continental facts

8/3/2019 Continental Facts

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Con inent fac s



Asia Largest continent , covering almost third of the world’s land area ;

Highest place on the earth :MOUNT EVEREST (8848mtrs above sea level;

Lowest place on the earth: DEAD SEA SHORE (399mtrs below sea level).

PHYSICAL

DIVISION

• Northern Lowlands :comprise the SERBIAN PLAIN which extends

between the URAL MOUNTAINS (W) and RIVER LENA (E)

• Central Mountains :comprising fold mountains and plateaus• Southern Plateaus :formed of very old rocks , the southern plateaus

comprising the PLATEAU OF ARABIA, THE DECCAN PLATEAU AND THE

PLATEAU OF YUNNAN

• Great River Valleys: some of these river systems – The Tigris-Euphrates,

the Indus, the Ganga-Brahmaputra, The Ayeryarwaddy, The Mekong,

The Sikiang, The Chang Jiang (Yangtze- kiang) and The Huang He – are

very old. • Island Groups : Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan

MOUNTAINS Asia has more mountain than any other continent.

Himalaya, Karakoram, Altai, Elbruz, Zagros, Urals. Kunlun ,Tein Shan

PAMIR KNOT (Roof of the world):large group of rugged peaks and deep

valleys(lies where Afghanistan, China , Pakistan and Central Asian Republics

meet)

TARIM BASIN : Between the Kunlun and the Tein Shan

RIVERS Euphrates, Tigris, Ganga, Hwang Ho, Amur, Sikiang, The Yangtze is Asia’s

longest river.

DESERTS Arabian Desert, Gobi Desert, Thar Desert

LAKES Baikal (Siberia ) is deepest lake in world ; Caspian Sea, Aral Sea

STRAITS Strait of Malacca, Bering Strait

COASTLINE 129077km



Africa Second largest continent, covering one-fifth of the land area;

separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea and from Asia

by the Red Sea.

In the north-west: Gibraltar, northeast: Suez Canal; strait of Bab-el

Mandeb connect Africa to Eurasia: Africa has largest tropical areain the world.

PHYSICAL

DIVISION

• Low Africa (consisting northern, western and central )

• Costal Lowlands • Northern Highlands • Saharan Plateau • Western Plateau • Nile Basin

• Congo Basin • High Africa (consisting eastern and southern Africa)

• Rift System: special physical feature of Africa, consist of the Great Rift Valley (series of parallel cracks in the earth), extends from Ethiopia in

the East to Mozambique in the southeast. Rich in volcanic soil • Eastern Highlands • Southern Plateau • Coastal Lowlands • Madagascar

MOUNTAINS Atlas( extending from Morocco to Tunisia, non –volcanic), Drakensberg,

Mt. Kilimanjaro(in Tanzania) and Mt. Kenye (in Kenya) are volcanic activity

RIVERS Nile(longest river in the world, drains into the Mediterranean sea)

Zaire(Congo: carries the greatest volume of water among all the rivers of

Africa), Niger (discharge into the Atlantic), Limpopo and Zambezi (drain into

Indian ocean), Orange, ,Nyasa, Turkana

DESERTS cover two-fifths of Africa

Sahara: world’s largest desert; stretches across northern Africa from the

Atlantic sea to the red sea, Kalahari, Namib

LAKES Victoria: largest lake in Africa and source of river Tanganyika, Rudolf, Albert

,Nyasa, Turkana

STRAITS Strait of Babel-Mandeb, Strait of Gibraltar

COASTLINE ----



Note: South Sudan is the con inent's newest country.



North

America

Third largest continent, extending from the Arctic Ocean in the north to

south America in the south.

PHYSICAL DIVISION

• Canadian Shield: huge area of ancient rocks covers most of Canada; reservoir of valuable mineral resources like gold, silver,

nickel, iron, and copper, platinum; made up of swamps and no. of

lakes: Great Bear, Winnipeg and Great Lakes (Superior, Huron,

Erie, Ontario, and Michigan). The famous Niagara Falls is located

between Lake Erie and lake Ontario • The Appalachian Mountains/Eastern Highlands

• The Central Plains :cover flat river basin of the Missouri-Mississippi

• Western Cordilleras: Intermontane Plateaus- the Great Basin

(largest Intermontane Plateau of continent) active volcano in

Alaska and Mexico.

