Relief of Northern Asia (Siberia). The eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains border on the vast West Siberian Lowland. This is a flat and marshy plain, formerly a sea.
The West Siberian Lowland slopes gently toward the north. The rivers, therefore, flow in the same direction, into the Kara Sea. In the south-east the lowland is bordered by the Altai Moun­tains (Fig. 72).

Fig. 72. The Altai Mountains.

East of the West Siberian Lowland, between the Yenisei and Lena Rivers, rises the Central Siberian Tableland, full of cracks and divided into separate low and flat-topped ridges by deep river valleys. In days of old, lava poured out of the cracks in the earth's crust. The tableland is still covered in places with thick coulees.
East of the Lena the country is chiefly mountainous. There are mountains in Chukotsk and Kamchatka too.
Relief of South-Western Asia. South of the West Siberian Low­land lies the Turan Lowland, below sea level in places. Like

Western Siberia, it is covered with deposits from former seas. In the south and east it is bordered by mountains.
Further south is situated the Plateau of Iran. It consists of alternating tablelands and mountain ranges. In its north-eastern part tower the lofty Hindu Kush mountain range.
The Arabian Peninsula is an elevated land massif in the form of a plateau (the Plateau of Arabia), rising high in the west and gradually sloping downward toward the east.

The peninsula of Asia Minor extending into the Mediterranean is a tableland bordered by mountains along the coasts of the Black and Mediterranean Seas.

Fig. 73. Double-topped Elbrus in the Caucasus Mountains. The slopes are covered with snow and ice. In places black blocks of hardened lava jut out. Elbrus is an extinct volcano

The region between the western coast of the Caspian and the east­ern coasts of the Black and Azov Seas is called the Caucasia, or Caucasus. The lofty Caucasus Mountains extend in a north-western to south-eastern direction. The highest peak is double-topped Elbrus, over 5,500 metres high and covered with perennial snow (Fig. 73).
North of the Caucasus Mountains stretch the Ciscaucasian plains, as far as the Kuma-Manych Depression. To the south are the moun­tainous Transcaucasian regions.
Questions and Assignments.

1. Study the map and find the highest point on the Central Si­
   berian Tableland.
2. With the help of the map scale, measure the length of the
   West Siberian Lowland from north to south and from west to east.