Transcript Chp 24: Physical Geography of South Asia

Chp 24: Physical
Geography of South Asia
Landforms and Resources
 South Asia
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= subcontinent
Peninsulas surrounded by mountains and
oceans
the size of the U.S.
 More than 1 billion inhabitants
Take Five…
 Look
at the graphic on pg 551.
 How do scientists believe the Himalayas
were formed?
Mountains and Plateaus
 Himalayas
are located in 5 countries:
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Nepal
 Serve as a natural barrier between South
Asia and the rest of Asia
Mt. Everest 29,035 feet
Wally Points…
 How
many people have successfully
climbed Mt. Everest?
 How old was the oldest person to
successfully climb the mountain?
 How young was the youngest person to
successfully climb the mountain?
 How many corpses remain on the
mountain?
Answers…
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How many people have successfully climbed Mt. Everest?
At the end of the 2004 climbing season, 1,400 different
climbers from twenty different countries had completed a
total of over 2,000 climbs.
 How old was the oldest person to successfully climb the
mountain? Yuichiro Miura age 70
 How young was the youngest person to successfully climb
the mountain? Temba Tsheri 15
 How many corpses remain on the mountain? To date, 189
people have died trying to reach the summit, which sets the
fatality rate at around nine percent. Most of these fatalities
happened before 1990. In the last ten years, advances in
climbing equipment and more experienced guides have
resulted in a steep drop in fatality statistics: from 37% in
1990 to 4.4% in 2004.
Mountain ranges as natural barriers
 Hindu
Kush—west of the Himalayas cut off
Pakistan from Afghanistan
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Khyber Pass
Rivers, Deltas & Plains
 Indus,
Ganges & Brahmaputra Rivers
 Meet and form one large delta before Bay
of Bengal
 Provide irrigation for agriculture
 Carry alluvial soil to alluvial plains
(deposits of fertile soil)
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Indo-Gangetic Plain one of most fertile region
in the world
3/5’s population of South Asia located here
Indus River
Ganges River
Brahmaputra River
Offshore Islands
 Sri
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Lanka
Teardrop island in the Indian Ocean
 The
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Maldives
Archipelago—island group of 1,200 islands
• Atoll—tops of submerged volcanoes
• Only 200 of the islands are inhabitable
• 115 square miles
“Teardrop” Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
The Maldives
Take Five…
 Complete
554
the Skill Builder questions on pg
Natural Resources
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Water resources
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Timber
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Alluvial plains (for fertile agriculture)
Irrigation for agriculture
Hydroelectricity
Transportation and trade
Fishing
Rainforests—teak, sal, bamboo & sandalwood
Highlands & Nepal—pine, fir etc
Deforestation & soil erosion are problems
Minerals
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Coal production (India=4th largest in the world)
Natural gas production—India, Pakistan & Bangladesh
Uranium, mica, diamonds & iron-ore—India
Diamonds & other precious gemstones—Sri Lanka
Natural Mineral Resources
Take Five…
 Complete
557
the Skill Builder questions on pg
Sec 2: Climate and Vegetation
6
main climate zones (see skill builder
map)
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Tropical wet
Tropical wet/dry
Desert—only 10 inches per year ave.
Semiarid—high temps & light rainfall
Humid subtropical
Highland—coldest climate
Monsoons
 Seasonal
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winds
Oct-Feb dry winds from northeast
June-Sept moist winds from southeast
• Provides rainfall for region
• Unpredictable
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Flooding or drought…
South Asia Monsoons
Devastation from monsoon flooding
Cyclones
 Hurricanes/tornadoes—devastating
with heavy rains and winds
 Bangladesh most prone to cyclones
storms
Cyclones
Vegetation of South Asia
 Lush
Rainforest of Bangladesh
 Deserts like Thar Desert with little
vegetation
Sec 3: Human-Environment
Interaction
 The
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significance of the Ganges River
Hinduism religious rituals
Drinking water
Effects of pollution
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Raw sewage
Industrial waste
Corpses of animals & humans
Plethora of bacteria
Illness, disease and death
Take Five…
 Complete
561
the Skill Builder question on pg
Ganges River…the Holy River
Ganges River—One of most
polluted rivers in the world
Flooding of the Feni River
The process of building a dam
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Employing a Dutch engineering firm
Unskilled labor force of Bangladesh
Bamboo mats to prevent erosion
Boulders to weight down the mats
Clay filled bags on top of the boulders
Feb. 28, 1985—filling in the closure (completing
the dam)—low tide
600,000 bags followed by clay to 30 ft then
concrete, brick with a road built over the top
Building a dam to control flood waters
of the Feni River