MOUNTAINS Rockies: North America’s largest mountain range, Alaska: North America’s

highest mountain range, Cascade, Sierra Madre, Mt McKinley (6194m): North

America’s highest mountain

RIVERS Mississippi, Missouri, Rio Grande, Mackenzie. Columbia

Mississippi- Missouri-Ohio: Continent’s Largest River System

Grand Canyon of river Colorado- Largest In World

DESERTS Mojave, Sonoran

LAKES Superior: largest freshwater lake in world , Huron, Erie, Ontario, Great

Bear , Great Slave , Great Salt Lake in Utah ( saltier than sea)

STRAITS Bering strait

COASTLINE About 300000km: longer than any other continent



South

America

Fourth largest continent , surrounded by water – the Caribbean Sea

(north), the Atlantic Ocean (northeast and east) , the Pacific ocean

(west) and the Dark Passage (south); the Isthmus of Panama:

connected to central America by narrow strip of land

PHYSICAL

DIVISION

• Western Coastal Strip

• Western Mountains • The Central Plains :covering about three-fifths of south America

made up of LALMOS :rolling grasslands in Orinoco river basin of

Colombia and Venezuela, THE SELVA:tropical rain forest of the

Amazon river basin in Bolivia, Brazil and Peru , THE GRAN

CHACO(hardwood serial forest in north-central Argentina ,

western Paraguay and southern Bolivia, THE PAMPAS(vast

grasslands in Argentina) • Eastern Highlands: consist of the Guyana Highlands and the

Brazilian Highlands

MOUNTAINS Andes :called western mountains, from Venezuela in the north to

Tierra del Fuego in the south , young fold mountain second highest

mountain system in the world ,next to Himalaya , world’s largest

mountain ranges above sea level

Mt Aconcagua in Argentina(6959m) : tallest mountain in western

hemisphere

Cotopaxi in Ecuador: highest active volcano in the world . RIVERS Amazon: world’s second longest river but has the largest drainage

basin Orinoco, Parana, Paraguay , The Rio de le Plata, the

Magdalena-Cauca, the San Francisco. The Angel Falls in southern-

eastern Venezuela- highest water fall in the world

DESERTS Atacama, Patagonia

LAKES Lake Maracaibo, Lake Titicaca

STRAITS Strait of Magellan

COASTLINE 32000km , Tierra del Fuego( largest islands ), the Juan Fernandez the

Falkland and the Galapagos



Europe sixth in terms of area of continents ; extends from the Arctic Ocean

(North) to the Mediterranean Sea , the Black Sea and the Caucasus

Mountains (south) and from the Atlantic Ocean (west)

PHYSICAL DIVISION • Northwest Mountains: include some of the oldest rock

formations on earth

• North European Plains: extends from Urals in east to

Atlantic coast in west. • The Central Uplands: include the Meseta (Spain and

Portugal)The Massif Central and Juna Mountains (France),

the Black Forest (Germany) • The Alpine System :stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in

west to Caspian sea in East

MOUNTAINS Alps(covering part of south –eastern France, north Italy, most of

Switzerland ,parts of southern Germany, Austria and Northern

Yugoslavia), the Apennines, the Alpines Pyrenees, Carpathians,

Urals, Balkans. The highest mountain peak of Europe is Mount

Elbrus (5633m) in the Caucasus.

RIVERS Volga: longest river of Europe ,flowing through Russia – Caspian

Sea, Danube: 2nd

longest river of Europe , drains into Black Sea,

Rhine: flows through Alps –western Germany – Netherlands-

North Sea ;Po, Dnieper, Don, Vistula, Elbe, Oder

DESERTS No desert

LAKES Lake Ladoga: Europe’s largest freshwater lake in Russia.The salt water Caspian sea: which lies partly in Europe and partly

in Asia, is the world’s largest lake ,Europe’s lowest point.

Finland : country of 60000 lakes, known as ‘land of thousand

lakes’

STRAITS Strait of Gibraltar

COASTLINE 60957km



Australia Lies entirely in Southern Hemisphere

PHYSICAL DIVISION • Western Plateau : covers two-third of Australia ; The

Nullarbor Plain : vast, dry ,treeless plateau

• Central Lowlands • Eastern Highlands

MOUNTAINS Great Dividing Range , Mount Kosciusky (2228m): highest peak

in Australia

RIVERS Murray: originating from the Snowy mountains in Alps ,

continents’ longest permanently flowing river, fed by Darling in

dry season

DESERTS Gibson Desert, Great Sandy Desert, Great Victoria Desert,

Simpson Desert (cover third of Australia)

LAKES Lake Eyre (lowest point in Australia) STRAIT Bass Strait ; World largest coral reef: Barrier Reef

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